Ikariam vs Total War Battles: Kingdom
Ikariam
Ikariam is an online empire-building MMO strategy game that partly resembles games like The Settlers Online and Sparta: War of Empires, and yet manages to offer something else that's entirely unique. In this game, you play the role of a leader of a Greek polis (city) and it is your sacred duty to develop your polis' infrasructure and economy, build up an army to defend said polis and attack other poleis, as well as to bring about new technological discoveries that will aid the growth of your empire.Ikariam may feel like every other browser-based MMO strategy game, but once you get into the game, you'll quickly realize how much more depth this game has and how exciting it is to play the game. It's definitely not easy to succeed in Ikariam - only the best leaders and strategists will manage to get to the top... Are you among these few?
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.