Warlords RTS Review

Prepare for war! Warlords RTS from Armor Games puts players on the battlefield in a hero-driven strategy game where all sorts of evil creatures must suffer their end; because they're evil and that's what the story says so we're going to roll with it.

Players primarily command a hero that is their strongest unit, with a set of special abilities that can be unleashed to help themselves and the units that can be bought with coins earned in battle. New units can be purchased and commanded to move and attack wherever the player commands, joining up with other groups.

Most objectives are to destroy certain buildings or enemy groups, but the process of getting there is (of course) fraught with difficulty. The hero must be leveled-up while playing so that they can take all the punishment they need to and be able to effectively take down enemies. There are certain points that can be captured and used to either generate more money and add an additional unit that can be produced, or add four extra unit slots. Either will help, but which will help more?

Controlling the large masses of units proves to be difficult. Tapping on a unit will select other units nearby. Thus, getting a certain cadre of units to go to a certain spot is a challenge. This is especially frustrating at first as the game only slowly introduces new unit types, but it eventually says "hey, this is how to split groups up!" Still, especially in the heat of battle, it's difficult to get everyone going everywhere they should be going. Ultimately the controls do provide a deep set of options for what players can do, it's just not the easiest process to do so with.

If there's one thing I love about Warlords RTS, it is just how metal it is. All the mission titles sound like they either could be, and in some cases are, the names of metal songs. The dialog could be growled, set to a dual-guitar shredding attack with some blast beats, and it would be a pretty awesome song. The combat can be hectic and confusing, yes, but it makes for a game that feels both fast-paced and allows for missions that can be relatively drawn-out affairs (in the context of mobile, at least).

The game is $2.99, and features some IAP that cost more than the game, but just playing through normally should get enough in the way of items and currency to progress. But additional heroes and special weapons will cost extra.

Warlords RTS can be a bit tricky to play, but there's some fun to be had here. Rock on.