Empires & Allies

Empires & Allies is Clash of Clans by way of Command and Conquer. Instead of barbarians and wizards it's tanks and infantry. Instead of catapults and halls it's oil wells and artillery emplacements.

And it's pretty good at what it does. There's a nice pace to the battles, and you have a semblance of control that some entries to the genre deny you.

It's certainly not going to change your mind about midcore titles, but there's enough here that fans of simple strategy should probably have a gander.

All about that base

The game is split into two distinct halves - fighting and base building. Fights see you deploying troops in set zones, and using special powers like air strikes and rockets to take down the enemy's defences.

Blowing up buildings gives you extra command points, which you can use to call in more special attacks. Although they go up in price every time you use them. There are healing skills as well, and a flare that shows your troops where to head.

To begin with you're sending in a few soldiers and some armoured vehicles, but as you play you'll unlock tanks, planes, and other weapons of middling destruction.

The base building aspect is all about protecting your assets. You need to build new places to train your troops, and defences for when your base is invaded by other players. The more you play, the more options you unlock.

Of course, everything can be sped up or bought with premium currency, but if you don't want to splurge the game runs at a reasonably neat rate all the same. You'll just have to deal with wait-timers and a lack of places to keep your resources.

Empires & Allies is certainly polished, and while the battles aren't exactly RTS level, there's enough planning here that you feel like you've had some effect on the outcome of the fight.

If you're looking for another base-building midcore strategy title, then this is one that's well worth considering.