Battle Islands is the latest in a long line of releases aiming to do exactly that with just a change of clothes to distinguish itself from Supercell’s 2012 game. That’s not to say it isn’t worth playing but it means you have to be a certain type of gamer to appreciate or want to delve into its murky free-to-play model.
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| It’s really not as exciting at this guy makes out |
Of course, if you’re not experienced in the Clash of Clan genre, and bless you if you’ve managed to keep yourself virginal, then Battle Islands is going to appear and play like a very lightweight and throwaway experience.
Shoving you straight into its tutorial without even a splash screen to change your options, Battle Islands has you assaulting a tiny island fortified with two machine guns and a couple of buildings. Your troops land on the shore in a mini D-Day like landing and cleverly avoid enemy fire and take cover like real- wait, no. If you have any pretence that this is going to be a newbie-friendly version of Company of Heroes then stop right here because your valiant soldiers will just stand like military lemons and fire on the enemy until they are dead or the enemy falls. There’s no tactical nounce needed here, just point and click and watch until you win or lose.
Between these action sequences comes the base building part where you raise an army with a variety of units to unlock and build supply factories to give you the resources to train more troops. It’s a simple economy that anyone can pick up quickly and is about as complex as the plot of a Peppa Pig episode. That’s good if you’re a casual gamer who needs something on Facebook to play between IM-ing Tracey from HR, but if you’re hoping for something to tax the little grey cells then look elsewhere.
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| I should have joined the army if that’s the wardrobe they’re packing |
To its credit Battle Islands at least looks different to the medieval-inspired style Clash of Clans with a World War 2 pacific theatre visual look. The soldiers and characters are still very comical and if women in the military really dressed like that, nobody would or should go to war.
After the tutorial Battle Islands gets into its groove and has you throwing troops and armour against ever-increasingly difficult strongholds while using the resources gained to increase your own defences - most important when playing against others in multiplayer.
As a free to play title the process of upgrading troops, buildings and unlocking new items etc. is all capped by time meters. So you better be prepared to wait hours in-game to upgrade your barracks or it’s time to open the wallet to buy in-game gold to speed things along.
With games like Battle Islands there’s always a point where you have to decide if you pay money to progress - in which case I’d argue there’s plenty of better strategy games for under £5 on Steam - or just grind resources for hours.
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| Visuals are pretty nice and colourful, gameplay less so |
As you might guess I would choose a third way - conscientiously object - and free yourself and your spare time from this type of game.
Though there’s fun to be had in the pleasing progression of such free-to-play titles, there are so many better and more rewarding battle strategy games out there. Leave this to the mobile space and find something that the PC was made for, not for emulating a lightweight mobile port.
BATTLE ISLANDS VERDICT
Though there’s fun to be had in the pleasing progression of such free-to-play titles, there are so many better and more rewarding battle strategy games out there. Leave this to the mobile space and find something that the PC was made for, not for emulating a lightweight mobile port.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Overpowering my army and decimating the opposition in moments. And then turning the game off.
