Boarding Party's chaotic action/defense game Bit Battles is probably a fairly accurate representation of what me actually directing a real war would be like. You guys! Go there! More guys now! Stab them! Blast them! NO, MORE GUYS! WE NEED MORE GUYS! YAAAAAARGH! In your defense of a floating sky castle that suddenly finds itself opposite three death pits constantly spawning enemies, your job is to drag and drop one of your three hero classes to each pathway to fend them off. On the battle screen, you click inside the spawn area to summon heroes with mana, and click on heroes outside the spawn area to activate their special ability, also with mana, which regenerates over time. Have your heroes reach the enemy's side of the screen to win, and you'll be granted cash to spend on upgrades, and also level-up that particular hero type.

It's a simple concept, and yet Bit Battles makes it addictive and fun. The different hero classes add a satisfying bit of strategy to things, though being unable to see the enemy's stats makes it difficult to figure out what class is best suited where. As a result, the game winds up feeling more like overwhelming numbers is the key than anything else, even though the way different classes have different strengths and abilities does mean you have to adjust the way you play a bit for each one. The frustrating thing is that you can only activate hero powers by clicking when they're outside the spawn zone... and that does you no good at all when all your available heroes have been pushed back into that spawn zone by the enemy forces. Ultimately, it's a fun, frenetic game for a while, though it may lack some of the depth and/or bells and whistles to really make it stick for long. It's basically the catchy, digital equivalent of bashing together fistfuls of action figures and making "BOOSH BOOSH BOOSH" fight noises when you were a kid... and sometimes, that's exactly what you want.

Play Bit Battles