A Little War Review – Really cute without the blood and gore

Our rating:

By: Hwa David

Version #: 1.0

Date Released: 2013-01-02

Developer: Bakumens Inc

Price: Free

User Rating:

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War has never been seen as something fun or an event we would like to actively participate in. Even in video games, war usually meant blood and gore splashing all over the screen with grotesque dismembered limbs scattered everywhere.

However, The Little War takes a little spin to the stereotypically violent genre and turns it to something children-friendly as well.

In The Little War, players pit their armies against hordes of Orcs and battle their way through the various stages. Quite unrealistically, soldiers march in single file towards the enemy where each match consists of different numbers of soldiers helmed on both sides by a giant version of the troops which serves as the player’s Hero avatar. The Orcs are also led by a giant Orc at their end, where to win each round the commander Orc has to be beaten.

Controls are really simple in this game, with a two button approach. Both buttons pretty much act as play/pause navigators for both the Hero and the line of soldiers respectively. There isn’t much strategy involved, except in later levels where timing when to send in the Hero is crucial to securing a victory. However, that does not mean simply sitting back and watching level after level get beaten. Players still have to take an active approach by picking up coins scattered throughout the battlefield.

I was, however, a little disappointed by the lack of depth in game play. Yes, upgrades are available but they seem to serve no real visible purpose except enable for more damage so as to win later rounds. The animations of the game pretty much involved only soldiers marching in a straight line waving their swords up and down with no basic combat footage whatsoever. It was hard to find a drawing factor to keep me glued to the game.

What really irked me though, was the overt emphasis on in-app purchases. One example would be in the magical chests earned at the end of each stage, which requires keys to be brought via such purchases. Also, gold tends to run out quickly through feeding the army and the minute amount earned during game play is less than sufficient to make up for it. Additional gold can only be bought via more in-app purchases. Granted it is a free app, but the over importance stressed on said in-app purchases really mars decent gameplay.