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Brad Cummings
United States
Connecticut
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The Stats:
Compatibility: iPad.
Current Price: $7.99
Developer/Publisher: Valley Games Inc.
Version: 1.0
Size: 34.1 MB
Multiplayer: Local Multiplayer.
AI: Yes, multiple levels.
Itunes link: Titan HD
The Good:
This app turns a multiple hour war game into a 30 minute affair.
Overall the UI is impressive and does a good job of presenting the information in this complex game.
The Bad:
The lack of tutorial and an app specific rule book make this game close to inaccessible to new players.
More transparency would be welcome with some functions of the UI.
Gameplay:
Titan is an epic fantasy war game from the 1980s. It is a game that still has a large fan base despite its age. There is no streamlining in this game, but rather a long drawn out brawl between competing fantasy armies.
For a more immersive look at Titan I would head to its BGG entry as I my explanation will be brief. I am a new player to Titan and do not feel qualified to explain every nook and cranny to you. In Titan each player controls a titan and some forces of mythical creatures. Each turn players will be moving their armies of mythical creatures around the board hoping to recruit new creatures. Players start with basic creatures but as they recruit creatures of the same type, they will be able to recruit stronger creatures. When the armies of two players meet on the board, they engage in a battle. Battles take place on separate battle boards. Players take turns placing their units on these boards and then move and battle with each other until either a number of rounds has passed or one army is defeated. Winning a battle will give the player points which they can use to make their titan stronger. The purpose of the game is to be the last titan standing. The game has quite a bit of depth and there is much that I did not cover, such movement rules, terrain advantage, summoning and much more. Titan is a large game that has really been opened up on iOS as the game will manage a lot of the weight for you.
Implementation:
Titan VG Edition can be summarized quite simply. If you are a veteran player of Titan, this is your dream come true. This is a portable version of Titan that can be played in 30 minutes or less. If you have played Titan before but not many times this app will work for you as well. The built in tip system will give you the refresher you need and the app will be both convenient and enjoyable. The app is very well designed and manages to compress a very complicated game in to a usable package. This is quite the accomplishment and should be respected.
Sadly, problems arise if you are a new player to Titan, the app in its current form is not very welcoming to you. In many respects it does not even feel like it was designed with new players in mind. Titan is a massive game with many rules and figuring out how to teach these rules well and efficiently is a challenge. The game offers a built in tip system, but it really serves only as brief reminders (which is great once you are more familiar with the app) and does not teach. During my first experience with the game these tips were confusing and felt out of context.
To make matters worse there is a lack of transparency throughout the app. The AI moves instantaneously not giving new players a chance to understand what is really happening in the game. Battles also happen quickly and only hits are registered. Before reading more about Titan online, I had no idea the combat had anything to do with dice. I would attack creatures and do 0 damage but did not know why. Was my power to weak? Do they have some sort of defense? Turns out I was just rolling poorly. There are many instances throughout the app where more explanation could be given. It feels as if veteran players designed this app and did not receive an outside opinion. I understand this and I see how the parts that trip up new players would go unnoticed by veterans.
In order to really begin to understand what is going on, a new player will need to read through the lengthy rulebook. This rulebook is a word for word copy of the board game rulebook, with such unnecessary sections as rules for dice that land on a slant. This unedited rulebook is not only annoying to read because of the unneeded parts but can also be confusing and convoluted in some instances because things are worded with a board game in mind rather than an app. In the very least this rulebook should have been edited and modified with the app in mind, rather than a simple copy and paste. What is really needed is a well done visual tutorial that can introduce new players. I personally find it baffling that someone would release an app without new players in mind. According to BGG 3,580 people own Titan, and of those how many own an iPad? According to Nielsen 5% of Americans own tablets. So if we take 5% of 3,580 (for the sake of argument assuming all Titan owners on BGG are American and all tablets owned by them are iPads...a best case scenario) that equals 179 people. Now there are more factors to consider (such as non-bgg users and those buying on a whim) but I think this serves to show that a key to a successful app is to create an app which your base likes (which Titan has done) and then make it accessible to new players to increase your potential audience.
Titan is, truly, a well designed app. The UI is very well done. Each army of each player is shown by a different symbol of their color to help you remember what may be in each stack. The app is great and is great at quickly showing you your options. Any unit that is at max size is shown in red so you know it can be split if you like. When moving units, every available spot is shown with a green highlight and if there is a monster you can recruit in a given spot, it is shown. This list is shows that a lot of care has been put in to creating a UI that preserves the classic game of Titan while automating much of it and increasing the speed and fun of the game.
The game is currently playable with up to 6 players and they can be a mix of human or AI players. The AI is very brash at the lowest level but the other two higher levels do seem to offer a challenge. This is of course from a newer player and I have heard from our forums that the AI may be a little simple for veteran players. This should not be as much of an issue as online multiplayer has been promised in a future update. The game is a fun solo experience once you comprehend the rules and it does offer an epic experience on iOS. There is really no game of this scale and quality on iOS at the moment.
Conclusion:
Titan is an impressive app. It manages to present a huge game on iPad with a sleek UI and many great features. This really is a great example of complex game done right on iOS. This great UI and management of data is tarnished by the like of a real entry point of new players. New players are key to an apps success and this game does not appear to be catering to them. For new players, there is a good game there if you can tackle the rules.
Rating:  3/4 Good
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