Catapult Madness by Louissi is both an arcade launch game and the tale of a kingdom under siege by a seemingly unending army of trolls. With supplies dwindling, the only hope is to seek help from a neighbouring kingdom, and since the field is too thick with enemies to send a messenger through, the king comes up with a solution. Namely, to commission a massive catapult capable of hurling his helpless commoners through the air, and hopefully (eventually) to reach help. Who would volunteer for something like this, you ask? Turns out people will agree to a lot if you tell them they'll otherwise be fed to the royal cattle. Click to set your power, then again to set your angle, and a final time to fire. Flung peasants will soar through the air and can hit a variety of things that will either help or hinder their flight, from enemy bombs to birds to sleeping trolls. Between flights, you can purchase upgrades to your equipment, and even buy the help of a wizard to help enchant your human missiles to fly farther. And far is pretty important here since you'll have to fly 50,000 feet to win.
The problem is that the game offers very few upgrades with few tiers to boot, so before long, you're just playing to meet that 50,000 feet requirement. This actually tends to be a pitfall of the launch genre as a whole; so few of them feature enough incentive to keep playing, or to keep the game from feeling as though you're simply grinding towards a goal. For Catapult Madness, more varied upgrades with visibly different impacts would have gone a long way towards expanding the replayability, as well as perhaps adding greater variation to the landscape the farther you go. Seen one troll waiting to skewer your innards, seen 'em all, amirite?
But what exists is still very well done. The cartoonish artwork by Julie is clean and bright, and the whole thing has a very slick professional look that adds to the whole silly premise. Despite not bringing much innovation to the table, Catapult Madness is a fun and well made little coffee break of a game that will bring a grin to your face and may prove strangely addictive. It's also proof of that age old adage that it's not the size of your catapult that matters, it's ... wait, who am I kidding? It's totally the size that counts.
I totally don't understand. It took me 44 (!!) times to reach 50.000 feet. The hi-score is 1 time???
What am i doing wrong?
I'm really getting annoyed with this game.
I've maxed everything out and have come to within 562 feet of 50k, but for my last 12 or so throws I don't even get to use my glider cuz I get speared before I reach the goal EVERY SINGLE TIME. It seems that between 40k and 50k there's a spear ogre every 10 feet or something, ugh.
Okay, finally beat the game and still never got to use my glider, took me 32 launches but I would have been done sooner if not for the spike ogre dudes. Seriously, I was hitting them for the last 14 launches.
The trick to this game is to
Launch as high and far as you can right off the bat, the more time you spend in the air the farther you'll go. Use up all your farts, magic, and bombs as soon as you hit the apex of your launch and you'll get up to 2200-2600 feet, from there, if you're lucky, you'll remain airborn until well past 30k feet.
Quite a simple version of the 'fling-it-as-far-as-you-can' genre, but cute graphics. Not a huge amount else in the game and the review is pretty much spot on.
Actually managed to beat the game on my 26th throw.. it's a lot of luck really. But it is cute.. and my catapult wasn't maxed out!
@pat
It's called cheating... not that I know how
@Username
If you read the instructions/hints, you would know not to use some of those things at the apex of your bounces.
I found best results from using magic right after the first bounce (at the nadir), then all 5 bombs right after the 2nd bounce. This easily gets me to 4000+ feet. As my bouncing attenuates, I use my fart while still at ~2000 feet. Farting resets your speed, so using it while you're really fast is generally a bad idea.
Got it in 22 launches. Top that! My stinkin' peasant was about 250 feet in the air at the point that the game ended.
Problem is, when you get the required distance, the game just ends right there. So there's no pushing for, say, 70,000 feet -- because you can't. Replay value = zero.
I'm disappointed that I didn't get any money for my winning throw =(
I hardly get the chance to use the wings, as I'm stabbed before that.
I finished in 20 throws. I found the most effective method is to
try to have your apex be around 200 ft high. Save all the help for when you are lower. Any higher and you hit more obstacles.
Got it at 20! still needed last upgrade for teh launcher and the glider, which I didn't use!
@HeroForge: The instructions say you'll unlock Endless Mode after you win?
19 throws! From 40k on i was holding my breath, hoping I wouldn't hit one of those dang spikes! They're so annoying!
The problem with these games is that they all come down to luck. If you hit 10 flying bombs on your first launch, you can easily get 20,000+ feet. I did this. It wasn't due to anything special I did, it was just luck. I only used my glider 3 times on the 12 launches it took to win, since you lose most of the time, not from running out of speed, but from having the misfortune of landing on a spear. Even then, the last 20,000 feet or so was mainly hitting bombs luckily. I do believe the 1 toss victors. They didn't get it because they did anything special, they just managed to luck out on the obstacle placement.
The female character (first unlock) made me feel uncomfortable, not only because of her ending up bloody and on her knees (same as the male character, if you think about it), but also because one of her flying poses involves her trying to keep herself covered as her skirt flies up. I used her once and then switched back to the male character.
On a lighter note, did you spot ET?
So, I kept playing a bit after finishing the game (around throw 20 and something), and now, at throw 37, I got to 156464 feet... the king was still bouncing to the top of the screen, but he stopped suddenly... not naturally, but as if the game got tired of bouncing him around (I was anyway)...
Is there a difference in the flight properties of the characters or are they just there to make the game more interesting?
I'm fed up with this game or rather the spike-dude-trolls... -.-
My best try so far was 49778 yards, meters or whatever when the peasant woman hit a spike troll... It would have been the last bounce, but nooooo. :/
The spike trolls are really annoying, otherwise the game is well done.
Got 15 on first playthrough and then again on the third (that time using 4tran's method. Could maybe knock that back by one or two with some luckier early bounces.
Elsa: Me, too. I found the female animations kind of squicky.
I finished the game after the 25th throw and i was too tired of the game to play the endless mode...
It is quite nicely drawn but it gets boring very soon...
Oh and I couldn't unlock the third character can anyone please tell me what this was?
The characters are so cute, this game managed to hook me up for an hour. If it weren't for the lance, I would have made 200k rather than only 100k. I must say I didn't expect such a primitive game to entertain so much.
I never unlocked the 3rd character, how the hell is that supposed to be done? I have the 4th one, bonus for destroying tents, birds, distance and playing a long time.
It took me about 29 throws to "win" the game and max out all the upgrades. I suspect that most of the high scores are cheaters. All in all, I preferred Toss the Turtle for this type of game.
Though Catapult Madness does say it is inspired by other catapult games, it totally fails to mention that the concept & title are plagarised from the pinball game Medieval Madness, wherein peasants and other various objects (bombs, food, animals) are launched from a catapult in the special mode known as Catapult Madness.
Furthermore the 2 trolls that pop up on the Medieval Madness table are identical to the rip-off troll drawings in this cheezy game.
Call it like it is!
I can never in these games figure out how to view which achievements I've gotten and which ones are left to achieve. Usually you get some sort of hint as to what to do.
@JIGuest
menu -> achievements
You can continue your progress with "load".
@Markus & somebody else
The 3rd character
was just another peasant. (S)he was not interesting in any obvious way. Unfortunately, I forget how I got it, except that it was after I got the king.
You can get the third peasant by just reaching a specific height. It's easy, launch, fart and hit 5 bombs, voila, third peasant.
yeah, just unlocked the third character!
You have to get higher than 15.000 feet!
Made it the 25th time to get to 50.000 feet!
i finished in 18 throws
This game is fun...ish, i don't know if it was luck or a lot of playing this games, but i "won" with the king on the 19th throw, and unlocked everything including the upgrades (2nd character by distance, 3rd by height, king by bombs? can't remember) by the 25th throw, good way to waste an hour, but not much more.
My opinion if you want to make a good throw right after you catapult, right after you hit fire button you hit all 5 bombs, immediately after bombs you hit spell, you got to be fast so your spell power is maxed. If you do it right you should reach 5000 feet high, if you do it best 6000 feet high. Don't use beans, they will only slow you down.
i have unlocked the third person he is a kid and in a blue and green costume and how you unlock him is to go 15000 feet into the air the achievement is called sky is the limit
FOR BEST RESULTS. max power/max height. instantly use "purple wizard" help and all bombs repeatedly. the rest is luck. you should get about 70,000 ft before you ever touch the ground. save beans for last. use glider right before you stop.
I finished in 7 throws, with an INCREDIBLY lucky final bounce. It may not help you but I was fully upgraded on everything, used the first peasent full power and highest angle, and I used all my helps right after the launch.
This has worked for me a couple of times (fully upgraded). Use the highest angle and launch power. Right after launch, use your spell and then bombs. After the glider, when you reach about 30 feet height on a bounce, use the beans.
@alison
how could you possibly be fully upgraded in 7 throws? It costs like 90000 for the final magic upgrade alone
Im playing on my itouch it may be different
How do you unlock the 4th chracter?
i have only been as far as 162182 ft (distance) and 101K height..i look at the leaderboards and i dont understand how they get so far..in the distance..or heights..
Beat on throw 21. Save magic til 2nd bounce and farts and bombs for when you slow down and are under 200 feet. I felt the girl was the best projectile. Good luck!
Did it in 12 turns, and I didn't think that I was particularly lucky. The key is to get as far each time as possible, to accumulate money as fast as possible, to provide your ability to save your lives and maintain your forward velocity. Your distances are low, and you hit the slowing birds and spears most often, when you are bouncing along the ground at a low height and low speed. So avoid that. Buy stuff in this order, then run through upgrades. But never save your money across rounds - spend it on something!
1) Beer beer beer! Don't lose height OR velocity when you bounce higher. You should be able to get to 50,000 pretty easily when you are at beer level 5.
2) Bean - Save life, + gain great velocity
3) Magic - Save life, gain good velocity
4) Bombs - sort of save lives (if you are about to stop, this only delays the inevitable), assist height when you are already at decent height
5) Glider 1 - Save life, get decent height
*Not as valuable: Catapult; Glider 2; Glider 3; Any passive upgrades past level 3
Good luck!
13 tries.
Max beer, 1 on the glider, and how many beans you can get before it finishes.
Max power, aim all the way up, use the beans right as you hit the highest your catapult will fling you, and let the game do the rest.
Too simple
I got up to 101,000 feet :-)
I have beat it in 17 throws but usually 20. Whoever has beat in one, cheats somehow. There isn't enough power to beat it in 1 or 5 or 7. They must punch in some secret code to make it have everything in the beginning of the game which makes it less fun. Cheats always ruins games.
Update