Clash of Clans

Okay, so this one is kind of a no-brainer. I think most people have at least heard of Clash of Clans by now, if not seen their brilliant commercials or distinct character designs (such as the Hog Rider [pictured], who yes, looks remarkably like Mr. T). Yet, I had not played it. Then, over the holiday, I discovered that quite a number of family members played, and were in the same clan. So I had to jump at the opportunity.

Being a pessimist by nature, I had always assumed CoC was a social, Facebook-friendly sort of deal, clearly well made, but similar, if not a blatant clone, to a lot of stuff I've already played. As it turns out I was right, sort of. This game does remind me of something, but I was way off the mark.

Warcraft. Just not the one you are probably thinking off. I'm talking about the original- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Not exactly the same, but when I saw someone spread out their resources by placing them in the four corners of the map I immediately thought of Warcraft (minus the fog of war). If you remember what I'm talking about, you'll fall in love with CoC within five minutes.

Strategy is huge in CoC, in particular the configuration of your village can make all the difference. Where do you place your defenses in relation to your town hall? What are your walls going to protect? What if some wiseguy sends dragons your way? It works the same way in reverse, as you try and figure out how to best breach an opponent's defenses. The possibilities are quite literally endless, and a wealth of information and forum discussions can be found on the subject. On a side note, there is also a healthy community of individuals creating novelty villages, their building and walls set up to look like Hello Kitty, or Mega Man, or even the occasional phallus.

What allows for all the variety in gameplay is the wealth of diverse troops that can be brought to bear. Each has a unique strength that has to be accounted for. Need resources? Send goblins. No anti-air defense? Send balloons. Big walls? Big Hog Riders. And so on. It would take forever to list them all. There's a bit of a learning curve. Mostly you learn from the school of hard knocks. Failing hard can be a very useful tool.

So you join a clan. Obviously. Then you go to war. Chaos ensues. Repeat. Joy.

Then there's the League. Collect trophies as spoils of war and move your way up the ranks, and earn more and more bonus loot. Careful though, the higher you go, the difficulty of your opponents will go up with it. When you get your ass handed to you, you get a shield that protects you (for a time) from getting attacked. Sometimes the best thing to do is hide under it and build up your village.

Anyways, I love this game. If you enjoy strategy, then it's a done deal. And, oh yeah, those vids. XD

'Awww, I thought you said Hog Rider.' LOL

Supercell