Troops Has Taken On The App Store, Can You Win It Back?
Troops ($0.99) by Paul Scott-Murphy is a real time strategy game that is also similar to a puzzle game. Players control an army of regenerating cells and try to take over the enemy by massive reproduction. Doesn’t this remind you of a zombie invasion?
The goal of the game is to annihilate enemy troops by invading and taking over territories. Players start out with a couple of cells, either red or yellow, called troops. To move the troops, simply swipe from the current location to an adjacent cell until you’ve reached your preferred destination, which should be a troop generator or an enemy cell.
There are a handful of troop bases sprinkled about the board. The player that commands the most troop bases will probably win the game. Players can build new bases when they have a troop in a base. Tap and hold an adjacent cell to begin the building process. The more bases, the more troops are generated. The more troops you have, the faster you can overpower the enemy and win.
To wipe out enemy troops, move your cell into a space that has an enemy in it. Make sure that your troop is stronger than the enemy’s or you will lose the battle. Strength of a troop is represented by the size of the cell. If two battling troops are the same size, move a second troop into the same cell and you will win that fight. The key to this game is numbers. Develop the largest number of troops and you are sure to win.
Players can compete against each other in real-time by connecting their iPhone or iPad through a Bluetooth connection. There is also a custom level builder where players can create their own battlefield and share it with others. The person they share the creation with can either view the board online or go directly to the app on their device and play.
This strategy game is very fun, but a little confusing to understand. The cells build up as they are created. New troops grow stronger when other troops link to them, but sometimes, even when troops are linked directly with a base, they don’t grow. Troops from outside the base will have to feed back into it in order to produce stronger cells. The instructions are vague, so the details don’t make a lot of sense. There is a lot of trial-and-error that takes place when you first start playing.
Although it can be a bit tricky to figure out the semantics, it is definitely entertaining for fans of strategy-based games. The graphics are minimal, there are just a bunch of circles and hexagons, but that is what makes it seem like a board game. The price is perfect for what you get at only $0.99. The best part of this game is that you can build your own battle field. Wanna fight?
