Game review: Battle of Puppets - iPhone / iPod Touch

I had visions of Elmo slugging it out with Sooty, or maybe Basil Brush fighting to the death against Gordon the Gopher.

What I wasn’t expecting to see was a castle defence game, but that’s what Battle of Puppets is – and a very good one at that.

It’s also a very stylish game, and incredibly surreal – if LittleBigPlanet paired up with a castle defence game, this is the lovechild they would have.

In Battle of Puppets you must attack your computer opponent’s castle with your army while defending your own. Your castle is at one end of the horizontally scrolling battlefield and your opponent’s is at the opposite end.

Using your available gold you must produce and upgrade buildings and troops, devising a strategy that will repel the opposing forces and eventually lead to you destroying their castle.

The concept is not wildly dissimilar to most other game in the genre.

What set Battle of Puppets apart from the rest is its bizarre design and its opera theme. Yes, you read it correctly – opera theme.

Each of the five armies in the game is based around a classic opera.

So if you play as the Madama Butterfly army then your troops will be ninja, shogun and other Japanese-themed units.

Alternatively, choose Carmen and you’ll have Spanish-themed soldiers at your disposal including bullfighter, bandit and fighting bull.

There is also Aida (Egyptian), Valkiria (Norse mythology) and Salome (Roman).

During the game you don’t really go into battle against your opponent, but rather you perform an opera (including the curtain coming down when it’s all over). The better you do during each ‘performance’ the more popularity you achieve, which leads to upgrades becoming available.

Wondering where the puppets part of the title comes into play? Well, your soldiers are not really soldiers – they are puppets and you are the puppeteer.

When one of your troops is killed it is kind hooked off stage, like a puppet being pulled out of a theatre by its strings.

Even more bizarrely than this, the battle arenas in the game are based on 22 American cities, each with its own famous landmarks and distinctive background.

If this game sounds weird that’s because it is weird, but in a good way.

You may not be convinced that the fun outweighs the crazy in Battle of Puppets, and to be honest the only way this great little game will make any sense is when you actually play it for yourself.

If you do try the game you’re in for a treat, not just because it’s fun but also because the standard of presentation is very high.

It’s a beautifully produced game.

There are nice design touches aplenty, including cute animations, day/night cycle and changing weather.

The graphics have colour and charm in abundance. The puppets and backdrops look like cardboard cut-outs which have been coloured in with felt-tip pens.

The quirky art style is a major part of the game’s appeal. The quaint, catchy music and cute sound effects further enhance the fun.

Controls in the game are very simple but work well. Most actions are performed by tapping on-screen buttons, with swipe gestures being used to perform magic spells which are gradually unlocked.

There is a lot of variable gameplay, with three difficulty setting and three different modes.

There are a few little niggles which stop this game from achieving puppet perfection.

A lot of the text is too small and difficult to read.

The tutorial (even after an update) is very poor. It fails to provide enough detail on how to play the game. For example, it seems to be possible to build outposts on the battlefield separate from your castle, but there is no explanation of these so I’m not really sure what they are for or what effect they have during the game.

Another slight concern is that the game could become a bit samey after prolonged play. You will find yourself doing the same tasks repeatedly, at least early on. Also, once your maximum allowed number of units out on the battlefield there isn’t much more to do other than watch until some of them get bumped off or upgrades become available.

As I said, these are slight concerns rather than major issues, and if the game’s immense charm has won you over and you’re enjoying the action then these things probably won’t be issues at all.

The App Store has thrown up some very odd game concepts before now – RPG and word play, match-three and space war, line-drawing and motorsport.

With its peculiar castle battle and opera themes, Battle of Puppets joins the ranks of games which on paper shouldn’t work at all but in reality gel together very nicely, somehow.

Verdict: 8 out of 10 – I’m not stringing you along here, Battle of Puppets is a quirky, inventive, beautifully styled and thoroughly likeable castle defence game.

Watch a video showing Batttle of Puppets in action: