Wargaming has always been about substance over style. Many of the most celebrated wargames (Harpoon, Perfect General, War in the Pacific, to name but a few) wear their mediocre graphics as a badge of honor – a symbol, perhaps, that the devs had their priorities straight.
Shenandoah Studio doesn’t subscribe to that line of thinking, and it shows in Battle of the Bulge – a game that is as visually fetching as anything else in the App Store, wargame or no. I wanted to hear the story of Bulge’s presentation straight from the source.
This is also the kind of game that could really only be designed with the iPad in mind. Doing it for the PC would lead to feature creep very quickly and PC wargamers have come to expect things to be bigger and broader there. It’s not an unreasonable expectation. But the modest size of the iPad screen makes every sector of real estate important, the UI crystal clear (this is a well-documented game) and adjusts expectations to the right size.
Now, to be clear, I am NOT saying that this is a good wargame “for an iPad wargame”. I am saying that it is so unlike most of the wargames you find on the PC that if a studio made up of nobodies did this game in Flash, I doubt anybody would notice the brilliant blend of mechanics and theme.
Battle of the Bulge is the most important iOS game yet. There have been great games on the iPad, of course, but nothing like this. Battle of the Bulge was designed from the ground up for the iPad and it feels that way. This is the future of gaming that we were promised: sleek, elegant, and intelligent. It feels like an app that should come with the iPad.
Dripping with historical accuracy and realism, Shenandoah Studios’ Battle of the Bulge is without doubt the most polished and in-depth wargame released on the iPad to date. Although its specific scope and depth may be off-putting to casual gamers, hardened wargame veterans will find a great deal to like here.
