You can’t beat these blue-haired barbarians, but you might lose sleep trying.
That’s because iPhone app designers Rockifone.com harnessed all the addictive flick-aiming qualities of top games like Paper Toss and Bloons, and added a coin-collecting strategy to make Tribe War dangerously captivating.
With only a river separating you from a never-ending swarm of enemies, you and your tribesmen must defend yourselves by hiding in a tree and slinging arrows below. Like other arcade apps, your finger strokes across the screen will determine the direction and velocity of the arrows. As you play, the barbarians come faster, firing back with rocks and arrows of their own.
The invading warriors on the ground are small, but their deaths are still a gory affair. (Who knew an arrow could cause decapitation?) When shot, their groans and gurgles are way too over the top, but that can be easily fixed since the game allows you to listen to your own music while you play.
For some reason, you get gold every time you make a kill. You can use this loot to purchase additional arrows, protection and allies by clicking on a door at the bottom of your tree.
This is what separates Tribe War from other games: It’s designed like an app of mindless repetition that still forces you think strategically about how to stay living as long as possible.
The question is simply whether you’re able to put up the kind of fight that creates heroic legends—or at least a personal high score.
