Saga Catapult

We've seen so many tower defence games on iPhone lately that it would take a year to get through them all. Of course, Saga Catapult only fits into this genre in a spiritual sense, but it should still appeal to fans of this particular - and very popular - style of game.

Rather than setting out the towers along the enemy's path and leaving them to aim, shoot and reload automatically, you take control of a single defensive stockade and attempt to bombard an onslaught of fantasy attackers.

These orcs, elves and items of heavy assault machinery aren't interested in tackling a single catapult operator, however. Their prey lies just off screen: a helpless band of 20 peasants, who are gradually depleted every time an enemy makes it past your 'pult.

Aiming and shooting is done with a quick tap, a touch of the screen sending off a destructive volley. The catapult being a piece of lumbering mediaeval weaponry, however, it’s not just a case of tapping directly on each enemy. You're required to factor your projectiles lead time into each and every shot, aiming carefully in front of the stampeding orcs to ensure the barrage lands on the target as it runs past.

There’s a superb variety of fantastical monsters assailing your village. Each one has its own speed of movement, strength, direction and purpose, meaning your skills with this very simple piece of defensive machinery have to be honed.

For example, you need to add extra lead to your shots when dealing with enemies farther away from the ramparts. Additionally, you may need to take into account that they might not be running parallel to the catapult or even in a straight line. Other enemies, such as dragons and zeppelins, require an extra level of spatial acuity as you try to project where your shot will need to be sent to hit something in midair.

Occasionally an enemy will come along that decides to return fire, making it imperative that you land a quick direct hit in order to keep your peasants alive. This is helped by the fact that you can upgrade your catapult between levels, increasing its yield, reload times and even adding in new abilities such as tipping the handset to bend your shots like some kind of Middle-Earth Beckham.

Saga Catapult is challenging, refreshing and, at times, immensely satisfying (especially when you plant a direct shot on an orc and watch it bounce around the screen with some impressive rag doll physics). Even so, it’s not without frustration.

Occasionally, a peasant will take it upon himself to flee the village, running (slowly) from the right hand side of the screen toward the oncoming enemies. At these moments it’s up to you to defend him, though the game is structured rather unfairly when it comes to stopping the villager getting run over or blown up by friendly fire.

An enemy is always sent to plough him down, but sometimes this happens toward the edge of the screen, meaning the best you can achieve is killing the peasant yourself rather than letting an enemy tank do it.

As intuitive as the controls are, the game is also a tad unresponsive. This results in a lot of quick taps going unnoticed, a problem compounded by the poor framerate and struggling game speed.

With some serious optimisation, Saga Catapult could easily overcome these problems and really shine as a novel and gratifying iPhone blast-‘em-up.