Battle of Puppets ($1.99)
Version – 1.2
REVIEW – “A great linear strategy game with a unique twist!”
I have played countless games based on the basic concept of castle defense. While many of them are generic with very little background, this one was surprisingly refreshing. In Battle of Puppets you are charged with selecting and performing an “opera” at several different theaters across the country. You choose units to build, how to upgrade your castle and outposts,
and cast spells using written gestures in an attempt to destroy the opposition.
When you open this game the first thing you’ll see is an OpenFeint dialogue. This game uses OpenFeint to track achievements and scores. If you have already set up an OpenFeint account for your device it will be automatically detected and set up. If you’re unfamiliar with OpenFeint it is 
a social gaming interface that allows to compete and communicate you’re your friends and acquaintances while you play games!
Once you finish the OpenFeint stuff you’re taken to the main menu. It has a very cartoony “paper Mario” feel if you’re familiar with that game. The menu has several buttons on the right that allow you to start playing or “continue,” set up the options and view credits. Along the bottom screen you also have an OpenFeint button to access your information and 3 numbered buttons that allow you to select between 3 saved games.
Starting a new game will take you to a screen to select the difficulty. This game has three different difficulty levels that make it easy enough for children, but at the same time challenging for anyone! Once you select a difficulty you’ll be taken to a screen where you will select your opera to perform. Each group has different things they are better at such as building and fighting, as well as different weather conditions that they work best in.
After you select everything you’ll be shown a “Tutorial” screen that has several pages with information that you can scroll through. I’ll have to be honest about this screen. All of the information is definitely 
there to get you started, but it was very confusing to me. This is the type of game that would be much better served with some simple diagrams and a “tutorial” level. With that said, it does not take long to figure out the game so I would recommend just skipping the tutorial altogether.
Once you get down to the actual game play it is a blast. The casting of spells using writing gestures was really a nice touch that makes this game feel polished as well. The only thing that I kind of wish is that the game was a little bit longer. The achievements and high score lists definitely make this game worth coming back to though.
For anyone that enjoys tower defense games but feels that they have been overdone I would highly recommend this game. Everything from the graphics to the sound effects, music and storyline have a level of polish and creativity that is rare within this genre. The difficulty levels also manage to make this game truly fun for all ages! The price point is another winner for this game. While a lot of solid games of this caliber are charging anywhere from $5-10 this app is available for just $1.99 today! So what are you waiting for? Check out Battle of Puppets in the App Store today!
- David H.
Download Now!
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Developer – Small Wonders S.L.
URL: http://www.battleofpuppets.com/
© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.