IOS Review #100: Manowar

Title: Manowar
Developer: Lachlan Nuttall
Platforms: IOS Universal
Price: $1.99
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A swaying ship, cannons, and a colorful assortment of cannonballs. That's all Manowar needs to deliver a tricky and satisfying puzzle game.
At its core, Manowar is a simple game. Each level presents you with an interior of a ship at sea, filled with various platforms, barriers, and cannonballs, and lined with cannons. The goal is to tilt the ship back and forth, maneuver the cannonballs into position, and fire them into the surrounding watery abyss.

But that's only the start. as new mechanics compound to create suprisingly devious challenges. Firing a cannon cause the remaining cannonballs onboard to bounce into the air, allowing you to get them over walls or balance them atop other cannonballs. Then the game adds colored cannons that only affect cannonballs of the same hue. And then barriers that can only be crossed from certain directions, then platforms that swing in specific patterns, and then portals, and so on.

All these mechanics turn Manowar into a puzzler with a focus on timing and careful planning. Moving and firing cannonballs without thinking of how it will affect the remaining cannonballs can easily led to having one stuck without a way to maneuver it. You may need to block passages to guide cannonballs along a certain route or fire colored cannonballs in a specific sequence, among other tricky scenarios.

Manowar remains challenging through its 48 levels, and the game's polished presentation compliments its equally polished puzzle design. You can purchase Manowar for $1.99.