Game Reviews

Judgment Day War

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| Judgment Day War
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Judgment Day War
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| Judgment Day War

What is it good for?

Apparently Edwinn Starr never read Birdsong, watched Saving Private Ryan or played Command & Conquer. If he’d done any of these things, he’d know that the answer to that famous question is that war is often the backdrop for killer entertainment.

Based loosely around the Six-Day War of 1967 between the Israelis, Syrians, Jordanians, and Egyptians, Judgment Day War turns the dual-sided conflict into a straightforward real-time strategy game.

You begin each level with a small number of units, either tanks or helicopters. Tapping a base once selects half its units, while doing so twice selects every available unit before sending them into combat. Ordering them into battle is then done by tapping the enemy base to which you want them to move.

You and what army?

While the tactics aren't immediately obvious, intricacies such as enemy reinforcements, field guns, fortified positions, and the restrictions placed on movement by set paths mean that the level of critical thinking required to complete the game is surprisingly high.

Plan your attacks well and levels can be completed in less than a minute. Misjudge an assault or send the wrong troop type into combat, however, and you have a bloodbath on your hands.

The game offers two modes, Campaign and Survival, of which Survival mode is by far the best. Here you duke it out over seemingly randomly generated maps (which occasionally leave the game unbalanced) with up two other AI factions.

With each level completed, up to 20 new bonuses such as +5 starting units, +5 base size or -15 per cent enemy reinforcements become available to give your army an extra advantage.

Boot camp

While the campaign is not without merit, the text-driven storyline and scripted maps struggle to generate any sense of worthwhile progression. The end sneaks up on you unexpectedly.

The inability to deselect or recall troops sent into combat limits tactical flexibility. Any mistakes made are unavoidable, the ability to reverse your actions missing. It means you have to watch helplessly as troops crawl across the screen before commiting suicide in a charge against a heavily fortified position.

Also sorely missing is a multiplayer option, a feature that could be easily incorporated. The ease with which new features, units, bonuses, and campaigns located in other conflicts - a promised Vietnam War campaign is due on the App Store any day now - can be fed into the game means that it’s unlikely we’ve the last of the Judgment Day War.

With a more compelling campaign, multiplayer options, and greater control flexibility Judgment Day War will be a far better proposition than it currently is.

Judgment Day War

A well priced strategy game that goes beyond the call of the genre, but could stand to go a bit further
Score
Tom Love
Tom Love
Tom has recently migrated south for the winter after blagging his way through university. Living alone and diagnosed with an extreme case of post-study depression, Tom joins the Pocket Gamer staff in a futile attempt to become a functioning member of society.