Space Miner Wars betrays the series' roots in pursuit of Clash of Clans

Each week, we ask members of our App Army for their early impressions of the latest releases on mobile.

One top pick this week was Space Miner Wars from Venan Entertainment.

The original Space Miner was a real hit here at Pocket Gamer, but the latest entry in the series represents something of a change in direction.

Let's see what our App Army had to say...

I feel like I'm not making as much progress as I did in the original Space Miner, and it's making me want to just play that instead.

I'm tired of waiting for timers and energy, which is a big part of why I usually stay away from Clash of Clans type games - they all feel the same.

The free to play nature of the game doesn't really bother me much, I just really struggle to enjoy base builders like this.

Having said that, there are some interesting things here. I like the way you earn currency, and the little droids are cute, even though the try to steal away the ore you collect.

Being in space mixes up the action a little, too. It's a change of pace from constantly building on a beach or in the middle of a field, so I enjoyed it more than most base builders, but I still don't think the genre is for me.

This is so typical. A developer releases a great game and I drop many a happy hour into it, then they go for a second instalment and just copy Clash of Clans but with its own IP.

Developers, I know you need to make money, but why not just create amazing games that people wouldn't mind paying full price for?

I won’t be playing this game for much longer, which is a shame because I loved the original Space Miner and I can play that for as long as I like.

The game is really nice graphically and reminds me of Cosmonautica. This isn't usually the type of game that grabs my attention, but it seems a little deeper than your typical base building strategy game.

I do agree that it's a good looking game, with nice animations and slick menus, but it's not enough to make me even contemplate dropping money on it.

Like most other strategy games of this type, I find that it's a good five minute coffee break game. Be it managing your base or completing a mission, it's nice to dip into every now and again.

It's definitely a drop in now and then kind of game, unless of course you have endless amounts of cash and are looking for a new Clash of Clans to invest in.

For five minutes here and there I guess there is some entertainment to be had, but not much.

I've actually really enjoyed my time with this. Space Miner was like Asteroids on steroids, and now it has multiplayer and bases. It’s become a whole new beast with the same great paint job as the original.

The energy system is standard free to play fare but, if you have the patience, Space Miner Wars is a lot of fun and well worth your time.

I'm not really a fan, just because I don't like Clash of Clans type games.

It runs really smoothly, but graphically this game is average. I enjoyed blasting asteroids with my spacecraft but other than that it was hard for me to get too invested.

The game is certainly well put together but you'll only care for it if you enjoy Clash of Clans type games.

It's really not very different from what we’ve seen before and doesn’t bring any variety to the App Store.

It's definitely trying to emulate the success of Clash of Clans, just like most developers seem to be doing, but I think it’s not resonating with me because I enjoyed the first one so much.

The timers and currencies just continuously remind me that the game has been engineered to encourage people to spend money, not to have a good time.

The entire city building aspect is certainly an endless free to play mechanic because it dictates your level, which then allows for more building and crafting. The shooting sections do balance it out a little bit, but not enough to keep me engaged.

The action ends too quickly at first because you have to upgrade things on your ship. You do that by clearing areas to get money and scrap, but you can't clear them all at once.

You have to make multiple trips and that will eventually deplete your energy. It's a lot of do this and wait to do that so you can eventually do this.

It’s well built and does look very nice, but as a fan of Space Miner I'll probably end up just playing the original again instead.

The App Army have spoken! If you'd like to sign up, please have a gander at our App Army application article.

Have you checked out Space Miner Wars? What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!