Ever since I first played Starcraft back when I was 12 years old, I was immediately hooked on the genre. I played games like Starcraft and Age of Empires 2 online day in and day out. When Starcraft 2 was announced I pre-ordered it and began playing on Battle.net the day it came out. I quickly reached Diamond division (the highest in the game) and Masters division when it was later released. Since I can’t get my strategy fix from Starcraft on the go, I’ve been looking at various mobile strategy games.
Starcraft 2 one of my favorite RTS games
The first game I stumbled upon is one that most people should be familiar with, Game of War. Yes, it’s the same Game of War with all the Kate Upton commercials. I guess their advertising worked, because it’s one of the first mobile strategy games I played. I’m not exactly new to the genre, because I’ve been playing browser based strategy games like Summoner’s Legion and Total Domination, so I was able to pick up Game of War rather quickly. It’s actually an incredibly polished and functional game. It doesn’t exactly bring anything new to the table, but it’s developed by a Western company, so that alone makes me feel comfortable with it, because a lot of Asian developed strategy games feel like money grabs. Ever play League of Angels Fire Raiders? It’s a complete money grab. Game of War has some pay to win elements too, but as does every strategy game on the browser and mobile. Game of War is definitely one of the most polished in the genre. Everything from the menus to the loading bars just look crisp and well made. The game is one of the highest grossing titles on the app store for a reason.
The next strategy game I tried was DomiNations by Nexon M. I’m not sure if they’re the same Nexon behind Dragons Nest and MapleStory 2, but either way, they make a pretty darn good game. I’m actually playing both DomiNations and Game of War regularly right now. The progression in DomiNations from the Stone Age all the way to modern times/space age is very reminiscent of Civilization, and this is likely so because the game’s lead designer is Brian Reynolds, the guy who literally designed Civilization 2 and Rise of Nations. So with a guy like Reynolds behind DomiNations, it’s not surprising that the game is incredibly fun.
Anyway, these are just two games I stumbled upon and so far really enjoy. There are a lot of other games I plan to try soon and will probably write about them later. Empire: Four Kingdoms is one game I have my eye on, but right now two strategy games is more than enough for me. It’s hard to juggle two already, because when i’m at home, I prefer to play something on the PC rather than mobile, so I only get to play these games when i’m out and about.