Draw Wars

Most modern wars are fought primarily on the war room table - miniature recreations of landscapes and forces used to map out an enemy's downfall.

Draw Wars looks to join the dots in a pretty logical fashion, allowing you to both plan and execute your warmongering through a simple tabletop-like interface.

Each battle in Draw Wars takes place on a simple battle field occupying a single screen. The goal is to destroy the enemy base while defending your own, and you have a small number of units at your disposal to get the job(s) done.

You can drag your tanks, planes, and infantry into position much as you would in any action-oriented line-drawing game. The difference here is that you can map out your actions ahead of time, and then modify them when the battle commences.

Attacking is automatic - you just need to pay attention to the enemy's likely path and the range and turning capabilities of your units.

It's a pretty simplistic take on strategy, all told. There are additional elements to the fighting in the shape of the ability to drag mines, aerial strikes, health boosts, or fog onto the field, but otherwise it's a case of timing and a top trumps-style appraisals.

It's about weighing up each of your units and matching them against the appropriate enemy units, while taking into consideration the placement of fixed defences such as anti-air missiles and pillboxes.

There's also an upgrade system that allows you to improve every element of your army, from the individual units to the aforementioned drag-and-drop items.

The trouble is, some levels are geared in such a way that it feels impossible to win with the deck of cards you're dealt. In such cases you're clearly being nudged to purchase more special items.

While this is done with an in-game currency, on occasions you'll be all out and will feel obliged to splash out real money in order to progress. The exchange rate proves to be a little too expensive for our liking, too.

But the main drawback with Draw Wars has nothing to do with in-app purchases. The action just doesn't pack enough of a wallop, the control system just isn't tight enough, and the world just isn't polished enough to make the game compelling.

Ground units frequently snag on level furniture or each other, whilst keeping aerial units in play can be a laborious case of drawing lots of consecutive loops to keep them from disappearing off the screen.