Battleplans review - A decent, easy-to-play strategy game

Battleplans is a smartly-designed and very pretty strategy hybrid, blending a touch of MOBA, a dash of RTS, and a sprinkle of base defense in a colorful mix. While you won't find the complexity of other strategy games here, Battleplans offers strategy that's simple to be enjoyed by a causal player with enough depth to allow for satisfying tactics.

Given its focus on hero units with special abilities and strengths, Battleplans likely brings the MOBA genre to mind at first glance. Each unlockable, upgradable warrior comes equipped with powerful skills that can be used offensively or defensively, from invisibility to enemy-staggering shockwaves and freezing blasts.

Alongside your heroes rides your growing army of fighters, divided into classes such as archers and pikemen. Together, you must capture three control points on each map, guarded by bosses and enemy units or human-designed defenses if you decide to raid other players.

Battleplans' strategy is as simple as dragging a hero's path to the desired spot, with them automatically engaging in combat when in range of enemies. This easy-to-control system allows anyone to put up a decent fight, but if you desire more complex tactics, you can precisely mix-and-match heroes, using their skills at the right moment and in conjunction to slow, distract, flank, buff, trap, and other maneuvers.

However, controlled-controlled foes aren't the only dangers lurking. Battleplans also features the more human kind, letting you raid other player's maps and them do the same to you.

This means you'll also need to defend against other players forces, by crafting the perfect defense complete with patrols, ambushes, and carefully-timed skill usage. Battleplans' control depth shines in these aspect, granting you the means to create looping paths and time moves down to precise seconds.

While Battleplans' design does allow for a surprising amount of different tactics, those looking for more detailed real time strategy may come away disappointed. The moment-to-moment battles are fast and enjoyable, but can grow repetitive after a time.

The free-to-play focus may also annoy, given the presence of upgrade timers, as well as the price of hero unlocks and upgrades and the rate that you earn the necessary currency. That said, Battleplans does reward you quite liberally after missions and with daily earnings.