Parents' Guide to Craft Warriors

If this were just a basic strategy game, it would be fun to play, but the option to design your own troops and fun gameplay raise its fun to a whole new level. Craft Warriors gets the basics of strategy and action right. The gameplay is fun and feels similar to Clash of Clans, where you gather material to build up an army that you then use to attack enemies. Of course, you'll have to wisely spend your resources and plan your battlefield tactics carefully to get far. The Minecraft-style graphics make fights cute and fun to watch, but allowing players to create their own character models also opens up a new world of creativity, and it's one players have embraced. There are a lot of character models that players can download to customize their troops, which is a great twist to gameplay. That said, you can't help feeling that the game could do more. It's an amalgamation of parts from other games and never feels entirely unique.

Still, the bright spots far outshine that whisper in your ear. The app, for instance, works hard to ensure there's no bullying or negativity. Players battle other live players, but there's no way for them to communicate. You can put your character on the game's market for others to assess and download, but if you're looking at other players' creations, you can only give a thumbs-up or leave no feedback (the digital equivalent of "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"). Craft Warriors is a well-made, entertaining game that encourages creativity and strategy, which should be equally appealing to kids and adults alike.