Paper Wars

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1

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Review:

Paper Wars is an Arcade-style game in the same vein as the classic game Missile Command. This game was originally released on mobile devices, Wii, and PlayStation Portable in 2011, with this Nintendo Switch release (in some places with the subtitle Cannon Fodder Devastated) seeing release in 2018 with improved visuals. In this game, players take the role of a tank commander aiming fire at incoming hordes of soldiers.

As you might expect from the game’s title, Paper Wars’ visuals are designed with a simple 2D “everything is scribbles on scraps of paper” look. It works, but isn’t visually interesting or thematically important – this game could have just as easily been done with pixel art visuals or 3D graphics and it wouldn’t have affected the game at all. Also a bit odd, this game’s music is a strange combination of low-fi chiptune sounds and more traditional orchestral military themes, a combination that would have made more sense if this game was using pixel art visuals. In any case, it’s sufficient for this game, but not especially noteworthy.

As for the gameplay, it’s exceedingly simple – you control a crosshair on the battlefield that you use to fire at oncoming waves of enemies, and you’re looking to keep those enemies from crossing the battlefield from the right to the left. However, timing plays a crucial part here, because shots need to be charged, and even after letting off a volley, it’ll take a moment to get to its destination. As such, players will need to be careful about the timing and placement of their shots.

And that’s… pretty much it. Sure, you have some variety in enemy types, occasional power-ups, and stage hazards that enemies are forced to march around, but otherwise this is a pretty repetitive Arcade-style game. That’s not to say it’s boring – quite the contrary, it can be really satisfying to charge and release a perfectly-timed shot right into a massive horde of enemies, demolishing them and hearing their chorus of silly pitch-adjusted screams. But do expect this to be one note that plays over and over again throughout your time playing this game. In other words, this is a fun time-waster, but not something you’ll be reaching for if you’re playing something for a great length of time.

On more thing to note before I wrap this up. This game plays perfectly well with the traditional gamepad controls, but it’s clear once you try out the touchscreen controls that the touchscreen is absolutely the way this game is meant to be played. Guiding a cursor around at enemies is good and all, but nothing beats the pinpoint accuracy of firing a shot at the point you’re touching.

In the end, Paper Wars succeeds in being a viscerally fun Arcade-style game, but not in anything more than that. It’s enjoyable but shallow, with little reason to keep playing it for more than a few minutes at a time before moving on to something more substantial. If you’re looking for a good time-waster, Paper Wars will do that for you, but don’t expect much more than that.

tl;dr – Paper Wars is an Arcade-style game in the vein of Missile Command that has you firing volleys of tank fire at oncoming hordes of soldiers, with everything represented by scribbles on scraps of paper. This game succeeds in making the fending off of enemies viscerally fun, but Paper Wars lacks the depth to be much more than a time-waster.

Grade: C+

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