Fury Of The Gods iOS Review

Originally posted on PixelBedlam

I can’t precisely remember which Tower Defense style game I played first but I can remember the one that sapped many hours out of my youth when flash based browser gaming was becoming huge. Bloons is that culprit. A time waster like no other, the possibilities for air filled carnage were endless and it was a constant battle to beat my friends scores. It’s fair to say that I will probably judge any game that classifies itself as tower defense squarely against the joy I once gleamed from the lost time of yester-year.

Enter Fury of the Gods on iOS platforms, from Chillingo and developed by Spectral Games. Billed as ‘tower defense on a godly scale’ I have to admit to being initially skeptical as my brain took me back to the days of paragraph one. But this is not subjectivegaming.com/badreviews, this is PixelBedlam so off comes the Shroud of Nostalgia and on goes the Objective Cowl of Truth +1 lightning damage.

The opening video shows a series of events that lead to the gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades all pissing off their subjects. The humans have had enough of the gods bullshit and decided to do something about it, namely tearing down the temple of their respective deity. Obviously, the all-powerful immortals aren't going sit back and watch this insolence take place, which means its up to you to use a decent array of divine powers to smite any hapless peasants who deem their lives unfair.

The gameplay takes place in level form around the temple of whichever god you are playing. Each level has several paths by which creepers can get to your temple and start the destruction. Whilst the camera angle is isometric, the entire level can be navigated with ease with a standard pinch zoom that almost everyone is familiar with by now. In traditional TD games, the player would place towers of differing abilities around a set course and either have a wave countdown or a start wave button. Fury takes a more arcade route to gameplay, whereby you don't actually place many units at all. Most of the peasant smiting is done by either your default attack (the Almighty Finger, where you deal damage just by touching enemies) or the several unlockable special attacks (which range from lightning bolts to meteors and even whirlwinds). As you progress through each level, you can spend acquired points to buy some special creatures, like the cyclops, to stand in a particular spot and deal damage to any folk dumb enough to wander into its path. This can be a bit of a pain due to the multiple paths creepers can take, but I guess that’s part of the replay value. When not in play, there are several options to spend your silver on including upgrades to your finger as well as several god-specific powers that require leveling up separately.

Graphically, Fury performs well enough. Everything is in decent 3D and movements are smooth to prevent any issues with gameplay, though it is impossible to say it’s top notch when compared with the graphical prowess of Real Racing 3 for instance. Each god has his own themed stages with the relevant effects you might expect from their mythologies. Sound wise, it’s all what you might expect from a game based around Greek gods with dramatic title music and suitable noises to go with your powers in game.

My only real issue with the game was how you play. The nature of the game requires you have one hand free for tapping at all times. I tried several different ways to interface with the game. The most preferable of which was placing my iPad on a table to free up both hands, but that isn't always possible. Holding the device with one hand and tapping with the other soon game some wrist ache. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but Fury’s constant action in the later stages requires several minutes of concentration at a time. This problem is somewhat alleviated by the iPhone edition, though in that case the smaller screen poses problems of its own.

Score 7/10

Gameplay

+ Fun, fast action

- Uncomfortable after prolonged play

Graphics

+ Smooth 3D effect stages

+ Good element effects

Sound

+ Apt music and sound