Battle Islands Review

Tapping into that extraordinarily familiar ground that Clash of Clans first revolutionized, Battle Islands is a briefly entertaining if slow-burning freemium strategy game. It's a little too familiar to truly warrant much excitement but those keen for a World War 2 themed title will find more enjoyment.

Set in 1942, players control a platoon of soldiers as they attempt to establish bases on various tropical islands in the South Pacific. While the theme is slightly different from the norm, the gameplay remains much the same.

A brief tutorial guides one through the basics, which mostly relate to placing buildings and training troops. A barrier keeps players protected from enemy attack for a few days in order to give them a chance to be more established, but this is easily circumvented by the bloodthirsty. Once the tutorial is out of the way, structure is offered through a series of challenges that can be completed with the bonus being that they offer up gold bricks.

Gold bricks are essential here given that they're the premium currency that affects how quickly projects are completed, among other things. While Battle Islands might seem initially generous with the gold bricks, they vanish quite quickly - leaving one quite restricted due to the plethora of timers.

Waiting around for various tasks to complete will be a regular part of one's sessions with Battle Islands. It's really quite slow going. Competing with opposing players is briefly fun, but it's nothing new for the genre and plays it very safe.

It's the theme that makes Battle Islands slightly more noticeable, with the World War 2 theme often proving more endearing than something fantastical. That's sufficient for a brief play session but I'd be surprised if anyone found the game truly gripping for any length of time. It's not that it does anything particularly badly, it's just all too familiar.