Battle Islands

Battle Islands

Battle Islands is set in the 1942 war torn Pacific. You build up an army to defend your islands from others and attack those who you would desire to loot. You use different troop types, naval units and air vehicles.

This is a mobile game similar in style to Clash of Clans but set in WW2 which attempted to make the crossover to the consoles. It is free to play but requires real money to speed up constructions. You do not need to spend a dime but wait times can be rather long if you do not. You are limited to 2 engineers in the beginning but may purchase more with real money or you have to wait until you acquire enough gold in game to make the purchase.

I love the concept of a multiplayer strategy WW2 game for consoles. Unfortunately, Battle Islands does not meet the expectations of this type of game. There is little to no strategy, and the action only consists of watching your troops attack after you set them down.

On a mobile platform it is okay to play for only a few minutes when you check in and then will have more to do in another 4 hours or so, but this play style does not translate well to consoles. You are done with everything there is to do within minutes and then it is back to waiting.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like this game but it definitely lacks excitement and and content for a console game. The game has poor graphics and is very drab looking in general. Controls are clunky and buildings are difficult to place down where you want them or move.

All of that could be forgivable if the game just offered a real war strategy element. After all, it is a free to play game so one cannot expect superior graphics or controls.

It feels as if Battle Islands was an experiment to see if certain mobile games could thrive on a console. Battle Islands does not do this. I believe that it can be done, but will need more of an element of strategy and things to do. Console gamers want action, not wait times.

I would love to see more strategy games like this to be released to the consoles. I wonder how games like Evony or Kingdoms of Camelot would fair on the consoles. They may take off if they were done right. Pay to play would most likely not be a good strategy for the consoles but a small fee to download the game may work quite well.

I hope future developers are not discouraged to bring this genre to the consoles by Battle Islands but work instead to improve on the idea and make a game that is fun and immersive with real strategy to boot.

I rank Battle Islands as a 2.5 out of 10. I wish it was better. However, we should note that the game is still undergoing improvements and developers are trying to increase the fun by adding more elements. Perhaps, we can revisit the game if it somehow makes its uphill struggle to survive.