Modern War Review

Modern War is a game that many of us will have seen before. Far from tackling the evils and dangers of actual war, it's a freemium-focused city builder by another name. Sure it's possible to fight it out with other players, but the focus is still squarely on building new defenses and watching various timer bars work their way down.

Starting out, there's the potential for variety. Mostly because players are given the choice of different nations, each offering fairly logical bonuses. I took the UK, thereby giving me a sea bonus for obvious reasons. That's about it as far as originality goes though, as Modern War quickly turns quite repetitive.

A mission button on the side of the screen dictates what must be done. Frequently, missions involve either building new structures to expand the base or attacking the opposition. Enemies come in two forms: AI and other players. In both cases though, there's little strategy. The former involves simply tapping on a wandering soldier or vehicle and waiting for the battle to conclude. The latter offers the chance of losing, but it's just as hands-off as fighting the AI.

There's a lot of tapping to Modern War. It's oddly briefly satisfying to watch things progress, but that satisfaction doesn't last. It's also not helped by the fact that progress is so very, very slow. Besides the timer bars that slow things down massively, players only have a limited amount of energy and it takes a lot to do anything. It's only really possible to dip into Modern War for five minutes a few times a day thanks to this. Unless, of course, one wants to spend lots of money on progressing. Then the game is all too keen to move forward.

Being able to form factions with others is a neat move, but it's really not enough to propel Modern War higher than an easy money maker that has more to do with habit than enjoyment.