IOS Strategy Roundup

I spend a lot of my time sitting in a train, around two hours on the average working day but sometimes more. It's the perfect time to get some gaming in on the old iPhone, but as a massive strategy fan I find the App Store doesn't really cater so much to my tastes, inundated as it is with quick-hit arcade action titles. Nevertheless, I have found a few that have everything I need to get my fix, so if you are looking for a decent iOS strategy title then do yourself a favour and check out the following 'Ewok' endorsed products.

Civilization Revolution

In many ways Civ Rev plays like a lighter version of its big-boy PC cousin and it is almost identical to the console versions, save for a bit of graphical tuning down. It's still a classic 4x empire-building, turn-based game with equal emphasis on expansion, city development, diplomacy and warfare. With random maps, dozens of different scenarios and a wealth of civilisations to choose from there is as much playability here as in any full priced console or PC release and 4x fans are guaranteed to enjoy the ride as they aim to wipe out all opposition, amass mountains of gold or reach for the stars as they follow the path to one of several different victory objectives.

Score: 5/5

Starbase Orion

An unfairly overlooked title on the iOS store, but one of my favourites. Reminiscent of such classics series' as Galactic Civilizations and Master of Orion, Starbase Orion tasks you with taking a fledgling race and establishing a galaxy spanning empire. Starbase Orion features large galaxies filled with systems to colonise, technologies to research, ships to design and a choice of five pre-built races alongside the tools to make your own. It is a fully fledged and extremely deep strategy experience and has excellent developer support, with brilliant new features being added with each update. It also boasts full online multiplayer support as well as pass and play games.

Score: 4/5

Plague Inc.

The aim of Plague Inc is to wipe out humanity with a super-disease, of which several types are available for selection. Each disease type has different core behaviours and your aim is to evolve your plague by investing DNA points into transmission vectors, symptoms and special abilities. You start with a single infected person and have to go global from there. It takes a while but once you get the strategy down it becomes a no-brainer, but even when the challenge has gone it's still a hoot to destroy the human race and the constant unlocks keep you coming back for more. Another title that receives constant updates, such as the mind-controlling Neurax Worm and the upcoming 'Zombie Virus'.

Score 3/5

Battle for Wesnoth: The Dark Hordes

Battle for Wesnoth has 21 different campaigns. That's right: twenty-blooming-one different campaigns to play. Graphics are simple and so is surface gameplay, but under the hood lies reams of statistics and rules to make this an incredibly in-depth fantasy warfare game. In a typical campaign you will have a core of hero characters and will recruit numerous additional troops as you battle bandits, orcs, undead and more during the multiple individual missions which make up a campaign. You recruit the additional units as you go and each individual unit type levels up unique and diverging skill trees and these veteran units remain persistent through the campaign. In the unlikely event that you complete all 21 campaigns there is a custom skirmish mode to add even more replay value to this huge game.

Score: 4/5

Those are my current favourites but I'm always on the hunt for more, so if you can recommend some good titles for iOS (or Android, now I have my new Nexus 7), please let me know in the comments section.