Castle Clash Review: Best the Genre has to Offer

This newest entry to the base-building strategy genre is a clear remake of others from the genre. If you have played others like Clash of Clans, you already know how to play this game. But Castle Clash adds quite a large amount of new mechanics to the genre.

Major Differences:

• Hero progression (leveling)
• Hero arena
• Base defense challenges
• Magic (used in PvP and PvE)
• Considerably larger pool of units
• Fast building progression
• High gem income

“You said one more turn at 11… IT’S 4AM!”

You may think these things wouldn’t be enough to make the game amazing, but trust me, it all adds up. The complete package that all of these things create is a game that feels more fun than chore. It feels like I have five times the activities than in Clash of Clans. It almost has the same effect as Civilization V’s ‘just one more turn’ effect. Only difference here is ‘just one more raid’ and ‘just one more building.’

I think this is another game where there are specifics to who you are and what type of gamer you are will determine the general take away from this. Obviously, those out there who despise everything about free-to-play mobile games and the slowish “cow-clicker” type of games, are going to most likely not like this game. I will, however, go out on a limb and say that this game might turn some of those gamers over to the idea.

I hate it when I describe getting into a new game and it sounds exactly like someone introducing themselves to AA.

Now, don’t get your hopes up and think this is a game you can play once and be satisfied. If you are satisfied on your first play or first couple plays… Buckle up buddy, you are in for a long ride. If you play this once and hate it, honestly it’s probably for the best. If you like it, you’ll begin to put some time and in and before you know it, you’re hooked. Once you’ve put some time and thought into the game, it’s almost like a guilt trip that you stopped taking care of your base.

You get this habit of making sure something is always building, if it’s not building or upgrading it’s wasted time. I think a lot of this drive to progress unendingly comes from my MMO history. Yeah, I know, I’m bringing up WoW, sorry. In all honesty, Castle Clash is WoW + RTS + Farmville + many more others all wrapped up into one fun, little, simple package. It’s the best of many worlds put into a time-consuming monster in your pocket.

Mixed Emotions

I don’t know if this is coming through in my writing, but this is a weird one for me. I like this game a lot. I hate myself for liking it. It reminds me of many other games that I love and should be playing instead, yet here I am writing about it and brewing a beginner’s guide. I don’t want to say it’s a love/hate relationship, it’s more a push/pull relationship.

I’ll try to break this down.

Great Things:

• I end up sitting in my car or waiting somewhere enough that I get a decent amount of play time.
• I don’t find myself just sitting and waiting for units to spawn to go attack the next base.
• There are so many forms of progression that I get much more satisfaction from my wait times.
• It feels less of a money grab when the flow of gems (which can be bought with real money) is so much greater. It comes through that the developers wanted to make a fun game first and a money-maker second.
• I spent 10 bucks on the game and am happy with the purchase.

Lame Things:

• I end up looking for more reason to sit in my car or wait somewhere.
• ‘Just one more turn’ until crazy hours of the morning.
• I’m losing sleep over a “cow-clicker.” What’s wrong with me!? What’s happening.
• I spent money on a “cow-clicker.”
• I contemplated buying more. O.o
• I may be hated after this post.

These should have helped paint the picture of my conundrum. What do you do when a game within a genre that you don’t agree with pulls you in and makes you love it.

#guiltypleasure

Just starting out? Check out my beginner’s guide. As per comments, it seems agreed that is essencial knowledge to anyone starting out.