33rd Division
by Jamin Smith on Tuesday 1st Dec 2009

Flight Control has a lot to answer for. It's annoying to have to mention it this early on in the review, but it's impact on the iGaming landscape is undeniably huge. The game single-handedly carved it's own genre out of the fertile soils of the App Store, and now has an army of clones riding on it's success. Time management games - as they've hence forth become known - can be found in alarming abundance on the app store, and all offer a very similar gameplay experience. That's not to say the genre has already outlived it's worth however, a sentiment which Craneballs Studios prove with their latest App Store offering 33rd Division.

33rd Division swaps the aircraft of Flight Control with a range of WW2 military troops, who will obediently follow routes drawn with a finger using the touch screen. If all goes to plan, your troop will reach his intended destination and you'll get some points to make it all worthwhile. This seemingly easy procedure is made all the more difficult by the presence of enemy troops (who are German, naturally) and will shoot yours down should they come into range. Each enemy troop has a Metal Gear Solid esque vision cone, allowing you to predict the best route to safety and avoid unnecessary enemy contact. If one of your troops looks like he's heading into trouble, a quick tap on his location will send him flat to the ground, where he's immune to enemy detection. 33rd Division quickly teaches struggling players that awareness and quick strategic reflexes are vital for survival, and more importantly, big scores.

33rd Division features two game modes; life mode and time mode. To point out the obvious, life mode gives you a certain amount of lives to get as many troops to safety as possible, where as time mode gives you a time limit which is replenished after each successful troop is delivered safely. Life mode is more immediately rewarding, but core players will soon find themselves drifting toward time mode. As well as this, the game features Open Feint leaderboards, meaning there's every reason to replay levels to get a few places higher on the leaderboard.

Adding to the tactical nature of the game are the numerous items that will pop up on the map. These nine powerups range from speed boosts, to triple point scores, to extra lives. Taking a detour to pick up these items is often the best strategy in order to beat high scores. The game is tactical in more than just this sense however. Three different types of troop mean that the player must adapt their strategy to fit the situation; where the medic is the fastest moving troop on the field, the sergeant is the slowest, and requires a different train of thought to get to safety. The maps themselves also throw up some interesting scenarios, and knowing how best to play each map will determine just how high up that leaderboard you manage to get.

As with Craneballs previous title, Blimp, 33rd Division is a game dripping with style and finesse. To take such a simple gameplay concept and give it so much character and flair is a credit to Craneballs skill as a developer. Where so many games that hit the app store seem sloppy and rushed, 33rd Divisipn proves once again that Cranballs Studios are dedicated to making high quality games. Visually, 33rd Division looks fantastic, complimented with slick loading an menu screens. It might seem a trivial point to make, but these little touches say alot about the quality of the game as a whole. Once again, Craneballs shine in the sound department too, with authentic war melodies and comical one liners from the troops. As a package, 33rd Division ticks all the boxes.

33rd Division doesn't take the time management genre in a radically new direction, ignoring this however, Craneballs have created the most refined time management game to date. Instantly accessible, highly polished and as addictive as all those that have come before it. 33rd Division should be snapped up by fans of the popular new genre, and for those that haven't dipped their toes into the icy waters of the time management genre, there's no better game to start with.

If you're lucky enough to be reading this today, December 1st, then 33rd Division can be downloaded free of charge thanks to Blacksmith Games and the Appvent Calender.

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