REVIEWS
Once more into the breach, dear iPad
£12.99 FROM feralinteractive.com MADE FOR iPhone, iPad, iPod touch NEEDS iOS 14/iPadOS 14 or later
Taking over Europe was a common pastime among royalty in the Middle Ages, it seems. They’re at it again in Medieval II, which takes you from Merrie England to North Africa and Constantinople.
Total War games, with their combination of turn–based strategy and real time tactics, suit the touchscreen nicely, though they’re arguably a better fit for the larger iPads. Essentially, you send armies out into an abstract map to capture territory. When they meet another army, they fight, and the game changes to a view of your army, in which you deploy units, set behavior, and take direct control to take the fight to the enemy.
It’s a big game in terms of both size — 4.5GB of storage is required — and scope. It’s a complete port of the Mac game minus the multiplayer, and we’re promised an expansion pack down the road too. Some of the battles, particularly those in which more than two armies clash, can feel enormous, and while you can click the lock button at any time, it’s not a game for a coach journey. Total War requires you to fo
