Wars and Battles (iOS) Review

The battle of Normandy during World War II was a major event that changed the course of the war at the time. It's a battle that has been dramatised in countless ways, from the enduring film Saving Private Ryan, to many video game series that include Medal of Honor and Call of Duty; there is no shortage of depictions of this historic battle. With Battle Factory's Wars and Battles, the aim was to make an easy-to-pick-up-and-play strategy.

From the beginning, it makes a strong first impression, and throughout the whole game, it maintains a fine level of polish. Battle Factory's title runs quite fluid on iOS, and has full 3D models and natural character animations. The details look authentic, although it is curious that Wars and Battles opts for iron cross imagery over the swastika when it comes to depicting the German military. This is probably because the producers of the game want people to use the other features, which allow people to play as the bad guys with their own mission structure; and the developers know that people might feel uncomfortable playing as the team using the most despicable symbol the modern age has come to know.

Gameplay is nothing earth-shattering or unseen from other types of turn-based strategy games, but Battle Factory does keep things interesting by adding simple yet effective flourishes that profoundly affect the strategy and the flow of each battle. Based on a hexagonal tile movement system, Wars and Battles has the standard turn-based movement, but it also has the option to stack units on top of each other. This seems like a brilliant manoeuvre for powering up units, but it does come at the cost of sacrificing a bit of territory and activation points, which are basically "turns."

There is also always the management of resources or supplies that some units require, allowing for a slight sim-like aspect to the wars. The interface is quite clean and easy to read, and the visual depiction of the battle is like a map with miniature soldiers stomping about like ling breathing G.I. Joe action figures. Aside from the standard 3D view, there is also a much more simplified 2D game mode that makes all the in-game graphics flat - an almost table-top playing card-like interface. Granted, a player can never become too good in Wars and Battles, since the game does use table-top rules, so there is always a chance the dice can completely betray any strategy that relies on a bit of risk.

The AI is decent, and since the core game is never too complicated, there really isn't any means to exploit any real weaknesses in the coding. There is also a mode for online play, but for the purposes of this review, that feature will not be covered because it was never tested. The different missions available are a dense breadth of the sort of conditions soldiers might have come to expect during the second Great War, and while there is not a huge amount of missions, they are split evenly between the Axis and Allies.

Both campaigns get 10 missions, making a total of 20 battles combined, which is a fair deal for this table-top-inspired strategy game. For the asking price of what is essentially a starter pack for other wars to come, it's not a bad deal. Promises of other, more obscure, wars to come, like the October War of 1973 and the Korean War will prove to excite history buffs, as well as Battle Factory's competency with this genre.

This iOS strategy game is surprisingly very exciting thanks to the visuals, tense scenarios and reliance on player choice. Battle Factory outdid themselves with the Normandy 1944 campaign, and while it is not clear at the moment, it would be interesting to have features that let users pit different military forces across the ages, like having the Confederate army pitted against the Vietcong - almost like a fantasy football roster of historical military forces!

It is too early to hope for such prospects currently, and, to be fair, Normandy 1944 is a fine game on its own. Touch controls are responsive and have measures that prevent anyone from making wrong moves, and the camera is flexible and quite fluid. Any fan of turn-based strategy games will most likely enjoy Wars and Battles as far as mobile strategy games go. Users who have a passion for history will also appreciate the level of detail put into the solo campaigns.