Boom Beach

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Game Information
Name: Boom Beach
Genre: Strategy
Release Date: March 2014 (The game is currently only available in the Canadian and Australian app store, however it is set to be released globally this month (March 2014)
Developers: Supercell Oy
Publishers: Supercell Oy
Platform(s): iOS

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Synopsis

Storm the beach and win the day! Boom Beach is a combat strategy game where you fight an epic war against the evil Blackguard. Take your expeditionary force to beautiful paradise islands invaded by the enemy. Fight for every beachhead, free enslaved islanders and explore the uncharted archipelago. The fight becomes a race to harness the ancient powers hidden on the islands.

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Plot

The peaceful islands of the villagers have been captured by the evil BlackGuard. The purpose of this tragedy is for the BlackGuard to steal the riches from the defenceless villagers and sell them to make a profit for themselves. It is up to you to build up your defences and army to take back these islands and restore them to their rightful owners! However, as you progress throughout the game you will be forced to face more formidable opponents with larger armies and mercenaries hired by the evil BlackGuard.

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Gameplay

Boom Beach is much like another game made by the same developers - Clash of Clans, however this new game has a very unique twist. When you begin the game, you build up a attack force and defences for the island you begin on. Once you have a significant army, you can head out to other islands and free them from the BlackGuard. When you begin a battle, you are given command of a gunboat and landing rafts carrying the main body of your army. The gunboat can be used to fire a certain amount of shots at the enemy buildings (including their defensive buildings), the amount of shots you can fire is based by obtaining a required amount of stars. These stars can be earnt by destroying buildings on the enemy island. Once you have used your desired amount of shots from your gunboat, you can send in the main body of your army by using your landing rafts on the beach of the island. Once the landing rafts have hit the beach, your army will disembark them and assault the nearest building. To make your army attack a certain building, you can use a flare from your gunboat to signal where you wish your army to attack. The flare is unlocked after upgrading your gunboat to a certain level.

Building your island up is a huge part of the game, having a un-guarded island leaves you prone to many attacks - which lead to you loosing your valuable resources needed to build/upgrade things in the game. You are given many defensive buildings in order to protect your island and valuable resources, these include; sniper towers, mortars, machine guns and mines. It is imperative that you set your defences up very well, as you aren't given any walls. Its always good to have your defences protecting the beaches as this is where the enemy will attack from. Just like Clash of Clans, you cannot be attacked when you are online and you cannot attack others when they are online. Along with defensive buildings, you are also given many other types of buildings; these include Economy and Support. Economy buildings consists of residence's (gold production), vaults, wood and gold storages and a few others. Basically economy is the backbone of your island, bringing in and storing all of your valuable resources. The other type of buildings are Support, these include things to upgrade your forces, build powerful statues, purchase radars and to build more landing crafts. These really serve in supporting your island and without them it would be quite difficult.

In addition to the islands you are required to free from the evil BlackGuard, there are others once reaching a level 2 radar. The game describes these as mercenaries hired by the BlackGuard to put a stop to you attacking BlackGuard held islands. These mercenaries are actually other real life players, they can attack your island, as you can do to theirs. They also pose a more challenging aspect towards the game. The way the multiplayer aspect of Boom Beach is done works incredibly well, being able to zoom out in the attack screen and see the islands you are able to attack. The cloud of war can be unlocked by using gold earnt from your island for various amounts and these show new enemies that you can free the islanders from. Throughout your progression in the game, you come along higher levelled islands owned by the BlackGuard, these require more skill and preparation to successfully defeat, the concept of the game is outstanding and can entertain you for hours.

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Graphics

The graphics in Boom Beach are quite incredible, the islands have a fantastic amount of detail on them. Each being unique and different to others, the water around the island moves around and has such great colouring. The trees look very detailed and nice adding a very tropical feel to the game, they also tend to sway around in the wind. The actual beaches on the islands look very nice and have a great use of waves splashing on them. Each of the buildings look very detailed and are each unique, the units themselves look very detailed and each have their own personality. The landing craft and gunboat rock around from the waves as they sit in their dock and the detail of them is good. When attacking other islands, the impact from the gunboats bullet is quite detailed and the numerous other things within the game that can shoot are all detailed nicely. To conclude, the graphics of Boom Beach are incredible for a iOS game.

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Controls

The controls are pretty much the exact same as Clash of Clans, they are incredibly simple to learn and use. Majority of the controls are clicking on selected units and buildings, then having options pop up once selecting them. When attacking, to fire the gunboats cannon - you simply click on the cannon and then click on where you wish for the gunboat to fire at. Upgrading building and units are incredibly easy, once clicking on what you desire to upgrade, you are prompted with a range of buttons presented in the bottom of the screen (centred), then all you have to do is click on the green arrow and follow the prompts. The controls in general are quite easy to learn, even though there is quite alot of them, they are incredibly simple to learn and use. The setting menu is also incredibly easy to navigate through, offering little to no difficulty.

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Ratings (Personal)
Plot: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Overall: 8/10