Takeover is the new, and much anticipated game from IriySoft (probably best known for their Cursed Treasure games). This game is a mix of some previous hit-games, such as Kingdom Rush and Necromancer 2. Necromancer 2 is a little bit of a lesser-known game in comparison to Kingdom Rush, but I think it better resembles the design of Takeover, which has many of the same aspects, but in my opinion, executes them much better. In this game your goal is to summon your troops and attempt to conquer the nearby castles and towers. There’s a lot more to it than that though – as you capture building you can build onto the land more structures for addition resources, you are able to deploy many different soldiers onto the battle field, control them, and enter them into battles with the enemies.

As you continued to progress through the game, the enemies became stronger, the maps wilder and the spells more powerful. The transition from a relatively easy game to one that actually challenged you and made you think out your moves was done smoothly and allowed you to get into the game a bit. My first defeat was on level seven, at which you had to watch your flanks more and more cautiously and the enemies became more advanced. At some points the game became very difficult and I decided to go back to some of the previous levels to gain a bit more experience and invest in more upgrades (or edicts). Depending upon your gameplay style, whether you stick with mainly archers or warriors, you might invest in different edicts to aid you in battle.

One of the most interesting parts of the game is that there are often more than one opposing faction in battle. Often times there is at least three, your faction (depending upon what you picked at the beginning of your game) and two or more enemy faction. I really like this concept because it means that even if you aren’t doing anything, there are always small battles going on between your enemies. It’s interesting to watch as your enemies kill one another and are actually able to capture one another’s structures and build bigger armies. This gives them a greater sense of realism. There is also the added benefit of being able to use this to your advantage. Often times, one enemy will become a definite winner over the opposition and will leave them defenseless for a short time. You can use this to your advantage and capture the weakened side’s buildings. The rest of the gameplay was really fantastic as well. I liked the mix of ideas, similar to Necromancer 2, where you have the ability to command your troops and inherit buildings from the enemy. Takeover absorbs some of these ideas, but has the added benefit of breaking the battlefield into multiple paths that give strategic importance, or at least more strategic importance than Necromancer 2. Battles were fun to partake in and in later battles became more of a challenge as the enemy had a wider and stronger array of soldiers to test your defenses against and used more damaging spells. Overall, the gameplay was well thought out and worked very smoothly. With the addition of new spells, enemies and environments, the game was continuously stimulating and exciting.

I really liked the art-style of the game. One aspects that I really liked was the zoomed out style. Many of the similar games are zoomed in and force you to have to move around the game screen a lot, where some of the maps are bigger. One thing that I liked about the art, was that there were more soldiers. This might not be exactly an artistic addition to the game, but adds greatly to the experience. In similar games, when you deploy an archer, usually only a couple of archers appear, but in Overtake you get a good group of archers that actually feel like you’re going into battle. The attention to detail is fantastic in the game, such as the small animations of the mines, farms and your soldiers, as well as the great isometric art that was featured in the buildings. One of my favorite effects in the game had to be when you captured, or an enemy captured a structure and the background changes to resemble their faction. This keeps you constantly aware of the warring between the oppositions and gives you a quick notification of which locations you have control of.

Another great aspect of the game was the music. I felt that it fit perfectly with the game. It battle, seemingly, it wasn’t too heroic, but instead seemed more calm to me. I liked how the music, in battle, was instead drowned out by the sound of war. In this case, it worked effectively and was rewarding. The sound effects worked well with the game and simulated the sounds of war.

All in all, Overtake is one of the best strategy games I’ve ever come across. It takes some of the aspects of hit strategy games we’ve come to know and love and combines it into one great game that will surely provide hours of fun. If you’re a fan of Kingdom Rush or Necromancer 2, then you’ll automatically love this game. In recap, the game wasn’t too difficult it you devised a plan. Many of the levels that I originally had troubles with were because of faulty strategy. If you come into each level with a plan and think ahead then you’ll usually have an advantageous position. The gameplay is well thought out and is always exciting and fun. The strategy elements of defense and offense keep the game lively and entertaining. The ever-changing levels and landscapes make each location a new experience that promises a chance for a new strategy to arise. The artwork was superb and I liked the zoomed out feel and the detail to each faction’s landscapes. Finally, the music worked well with the game, as well as the sound effects. Overall, if you’re looking for a new strategy game to keep you occupied for a while, this would be one of my first recommendations. Be sure to play Overtake today, now out on Armor Games.

Play Overtake on Armor Games!