By Ned Jordan
Siege Hero may at first look like a takeoff of Angry Birds, but before Angry Birds took the mobile world by storm Armor Games released a catapult game called Crush the Castle. Undaunted by the monster shadow cast on their earlier release by Angry Birds, the developer is trying its luck a second time around by adding a few twists to the catapult game formula. Don't dismiss Siege Hero out of hand as just another Angry Birds knockoff because those twists make for an enjoyable game.
The first twist is a literal one. Rather than trying to planning trajectory arcs to an off-screen target from the side view, Siege Hero gives you a face-on view of your target. And trajectory shots are gone ' you tap the point where you want your projectile (in this case stones) to hit.
The overall goal is to eliminate all of the enemy soldiers by bringing their structures down on top of them. To do so you've got to hit the critical points so that you can bring the thing down with the limited number of shots that you're allotted on each level. Further complicating things, there are also civilians in the structures. If they survive the level you're given a healthy point bonus, and if they don't you'll lose points.
By removing the random factor from the shots, Siege Hero puts more of a puzzle spin on the game. Sure, you can precisely place shots, but the question becomes where those shots should be placed to both take down the structures and protect the civilians. While answering that question you'll have to take into account other factors such as the relative strength of the various building materials used by the soldiers and storerooms filled with explosives.
Siege Hero is fun little game with a simple premise that belies a tricky little puzzler below the surface. If you've played Angry Birds everything from the menus to the level progression and bonus levels will seem quite familiar to you, but Siege Hero has enough going for it that is different than its avian cousin that it makes a nice compliment to your catapult game collection.
Final Rating: 90%
