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The Bluecoats - North vs South

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The Bluecoats - North vs South

There are two ways to handle history in strategy games.

Either you go all in with detailed recreations of important battles and give players the chance to rewrite turning points in the military timeline, or you just use it as a backdrop and stuff what actually happened down the back of the metaphorical ignorance sofa.

The developer of The Bluecoats - North vs South took the latter approach, stripping away historical accuracy and context from its title, and turning the American Civil War into a territory-stealing game of Risk-lite.

Blue vs Grey

In The Bluecoats - North vs South, you take control of the Yankees (North) or the Confederates (South), then try to guide either side to complete control of the map of America.

You move your units around the map, taking over unoccupied territories simply by setting foot in them, or fighting it out with enemy units for contested ones.

These fights take place on a variety of battlefields, from desert passes to glades bisected by flowing rivers. You tap on your units to select them, then on the battlefield to move them. You can also engage an enemy unit by tapping on them.

Scraps aren't particularly strategic, and it's usually weight of numbers that wins the day.

You can buy new units from the shop, and gold is delivered by a train that regularly makes trips between the forts you control.

Those forts can be assaulted by the other side, which turns the game into a third-person shooting gallery. At that point, you control a single soldier, tapping to shoot and diving behind cover to avoid attacks.

History defeating itself

The three different gameplay styles never really gel, with the battles, in particular, feeling like a tacked-on afterthought. The game isn't without its moments, though, and watching a well-worked strategy fall into place is an undeniably satisfying experience.

The Bluecoats - North vs South plays fast and loose with history, and its cartoon style is neither distinctive nor particularly engaging.

While its strategy isn't as grand as it likes to think, you can still draw some enjoyment from the game. However, it never really makes you feel like a general who's commanding vast armies in one of the most important conflicts in history.

The Bluecoats - North vs South

While it isn't the worst example of a strategy title on the App Store, The Bluecoats - North vs South is a little too muddled to really recommend
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Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.