Macenstein

I’ve been putting off writing about Samurai Siege (free) for a few weeks now, primarily because it so closely resembles one of my favorite games (and previous “Games That Don’t Suck” nominee) Clash of Clans. I’m not a fan of games that rip-off other successful game formulas, but I cannot deny that I have been playing the game nearly non-stop and enjoying myself immensely. And yes, if you have played Clash of Clans, you will find this game instantly familiar, right down to the mines, elixir pumps, barracks, Town Hall, Clan Castle, Army base camps, Research lab, spell factory, Archer Towers, cannons, walls, seasonal pumpkin bomb, healers, wizards, multi-player battles, clans, chat, and the fact that you can never have enough builders. At first glance the game IS Clash of Clans, painted with a “Samurai-themed” brush. However, there are a few noticeable differences between the games, some of which I am willing to admit are a marked improvement over Clash of Clans.

For one thing, elixir pumps are now called “Essence Wells”. Just kidding. Although the game borrows heavily from CoC, Samurai Siege adds a few unique units and game mechanics that add a new level of strategy to the game. On the tower side, there are extremely cool lightning towers, freeze towers, and a barrel cannon that is somewhat akin to CoC’s Crossbows, except you do not need to constantly reload them, which is kind of annoying in CoC. On the unit side, there is a cool unit called the “Commander”, who is strong, slow, but “commands” other infantry units, like archers and Samurais, telling them to focus their attention on an enemy’s defenses instead of just randomly destroying things. Getting the right mix of units for an attack and deciding how to deploy them is really quite a science.

Look Familiar?

Similar to CoC, Samurai Siege has two modes of battle – a single player mode where you attack various computer-controlled enemy camps, and a true multiplayer mode where attack other players’ camps in hopes of stealing their resources so you can upgrade your own base and units. What’s interesting is that in Samurai Siege you unlock new units and defenses by winning the single player battles instead of simply upgrading your barracks as in CoC. This is more fun in my opinion, and it’s great to be able to ask fellow team mates how they beat a particularly difficult map.

But by far the best things Samurai Siege has added to the Clash of Clans formula is that it actually lets you clash with other clans. It always baffled me that your clan could not directly declare war against other clans in Clash of Clans, and Samurai Siege has added that functionality. Well, sort of. You do not declare war on a specific clan, but you declare war in general, and the game matches you up against 3 other clans in a race to see which clan can collect the most trophies in a 10-hour period. Trophies are acquired by winning battles in multi-player mode, so any multiplayer victory goes towards your clan’s total. Likewise any loses are subtracted from it. At the end of the war, a winning clan is declared and EACH member of the clan receives the elusive, and precious gems that are the currency of the game. As your clan levels up, the gem reward increases. This is a MUCH more fun way of obtaining gems than CoC’s method of clearing shrubs, and really makes for some fun team-building chat and strategy talk in the chats.

So yes, Samurai Siege is 90% Clash of Clans, but it would be wrong to under-estimate that last 10% that is almost ALL gold, and an improvement over Clash of Clans. Hopefully SuperCell will take a page from Space Ape’s playbook, and copy the copiers, adding clans battles and some other tweaks. But until then, I feel you should definitely give Samurai Siege a chance. Oh, and while you’re at it, you might as well join our clan. Just search for “Macenstein“.