The Third Age vs Total War Battles: Kingdom
The Third Age
The Third Age is a pretty typical MMO strategy game that uses a more modern gameplay formula, allowing for more real-time interactions between warring factions, and hence, players. Set in a world that was taken over by the Demon King, it is now up to you, the fabled lord who will finally bring an end to his evil reign, but first, you’ll need to gather up an army!Overall, The Third Age is a pretty decent browser-based MMO strategy game with a much more interactive world map and casual-like gameplay due to auto-combat, despite its generic storyline. Progress can be a bit slow once you hit level 3 Castle, however, so the game may end up becoming one of those more casual MMO games whereby logging in once or twice a day is enough.
Total War Battles: Kingdom
Total War Battles: Kingdom is the free-to-play version of a Total War game that is available on the mobile platform. Set in the medieval times, the game perfectly captures how things were back then - an era filled with almost constant skirmishes and conflicts between lords and fledgling kingdoms. The gameplay mechanics are pretty well-done despite being somewhat restricted - you can only bring a maximum of 9 battalions into battle, for example, and it does retain most of the Total War archetypes like city-building, army training, and battles.Unfortunately, Total War Battles: Kingdom definitely pales in comparison to any of the games in the main series mainly because it fell victim to one of the worst pitfalls in the free-to-play gaming industry: microtransactions. Don’t expect to get far into the game without spending real money first, but if you still choose to persevere, it would probably take you weeks of constant playing to get your kingdom somewhere solid enough for you to hold your own.
That said, the game is still a pretty decent albeit casual installment of the Total War series. Fans of the franchise or of casual MMO strategy games on the mobile platform may want to give the game a try.