On October 2, 2012, Gaijin Entertainment released Fantasy Conflict on all iOS devices. It is an active RTS game in the same view as Modern Conflict except with… can you guess it, a Fantasy twist.

You are in charge of an army of humans, an army that needs to rid the world of the dwarves who stole a crystal that keeps all the world’s clocks working. The overall premise is very simple, and the story mode is fun and entertaining. The real bulk of the game is the various battles you face and have to solve. Each and every battle is a challenge, and at times I felt as if I couldn’t keep up with the computer player. The word active RTS should really stress that you can’t rest on your laurels one bit.

There are mages within the kingdom that grant magical spells and amulets to help give you, their commander, an edge. Each one grants a unique power that can be upgraded by spending gold coins earned from killing dwarves and winning battles. You would think that would be awesome, but earning coins ends up being a complete grind. The edge given by the spells and items is huge, but getting there ends up being frustrating beyond belief.  While I do enjoy this aspect, it almost seems a  little under handed to get the player base to spend extra money on the game as you can buy gold for real money. As the story progresses each level gets harder and harder, and the spells the AI has access to end up being much stronger than your own which means you need to upgrade to succeed.

I enjoy the game, and it’s a lot of fun but not without large amounts of frustration as well. I would start to think I am on top of the world, and then the next battle would end up destroying me over and over causing me to grind for gold. The grind does get annoying, but its well worth taking a look at the game. It’s something different and that is needed within the iOS gaming market.