A number of players have been able to enjoy Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances in all its meticulously strategic glory for almost a full year now, but the experience has been tied specifically to web browsers. That’s a problem that will cease to exist in the near future.

Fans of the series should note that this isn’t a typical C&C. It’s not real-time strategy and its not divided into small half-hour long skirmishes. Each of the game’s 50,000 (that’s “fifty-thousand”) player servers houses a gigantic circular world map. Players begin on the outside and attempt to fight their way to the middle, which is far easier said than done. Simply reaching the center of the map can take months of planning and teamwork, and then there’s the matter of holding on to the bases that sit within those areas. Comparing this to the original series is sort of like comparing checkers to chess.

Tiberium Alliances is an incredibly player-driven experience. Hence the “Alliances.” NOD and GDI exist pretty much in name only here as player-formed groups can and will consist of both. Once these alliances have been established it’s up to the participants to figure everything out. Who wants to play the heavy hitter? Who wants to act as support? When will so-and-so be on so that you can coordinate an attack against a nearby enemy outpost in order to take it over and gain its bonuses for your alliance? There’s a ridiculous amount of strategy to be found if players are willing to travel deep enough into the rabbit hole.

Combat is also a rather involved affair with specific units gaining an automatic advantage over specific defenses and vice-versa. By the same token, different buildings within a base have different levels of importance in a fight. The Defense Facility, for example, will repair other buildings over time. Take it out and the base will take a while to get back to full strength. Or there’s always the Construction Yard. Kill that and the base is toast regardless. Of course not all bases can be overrun in a single attack, which is why it’s vital to communicate with other alliance members and really plan complex maneuvers ahead of time.

The overall experience is largely unchanged from the browser-based version, with the exception of a new touch-based interface. However, once the iOS version is released Tiberium Alliances will be totally cross-platform with players able to manage their bases and assemble armies on their computer, then immediately jump in where they left off on their mobile devices if need be. Which will be a boon for any serious players as the community is looking pretty intense and involved. In a good way.

Anyone interested in checking out Tiberium Alliances can do so right now through their web browser, of course. But in another month or so the entire life devouring, free-to-play strategy monster will go cross platform. And then there won’t be anywhere left to hide.

Those of us who focus on mobile and mobile games probably haven’t heard much about Paradox Interactive, a hard-core PC game company from Sweden. They make some of the most loved PC games in the strategy and RPG genres and have been around for 14 years. They have decided to take a polar bear plunge into the icy waters of mobile games in 2013 and have introduced a couple promising looking titles for the iPad.

First up is Magicka – Wizards of the Square Tablet. This lightweight, and lighthearted RPG arcade game is a genre-bender, and that many times works well on mobile. Magicka is a one to four player game where each player is a wizard in a series of co-op quests. While the game has some free-to-play type elements in it, like gathering coins and buying upgrades, currently they don’t plan on releasing it as free to play. The plan is to release it this spring as a straight pay to download title.

We mentioned that Magicka is rather lighthearted. This comes from the fast paced, quick spell slinging nature of the game. With four players and a number of enemies on the screen, and sometimes a huge boss, it leads invariably to misdirected spells. So, basically, it’s easy to kill other wizards. But, it’s also easy to revive them. This is where the fun comes in with players screaming at each other to bring them back to life and, perhaps, “accidentally” killing the yellow wizard, repeatedly. I may have experience with that as I played the yellow wizard.

Magicka is a true cross-platform iOS and Android title where players can play on either device in the same realtime multiplayer game. Local multiplayer is currently supported, with internet multiplayer to be included if the response time is satisfactory. Magicka should be released in the spring. We hope to get our hands on a beta build and have a more in-depth look at Magicka soon.

Next up is a bit more of a hard-core title, Leviathan: Warships. Warships is a futuristic navy battle, turn based multiplayer game where you outfit your navy and go into battle at sea. It’s an asynchronous turn-based multiplayer game where you can have multiple games going at the same time. Something we’ve repeatedly seen works very well on mobile platforms.

While this game is much more of a core gamer strategy title, it can also be played in more of a quick arcade manor. The depth is there if you want to get into it. You can get deep into the strategy of how you move, how you utilize your different ship types properly, and how you outfit your armaments. It can be strategized to the point that it’s a chess-like game of planning, attack, and defense. Or you can just charge in, missiles firing, and try to surprise your opponent. Either way, it will be hard not to have fun with this game.

Leviathan: Warships will also support single player games and allow you to mix and match a number of single and multiplayer games going on at the same time. Take a look at the announcement trailer below for an idea of the gameplay. While no iPad specific screens are shown, the plan is to make gameplay is as close to this as they can possibly make it.

In my short time with this game, I was really impressed by it. I look forward to getting a preview build of this as well so I can really spend some time with it playing the different modes and testing out the best strategies. Look for a more in-depth preview of Leviathan: Warships soon.

Disclosure notice: Paradox Interactive paid the majority of the cost to bring me and a bunch of other journalists in to see these games. These preview opportunities in no way influences our decision on what apps and games we cover. We only cover things that we think you, our reader, would be interested in.