Art of War 2

Summary

Strategy games: some people hate them while others can’t live without them. They’re either super addictive or extremely boring – depending on who you talk to. In the smartphone world, I haven’t really given strategy games a shot – except for the semi-strategic Robo Defense game – because I’ve always thought that a phone screen isn’t large enough to play complex games with multiple worlds and maps.

Art of War 2 represents a more nitty-gritty strategy game that focuses more on waging war rather than managing resources.

Find out if the game is interesting in the long run in today’s test.

Art of War 2 is a strategic war game (war is a keyword here). Unlike most other strategy games, you don’t have to mine or worry about replenishing your resources - all your stocks are refilled automatically.

That makes a lot of sense given the small size of smartphone screens where it’s basically impossible to keep track of all the action on a large map.

So relax, sit-back and focus on winning the war!

Despite the simplifications in the game concept, the game itself isn’t any less challenging.

There’s an interactive tutorial after you start up in campaign mode that provides an explanation for all of the most important functions. Text bubbles appear throughout the giving with additional hints and tips to playing the game correctly. Unfortunately, the tutorial is long, boring and a pain in the butt to read through (more details in the Screen & Controls section below).

Starting from the main building, you can construct different new structures to help your war campaign. Every building has a specific function like, for example, military training.

Tap once to select one unit and double-tap in order to select all units at once.

In order to launch an attack on your enemy’s forces, select your units and tap your opponent’s troops.
As you advance in the game, you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade your troops in order to improve their weaponry and effectiveness.

I really like the fact that you could save your current progress in a game at any point. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to save multiple games.

The repetitive background music gets unbearably annoying after a short while. And there aren’t any game sounds except for the crappy background music. What a bore!
How can you play a war game without any shooting and battle sounds?
Theoretically, you’re supposed to be able to play a custom game, but it’s not clear how to get there. Every time I tried starting on up, a message came up telling there weren’t any maps available.

Bottom Line:

Art of War 2 boasts a really awesome game concept. Not having to worry about resources makes the game more thrilling and action-packed. Instead playing games that go on for hours if not days (Starcraft and Diablo addicts will know what I’m talking about), it’s possible to have a lot of fun without wasting a whole lot of time with this game.
 

Here’s where the game legitimately fails! Both the controls and graphics of Art of War 2 are an utter disgrace. The game is just a direct transplant of a game designed for phones without touchscreens.

Most of the time, you control the action with the help of an on screen mouse. That has to be about the worst decision a developer can make for a touchscreen game.

The game’s graphics are awful: everything is pixilated and ugly.

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg! The game also has tiny buttons located at the left and right corners of the screen, which are probably left over from the original cell phone game.

There also isn’t a way to zoom in and out of the map to switch between detailed and general views of the entire map.

The font used throughout the game isn’t pleasant to the eye. Everything is smooshed together in tiny pop-up windows that you have to click through endlessly in order to read the entire message.

Another major problem: the back button doesn’t work.
 

Art of War 2 did not crash during testing, but the game is extremely choppy, especially when navigating around the map. Since I tested the app on an LG Optimus, I am positive that the game itself is the one to blame and not the hardware.

Art of War 2 may only cost 0.68 EUR (~0.98 USD) on the AndroidPIT App Center, but it’s still too much money for the game provides. Copy and pasting an old cell phone game into an Android version isn’t anything to be proud of. If the developers had taken the time to adjust the game to touchscreen devices, then the game would be worth my time.

Another thing that really annoyed me: there are ads to other games displayed in the options menu. Having ads on an app that I already paid for is completely unacceptable.