Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense Review (IOS)

They may be small, but they pack a punch

Touch screen devices have brought to us many new and innovative game play options. Whilst innovation does not always mean better, in many cases with the iPhone it has lead to some really enjoyable titles and methods of control. One of my personal favourites has been path drawing. The idea being that you draw a path on the screen and things follow it. In Air Traffic Control, this was used to great effect to manage the landing of various aircraft on an airfield. Each line helped to guide planes to the correct landing strip. In Anthill (version 2 reviewed), these mechanisms are combined with real-time strategy and tower defence to great effect. You have an Anthill. You also have several types of ant that you can command. The general idea is to collect food, kill swarms of invading insects, collect more food and from time to time collect an item or two. I make it sound simple, because the basics are. You choose which type of ant you wish to use. Initially you have worker ants that just collect food and brawler types, which go off an fight. Draw a line on the screen from the ant hill to your destination and then decide which type of ant to send. They will then follow that path, collecting or attacking anything that gets in their way, until you delete it. Once food is collected it is taken back to the ant hill. All the while you have to check on the food, as things are over if you run out and have too many ants in the field. As you progress you can unlock bomber ants. These little creepies will drop bombs wherever you touch the screen. Very hand for tactical strikes on incoming hoards. There are also a group of ants available called spitters. These are like artillery for ants. Anthill: Tactical Trail DefenseThe game looks and plays beautifully. Whilst the premise is simple, you are soon forced to invent new strategies on the fly (so to speak) as ever bigger and badder baddies head your way. There are plenty of levels and once you have finished the campaign mode, there is an infinity mode to play. This has you trying to survive never ending waves for as long as possible. To add to the longevity, you can also upgrade your ants. You can give your soldiers higher brutality and toughness and even grenades eventually. Workers can slowly become more brave, whilst bombers can end up with napalm like burning attacks. All in all this is a superb strategy game, that sits at home on an iPhone perfectly. Put it on an iPad and you feel like you are the head of strategy for some kind of war room. I heartily recommend this, it will challenge strategy and action lovers alike and should provide hours of fun! itunes.apple.com/us/app/anthill-tactical-trail-defense/id414658364?mt=8

The Good: Balanced gameplay. Excellent controls. Looks great
The Bad: Campaign a little short


Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense Anthill: Tactical Trail Defense 


Gold Y AwardGold Y Award
4.5 4.5 / 5

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