Backflip Studios (Paper Toss and Ragdoll Blaster) shows us there’s room for another game in the line drawing genre!

Harbor Havoc 3D ($1.99)

The iPhone has been home of multiple line drawing games since the inception of Flight Control. Harbor Havoc amps up the difficulty by tasking you in controlling BOTH planes and ships, but submarines as well.

With this twist, are you still in for some more line drawing? We sincerely hope you are!

Presentation

As the name suggests, the game is pseudo 3D. The gameplay view is still bird’s eyeview only shifted to an angle by a bit. The graphics for the islands and ocean are very richly detailed we can’t complain about. The ships, planes and submarines are also some of the most detailed crafts we’ve seen in this genre.

The soundtrack for the each of the four levels vary and are suited to that specific level. Naval sounds howl throughout the navy level, the same goes with the ‘Old American’ level and so on. Lastly, the animations and how the ocean creates a drizzle when ships explode are two things not to go unnoticed.

Controls

Line drawing… touch controlled. Sweet and simple.

Gameplay

The first couple of plays with Harbor Havoc were admittedly confusing. What with having to manage a three levels of transportation, the game will require somewhat of a practice. Players have been used to a singular mode of transportation, either by air or sea, but not both and underwater.

When touching ships, helicopters or submarines, their point of destination will glow in which you’ll have to connect them to. Once the connection’s been made, the crafts will automatically dock… that is of course they dock successfully without hitting other vehicles.

One important rule to note (and is something it took me a while to implant in my brain) is that only the same mode transportation can hit each other. For example, ships to ships, submarines to submarines etc. To avoid collision, Harbor Havoc is handy enough to include pause which is committed by tapping on the vessels.

The game is Plus+ integrated so leaderboards and achievements are no problem. There are three levels to begin with and when you dock at least 75 vessels on each level, you get to open an evil spirited level which uses a lighthouse to blind your eyesight:

Suggestions

My very first suggestion was that I hoped the vehicles were distinct enough to associate themselves to an island without needing to tap the vehicle. Color coding or symbols would have been nice.

The other suggestions I had in mind were that A) the Atlantis vehicles are a little too detailed to the point where the design falls a couple of ranks a little bit, and B) to solve this problem, I wish there was a game extra where we can view all vehicles up close.

Lastly, how cool would it be if we were allowed to choose to just dock ships, planes or submarines instead of a three layered treat?

Conclusion

Harbor Havoc 3D is a very strong title for the line drawing genre (and the iPhone). It rolls two cult favorites (Harbor Master and Flight Control) into one while at the same time adding a third yet untapped theme.

There’s no mistaking Backflip has done yet again a very commendable job with this game using their AppStore charts-tested skills. With the three-layered management ‘fiasco’, one cannot make ANY mistake purchasing this game.