World Conqueror 3D is one of those games you start off by saying “I’ll just play it for a few minutes” before you are sucked in for more than an hour of gameplay. The game taps in to your most primeval need to victory and tugs at your brain as you try to build a strategy to get yourself there.
World Conqueror 3D feels a lot like you’re playing a tabletop strategy war game like Risk in that the results of each battle are decided at the roll of the dice. Roll a high number and your unit will come out on top, but roll a low number and your unit will be destroyed. With a lot of strategy also comes a lot of luck. But I’ll get to that.
The goal of the game is to conquer the world, though not just your country. The game is based around World War II and depending on the campaign or conquest you choose the size of the battle is different. For example if you choose Conquest mode you are really playing with the entire world, though you only control the units of the country you choose. If you play as an allied country then you must defeat all of the axis countries to win, and vice versa.
At the beginning of each round you will see your available funds in the top left corner of the screen. How much money you have to work with is directly related to the number of territories you control and how much they are developed. Selecting a territory (land or sea) will show you the value of that parcel and how much you will earn by controlling it. You can develop each land parcel as well for a cost, up to level 5, which will increase the ‘taxes’ you get out of the land. The more money you earn each round the more you can do. Each piece of land at level five can also build units.
There are three different types of units in the game: soldier, tank and artillery. Each unit type has an attack strength range and movements. Soldiers are the cheapest to build but have a slightly weaker attack strength. They can however take invade a defeated unit’s land on the same turn. Tanks and artillery cost the same amount with the artillery having slightly higher attack strength. Artillery also have the benefit of being able to attack another unit without receiving a counter attack, unless attacking an enemy artillery unit. However they can’t invade a territory they defeat during the same turn whereas tanks can.
You will defeat an enemy country by defeating the units protecting their capital and then occupying the land. If you take over the capital then all of the enemy’s territories will become your own, increasing your tax revenue per turn.
When you select a unit you will be shown blue and red arrows, depending on where the unit is on the map. Blue arrows show you where your unit can move while red arrows show units you can attack, including allies. Thankfully allies won’t retaliate if you do attack them, though you will use units when they counter attack in the same turn.
You are at the mercy of the dice during attacks, though you can purchase unit upgrade cards to better your chances of victory. By tapping the “cards” icon in the bottom right of the screen you can select ‘General’ card to temporarily give the units you select a +1 attack modifier or the ‘Marshall’ card to give them a +1 defense modifier. Purchasing these upgrades will give you a better shot but anything can happen in war.
There are other cards that you can purchase in addition to these upgrades. The previously mentioned ‘Construction’ card can be chosen to let you upgrade territories and the ‘Fortress’ card will let you batten down the hatches and give a unit a +1 defense but make them immobile for three turns. Your units aren’t all water ready when they’re built and will have to be prepped. Purchasing the ‘Battleship’ card for units will let them seamlessly take to the sea and back on land again. Finally the ‘Airstrike’ card will let you damage an adjacent enemy unit at the roll of the dice with no counterstrike with a final big move for seven countries (nuclear strike anyone)?
I’ll admit that I got sucked into this game and spent way too long playing it at times. “Just one more round” was uttered more than once as the clock ticked away. After watching enemy movements I wanted to play just one more round to retaliate and counter attack, only to be sucked in to watching the enemy moves again until the pattern continued. The one thing that I didn’t enjoy though was having to watch the ENTIRE world go about their moves. When I my front of the world war only involved a few select units and one part of the world, having to sit through 45 seconds of moves irrelevant to my situation was a bit annoying.
The Campaign mode though takes a more narrow look at pieces of the war, such as the incident at Pearl Harbour, and only features a few countries strifing and not the entire globe. This makes the rounds pass far more quickly as you can narrow your focus and the moves between your own are much less. Of course with only you as the sole focus of your enemy they come at you will full fury.
Overall I enjoyed this game. The game looks and plays like a dice-based board game and feels very much like it. The two pieces of music which play during the game are varied and feel very appropriate for the game. Epic music which really gets you into it. The only thing that I would have liked is a multiplayer option, with the ability to take on another person in wireless local multiplayer, either with one copy of the game or with dual copies of the game. Heck, passing the system back and fouth would have been just fine as everyone takes a turn anyway.
Next time maybe, but very fun game.
