Control colossal titans and large armies in Dawn of Titans, and lead your side to ultimate victory!

Summon gigantic god-like warriors of the old and equip them with the strongest weapons and gear to help win your battles.

Build a powerful kingdom, launch attacks against others, and forge alliances with your friends.

Playing a game that markets itself as a casual real-time strategy game sounds so wrong. After all, the mobile gaming world is full of reskinned versions of “strategy” games with no semblance of strategy which are also full of microtransactions. Although Zynga’s Dawn of Titans still has a large emphasis on microtransactions, it’s not a chip off the old block. It’s more fast-paced, action-packed, and visually stunning. It requires you to actually do something whenever armies and titans clash. Is it something you would want to try out? Let’s find out.

Dawn of Titans starts with an opening cinematic that orients you a little about the game’s lore. In a nutshell, titans are colossal beings that have always protected mankind. However, there is always a bad apple in the pack, and together with his minions, he waged war against the good guys, led by the king of the titans. The latter sacrificed himself to stop the evildoers and bring back peace into the realm. It’s not a literary masterpiece by any means, but it’s enough to set the mood and keep the ball rolling.

A tutorial phase kickstarts the game, teaching you the controls and the basics of the battlefield. You will get to control the Titan King first, who will teach you how to move, attack enemies, and use destructive spells and techniques. These are mainly done through swipes and taps, making it intuitive and easy to learn.

The battles are the meat of the game, and though the things you do are quite limited, the game gives you a certain degree of control and freedom. Note that there are several unit varieties meaning compatibilities and strengths and weaknesses play a crucial role. You can send in units to fight against opponents they are well-equipped and strong against. Tactics like encirclement can also be used to pave the way to victory. It’s pretty nifty and you’ll have a lot of fun experimenting and executing strategies. You can even win despite being outnumbered and lose even if you have the numerical advantage.

Unfortunately, the base-building aspect of Dawn of Titans has the nuances present in other mobile RTS games including timers. Though there’s still a premium currency and the urge to purchase gems to negate timers, it’s not as pronounced compared to other games. Instead of freely building the structures you one, the game makes you follow a certain direction to quickly progress, though treading this path is optional.

One of the elements that sets Dawn of Titans apart from its peers is its presentation aspects. You could say the graphics are a little below console and PC game level. When things get a little demanding on the system, especially during battles, there are no noticeable framerate drops or performance issues if your device is decent. I played on an iPad Air and a budget Android smartphone, and the ran pretty well on both.

Overall, Dawn of Titans is an RTS game that is far better and superior than its peers. With stunning visuals and REAL strategy elements, it may very well be one of the best free mobile games in its genre. Give it a shot and see if you’ll have fun commanding your armies!