strategy - 2/4 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

[New Game] The Hunters Look To Scratch Your Strategy Itch

Posted by Matt Demers in Games, News

The Hunters: Episode One is a new game on the Google Play Store that looks to appeal to fans of the XCOM, Jagged Alliance, and Final Fantasy Tactics series. You take control of a team of mercenaries in turn-based missions which will earn you money upon completion. You can use that money to upgrade your squad and complete contracts that refresh every day. You can also purchase in-game currency with real money, as well.

The game takes advantage of a tablet or phone's touch screen in order to give you a really good look of the battlefield; of course, you can zoom in and out to get as intimate as you want.

Oct

Desert Stormfront Review: A Good Start For Touch-Based Real Time Strategy

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Game Reviews, Games

I have a special place in my heart for real time strategy games. Some of my fondest memories are playing with my dad in our cobbled-together home LAN with games like Age of Empires and Red Alert. But until last week, the last time I had seen a quality mobile RTS was Warfare Incorporated back on my Palm Tungsten T3, almost a decade ago. But now there's a real alternative: Desert Stormfront, from Noble Master Games, is worth a look from any dedicated strategy fan. It emulates the look and feel of Command & Conquer (with a few important changes) but wraps it all up in what's probably the best touch interface for an RTS available at the moment.

Oct

Plague Inc. Has Arrived On Android, Now Your iOS Buddies Aren't The Only Ones Who Can Infect The World With Deadly Diseases

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

Even if you haven't played it before, there's a decent chance you've seen Plague Inc. around the internet. Usually, it involves seeing a screenshot that informs you your mom has killed thousands of people. If you've ever wondered how you—yes, you!—can also create silly-named diseases that annihilate Earth's population with your Android phone, the answer has arrived! Go here, download the game, then spend 15 minutes staring at the screen trying to come up with something clever. Fair warning: "BieberFever" has already been done to death.

Of course, there is actually a game part to this game. The action is rather slow-going at first, but that's the point.

Sep

[New Game] Desert Stormfront Is Touchscreen Real-Time Strategy In The Command & Conquer Tradition

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

I've been waiting for an Android game that gets touchscreen real-time strategy right for a long time. And I think I may have found it in Desert Stormfront, just posted to the Google Play Store by "Age of Conquest" developer Noble Master Games. It's an old-school, sprite-based strategy game in the vein of Command & Conquer or Age of Empires.

But instead of dumbing down the complexity for mobile users, the developers have adapted the mouse-and-keyboard controls for gaming on a touchscreen - though I have to admit it works much, much better on a tablet than on a smartphone. For example, the common unit groups used in PC RTS games (Control-1, et cetera) are adapted into on-screen buttons, and the screen-filling menus are now dynamic, appearing only when you need them.

Sep

[Game Review] Total War Battles: Shogun Is A Failed Experiment In Real-Time Strategy

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Apps/Games, Games, Reviews

The real-time strategy genre has a lot to recommend it: tactical thinking, fast-paced unit and resource management, and multiplayer atmosphere that's unlike anything else in gaming. But it's hard to escape the fact that in order to have a real RTS, you just need a mouse. Precise movements and commands are nigh impossible on a touchscreen. Sega's Total War Battles: Shogun is a spinoff from their wildly successful Total War PC franchise, which breaks with tradition and tries to adapt the RTS genre to the touchscreen. Unfortunately, just about everything that makes a strategy game enjoyable is lost in translation.

A new Spin On An Old Hat

Some of the staples of real-time strategy are here: bases with buildings which manufacture units, gathering different kinds of resources, incremental technology upgrades.

Aug

[New Game] Orc Genocide Combines Tower Defense And Multiplayer Strategy, Kills More Orcs Than Aragorn

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

Last Updated: August 23rd, 2012

Four out of five fantasy authors agree: orcs are bad. Combine this rather simplistic notion with tower defense (and gloss over the fact that the player is creating his or her own army of unholy killing machines) and you've got Orc Genocide. The basic idea follows the super-popular tower defense genre pretty closely, but infuses it with more strategy and tactics than we've seen in a long time. The multiplayer options - both local and over a wireless LAN - are icing on the proverbial cake. The game is free and should work with just about any Android device out there.

Aug

[New Game] Kingdoms & Lords Arrives On Android, Is Half-Sim, Half-Strategy, All Medieval Action

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

Apparently simventure is quickly becoming its own genre. Today's latest entry into this crossover category is Kingdoms & Lords from Gameloft, which has finally hit release after being announced back in June. Part of the game will take place in a simulated kingdom (spoilers, I know). You'll spend your time managing your economy "on a daily basis", as the description on the Play Store is quick to point out. Hopefully this won't be the Farmville-ian style where, if you cease to play for a few hours, your kingdom dies. After all, plants may need watering, but these peasants ought to be able to fend for themselves.

Jul

Z Origins Makes Its Way To Android, Reminds You That RTS Games Existed Before Command And Conquer

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

It seems that mobile gaming is a haven for all the old classics to reappear. Rising even further from the ashes of the past than most other recent arrivals comes Z Origins, a remake of the RTS from the DOS days simply called "Z" by The Bitmap Brothers. It predates notable fan favorite Command and Conquer from Westwood Studios. Though it did come out roughly four years after Dune II (also from Westwood) which served as the archetype for most RTS games to follow, Z departs from traditional RTS gameplay in that collection of resources and structure construction as a requisite for certain units were not part of the game.

Jul

Great Big War Game Review: I Love The Smell Of Well-Balanced Strategy In The Morning

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

As mobile gaming starts to mature, new developers and properties have had a chance to shine. While Rubicon's Great Little War Game hasn't reached the lofty heights of some of the more mainstream titles, its mix of cartoonish humor and solid turn-based strategy has made it one of the most popular games on Android. The sequel, craftily named Great Big War Game, brings elements from both new and old strategy games to make a more cohesive whole. Is it worth three bucks? Well, even with the new editions the core gameplay remains the same -the visuals and feel haven't gotten as big a shift as the change from "Little" to "Big" might imply.

May

Gamevil Releases 'Cartoon Wars 2: Heroes' To The Play Store

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

Remember Cartoon Wars? Well, all the murderous stickman-fighting action you can handle is back in Gamevil's latest title: Cartoon Wars 2: Heroes.

As the self-proclaimed "most complete defense and real-time strategy game of the Cartoon Wars series," CW2 picks up where the original left off, and even adds a handful of features, including new heroes. In CW2 you can develop your stickman hero from six upgradeable characters, learning new skills as you level up.

There are three different modes of gameplay in CW2: Quick, Special, and, of course, Hell mode. I had to put it in italics to add to the dramatic effect.