- Gameplay
- Graphics
- Sound & Music
Seriously, sand gets in, everywhere. It is a lesson that we learn each summer, over and over again. It is not always that fun, to be honest, especially when you open up your DSLR and find, well, sand…
Well, that’s about it. My thoughts on sand. But other than that, I generally really like it. Especially in summer, on the beach. Where I will be taking my iPad this year, instead of a book as I usually do, because I learned two amazing facts about iPads. First is, you can fit a lot more books on an iPad than you can fit in your traveling bag. And the second is, you can play Battle Academy on your iPad, too.
Battle Academy will provide you with tons of sand as well, whether we are talking about Africa deserts or Omaha beach, but it will also show you the entire variety of other landscapes in different geographical areas and seasons. The iPad version of a very popular desktop game is amazing in many ways, and has managed to persuade me that there are, in fact, interesting and challenging games for this platform, pulverizing my skepticism like, well, a heavy panzer shot! If you want to have gaming fun with your iPad and play something that is not only entertaining, but also intellectualy challenging, it is possible to do so with Battle Academy.
Map display will give you a decent overview of the situation.
Alas, to the game! Battle Academy is turn-based isometric strategy that takes you through a series of scenarios where you prove your worth by successfully commanding your units on the road to victory. You will have infantry, artillery, armored vehicles and tanks at your disposal, as well as areal and naval bombardments, all in service of you bashing the Wehrmacht or their pitiful sidekicks to a bloody pulp. The game is not simple, though, and you will have a lot of challenges ahead of you, especially since the point isn’t only to win the battle, but to lose as little of your troops as possible. After all, you got to live to fight another day, right?
One must be careful and scout ahead with troops and fast vehicles before committing the main force to the advancement.
The controls are simple and intuitive, selecting, inspecting units as well as giving them orders to move or open fire at the specific target is easily done. You need to pay respect to the circumstances on the battlefield and pay good attention to your surroundings; a canyon that looks suspicious should be, if at all possible, circumvented or scouted first before you send your tanks in there. Different units will have varying abilities and statistics, and you will be able, if you are playing carefully, to wipe out an enemy force twice your size. Of course, the opposite is also possible, so once again, keep your eyes open for those ambushing enemy units. And take that high ground! No, seriously, Kenobi knew it, high ground, terrain details, elevation, all of that effects your units, their precision and lethality as well as your exposure and many more attributes are essential for a successful outcome of a battle.
The briefings are kept in the cartoon style, and they work well.
The good thing about the iPad version that is both fun, good looking and playable, but to top that off, you can engage the players cross-platform, play with other iPad owners or desktop owners via PBEM. There is a lot of content for an iPad game, more can be downloaded for free and it is truly a fun and engaging title.
One thing that has to be kept in mind, though, is the fact that this is a strategy game. A representative of wargaming. Hence, those that do not like this genre won’t like this game, either, but if you are a strategy fan, even if you are not hard-core by any measure, you will probably like the game, since it is designed by the decent concept of “easy to learn, hard to master”. Personally, I love every second of it, and find myself snapping up my iPad and walking off to the garden more often now, enjoying the sun and a round of good old fashioned wargaming. Probably one of the finest strategy games you can find on iPad just about now, and definitely a must have.
