AntiSquad

The outsides of a strategy game don't really matter. You can daub them in layers of complex textures, weave an intriguing backstory, or stuff them full of jokes, but if the brainy core isn't rumbling away just right you're left with a shallow, bland experience.

And that's the trap that AntiSquad falls into. The exterior is polished to a sheen, but the workings of the game feel uninspired. It's a by-the-numbers squad-based shooter that isn't sharp enough to spike the interest, nor tough enough to intrigue genre stalwarts.

The game is all about leading a group of cliché touting mercenaries through a series of gnaw-sized levels. Each of the levels has a different goal, and there's a variety of different ways to achieve the desired result.

Each of the characters has its own speciality and skillset. So there's a big guy with a big gun who provides fire support and huge damage, and a skinny girl with a couple of machine pistols who's light on her feet but quick to fall if you leave her exposed.

You poke your team through the levels with a series of taps, using up a pool of action points to get them from A to B while killing terroristy drug lords C through Z. The levels are broken up into circles, and each of these displays bits of information and the world

A circle with a red dot inside means you can take a shot from in there, while different shades of grey ring mean different things about who can see you, and whether or not they can kill you.

It's all reasonably well put-together, and there are some nice ideas on the surface, but they fail to gel together in a coherent manner. While there are multiple ways to skin the level-cats you're offered, they all feel pretty much the same.

Tightly cornered maps don't help, and sometimes the game just doesn't make any sense, especially when it comes to the range of your weapons.

AntiSquad might walk the walk, but there are far better turn-based strategy titles on the App Store that deserve your time and money.