Shadow Zone

There's nothing like a bit of toxic waste to spice up a future dystopia. The inclusion of just a few vats of steaming green gunk means you're free to drop all sorts of mutated humanoids and glowing red-eyed rats into the scene without any awkward sideways glances.

Not only that, but if you're going down the slightly more touchy-feely route, you've even got a virtually pre-made underclass of horribly-disfigured-but-potentially-lovable mutant men and women who can sport a chip of their shoulders guilt-free. It's a screenwriter's dream.

However, Shadow Zone isn't at all about the heartwarming glow that irradiated flesh can foster. Rather, you play on the human team, pitched against equally human enemies. The game is set in a massive irradiated blast-zone, though, so you have to battle a mutant army, too – think of it as the game's own version of a zombie horde.

Shadow Zone is a turn-based top-down strategy title. Progress is split into levels, each of which sees you developing new weapons and units. In fact, this development is directly linked to the majority of the in-game objectives. See, you're in the irradiated shadow zone looking for alien artefacts that will propel you into the technological future, hence why picking them up gives you access to new units.

The artefacts themselves are discrete units, looking like big glowing orange balls. They can sustain damage but also move independently as you command, so getting them safely back to your base is an objective that pops up fairly frequently.

At the beginning of each level you start off with a few units, but in most there are also unit-producing buildings. Using your humanoid troops, you can claim the ruins scattered across the shadow zone, which will then generate a certain amount of credits per turn, used to buy said units.

This may sound similar to Shadow Zone's genre counterparts on console and PC, but it all manages to feel natural thanks to the game's great interface. When units are selected, icons pop up to show each action that can be executed. Then, when you opt to move or fire, coloured paths appear, letting you know exactly where you can move or shoot.

The game is very much grid-based, but the cursor movement has a certain slinkiness to it, lending Shadow Zone the grace of an ice-skating ballerina. Okay, so that may be overstating things a tad, but movements maintain a certain shiny polish in spite of all those angular squares peeking ominously from under the floorboards.

Less impressive though are some other central in-game elements. Your enemy encounters in Shadow Zone generally fall into one of two camps. Either you'll be ambushed by enemies that appear when you reach a certain point in a level, or you'll have a showdown against a whole enemy base. This isn't a game where you get to see which foes you're facing from the outset. The first type – the ambush – is fine, if occasionally a little frustrating when a gang of opponents appears in the squares next to your lone foot soldier who was just scouting out the scenery.

More problematic is the second type, the bases. The equivalent of your unit-producing buildings, these structures are so insanely productive that fights invariably become drawn-out battles of attrition. Just as you think you're about to finish off the last unit, a whole new groan-inducing slew of enemies appears out of the edifice.

The only real way to ensure victory is to spend a fair while before starting the fight just clicking past turns to gain more credits in order to amass an army that virtually fills the landscape. And it's worth doing this because, while the interface is good, the per-unit orders mean it'll likely take a considerable while of mindless clicking to get back to where you were, should you need to restart the level. That said, there is a very useful save feature that can be brought into action at any point.

Eight levels are on offer in the main mode. Finishing them unlocks additional maps to experience in the Skirmish mode, where you can play either against a friend, passing the handset between turns, or against the CPU. The consistent murky-green hues of the shadow zone mean there's not much diversity in terms of visuals, but the strategic effects of the placement of forests, hills and bases – each of which offer different defence bonuses – mean they're different enough to actually play.

There's a lot to admire in Shadow Zone, then, and the basics of the interface are polished and professional. Limited enemy AI and those frustratingly grind-like battles mean the game never quite reaches its potential, but if you're looking for some turn-based warfare on your mobile, Shadow Zone's not a bad place to begin your journey of discovery.