Wargame Review for iPhone and iPod Touch

Feeling the need to be Master of the World? Or maybe you just want to be King of Resource. Play Wargame, and choose from those noble goals, or three other options in this turn-based strategy game from Jemast Software.

Review

Wargame seems to be a more detailed version of Risk. Chess to checkers would be a similar analogy, I think. To start a game, you set up factions, setting each of the six empires to Player, AI, or Neutral. Name your general, and select your objective.

Gameplay takes place on a world map. Start by zooming in on a country by pinching or double-tapping the map. You have an action queue, which you fill up for each turn. Select a country and add troops, ships, planes, and other fighting units. Build up your Air Water Field Defense System, Supply Center, and/or Capitalism. Tap the flag in the lower left corner to take your turn. This was initially confusing to me, because the message that appears when you tap the flag asks if you are sure you want to skip your turn. I kept tapping Cancel, because I didn’t want to skip my turn, I wanted to take it.

This is a recurring problem in the game. There is no help menu or getting started tutorial, or instructions of any kind within the game. This wouldn’t be a problem if game play was more intuitive, but it isn’t. There is a tutorial and in-depth manual on the Jemast site, so I would suggest going there to learn how to play the game before you buy. I want to be fair, and according to the little bit of research I did, it seems that the developers are aware of the problem and say that they have an update already waiting for Apple’s approval, so it should be out soon.

Recommendation

Wargame has great potential, I think Risk fans will love it. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve done in their update. If they can make it more user-friendly, it will easily be worth the $2.99 selling price, but I would suggest waiting for the updated version.

Update Friday October 16 11:00 PM PST: An update became available this morning from the App Store, and includes an in-game tutorial to get you started and a really in-depth manual for more detailed instruction. Included in the manual is information about multiplayer games. You can pass-n-play with up to six people, or you can play network games via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Internet. This update makes the game vastly more user friendly, so kudos to the developers for making these much-needed improvements.

Gameplay Video

Photos

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