SEE EDITOR’S NOTE AT BOTTOM OF POST.
Virtual Conquest is a Risk knock-off for the iPhone, the first of its kind. The concept is good; the execution needs work.
The basics of the game are similar to Risk. The game is played on a board representing the world, with the various continents divided into territories. Each of the territories is occupied by a number of armies controlled by one of the gameplayers. Players take turns building armies and attacking adjacent centers with the objective of ultimately taking over the entire game board. By conquering entire continents, players obtain additional bonus army builds.
The game features the ability to play both against computer and human opponents. It seems that the game lacks support for play over wireless – multiplayer games can be played by passing a phone around to multiple players.
The good:
1. The map is nicely done.
2. The gameplay is fairly seamless.
3. It’s moderately fun.
The bad:
1. The computer AI is beyond atrocious. I played twice – not once did the computer EVER attack me, or anyone else on the board for that matter. The computer players just sat there building armies in their home centers while I waltzed around the board taking continents and eliminating other players. It’s really impossible to overstate how bad this game’s AI is.
2. There’s no way to set up a standard game for use every time you play, or to start a game quickly. Every time you play, you’re forced to enter the entire player list. If you’re going to play the computer, it’s pretty safe to say that you don’t care what the computer players’ names are and do not want to be forced to type them in. It’s also safe to say that you’re going to want to play with the standard six players. So why not just have this as a standard option?
3. There’s no sound.
4. When it’s the computer’s move, there’s no way to focus in on what the computer is doing. You have to scan the screen to see where he’s attacking or building. Though, since the computer never attacks, this is somewhat of a moot point.
As it is, the 1.0 release of Virtual Conquest is not worth recommending. The terrible AI is inexcusable for a paid app. That said, I’m excited to see if developer Two Blue Cubes fixes these problems in future releases – they have the makings of a good app.
EDITOR’S NOTE (10.06.08) – The AI issues with Virtual Conquest have been fixed. The new AI is light years better than in the previous version. Also, the screen moves around to show where the computer is attacking at any given point in time. As such, we’ve changed our score from a 3/10 to a 7/10.
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September 16th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Hi,
I’m the developer of this game.
I have to admit this is a fair review. Unfortunately a last minute bug slipped into the A.I. code before release, and I didn’t catch it before it went live. I can only apologise for this and make it clear that this is being addressed for a v1.1 update very soon.
As for points 2 and 3, these are also being addressed and will have at least point 2 (saved player lists) in for v1.1. Sound was also scheduled for v1.1, but I may have to move it back now to avoid delaying the A.I. fix.
I have posted an update to the AppStore description warning about the bug, as it is not my intention to try and make money out of buggy software.
Thanks for being balanced in this review. I’m committed to making this the game that everyone seems to want it to be.
Phil at Two Blue Cubes.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Hey Phil,
Thanks for stopping by. Really looking forward to seeing the next release – once the AI issues are fixed it should be a fun game.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:05 am
FYI the 1.0.1 update went live yesterday, which addresses the A.I. bug, remembers player lists, and has some other enhancements, such as font scaling (so numbers are more readable when you zoom out) and improvements to the automatic panning when the computer plays.
No sound yet, but that will be in the next update.
You can also now keep up-to-date on the latest news about the game and its development on the blog site that has just been added, at http://www.twobluecubes.com/blog
Hope this helps,
Phil at Two Blue Cubes.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:17 am
I downloaded Conquest onto my iphone but have no clue as to how it is played. I’ve been searching for an answer but so far, no luck. Can anyone point me towards a set of instructions?
Thanks,
Alan
May 28th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Hi Alan,
There are full instructions on the website at: http://vconqr.com/instructions
Hope this helps,
Phil at Two Blue Cubes
July 13th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
When is the next update coming?