Orions: Legend of Wizards

Like Magic: The Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons without the physical shuffle, Orions: Legends of Wizards brings high fantasy to the virtual space. You don't have to be a card-carrying fan of complex boardgames though, since things are much simpler here. It's card gaming without the cards.

The game is set in the fantasy realm of the Orions, an archipelago of floating islands in space. It's up to you to bring all these individual islands under your rule at the helm of your airship. Doing so means defeating an adversary who's trying to accomplish the very same thing.

Being turn-based, the game is set up so that you can only move your airship once per round. Navigating through the isles takes a considerable amount of time, which makes Orions: Legend of Wizards quite an epic.

Cleverly, though, its elements are broken up into easily digestible pieces ideal for portable play. While the adventure will last you hours on end, you're able to pick it up and put it down at will.

When visiting one of your territories, you can allocate resources to build fortresses, mining colonies, military outposts, etc.

Resource management has a direct strategic impact on battle since your forces are drawn from these possessions. Beefing up back at home is fundamental to fighting for the independent islands under threat from your opponent razing through the lower half of the realm.

City building is all handled through a straightforward touch interface: choose the type of building card you want to establish in that particular Orion, then place it within the available space on the map's grid.

There's a finite amount of room, so some level of planning is advisable when building up your cities, which is no small part of the game's strategy rhythm.

Battles become a little involved, even though they're no more complex than dealing five cards per fight. But this isn’t a normal 52 card deck.

Cards are split up into six different categories consisting of various spells, status, and creature cards. An eclectic arsenal of might and magic is always preferred, since even low powered enemies can be very skilful with their own small selections of cards.

During battle, you're allowed to deal a card into one of five positions each turn. Your enemy will attempt to block you by placing his card directly facing your own or by some other devious means, such as cursing your next turn, freezing your monsters or stealing life to heal his own team.

Naturally you need to be ready with some suitable defences, as these devious Orion dwellers can play a surprisingly aggressive hand. Brute force isn't sufficient.

Enemies will cleverly block your powerful monsters and whittle away at your strength with indirect measures. This sort of high level strategy and depth of tactical play is almost like chess in its complexity.

Unlike that iconic game, Orions: Legend of Wizards deals out stunning visuals. Gorgeous artwork marks each and every card, not to mention the detail paid to the cities of the Orions and special effects during battles.

The sheer weight of possibilities is both the brilliance and sticking point of Orions: Legend of Wizards. The brilliance comes from such an ingenious method of creating an ultra-portable, yet highly detailed and demanding strategy game for a physically limited platform like the iPhone.

The sticking point is a matter of detail. Casual players might well find the steep learning curve a little too much like hard work.

It's easy to tire of the game when you discover that playing snap with the enemy yields no fruit. Orions: Legend of Wizards demands strategic thinking that aborts any notion of flippant play. Hold fast, though, and you're in for a treat.