I’ve had a bit of a gaming itch that I’ve been unable to scratch ever since I finished FTL. You see, I’ve wanted a game where you manage a base or ship, with crew/people to move around and big guns to fire at other people. Try as I might I couldn’t find any game that got that mix of strategy, management, random elements and KABLOUEY right (it’s a word…).

REDCON by HEXAGE is a glorious iOS game that pretty much checks every item off that wish list, and despite it being out for a while now, i’ve only just came across it. You’re a commander of a little outpost under the Glorious rule of the Fuhrer (not that one) and are tasked with defending the empire from the rebel elements intent on it’s destruction. You are free to place weapons and facilities within your tower as you see fit and you have a number of soldiers in your base to command as well. You have to balance power, ammunition and cost to get the best build and distribute your manpower in such a way as to maximise the bonuses staffing certain rooms can provide.

Oh, and there’s war obviously. When you fight you’ll see your tower in a split screen fashion with the enemies on the other side, and it’s an approach that works very well. You can fire your weapons, target specific areas and there are different types of ammunition you can load to inflict specific damage. You can for example load munitions to damage the structure, to star fires or to deliberatley target (and kill) enemy soldiers. This gives you a nice layer of strategy ontop of the usual ‘biggest guns wins’ approach.

Indeed, you will often find yourself seriously outgunned and only surgical strikes with expert timing will win the day. One level see’s you up against an enemy force field that effectively wipes out the first attack from any weapon- so I had to halt all my guns and launch in very close order to get through. Smaller calibre cannons   fired first to take down the shield, while my heavy cannons (one with structural ammo, one with incendiary ammo) fired straight after targeting the enemy power plant. The gambit worked and with the shield temporarily down, my heavy munitions damaged and then set the enemies power room on fire. His soldiers tried to put the fire out (as they have to do that to stop damage before they cant repair it) but couldn’t do so in time. His power plant exploded (dealing extra damage) killing two of his soldiers, spreading fire into nearby rooms. His shield and half his weapons were then powerless allowing me to fire at will and destroy his base. It was very satisfying.

That coupled with more weapons and utilities than you can use, multiple towers and layouts, a half decent story and gorgeous artwork turn this into a very very good game.

I genuinley can’t reccomend this enough. The first 12 levels are effectively free so there’s really no excuse not to give it ago. I think, once you do you’ll be happy to pay to upgrade to the full version, just as I did.