Offworld represents that sorely missing category in mobile gaming- strategy titles, and good ones at that.  Taking on the role of the best bounty hunter in the universe, the player is deseiged with tons of battles, that can be replayed to grind up levels, and even an easy to follow along story.  While the story won’t give Stephen King a run for his money in the gift of the word, it is just enough to give player’s a reason to keep plowing through anything that stands in their way.

The giant mechs that resemble a cross between what you would expect in a Robotech: First Generation cartoon and something that Cobra Commander would have come up with later in the game against G.I. Joe.  At least they are original and not just humonoid looking armored giant men that most combat games go for (Halo, I am looking your way).

When I first discovered Offworld, while searching Google Play,  I was thinking this may be quite similar to Shining Force on Sega Genesis but that illusion was removed quite quickly upon first loading Offworld up.  There is no real movement involved, you pick a planet and then a qaudrant on the planet (based on some basic information readouts on the area) and the fight commences.  No picking unit placement outside of what units you bring into the battle, no strategically moving around the battle map and skillfully choosing “attack” instead of “heal” and scoring the fatal blow on your final opponent, slicing them down with your weapon.  None of that is present in Offworld.

The most complicated thing that you will be doing in Offworld is picking what order to do missions in and what mechs to bring into battle, when you have more than the maximum number allowed in aparticular battle.  That is about it.  The actual fighting is pretty simple, either attack or defend.  That is about it.

After each battle there is a chance to salvage wreckage for your mechanic to outfit your mechs with new weapons or armor (doesn’t really change your tactics in battle).  The salvage effort is more like a single line sideways scrolling slot machine that is apparently rigged in favor the house by a HUGE margin (between a high value item and a low value item, or death, you will nearly ALWAYS receive the lesser of the two).

Zeepad Specifics:
The Zeepad is not the most sophisticated tablet available but it runs Offworld without any major problems.  If you have a lot of processes running in the background then the game play will suffer.  As you can see from the pics, the graphics are quite good, no major glitches or problems.  Loading times are acceptable and not excessive.

Offworld by 6Waves
Platform: Android
Genre: Strategy
Rated: Medium Maturity
Score: 72/100
Available now on Google Play and the iTunes App Store.

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Written by: triverse on October 7, 2012.