Review: Agile Forces
Agile Forces v1.0.17 | Published by Agile Software | Via Installer App | Free
Overview
From the publisher's site:Agile Forces is an online multi-player turn based war strategy game. Players are able to challenge other players from all over the world through our matchmaking server or play in single player mode. This game features complex war strategy scenarios in both single player and multi-player mode, stunning graphics and over 100 challenging maps to keep the player occupied for months.
Review
Even as just a demo, this game is AWESOME. I can't wait to get my hands on the full version. This is a strong turn-based strategy game, with simple controls well suited to the iPhone. It's important to understand that what is available through Installer is just a demo of Agile Forces, and it's still better than most of the games I've tried for iPhone. When you start the game, you'll be walked through a set of 7 tutorial stages to familiarize you with the mechanics of the game. From the start, it's made clear that this game doesn't take itself terribly seriously:
The percentage shown above the opposing unit's head is the percentage of their total health they will have lost after your attack. An attacker will always do more damage than the equivalent defending unit. And while that's fun, it's a bit basic to qualify as a "strategy game." Still, the designer's did a good job of conveying a lot of information in a simplified way:
Greyed out units have completed their actions for a turn, and the number above a unit's head shows their remaining health, from 1-10. After a couple tutorials, however, you realize that there's much more than meets the eye to this game.
Terrain plays an important factor: vehicles can't cross mountains or rivers (without a bridge), while infantry can. Infantry has better defense in mountains and forested areas, and all units become much more difficult to attack if they entrench themselves in a village. There's at least 9 kinds of units, based on the tutorials, and each has different strengths, weaknesses, and movement patterns. This is a surprisingly rich and enjoyable game in a tiny little package.
And all of that is just the demo. The full release, currently unpriced on the publisher's site, will have over 100 levels and online multiplayer options. As much fun as the single player is, I think that a multiplayer version of this game, if implemented correctly, could be an early HALO-like victory for the App Store. Pick it up as soon as you can, so I have more people to play with!
