It’s not a lie when I say that “Age of Conquest” cast a spell over me back in 2011 when I’ve joined the Android world with my Samsung P1000. I’ve written a review for Playandroid saying that I will definitely “take work home with me” – and so it happened: Age of Conquest: World was the first Android game, that I didn’t uninstall right after doing the review – instead I’ve played it for months in my free time.

Howsoever, that’s five years ago and things have changed a lot. So will Age of Conquest IV by Noble Master Games convince me again to remain on my phone?

Smart(phone) Strategist

If there’s a genre, that’s underrepresented in the mobile gaming world, it’s definitely the genre of turn-based strategy games. TBS games like Civilization even represent a niche on PC, but they are most certainly a rarity on mobile devices.

“Age of Conquest IV”uses the WEGO system (turn-based gameplay, but simultaneously executed orders) and is a mixture of “Civilization” and the strategy board game “Risk”. You conquer the world (or a subregion) province by province, but you also have to take care of taxes and diplomacy.

Time to expand the Australian Empire by attacking Madagascar.

The Right Strategy

As a descendant of the East Frisian Chieftain Edo Wiemken (I am not kidding!), I was very proud that my first battle took place in medieval Europa fighting the Saxons as a Frisian. However, through in-app purchases, you can get access to more content like a world map with true starting locations – a service, that even Civilization doesn’t provide for its players since they are counting on the modding scene to add it.

With many maps, nations and the possibility to join cross-platform multiplayer games, you really don’t have to worry about the long time motivation, Featuring a complex gameplay, real maps, epic music and good sound effects (is that the death sound of the peons from Warcraft III?), “Age of Conquest IV” is definitely following the right strategy.

Speaking of Warcraft, there is a rumor that Age of Conquest will become a Risk-like custom map for Reforged. I definitely recommend you to stay tuned for news around this!

Substance over Form?

Unfortunately, “Age of Conquest IV” is packed with great content, but the presentation of the game has a few flaws. The user interface is stuffed with too much information, it’s rather hard to control your troops (If you succeed in selecting your troops instead of the province three times in a row, I’ll buy you a drink!) and although the game looks much better than in 2011, it’s still lagging behind the contemporary visual taste.

To answer the initial question, if this game will also remain on my phone: Absolutely. I will definitely play it even after finishing this review. And you should do too, especially if you’re a fan of strategy games like I am. Download it for Android, iOS or your PC.