Rise of Warlords - RoW

This is a game that demands your attention, that's always throwing new things to do in your general direction. Whether it's upgrading your city, sending out scouting parties to conquer more territory, or defeating your foes, you're always on your toes. And you're always earning new materials, heroes and land as well.

There's an interesting story, plenty of intriguing characters to meet and loads more besides. Throw in realistic terrain that can block your advances if you're not careful, reactive real time battles and you're left with an in-depth midcore multiplayer RTS with kingdom building chops that's going to keep you playing for a good long while.

Rise of Warlords eases you into its mechanics with no small amount of skill. Quests and challenges push you to learn what everything does, allowing you to master everything before things get too tricky. The learning curve is paced just right - you'll gather new information as you fight, build and conquer.

The game looks great too, and the tap controls work really well. While there might be some depth here, you never feel overwhelmed by complexity. Any resources you need you can earn by playing as well, meaning you're always in a position to build and expand without having to worry about buying extra materials.

And unlike in a lot of other games, playing with others here is going to be the key to your success. Joining a league and sharing strength and resources is super important instead of just an afterthought. It adds a neat social aspect to the experience that's going to keep you jumping back in for more.

The game deals with combat in some interesting ways as well. Your troops can be attacked when they're heading back to your city, and you can withdraw them from engagements too. Everything on the map is important and you need to make sure you're paying attention to any potential obstacles.

There are a few niggles here, although nothing that should serve as too much of a black mark against Rise of Warlords. Perhaps the most annoying of them all are the translation and grammar errors that sometimes pop up. They're never terrible, but they can be a little jarring, unfortunately.

Fans of more traditional RTS games might find the whole experience a little too hands-off as well. The battles in particular play out without much input, which some might find a little too distancing. Anyone more familiar with modern mobile RTS experiences shouldn't be too upset, though.

Rise of Warlords is a game that's going to get under your skin if you let it. It's well put together for the most part, it throws some interesting ideas on top of a familiar foundation - the different terrain being a key example - and creates something that feels fresh and pretty darn unique at the same time.

It's certainly an experience that rewards players who are willing to put the time in, and joining together with other active warlords is going to open things up even more. It might not quite have the meat on its bones that some might expect from a traditional RTS, but there's a decent level of depth here all the same.

If you're looking for an engaging, engrossing and entertaining midcore strategy game that's always got something new for you to do, then Rise of Warlords is well worth checking out. You can find it on the App Store and Google Play.