App Review - FoursqWAR

Connor Scalleat Dec 21, 2010 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Applications, Exclusive, Gaming, Mobile Software, Reviews, iPhone

FoursqWAR
App type: Game
Price: Free, but add-on’s are pricey
Compatible: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad - iOS 4.1 required
Developer: Project Zebra Ltd.

Are you a Foursquare enthusiast? Have to “check in” into every single place you go? Well, then FoursqWAR maybe the next place you want to “check out”! Yeah, I’ll admit that was corny, and I apologize.

FoursqWAR uses Foursquare’s API to turn a simple means of letting people know where you are into a full on game of tactical turf warfare. And after opening the app, and first signing in with my Foursquare account - “bam!” - the one thing that really took my notice was how great the UI looked. In my opinion, it’s actually sexier than even Foursquare’s own app! I knew immediately I was in for a ride.

Sitting on the homescreen you see how many buildings you are currently defending, your strength (number of units), an option to open the battlefield (map to check-in on), inventory, league (overall scores on Gamecenter), your medals (achievements in Gamecenter), and a news panel which allows you to see what is going on with your friends and yourself. 

The battlefield is a map displaying all the locations that you can interact with. Once opening the map it gives you a smooth and amazing graphic on the bottom of the device saying such things like: “We have you, gathering intel;” “Searching for your location;” “Pins deployed bring the troops;” etc. Once you have a building selected, you are presented with a screen with all its information. In this screen you can either capture the building (stealing it from another player), occupy a building by locating troops to its location, do a civvy check-in (check-in on Foursquare), or pull up the location’s information on Foursquare. If you already occupy the building you can add more troops to it to defend it, or you can evacuate it and locate your troops somewhere else.

The inventory tab is where you can find all of the materials, troops, and machinery that you own. To obtain new things in your inventory you can either swap your units to get other units, (ex. Humvee costs 4 units.), or you can unattractively - yet understandabley - is by purchasing credits or units. Units can cost anywhere from $0.99 (real world currency) which is 200 units, or $9.99 which is 2,500 units. To highlight some of the items in the inventory you can select from a mortar team, tanks, John Rambo, steel rain, special forces, etc. 

To attack buildings that are already occupied you’re going to need troops, and these troops also cost money. You can trade these troops for other types of things. Luckily, you can purchase new things at very reasonable prices and it is all done through the in-app purchasing system.

As I’m sure many people agree, the only downfall to this app is found within the inventory app and the spending of real life money to purchase ground units. Though, it’s not all a complete loss; you can also earn troops just by opening the app every day, receiving 200 units a day.

One of the coolest parts of this game is the Game Center integration, which is an example of what I think Game Center was really made for. Throughout your conquering campaign you earn military-style achievements, known as medals. Medals range from Private to General, and special achievements such as winning streak, losing streak, battle veteran, and battle elite. They also have the league strength board which really makes the game a social experience. Essentially, it shows who is your most powerful friend in terms of units. It’s a great social game to play in a place where all your friends are. You can fight them for buildings, advance in troops, etc., all with one great big social experience. 

Overall

I absolutely love this game and give it a raving two thumbs up! It is one of the best implementations of any API on the mobile platform I have seen since Friendly on the iPad. The game is fun, addictive and - for the most part - completely free. You lose none of Foursquare’s ability and it even gains some new features. The UI is a gradient field of joy, and frankly I couldn’t take my eyes off it. This is the future of social games and so far it is moving in all the right directions.

Download FoursqWAR on iTunes Now
iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad - iOS 4.1 required

Do you use FoursqWAR? If so, leave a comment below on how you like it; if not, leave a comment below letting us know what you think of the idea.