Fieldrunners finally brings Openness to the tower-defense genre. Solid gameplay and multiple modes make it a good value.
Open Fields Provide Player-Created Strategic Play: Finally, you alone decide the means of your victory
Challenging Play and Great Value: Good content for the money, multiple modes
Solid Presentation: Clean interface, good music and visuals
Doesn't Do much New: Though it extends the life of the genre, it doesn't really expand it's scope
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Fieldrunners, which picked up IGF's 2009 Best Mobile Game, is a solid tower-defense game that gives you a lot of strategic flexibility and is quite challenging across all levels. Subatomic Studios did well to include a couple of different game modes to keep things interesting too, and is certainly recommended for any fan of strategy games.
As most folks probably know, in the tower-defense subset of real-time strategy games the object is to prevent invading hordes from reaching your home base. Whereas some TD games have pre-determined paths through which the enemies will flow, in Field runners you play on an open field (similar to but far more open than in Defense Grid), able to be shaped as you see fit depending on where you place your towers. When you kill an enemy you gain money to spend on new towers and tower upgrades. In Easy mode, you play 100 rounds of invasion with 4 types of defense towers, and only 20 hits available on your home base for easily thousands of enemies who will attempt it. In Normal Mode, which is unlockable, you gain 2 extra towers to use (for 6 total) but the enemies are harder to kill and tend to vary more. In Endless mode, also unlockable, you retain all six towers and last as long as you can.
By far one of the most enticing things about Fieldrunners is the pure open field of play. Rather than simply setting up defenses along a path, it is part of the strategy here to guide the enemies where you want them to go, extending their paths and keeping them close to powerful towers. Well executed strategies here make a huge difference in your ability to last the waves out. Deciding whether to upgrade a row of towers rather than extending your path further are key decisions and decide your success. Additionally, fields after the first one include multiple hoard entrances, which requires a lot of thought to tackle well. As amazing as it sounds, the simple gift of openness of play to the player is one of the biggest things Fieldrunners does which respects and challenges the player and allows the player to experiment their way to success. Additionally, Fieldrunners is not an easy game, even on Easy mode. Needless to say, there's a lot of value to be had here.
Aesthetically, Fieldrunners is visually practical with a slightly cartoony feel that gives a warm glow to the game. It looks and sounds inviting with clear and colorful menu screens too. Each of the 3 basic fields has a strong basic design and decent visual variety that keep the game invigorating and challenging, and if you want you can purchase 2 additional fields for extended play time. The music is solid, with a slightly campy military anthem, but it does a fine job of keeping you focused while not distracting.
Fieldrunners doesn't reinvent the genre, for sure, but it's emphasis on player-created strategy is a big plus. It pushes the genre into a more pure state which, though clearly gleaned from Defense Grid, gives the player the ability to finally experiment in dimensions seldom offered in other games in the genre. The aesthetics and gameplay are sound, and there's simply a good deal of content and value for the current asking price ($2.99). It doesn't do anything fancy, but in extending the potential of the mini-genre of tower-defense, it helps to push the medium further than it's been before.
8.9/10