tldr: As far as time-killer mobile games go this one’s quite good. Just don’t bother spending any money on it.
Let’s be honest, we all want a new proper Warcraft RTS, and just to be clear, this is not that. Not even close, and if that is what you are hoping for you are going to be disappointed.
If you throw out those expectations, however, it is actually a bit of fun to kill time on your phone. The gameplay is quite simple. You play your units (or ‘minis’ as they are known), which march towards your opponent, attacking enemy minis in their path. You have limited control over the way they travel using switches that change the direction they go at a path in the road. You can create minis using gold at your base or capture towers and spawn points on the way to the baddie, which allows you to spawn units closer to the enemy. Every army has Kobolds which can be used to mine gold, and there are chests to provide extra gold from all units. You also have a passive income to keep the game moving. Each round lasts around 2 minutes.
All the matches work much the same, the variety comes from the selection of minis in your and your opponent’s armies. Maps are varied in the PvE campaign, and each boss provides unique challenges. Completing these missions earns you rewards, including gold and new minis.
Minis are categorised into families (Horde, Alliance etc.) and serve a variety of purposes. Melee and tanks to deal with close-up damage, ranged, flying, spells, and siege engines are all featured. There are also leaders who provide extra power and bonuses to certain unit types. I won’t list them here as half the fun is experimenting with different ones, but they all have some Warcraft character.
Mini’s can level up and increase in rarety, which gives them special abilities, to tackle bigger challenges. There is a quest mechanism to level up certain minis more quickly and help them catch up.
Graphically the game is the classic Warcraft art style you have come to expect. It looks good an runs well.
As you would expect from a free mobile game there are plenty of options for spending money, and they are quite pricey, but none of them seem to be required to play and enjoy the game. I am doing quite well in both PvE and PvP without having spent anything.
Overall, this is a good little time filler when you are waiting around. It has more challenge to it than a lot of other options, but the matches are quick, and you can play several in a break. There is just enough depth to keep you engaged. How long that will keep me interested, I don’t know. For now, it’s my go-to mobile game, but I won’t be putting any money into it!