Review of Sid Meier's Ace Patrol [iOS]

Turn based strategy games are perfect for phones and tablets. You can put them down at any moment and come back to them whenever you want but good quality ones seem to be sorely lacking. Can Sid Meir himself finally create something decent for the portable device?

Ace Patrol is set in World War I and puts you in command of a squadron of fighter planes. As your pilots achieve victories they level up and you are able to choose which new manoeuvres they will learn. As the war progresses you gain access to new planes and you are also given random upgrades to stick onto planes. The random upgrades seem a little forced and I think it could have been a lot more fun if you had earned some kind of in-game currency that let you choose what you upgraded.

The game is set out in a series of campaigns that make up the greater war effort, much like a tabletop wargame. Failing a mission does not mean you have lost the war and this adds a level of realism. For each battle, you get to choose between three missions to play and each campaign ends with a special mission that you must play. Missions include things like shooting down bombers, fighting an enemy ace one on one, escorting recon planes, plus many others. At first this seems like a lot of choice but as the war is divided into four campaigns and for each different nation you basically play the same thing, there isn't that much to do.

As one would expect in dogfighting, combat is all about manoeuvring. Your choices are represented by arrows laid out on the hexagonal grid, the more moves your pilot knows, the more choices you have. This can become a bit problematic on the iPhone, as with the smaller screen, pressing the correct button can be difficult. It is a lot of fun though as you try to outwit your opponent and trick them into a bad position. Other factors play into this as well such as anti-aircraft guns and cloud cover.

It's available for free though it's gonna cost you at least a dollar to get a full campaign. You also get the choice of two player via hotseat, or network, which is a pretty good inclusion. The problem with the game is that it still feels like a phone game. It lacks the depth of a PC strategy game, it's graphics are a bit hit and miss and the pictures of your characters are kind of creepy (why do they smile like that?). Yet if you were to buy everything it had to offer it would cost you around $15. This once would have seemed cheap but you can pick plenty of indie strategy titles for less; Reus for example is $10 for the PC. Other little things let it down too, such as bugs that display the wrong information and the confusing layout of in app-purchases. Perhaps most confusing is the receipt I received from iTunes that says I bought the All Nations pack, which does not include one of the nations. Although I'm sure some of these things will be ironed out, it is always best to make a good first impression.

The dogfighting, levelling up and the fact that you can get most of the game for only a dollar, make this a pretty solid title, it is just not the dream strategy game I have been waiting for, for my phone 8/10.

Three Free Games for Your iOS Device

Minigore 2 [iOS] IGN are offering this game for free until the end of the month here. You just run around in a little arena and blast and chop your usually undead foes till you die or get bored. Then you go and buy some stuff in the store. It's a lot of fun but it doesn't hold my attention for a very long time 7.5/10.

Bread Kittens [iOS] I love this game because it is so stupid. It's a Pokemon ripoff that only features cats and in order to capture cats you need to throw a piece of bread around their heads. Then when you have captured a cat, you can bake it a hat that makes it more powerful. The game is generally kinda grindy and doesn't give you a huge amount of rewards as it wants you to spend money on it but due to its stupidity I love it 7.2/10.

Injustice Gods Among Us [iOS] Injustice is great if you want some simple arcade action featuring superheroes kicking the crap out of each other. It lacks any real depth though, as unlike a true arcade fighter you are unable to move around. You just tap out combos then maybe do a swipe to finish the chain, some super moves want swipes or for you to tap really fast and occasionally you put two fingers to the screen to block. Whilst really more of an ad for the console games it can get quite dear if you want to start buying all the packs of cards. It does feature great graphics but only has a niche appeal 6.9/10.

3 Short Reviews

BioShock Infinite [PC, PS3, Xbox 360] A solid game game but no-where near as amazing as the press had made it out to be. The powers aren't as exciting to use as those in Dishonored and the story takes a lull right at the time you are hit with a chunk of repetitive gameplay. Still well worth a play even if it's just to see how pretty it looks 8/10.

Running Unicorn Attack 2 [iOS (coming to Android)] The 80's have made quite a resurgence in videogames this year with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon launching only a week ago and Running Unicorn Attack 2 (RUA 2) only a few days before that. Although they are probably both more early 90's than you might care to believe, RUA 2 embodies the spirit of what we have come to believe the 80's were. It combines cheesy music and memories of over the top children's T.V., with the ubiquitous endless runner. You play as a unicorn jumping, dashing and flying about the world, collecting tears and fairies, smashing stars and giants, all set against beautiful backgrounds that feature flying whales, dolphins and seahorses. So yes it makes no sense. It has some let downs like the occasional bit of slow-down and it does get a little repetitive but it's free and well worth the experience of cheesiness and rainbow-pooping unicorns 7/10.

Haunted Hollow [iOS] Is a turn based game from Firaxis who can't stop mentioning that they made the latest XCOM. What Haunted Hollow lacks that XCOM had in spades is depth. There are some really cool ideas here but little to keep you playing after your first few run throughs. You can play versus the computer or versus a friend in a hot swap arrangement or even online but there is only one map to play on. It's free to play but you will need to purchase extra monsters and items to get the full experience, oddly though, there is no option to buy a new map. The monsters are fun and the levelling up your house to get new, tougher ones is a nice feature but due to your movement points also being your cash for new monsters, you rarely have very many out. It's an interesting idea that could have been better executed 7/10.