Test device: Samsung Galaxy S2 (I9100G)
Android version: 4.0.4
Root: No
Runs as of: 2.2
I can't lie: my expectations were pretty high. I've had some lack luster experiences with this game genre in the past, but still I couldn't help but hope that Genesis FREE would be a whole new ball of wax.
The first thing I noticed upon starting up the app for the first time is that Genesis FREE looks like a cross between the well loved Blizzard classics Warcraft and Starcraft.
At the beginning there's one main building and a few worker units harvesting ore, but the fields look a lot like what you might know from playing other Blizzard games (think: mineral and gold fields). Wood and mana also have to be harvested.
So what about the gameplay?
A campaign story is available for the human race (there are three races in total, so one can only hope the other two story lines are in the works). The game also has Bluetooth matches and a thorough tutorial and in-depth online mode.
First off, you will have to register using your email address. Creating an account with your own personal nickname is done in a jiffy and you are logged into the forum automatically . The forum can be navigated from within the game.
The app has only just come out and thus there aren't yet that many players, meaning it may take a while before you find an opponent to play against. The first time I played I had to wait for approximately three minutes and then we were good to go.
As is the case with most strategy games, you start off with a few workers and a base, i.e. the main building. The goal is then to construct other buildings, which requires more ore. Aside from the main building there are farms, factories producing weapons, upgrade buildings, academies and watch towers. The watch towers are used solely for defense, whereas farms can be transformed into offense stations. You may choose between three different races: Humans, Demons and Noah.
Construct more workers to help obtain more ore (money). The fields will dwindle quicker this way, meaning a new storage space is in order... When playing RTS games the key is to keep an eye on everything on stay focused.
Now let's move on to controls:
A special button is located near the bottom of the display and it's this button that makes for rather phenomenal controls. This button allows you to combine different actions. Press is and simultaneously swipe over the units with your other hand: this will make a square pop up via which you can select several units at once. Tap the button once more in order to make it disappear again. This clever solution makes for easy controls and works well. Touchscreen controls will never be quite the same as using a mouse, but this is pretty much as close and as good as it gets.
The game maps are rather small, no doubt due to the size limitations due to the format of mobile devices.
The only thing missing at the moment are campaign stories for the demon and Noah races, as well as a few more units and buildings, but on the whole the game is pretty rad for 79 MB app.
Bottom line:
Genesis FREE is the best strategy game I've ever had the pleasure of playing on a touchscreen, bar none!
As a true strategy game fan I hadn't even considered that playing this game genre on a mobile device was a real option, but this app has done everything right. The balancing is good, a great online mode is available and controls are as good as they can be.
I still prefer to play RTS on my computer, but this could prove to be a fun alternative for when I'm on the go.
just send you a screenshot :-)