Review: Strongholds: New Age
by Robb Romero
January 3, 2011
Overview
Strongholds: New Age is the first iPad version of Strongholds, a well-received card-battling game originally released for iPhone. Much like earlier versions of Strongholds, combatants take turns playing one of six randomly-dealt cards until one player successfully builds up their own Stronghold or defeats their opponent's.
Features
With over 100 cards, three characters (expandable to six with three separate in-app purchases), three battle locations, and two difficulty levels, Strongholds: New Age offers enough content to appease both fans of turn-based strategy games and card games like Magic: The Gathering. Online play is also available through OpenFeint.
The Good
Many of this app's strengths draw on its evolution from the earlier apps. Having already heard players' feedback about the gameplay, the developers have created a wonderfully balanced card game that is both quick-to-learn and easy-to-control, which can easily lead to compulsively addictive games.
Though this sort of game would not require pleasing graphics and intuitive controls, Strongholds: New Age surprises players with both. To play a card, players can double-tap on it, move it to the play area, or tap "Play" after tapping the card. As the battles wage on, players can actually watch how each card affects the battlefield, adding to or damaging buildings on both sides of the field, giving the whole battle a greater sense of inertia.
The Bad
Unlike Magic: The Gathering, there is no collectible card-gathering in Strongholds: New Age; all cards come included, but they are plentiful in number. Without a campaign or story mode, only the character choices and difficulty level can offer variety to the gameplay. To unlock half of the characters for your own use (and not just the AI's), additional in-app-purchases are required, so many players will be further limited to the three basic characters and their respective stats.
The Verdict
For prospective buyers looking for a well-balanced card game, Strongholds: New Age is sure to please due to its focus on gameplay, which continually delivers a mentally-stimulating experience. But without much depth outside of the gameplay, this app may have limited replay value for those who want more than just-one-more battle. While this casual approach of playing anywhere and anytime has been praised by players of the iPhone counterparts, it is less fulfilling on the larger device where one may want to lounge and take more than a few minutes to play a game. Because Strongholds: New Age has such a great sense of balance, it's something that lovers of card games should consider if they would like to have a well-made card game on their iPad.
With over 100 cards, three characters (expandable to six with three separate in-app purchases), three battle locations, and two difficulty levels, Strongholds: New Age offers enough content to appease both fans of turn-based strategy games and card games like Magic: The Gathering. Online play is also available through OpenFeint.
The Good
Many of this app's strengths draw on its evolution from the earlier apps. Having already heard players' feedback about the gameplay, the developers have created a wonderfully balanced card game that is both quick-to-learn and easy-to-control, which can easily lead to compulsively addictive games.
Though this sort of game would not require pleasing graphics and intuitive controls, Strongholds: New Age surprises players with both. To play a card, players can double-tap on it, move it to the play area, or tap "Play" after tapping the card. As the battles wage on, players can actually watch how each card affects the battlefield, adding to or damaging buildings on both sides of the field, giving the whole battle a greater sense of inertia.
The Bad
Unlike Magic: The Gathering, there is no collectible card-gathering in Strongholds: New Age; all cards come included, but they are plentiful in number. Without a campaign or story mode, only the character choices and difficulty level can offer variety to the gameplay. To unlock half of the characters for your own use (and not just the AI's), additional in-app-purchases are required, so many players will be further limited to the three basic characters and their respective stats.
The Verdict
For prospective buyers looking for a well-balanced card game, Strongholds: New Age is sure to please due to its focus on gameplay, which continually delivers a mentally-stimulating experience. But without much depth outside of the gameplay, this app may have limited replay value for those who want more than just-one-more battle. While this casual approach of playing anywhere and anytime has been praised by players of the iPhone counterparts, it is less fulfilling on the larger device where one may want to lounge and take more than a few minutes to play a game. Because Strongholds: New Age has such a great sense of balance, it's something that lovers of card games should consider if they would like to have a well-made card game on their iPad.
