Demonrock: War of Ages

Whether you're talking about sport or war, every staunch defensive action opens the window for a counter-attack.

Perhaps that's why, after years of countless tower defence games, we're seeing more and more casual strategy games that put you on the front foot.

Call them reverse tower defence games. Call them single-player MOBAs. Whatever - Demonrock: War of Ages is one of them.

If you've played Royal Revolt! (or Royal Revolt 2 for that matter), you'll have a rough idea of how Demonrock plays out. You take direct control of a single hero unit - either a bow-wielding ranger or a sword-swinging soldier - in a confined corridor between two opposing bases.

You can engage enemy forces in direct combat simply by getting close or tapping on them, and you hero is pretty deadly with his chosen weapon. But you'll quickly become overwhelmed without help.

Sure enough, you can and must call up AI-controlled minions to carry the fight to the opposition. Once called up, these archers, mages, and warriors will keep advancing and attacking until they keel over and die.

Any strategy here comes from selecting the right mix of units and sending them out at the right time, so that they engage in groups. This might involve waiting until you have enough resources to call up several at once.

You'll also need to balance supporting that attack with keeping your hero unit safe. They'll quickly regain health at quiet moments, but if they die it's game over.

In between levels, you'll have the opportunity to upgrade your hero's equipment, while it will naturally level-up and acquire new special attacks and passive abilities.

Mission types vary from destroying the opposing base to freeing a new infantry unit type (which will then be available for selection) and on to defeating a large boss.

The thing is, all of these play the same. It's essentially about spamming the opposition with mixed clusters of infantry and wading in and out of scraps with your hero.

And it's this lack of tactical nuance and variety - combined with an uninspiring and generic fantasy theme - that prevents Demonrock: War of Ages from being really engaging.

This is a war of relentless blunt force and aggression, and while it proves immediately effective, it tends to grind you down in the long run.