Trenches (video game)

Trenches is a strategic World War I video game first developed for the iPhone and iPod Touch by Thunder Game Works. The initial version launched on December 24, 2009 and has been a top ranking games in the AppStore Charts since release. Trenches was designed by Michael Taylor and Kris Jones. ^[1]

Gameplay

Trenches is a combination of a Castle Attack and Tower Defense set during the Great World War, also known as World War I. The player is put into the role of the Battlefield Commander for the British Expeditionary Forces in Western Europe during 1914 against the German Army, or vice versa, and the player must accomplish a set of missions to complete the game during the campaign. The game spans throughout the war as the game progresses, allowing the play to unlock more classes and artillery.^[2]

The player must allocate resources and hire units to combat enemies units advancing from the right side of the screen. Units include the Riflemen, Machinegunner, Sniper, Engineer, Mortar Team, and randomly spawned Officers that add aura-based benefits to allied units. Players also have access to off-screen artillery support that include High Explosive Bombardment and Poisonous Gas.

Trenches includes a variety of skirmish modes that includes King of the Trench (King of the Hill) and a Zombie Horde mode. A recent update added cooperative and competitive multiplayer.^[3]

Reception

Trenches released with a wide range of ratings and response and was featured by Apple under "Hot New Games", "Most Addicting Games", "Best Strategy Games", and "Made for iOS4". Trenches earned the 'Must Have Game' award from NoDPad.com^[4] on December 28, 2009 and the 'Bronze Award' from PocketGamer.^[5]

Press

Kotaku Press Review - "I loved playing Trenches when it first hit, but I had a few minor reservations. All of those have been resolved with the latest patch which added new types of play to the campaign, tweaked the look of the goal and starting point for troops and added the ability to command an entire screen of troops with one gesture...Trenches is already an amazing game."^[6]

Trenches received a 3 out of 4 from Slide To Play with reviews stating "An addictive trench-filled WWI strategy game that shares a few aspects with the war itself."^[3]

MTV gave a press review that stated Trenches is an impressive and tight iPhone experience.^[7]

Trenches received some negative criticisms at its launch due to a simplified gaming experience. TouchArcade.com stated that the game can be completed with overwhelming the enemy with basic units and contained a too short of a campaign.^[8] Thunder Game Works publicly acknowledge this and released a substantial update to add new skirmish modes, multiplayer, and an extended campaign.^[3]

Updates

Thunder Game Works has recently announced a spin-off version of its popular Zombie Horde skirmish mode. Stenches, the upcoming zombie game, expands on the features and gameplay of the Zombie Horde mode and will act as a standalone game to be downloaded via the AppStore and will be available in September.^[9]

Trenches HD, the iPad Version of Trenches, has been released as "Trenches: Generals."

Trenches 2 was announced in 2011 and was released on December 15, 2011.

References