Over a decade ago, Nintendo brought deep, turn-based strategy to the handheld games market with Advance Wars. The cartoony military battles were a perfect fit for the Game Boy Advance, and in many ways, Rubicon has captured the same spirit on iOS with Great Big War Game. Strategy games generally work splendidly with a touch-screen interface, but it's extremely rare to find an iOS title in the genre with such a massive amount of content.
A follow-up of sorts to last year's Great Little War Game, Rubicon has expanded the franchise in a number of ways. You're still leading an army of vehicles and wise-cracking infantry into a turn-based battle, moving units along a grid-like war zone. But with 50 different missions in the single-player campaign, Great Big War Game manages to rival even PC strategy game competitors in scope. Many of the missions require over an hour of play, so there's easily 40-plus hours of action.
The single-player campaign's objectives are varied enough to keep you engaged, but if you ever grow weary of the downright hokey "story" in-between battles, Great Big War Game features a fantastic asynchronous multiplayer mode. Finding online opponents is a breeze, but the Skirmish mode allows you to practice against an A.I. adversary instead, if you'd like.
Great Big War Game isn't without its quirks. The snappy one-liners of infantry units quickly grow irritating, but the problem's easily fixed in the audio settings. Occasionally, the single-player battles are brutal in their setup, asking you to defend your General from a seemingly invincible horde. But if you're a fan of the strategy genre, you'll likely appreciate the challenge all the same.
The bottom line. Great Big War Game brings an Advanced Wars-like experience to iOS devices, with enough deep, addictive gameplay to keep you returning to the battle again and again.
of 5
iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 4.2 or later
Tons of content. Varied mission objectives. Great asynchronous multiplayer.
Obnoxious characters. Difficulty of enemy A.I. is sometimes frustrating.
