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Cheap Thrills: Master of Fortresses

Cheap Thrills is a column by Chris Gampat reviewing affordable (under $20) or free games for the recession.

If you're a fan of defense games, then chances are that you won't mind getting slightly Imperial on someone's ass when playing Master of Fortresses. Based around the imperial era, the game makes players defend their holdout against either the British, French and Germans, or play as those respective nations.

Story

The story behind the game isn't very clear. All that the player really knows is that they are tasked with defending a holdout against invaders that want to bring it down. The British, French and Germans all use different weapons and tactics to do just that.

Gameplay

Master of Fortresses is one of the more unique defense games that I've played. Each nation feels much different than one another. These nations all have different infantry with varying skills, weapons and ranges. All artillery are the same, but there still are differences.

First off, know that players can only defend and not attack. So when selecting a stage, know that you will always be defending. Each stage has different levels. Each of which get increasingly more difficult and where the enemy will attack you from a different angle or with different troops depending on the stage.

To defend your fortress, you need to erect buildings around them. Some are just barricades meant to keep invaders out, some are palisades that can be upgraded (and hold troops) and some are bastions that hold artillery. On top of this, there are loads of traps that can be set like spikes, gun powder kegs, etc.

My favorite, and perhaps the easiest nation to play as, are the British. A generally used tactic of mine is to totally surround the fortress with palisades and put soliders on them who eventually get upgraded to the British Greenjackets—very fast firing and long range soldiers. The only problem is that they're weak, so strength in numbers and in a tight phalanx does great for you.

The French are a race that owe a lot to their cannons, and in fact get a bonus with more powerful cannon at the trade off of unremarkable infantry. The best thing to do is to have Pickel Guns (a type of machine gun) line up around one another with some infantry around to support them. The Pickel Guns will pick off enemy troops very quickly.

The Germans are perhaps the hardest nation to play, and the most cerebral. They're gifted with very powerful short-range infantry, but lack long-range offense. You'll find yourself using a combination of their highest and 2nd highest tier soldiers, because the highest tier, Grenadiers, can kill in one hit but have a very short range, while he second highest tier have rifles and a longer range. Because of this, players need to place the two close together so as to bring the enemy close in with the long range fire where grenades will be waiting for them.

Unfortunately, you can't move troops around, but you can always create more buildings in between levels with more troops, cannons, etc.

Graphics

The graphics really aren't too amazing. In fact, Dune 2 had a more remarkable look. But the frame rates do keep up well and nothing is choppy at all in how it all performs. Each unit is shaped and colored differently so players can easily tell them apart. It would have been nice to see some more ambient animations, though.

Sound

The sound in this game really makes it. From the sounds of guns firing, to the amazing (and epic) musical score. The music reminds me a bit of the game Total War and music throughout the game itself actually will make players feel like it is the imperial age.

Replayability

Of any flash game I've played, this one of the most replayable. There are so many different levels, stages and with the three nations players can always try to find a way to fine tune their defense tactics. On top of this, there are also achievements to get.

Conclusion

Master of Fortresses is one of the best flash games I've played in a while. There was a point where I actually became bored of defense games, but this one has brought the genre right back to me. If you're an Android phone user with Flash capabilities, definitely this game a try