Review: Vampires vs Werewolves
Score:
71%
Putting aside the targetting of this game at the Twilight generation (I remember when Robert Pattinson was Christopher Lee, now there was an actor), Vampires vs Werewolves is a little strategy game with Hammer Horror style plotting, but a hugely rewarding tactical style. Read on for my review of the game on the Nokia N8.
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It's all about the territory. Put aside the theme of the supernatural eternals fighting it out for the world and you have a game with tactics and decisions on every move. Thanks to a relatively small game grid, it hits one of my favourite genres - the fast, fluid, tactical mobile game.
You and your opponent start out claiming two corner pieces of the board, and you need to expand out and claim more than half of the squares when the game ends (which happens when every square is occupied by a playing piece). You have two moves available to you; you can create a new playing piece in any empty square next to one of your pieces (the 'clone' move); or you can jump an existing piece to another square that is two squares away (the 'move' err... move).
No matter which move you make, if you land next to an enemy piece then this will be transformed/captured and become one of your playing pieces - represented in the game by changing colour from blue to red or vice versa.
And that's it. Two rules, one resulting action, and an enthralling game. At least for me, I can see why many will think there's not a lot going on here, because the strategy is quite subtle. This is partly because any victory is built on such tiny margins, maybe two pieces changing colour - and that could result from a decision very early in the game.
Putting distance between the action and the result can dull the acceptance of a game - it's one reason why arcade games usually start off really well liked and get worse (the reward is instantaneous) while more cerebral games take longer (as you build up the cause and effect relationship). Vampires vs Werewolves, thanks to the short length of play, finds a nice balance here, and the visual style of the game does give you a bit more intrigue as you start to play (unlike, say, the clinical implementation on something like Motti).
With just two skill levels when playing the computer, and the two player game being a local game only (so your phone becomes the board), developers Game Amour have done just enough to give the game enough longevity and options to make it feel loved, and in a world of snackable games that's a commercial decision that I can agree with. They've got a well implemented board game here that's quick to play, has sufficient depth to let skill and not luck win a game, and for me that's enough to let Vampires vs Werewolves stay on my phone.
-- Ewan Spence, April 2011.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at