The Tribez and Castlez iPad

In the mobile gaming world, Game Insight is pretty much the king of city builders. We’ve covered the Russian publisher’s futuristic entry 2020: My Country in the past, but their history with the genre goes back farther than that. One of their early hits was 2012’s The Tribez, in which players built a city for a tribe of primitive inhabitants.

Today Game Insight follows up with a new installment, The Tribez and Castlez! This one takes the game into ­ medieval fantasy setting – as well as throwing in some tower defense gameplay that you wouldn’t usually find in the city building genre. It’s out now and free on iOS.

From prehistory to the age of magic

Tribez & Castlez begins with the Professor and Princess Aurora (two characters from the first game) getting sucked into a portal after one of the Professor’s experiments goes haywire. They emerge in a magical fantasy land in which the inhabitants are beset by monsters. The two protagonists team up with a heroic prince on his quest to stop the evil monsters from spreading.

Being a city building game, the first thing players will do is set up a village from which to gather resources and stave off the advance of the enemy hordes. This time you’ll be building a medieval fantasy village, complete with castles, sawmills, bakeries, vineyards, and other essential buildings and services. By returning throughout the day, you can pick up precious resources with which to continue expanding your town.

Fight the good fight

The Tribez and Castlez

Building up the town is all well and good, but you’ll also need to install defenses against monsters. Sometimes the bad guys will attack your village on their own, while other times you can just choose to engage them in battle. If you’ve erected the suitable towers, you can watch as your buildings and citizens fight off the invaders.

During my short time with The Tribez & Castlez, I was impressed with its cute and distinctive art style. Watching the citizens of your village go about their duties is a pleasure. And the tower defense portions add a welcome element of danger to the game. There are even missions in which players go behind enemy lines and steal resources from enemy settlements. Those parts don’t appear to be all that challenging, but they really brings the setting­ to life.

The Tribez & Castlez is free to play, with in-app purchases allowing players to buy currency and speed the game along. Grab it now and keep the beasties from invading your kingdom.

Update

If you had trouble downloading the game before, try again. The certification issues have been resolved.

Incredible Heist

In more Game Insight news, the publisher has just announced a new hidden object game for iPad called Incredible Heist. The game's story involves an amateur con artist who helps his mentor steal various international treasures. As the adventure progresses, players will assemble a team of hustlers, track down mysterious artifacts, and eventually learn the heritage of the world's oldest Thieves Guild. Gameplay will consist of narrative sequences, hidden object scenes, and puzzles.

Incredible Heist is coming soon, but its actual release date remains a mystery. We'll see what information we can uncover about it in the weeks to come.