There’s no denying that Clash of Clans is a wild success on iOS. Of course, it’s not surprising at all when other companies try to repeat that success for themselves by creating all kinds of Clash of Clans clones. Add Space Ape’s Samurai Siege to the pile of games that play almost exactly like Clash of Clans.

For those out of the loop, Clash of Clans is the premier social, real-time strategy game on iOS. Players build up bases, generate resources, train troops, and raid each other’s bases for more resources. Those resources go back into expanding the base even further, upgrading troops, and building even more fearsome armies. With Clash often generating more than $1 million per day, it’s only natural that a ton of copies flood the App Store to try to get a piece of that multimillion dollar pie.

The base-building social RTS game is an awfully specific subgenre and the clones have quickly oversaturated the market. These clones have to have something really special to make them stand out from the rest, let alone stand out from Clash of Clans.

At first blush, Samurai Siege is not doing anything special at all. I could describe nearly the entire game to a Clash of Clans player by giving them a list that says: Coins = Gold, Essence = Elixir, Dojos = Barracks, Samurai = Barbarians, etc. The game is a parallel universe of Clash of Clans where it is based on eastern medieval fantasy instead of western medieval fantasy. I don’t understand developers who clone games so exactly. When the mechanics are the same, your theme is the only way you’re going to pull gamers away from the dominant player in the market (Clash of Clans). How many gamers are really going to leave Clash and start from scratch just so that they can use Samurai and Ninjas instead of Barbarians and Goblins?

That said, dismissing Samurai Siege as only a clone of Clash of Clans would be slightly misleading. Once you’ve made some progress in the game, you can find some unique mechanics if you dig a little. These are the small differences that could make Samurai Siege more appealing than Clash to some players. Space Ape doesn’t really advertise these though, so players are going to find out about the differences only by playing the game. If you just read the iTunes description for Samurai Siege, you’d come away thinking it was nothing but Clash of Clans with an Asian setting (okay, the last feature they mention is Alliance Wars which is something that Clash players have been requesting for some time).

One of the biggest differences is that the single-player game campaign is very directly tied to the multiplayer game. In Clash of Clans, you can become a high-level player and unlock every building and warrior without making any progress in the single-player campaign. In Samurai Siege, advancing through the single-player campaign is the only way to unlock new unit types and many of the building types. The campaign is even further entangled with the rest of the game because there are certain checkpoints on the campaign map that you can’t get past without a certain amount of Honor. You’ll need to raid other player’s bases in order to earn Honor (for those of you who are Clash-literate, Honor is equivalent to Trophies).

I really think it’s interesting how Samurai Siege encourages all players to advance through base-building, multiplayer raiding, and the single-player campaign. Sure, it’s a great way to keep the community active in all areas of your game, but it also means every player is going to play the game in roughly the same way. One of my favorite parts about Clash of Clans is that players have access to a few viable general strategies — farming in pursuit of resources, raiding in pursuit of trophies, or a hybrid base that seeks to balance the pros and cons of the two extreme strategies. That’s just not going to be possible in Samurai Siege. Defensive players who want to farm for resources will need more defensive towers. Offensive players who want to raid for Honor will need more unit types. To unlock both towers and units, players will need to play the single-player campaign, so they’ll also need Honor from multiplayer. It doesn’t matter where players enter this loop, they’re going to wind up needing to dedicate their time to all areas of the game.

As far as the single-player campaign goes, it seems to have more meat than the one in Clash. Each level has a short description so it fits in to the overarching story. Some levels have brief dialogue in-between them, explaining the acquisition of a new unit or the need for more Honor. The story is spread across many levels and multiple environments. The levels are quite a bit easier to complete than the ones in Clash, but this makes sense as there are many more in Samurai Siege and you only unlock a new unit or building every five levels or so.

The art in Samurai Siege is solid. The characters have cartoon charm, the buildings have distinct looks, and the environments and decorations are lovely. The buildings and units have fairly simple animations that can look a little choppy, but Clash suffers from the same issue. I want to particularly call out the campaign map which is a large gorgeous illustration of valleys, mountains, and a desert. It has subtle animations throughout that add immensely to its grandeur. Throw in some of the game’s subtle but beautiful music and you’ve got a map screen that’s worth spending some time on to just pan around and explore.

Speaking of the game’s music, its soundtrack unsurprisingly consists of classical eastern music. The music is unobtrusive, tranquil, and enchanting. The tunes aren’t really the type to get stuck in your head but they do a great job of being background sound that sets the tone of the whole game.

As you unlock some of the later units and towers, you’ll find some that have original mechanics. For example, there’s a tower that freezes groups of enemies for a few seconds at a time. An example of a unique unit is the Battering Ram, which is an explosive battering ram held by four warriors. Battering Rams server the same role as Clash’s Wall Breakers, but after the ram explodes, the four warriors who were holding it are able to join the battle as foot soldiers. Another unit of note is the Commander which makes nearby units target defensive buildings first.

Just like Clash of Clans though, raiding and defending is all about understanding how the stupid unit AI works and how to use it to your advantage. When you’re on offense, it’s all about using smart combinations of different units and carefully choosing where to deploy them so they go for the target you want them to. When you’re preparing your base for defense, it’s all about organizing your buildings in pattern that will make the enemy troops spend the maximum amount of time in the line of fire and target your unimportant buildings before your important ones.

Like Clash of Clans, Samurai Siege is free-to-play and makes its money by selling bundles of Diamonds. The premium currency can be used in the same way — to buy more builders, to speed up construction, training, and upgrade times, and to instantly buy more Coins and Essence. Notably, free Diamonds are much harder to earn as you cannot get them by clearing the obstacles that naturally grow on your property.

Players can from Alliances to share troops, chat with each other, and enter Alliance warfare. That last bit is so far absent in Clash of Clans, despite it being a common player request. In Samurai Siege, Alliances can declare war on one another. Alliance wars last for a set amount of time and the winner is the Alliance that earned the most honor during that time. The winners will also take home free Diamonds. Alliances can also level up separately from players. Members of an Alliance give the Alliance experience by upgrading their buildings and donating troops. Whenever an Alliance levels up, all of its members receive some free Diamonds.

The game is younger than Clash and not without some refinement. I didn’t have any trouble with network connectivity or crashes, but I encountered a few interface bugs like trying to delete units from one of my Dojo’s queues actually deleted the units from the other Dojo’s queue. The game also lacks some of the subtleties that make Clash of Clans feel so great to play. Examples include builders not animating while working on a building, resource buildings letting you claim the resources even when your storages are full, and units not reacting when you tap on the Practice Yards (in Clash, all units do a short animation when you tap on the Camp they are in).

The Bottom Line:

Samurai Siege is off to a good start. It’s one of the better Clash clones I’ve played and it’s got the professional art, sound, and network stability to back it up. It has a richer single-player campaign, but falls short of Clash just about everywhere else. Still, it might be nice to join a fresh game where the top players have only been playing a few weeks more than you instead of a full year more. I’m not sure if Samurai Siege will ever be able to gather the critical mass of players it needs to succeed, but if it does, I can see it developing into a great game over time. If something has turned you off of Clash of Clans but you still have that itch to play something like it, Samurai Siege would be a good game to turn to.

Note:

Samurai Siege is both available on the App Store and Google Play Store. Just follow the links below to download:

iTunes App Store Link for iPhone and iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/samurai-siege/id643798619?mt=8

Google Play Link for Android Phones and Tablets: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spaceapegames.samuraisiege