Review: Crush the Castle: Siege Master

Some people do not consider browser-based and mobile type games as an important part of video gaming history, but those people would be wrong. Lots of gamers have been entertained for many hours by flash games like Bejeweled and Line Rider, and mobile games like Angry Birds have launched million dollar franchises. We all have known someone addicted to FarmVille, and most of us have tried to kill everyone on Earth in Pandemic 2.

Crush the Castle is a flash games that deserves a mention in the video gaming history books. It helped launch the "physics projectile puzzle" genre paving the way for titles like Angry Birds to take over the world. Armor Games is back with yet another follow up to Crush the Castle called Siege Master.

In Siege Master you must take down those conspiring against you after your king has sold off the royal army to pay for his loot crate addiction. This means it is time again to roll out the trusty trebuchet to take down different structures and crush your enemies.

Siege Master is basically Crush the Castle with updated graphics. This isn't a bad thing, but if you were expecting some significant upgrade you'll be disappointed. If you have never played a Crush the Castle game, think Angry Birds, where you kill your enemies by crushing them or burning them to death.

Siege Master is a free-to-play, ad supported, updated mobile version of Crush the Castle with new kingdoms and hundreds of enemies to crush. Favorite projectiles, like the 3 rocks and fire ball, are back with a few new weapons like a giant hook. The game includes optional IAPs and the ability to purchase an ad free version of the game. Gameplay is just like the original but with touch controls. Just tap once to start your trebuchet and tap again to fire. The only new controls include the ability to zoom in on the structures so you get a better look at your targets.

The level of difficulty is pretty low. You can easily blow through 20 levels in a few minutes, but the game includes a 3-star system for perfectionist. There are no timers or limits on how many times you can play each level. This means you can restart as many times as you want to get that perfect shot.

Crush the Castle has no trouble making the leap from free flash game to mobile while delivering a bit of nostalgia. It is also nice to see that Armor Games kept the game free while monetizing it with ads. The ads can be a bit annoying, but they are never as annoying as forced timers.

Crush the Castle: Siege Master is now available on the Apple App Store. It supports all devices running iOS 9.0 or later.