Game Review – Art Of War

Art Of War N.A.C
NAME: Art Of War N.A.C
VERSION: 1.0.8
COMPANY: Gear Games
PLATFORM: JAVA
GENRE: Real Time Strategy RTS
SIZE: 457 KB
TEST PHONE: K800i
RATING: 7.5/10
DEMO: Art Of War

Welcome to the Art Of War for Mobile phone game review. The Art of War is basically a Command and Conquer (PC) clone. You build our type and number of forces from resources that you gather then destroy the enemy. The game even has a C&C like story line.

Graphics reminded us of the original C&C over ten years ago so it not state of the art- even for a mobile phone but perfectly adequate for this genre. The icons are on the small side which is fair enough given the limited mobile phone display. But we feel a little more details or redesign could make it stand out more. Music is generic MIDI.

Gameplay is Real Time Strategy so you need to work quickly before your forces are decimated by the enemy. Finding resources and building sufficient force does take a while so you will find it challenging. Each stage is over very quickly if you get the balance right. The game arena or real estate was surprisingly large. However the game ended quite abruptly just when we thought we where 1/2 way through. There are only 6 stages all up.

Game controls are simple but you really need a phone with a joystick or properly designed navigation key to make the most of the game. For example the K800i and most new Nokia’s. Some unexpected features included the ability to group your forces and a number of different, a mini-map zoom feature and clearly defined buildings.

It didn’t take very long to get in to the game. Unfortunately there are some issues mainly due to the small screen and timing which means that you really need to concentrate to win one or two stages. The cause was the AI of your troops – that said overall the AI was very good even the enemy forces.

The variety of unit types to build was very good for a mobile phone game.  4 moving units and 2 stationary defensive units.  Personally they could have added one more – an air based unit would have really impressed us.

We liked the Art of War and recommend it to any one who wants a RTS for your mobile phone. It is challenging if you use the higher difficulty level setting. Using easy level settings we could complete the game except for the last level in one try. The ending was disappointing since it’s not really an ending