Review: Westward

Overview 

It’s Sims in the Wild West! Well…sort of. This is a real time strategy game that is based off the PC title of the same name by Sandlot Games. Explore, settle, and build your very own town while battling bandits, natural disasters, and the everyday life of the old west. This all takes place around a main storyline involving a con artist that you must track down and help the local sheriff bring to justice. Features The game features over 20 different levels and four different locations that you can explore and build on. The ability to make camp and build almost anywhere you want is another cool feature in the game. Just about everything is customizable from the towns and buildings to the type of personality and working traits each one of your characters have. There are also a few side missions that have nothing to do with the main story, but help to add a little more value to the game. Breakdown

 The Good: 
I really don’t like paying more than a few dollars for most applications on my phone, especially games. I only really play with them for a few hours and then they sit there on my phone, never to be opened again…ah, so many wasted dollars…sigh. However, I feel the biggest selling point for this app is what you get for the price. It’s easily worth $4.99 if you’re looking for Sims in the Wild West. Because that’s basically what this is. It plays out well here and there are tons of things to do. This game will easily suck you in and you’ll be surprised at how much time you’ll spend with it. The graphics and sound/music are top notch and the storyline actually works very well in terms of keeping things interesting. For the most part it’s a fun real time strategy game that is sure to keep you entertained for hours and hours. The Bad: So much waiting!!! There’s a ridiculous amount of waiting involved when playing this game. First, the mind-numbing tutorial that you can’t ever skip no matter how many times you’ve gone through it, is the absolute worst part of this game. It’s pretty terrible. After playing this game for a few minutes, you get how the controls work. Yet, the tutorial never seems to stop. After almost a half hour I was still being instructed on what to do. It’s incredibly frustrating. Next is the tasks themselves. I applaud the Devs for wanting to have the tasks on screen. It helps you to remember what to do and where to blah, blah, blah. But it takes up the entire top portion of the screen. It’s distracting and annoying as hell if you don’t want to look at them anymore. And there is no way to get rid of them until you do whatever it is that it asks you to do. Make it go to the tasks list or something if you need a reminder…seriously! You can see from the pictures here that it can get in the way. Especially if there’s like a lot of text there…which there always is by the way. Other than this really annoying feature, the game also has some lag issues. Also, controlling more than one person at a time or getting them inside a building can get frustrating as well. You get the hang of it eventually, but the controls just don’t feel as smooth as you’d like them to. Verdict

 Here’s the deal. Most games that are modeled after “The Sims” are all the same. Get your stats up, build something, get a job, yada, yada. If that’s what you like, then this game is great. The old west element is very fun and there’s enough of a challenge and story to keep things from getting boring or monotonous. However, if these types of games aren’t your thing, then stay away from this one. It has enough flaws in it that make it more trouble than it’s worth. I’m impatient when it comes to gaming. Have I ever read an instruction manual for a game? No! And most likely neither have you. It’s the freaking iPhone for crying out load. How hard can the controls be! The tutorial is so exhausting that by the time you get through it, you’ve checked out of the game entirely. And if you’ve hung in there, well guess what? There’s still more tutorials coming your way as you progress through the game. Seriously, I’m getting annoyed just writing about them so I’m done…