Format: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Developer: Supercell
I have played many games like Clash of Clans since I got my first iPhone and for the most part if I am honest I feel that they all kind of blend in together. And whenever a new one comes out the one you played the day before is instantly forgotten. I think this is mainly due to the amount of time you spend waiting for something to be built. Clash of Clans however is trying to change things up. Not a great deal, but just enough to make it stand out from the pack. It is trying to make these “freemium” games not quite so much of a chore or a cash grab to play.
When you first fire up Clash of Clans you cannot help but be very impressed by the presentation. This is a very good looking game. The characters are wonderfully animated 2D people who just jump to life against the games incredible high quality 3D landscapes. When you level up or upgrade there are sometimes quite radial changes to things. And of course the scenery will change depending on what holiday it is like Halloween or Christmas for example.
So what exactly is Clash of Clans? Well at its core Clash of Clans is a online strategy game that has quite a bit of tower defence in there as well. I know that you have probably played many games like this before, but I think that there is enough stuff here to keep even the most jaded gamer interested.
I am sure that you have guessed that the main objective is to build yourself a clan. A clan that is capable of defending your territory at all costs. You will need to do the normal things in order to get new weapons and buildings. And like other games in this genre you will be required to wait for these things to happen. As you build up your clan you will be able to build new buildings. So while there is waiting around there always seems like there is something for you to do. When I have played games like this before I found myself having to wait sometimes a whole day before I could do anything.
I found in the time that I spent with the game that I was never waiting around to long and that I never felt pressured to have to spend some real money in order to speed things up. I love this approach that Supercell have taken with the game and I think in the long run it is going to make this one of the more popular online strategy games. I hope that more developers follow this model in the future.
Building up your town and your clan is really just the first part of the game. Once you have done this you get to what was my favourite part of the game and that was the combat. Now I will openly admit that one genre of games I struggle with is games that have tower defence elements in them, but the learning curve here was perfect.
When you start out and take on the AI it really does a very good job of easing you in. After a while you will realise that your clan is simply not strong enough to tear down an enemy barracks so you will need to upgrade them. This never once felt like a chore for me which is a great credit to the guys who made this game.
Once you have mastered taking on the AI you can then put your newly acquired skills to the test by taking on some real people. Now this is where the fun really begins. You will either be challenged by another player or you can be the one who goes out to invade. This was so much fun and even on occasions where I instigated a battle and got my butt handed to me I still had a great time.
As a person who normally would not be that into these types of games. I can honestly say I had an absolute blast playing this. Even when I got beat rather than me losing interest it just made me want to go back to the drawing board and try and improve my defence and make my attacks stronger. At free downloading this game is simply a no brainer.