Pocket Fort HD Review
iPad App
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Pocket Fort HD Review

Our Review by Rob Rich on August 7th, 2013
Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar :: LIFELESS
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Pocket Fort HD seems to borrow heavily from another source, but its total lack of fun is the real disappointment.

Developer: Kongzhong
Price: FREE
Version: 1.10
App Reviewed on: iPad 3

Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarhalfstarblankstarblankstar
Playtime Rating: starstarhalfstarblankstarblankstar
Replay Value Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar

Goodness gracious, where to begin? Pocket Fort HD looks like a decent town-building freemium affair with a heaping helping of player-versus-player battles on the side. That's what it looks like. Unfortunately it doesn't really measure up.

Anyone familiar with Clash of Clans should be familiar with Pocket Fort HD. Mostly because they're so similar it's hard to believe they aren't made by the same company. Players gather and then spend their resources (gold and energy) to construct defenses, train soldiers, and so on. They can send their forces out to raid enemy bases, or focus on preparing their own base when they're inevitably attacked. New tech can be accessed by upgrading various buildings. Random junk can be cleared off of the map to make more room for expansion. We all know the drill at this point.

Pocket Fort HD is pretty colorful and some of the cartoony characters are well-designed. The animations are incredibly basic, but overall it's got a nice look to it. I'm also a huge fan of being able to relocate any and all structures with a single tap, rather than having to select a special "move" command like most other games of this type tend to do. But wait, there's more! None of it's good, though.

Many seem to have taken issue with the somewhat questionable similarities between Pocket Fort HD and Clash of Clans, and I can certainly see where they're coming from. It was a big surprise for me to find out that this wasn't a sequel or some sort of expansion to Supercell's popular title, honestly. But that's not the issue here. I mean it is, but it really isn't because the game itself is such a disappointment that it's not much of a threat. I've played my fair share of free-to-play games, and I have to say I can't think of many that are as poorly paced as Pocket Fort HD. Only two build tasks can be going at the same time (unless players want to pay real money for more workers), and when they take a half hour or more to complete they can really slow down a base's progress. Seriously, development is excruciatingly slow, and there's nothing to do aside from sending soldiers to their doom during all the downtime. And even that only wastes a minute or two.

Pocket Fort HD may or may not have taken a bit too much inspiration from Clash of Clans, but in the end it's just too dull and slow for that to matter.

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