Review: Civilizations Wars

At first glance, you wouldn’t expect too much from a game that costs only 99 cents. But does that mean that Civilizations Wars skimps out on the meat and potatoes of what makes a game worth playing? I hope that I am able to answer this question for you. This fast-paced RTS/RPG game available now for the iPhone and iPod Touch also started out as a Flash game and recently made its way to iTunes.You start out controlling a tribe of warriors on their conquest to gain a power so strong that it destroyed the single ancient civilization that wielded it. The game offers a tutorial to show you how to move your troops from building to building and how to use your skills to your advantage. There are 33 locations, or boards, that you have to conquer and you get to choose between 3 different tribes. Each tribe has its weaknesses and strengths. Gaining experience on the battle whether you win or lose allows players to level up and customize their tribe with 18 skills. Luckily if you feel that you aren’t using a skill that you built up, you can downgrade it and use the points to learn or boost another skill.

With gameplay similar to that of Galcon, Civilizations Wars also offers a few additional features. Starting the battle, you and your enemy have control over anywhere from one to a few buildings, with the rest being neutral until taken over. As you touch and drag your finger from one of your bases to either a neutral or opposing one, it removes half of the base’s stationed soldiers. Fear not, as the number slowly rises with time so you can continue to send more out. There are a few different types of buildings; one that just houses troops, mines for collecting crystals, and towers that offer offensive protection by shooting enemies drawing near. The controls work really well for this title, and I only had very few times where I could not get the base to be selected even if my finger was dead on top of it. Skills are easy to use as you follow the same motion as choosing which troops to attack other bases. The skills range from increased defense, shield, all to more offensive ones such as fireball, lightning, and golem.

Civilizations Wars gives players twelve slots to save and three auto-save slots total, allowing you to be able to save at various points in your journey. The menus are easy to understand and use with the font being big enough to read and giving a small description of things like the conditions to unlock runes or the different modes when choosing a level. Unlocking the different modes and the other two tribes give you a good deal of replayability, adding to the time spent on the game. The graphics are fitting for the theme of the game and aren’t distracting. While the music is nice, you may find yourself muting it after long, as it feels like the same few phrases play over and over again.

As you progress through the campaign, you will notice that the enemies become tougher as you move along. The difficulty ramp isn’t too bad, though there will be times that you can clear one stage with ease only to be beaten down by the next. This could be due to the tiny font or enemy colors being too similar to the neutral bases. The other seven modes can also increase difficulty, with one making you blind to the number of enemies on the board and those making their way to your bases. Some of the modes are unlocked once you reach a set level and can pay off with more experience points if you manage to succeed. You have Blind, Twilight, Blaster, Mummy Survival, Increased Strength, No Magic, and Instant Death modes.

If all that was not enough content to give players, Civilizations Wars also integrates Game Center complete with leader-boards and an impressive 54 achievements. In this day and age, it does seem that people love to earn achievements and top the leader-boards. Overall, the achievements are fairly easy to earn and the game lets you know how to unlock each one. Whether its casting a skill a set number of times or winning a mode so many times, you’ll not only unlock the trophy but gain extra experience.

Does Civilizations Wars have more bang for a buck, or should you spend your dollar on something else? I honestly feel that it is indeed worth the price. Addictive RPG/strategy games at that price are hard to find as is, and with all the gameplay already included, and with additional content on the way, Civililzation Wars is definitely worth $1.

Doin’ It RIGHT: - Offers a ton of content for a game priced at under a dollar. - Tons of customization from different modes, spells, and three tribes to choose from. - More content to be added.	Doin’ It RONG: - Tiny font makes it slightly difficult to tell how many enemies are in a base. - Enemy colors and neutral colors can be too similar to tell apart.
FINAL SCORE: 9 / 10