Strongholds

Arranged carefully, you can transform a deck of 52 cards into a towering house. But a house of cards is held in place by the very same force that threatens to tear it down: gravity. One wrong move or unexpected jostle and the paper-thin walls come crashing down.

Strongholds looks an imposing strategy game, though it's too thin to bear the weight of in-depth play.

The game involves a futuristic encounter between two thriving corporations. All that separates them is a thin stretch of water, a wee winding river taking war back to its close quarters roots. It's a balance between the old and the new, though don't expect to be employing any blitzkrieg tactics to win this war - this is a card battler, plain and simple.

With a maximum of six cards available to you during each round, you and the computer take turns playing cards to strengthen your defences or attacks. The aim of the game is either to raze the enemy's defences to the ground or build your own up to an unbeatable level.

This essentially makes battles a concise affair, your victory or defeat signified by the releasing of a huge missile that leads to a prophetic wipe-out.

Clinching victory relies on what feels like a set order of card plays. Tactically, you have to make sure the resources are there in the first place, playing cards that up production and capability before you can release the big guns, quite literally.

While all this might sound rather technical, Strongholds actually plays like real-time strategy stripped bare. It's so simplified that you shouldn't be surprised when you win your first battle out. In our first play through, we'd won our first battle within just a few minutes, tapping or sliding random cards into play and coming out on top fairly easily.

It's still entirely possible for keen strategists to find their feet here, though in depth strategising isn't necessary for victory. It's possible to play Strongholds with one eye on your handset and the other on the television and still come out on top. Whether that's a weakness of the game or a strength that broadens its appeal is down to personal tastes.

The one certainty is that Strongholds ends prematurely. With just one base to build up and a low target number to reach, it all tends to be done and dusted within a matter of minutes.

Once you've triumped, that's all there is. Currently, the game retails for just £0.59/$0.99, but this is a short-term offer. At a higher price, you'd have to wonder whether Digital Worlds has served up a big enough package to justify the download.

Pricing issues aside, Strongholds is an accessible first step for strategists in the making, offering up play with a fine balance between offence and fortification. It's pretty, it's playable and it's pacey for a card battler, but its walls are too thin to take a sustained, long-term attack.