Anthill Review

Created by Image & Form International AB, this iOS game is not your typical Tower-Defence game although at first it may seem like it. In fact, Anthill provides a very strategic feel and merges that with the fun intuitive controls of ‘touch and drag’ seen in games such as, Flight Control. As you load the app and get to the title screen, you are greeted by a colourful overview of the forest (the default game level structure) along with various insects milling around across your screen.

Gameplay
The combination of the controls and very fluid graphics makes for one of the most exciting real-time strategy games available on the iOS platform. In lieu of a story mode the aim of the game is very simple, you must protect your anthill and you do this with the aid of creating and dispatching 3 main different types of ants; the workers, the melee combatants and the ranged combatants.

The colourful and bold title screen!

Workers are used to gather food and the food is then in turn used to supplement the growth of your ever expanding ant-force. The melee ants (via combat) can turn incoming enemies into a food resource (as well as the sugar crystals and leaves lying around), meaning that the player never has to feel constricted in achieving complete maximisation, whilst dealing with other on-going factors during gameplay. The exception to the controls are the ‘Bomber’ type ants that don’t use the path-drawn control but instead are utilised via tapping the area on the screen that the player wishes them to attack.

Graphics & Design
The really appealing factor of Anthill is that it both looks and plays great, not to mention that it takes what was already a very saturated category (on the AppStore) and delivers a recognisable package but with a new fresh appeal. Graphics are sharp, menu transitions are smooth, colours are vibrant and animations are incredibly fluid and detailed, right down to the movements of the insects’ individual legs. Navigating the interface is simple and the in-game tutorials make sure you don’t miss a beat.

Let's get ready to RUMBLEEEEEEE!

If anything negative is to be said, it’s that the experience isn’t at all taxing for seasoned players and that the game seems to cater far more towards novice players. Few gamers have also commented on the length of the campaign (being approximately 25 levels only) but with the addition of an ‘Infinity’ mode, many people will find its £1.99 price tag very modest indeed.

Final Verdict
Anthill is a refreshing game in a clustered genre, the innovative controls (within the RTS
genre) combined with very smooth and colourful visual graphics make for a very well-rounded package. Its ability to be able to just pick and up play gives it another attractive factor that casual games (who might not even be interested in the Tower-Defence type) will find hard to ignore.

Graphics: 8/10
Design: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10

We Know Gamers Final Score: 8.5/10
Had a chance to play the game? Tell us what you thought in the comments section below!

Anthill

Reviewed by Changwe
on Jan 25 2012

Rating: 8.5/10