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'Strike Team' turns 'Call of Duty' into an iPad strategy game

'Strike Team' turns 'Call of Duty' into an iPad strategy game

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No head shots, no problems

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Call of Duty STrike Team
Call of Duty STrike Team

There have been many attempts, but for the most part, console-style shooters just don't work well on a touchscreen. The just-launched iOS game Call of Duty: Strike Team is only further proof of this. The touchscreen controls just don't feel right, especially when it comes to aiming your weapon — kind of an important thing in a shooter. But Strike Team is still a challenging and enjoyable game, and that's because you don't have to play it as a shooter at all. Instead, it's a tactical strategy game that's ideally suited to your iPad.

The key to Strike Team is its drones. At any moment you can switch between a standard first-person view and an overhead perspective provided by your helpful flying friends. This gives you a better sense of the layout of the level, and you can move your squad members around using a simple and intuitive drag-and-drop function. And since you can attack in this mode — it's as simple as tapping an enemy and selecting the fire option — there's really no reason to drop back to first-person view if you don't want to. But because the option is there to swap perspectives at any moment, Strike Team is an incredibly flexible game; you can play the entire thing from either viewpoint, or with a combination of the two.


'Strike Team' is an incredibly flexible game

What this also means is that you can enjoy Strike Team even if you're not a fan of FPS games. You literally don't ever have to perform a head shot — instead, you can turn the game into an experience that's all about carefully planning your movements, and then executing at just the right time. It's like a light real-time strategy game with all of the Call of Duty trimmings. The game is set in the near future, and will have you infiltrating all manner of locations to steal information, hack computers, and knife bad guys in the back. It also has some pretty impressive visuals and, just like in the console versions, will let you outfit your squad with all kinds of cool gear.

Strike Team costs $6.99, and it also features in-app purchases. As you play you'll earn tokens that can be used to buy health packs to revive fallen soldiers (you can't complete a mission with a man down) as well as "care packages" that unlock new weapons. You can also buy these tokens with real cash. The in-app purchases aren't as egregious as in many other games, and they don't seem to halt your progress at all. For a premium-priced game, they're a bit of a turnoff. But if you can stomach a few pop-ups asking for tokens, Strike Team is a great way to kill some dudes on a touchscreen. You can grab it for iOS at the source link below.