The tightly packed group of orcs marches toward my troops. Two shamans hide behind my opponent’s army, ready to shower the orcs with healing magic if anything goes wrong.
Eighteen rounds into this particular match in the freemium iOS strategy game Hero Academy, I’ve finally been cornered. If I don’t attack now, this whole thing is going to be determined by five or six turns of all-out battle, and I don’t think I’d win in an even trade.
What’s my ninja doing? I highlight the hooded character with a tap and move him forward three spaces. I use up the rest of my allotted moves by having the ninja attack and stomp a warrior near the edge of the pack, but find myself unsettled by the thought of leaving my ninja in the midst of a writhing mass of red-eyed orcs. Undo. Undo. Undo. The ninja reappears in his starting position, and I regain all of my moves.
In a single match of Hero Academy, players rarely get to take more than 15 or 20 turns. Arenas are small nine-by-five grids that most units could traverse in a single turn if a player were to spend all of his “action points” on moving. If one player decides to act aggressively, games can be decided very quickly, and the balance of a match can hinge on a single misstep.
Of course, this isn’t the only game of Hero Academy running on my iPad. I’ve got six games running concurrently. In some, I play as the Orc team. In others, I’m the Dwarves, or the Dark Elves. The human team is included for free, but every other race is offered as a separate, paid download. I gladly throw $1.99 in Robot Entertainment’s general direction whenever it releases a new playable team. Given how unique each race is, I’m surprised how well-balanced the final product is.
There. I see it. A lone wizard, usually a low-tier unit, sits right at the front of my formation. I haven’t upgraded him with items, but the wizard is parked just two spaces away from a Power Boost tile that would increase his attack power by 50 percent. It’s about to get ugly.
I eagerly move the Wizard to the tile. (Four moves left.) I feed him one of my scrolls. (Three.) With his attack power nearly quadrupled by both the special tile and the scroll, my heroic little wizard raises his staff and emits a chain of lightning that Harry Potter couldn’t survive into the enemy ranks. (Two.) In a single hit, one enemy is down and two more are near death. Another lightning bolt finishes them off. One move left: My wizard charges forward, permanently removing one of the downed enemies from the battlefield.
I tap the "submit" button and commit to my move. Like Words With Friends, games of Hero Academy are played asynchronously, so it could be an hour or a day or a week before my friend in command of the orcs plays me back. He won't be happy when he sees the damage I've done.
The submit button glows, then the text on it changes. “Next game,” it reads. It’s the smudgiest spot on my iPad.
WIRED Well-balanced, fun turn-based strategy gameplay perfectly suited to mobile devices.
TIRED Too few levels, app is painfully slow to start up.
Rating: 
Free (with paid add-ons), Robot Entertainment
