Windows Phone Thoughts: Warring Nations Reviewed

Are You Up to the Challenge?
It's refreshing to see such an involved game for the Pocket PC. I've been playing this for about a month and still can't put it down. Games can last for hours (or days depending on how much time you dedicate). There are four difficulty settings: Trivial, Easy, Normal, and Hard. I have not been able to win on the Normal setting yet. This is one of the hardest games I've ever played on my Pocket PC. Despite the difficulty, it's still a lot of fun. I actually like that I can't win on Normal yet. Each time I play, I get a bit closer. One of these days, I will beat it on Normal. Then, it's on to Hard.


Figure 6: Starting a new game.

When starting the game, you get to choose the game type (one or two player). You then pick your character. In the initial game, there are 15 different characters. Each one has his own strengths and weaknesses. Next, pick your map. You can choose from "Medieval Europe" or "Fantasy Land". Both are unique and have their own challenges. If those options aren't enough, you can even choose "Random resources" to make the game a little more fair.


Figure 7: Landscape mode. Looks great, eh?

Visually, this game looks great. It's colorful and loaded with information about your status. Most of the menus can be turned on and off at will. This really helps you plan your next move. You can play in either portrait or landscape mode. As impressive as landscape looks, I found myself using portrait more often. There's a lot of information and portrait just seems to give you more room. Landscape does include a nifty little mini-map that is pretty handy though.

Extra Features
Since I started my review, a Medieval England add-on has been released for free. I'm glad to see this addition. It makes the game even better. Inscenic promises more add-ons in the future. This really adds to the replayability of the game. The two maps that come with the original game are fine but might get a bit boring after a while. With the add-ons, you will have plenty to keep you coming back for more.


Figure 8: Defeat. Get used to this screen.

The Website for the game has a manual that you need to read before getting serious about playing. Even then, you'll need to play a few times to get all of the nuances. It's not that difficult to learn, it's just a bit more complex than your average turn-based game.

OS Integration
Warring Nations integrates well with Windows Mobile 2003. If I turn off my Pocket PC in the middle of a game, Warring Nations game saves my game and exits. You can only have one game at a time. When you run the program again, you're taken right back to where you left off. Alarms also go off properly during gameplay.

The game has good sound effects but no music at this time. As with most Pocket PC games, I turn off the sound so I'm not a fair judge of the sound.

Conclusions
Warring Nations has quickly become one of my favorite Pocket PC games. It's complex, challenging, and most of all, fun. If you're looking for a deep strategy game, give Warring Nations a try.