What do you get when you mix a retro arcade space shooter with solitaire? Indie game dev Nathan Meunier’s new mobile game, Missile Cards. First released on Steam, the turn-based defense card game received rave reviews as fans begged the developer to release a mobile version as well.
Inspired by the classic Atari space shooter, Missile Command, players are tasked with protecting your base camp and surrounding buildings from a variety of hazards like flaming death orbs or nuclear warheads, that come raining down from the sky.
In arcade shooters like Missile Command, players must act quick to prevent attackers from reaching their target. With Missile Cards, however, taking time to thoughtfully plan moves is key.
Gameplay takes place in a 6x7 grid. At the bottom of the grid lies the basecamp with three buildings on each side of the main base. To the right of the game screen lies a conveyor belt on which a variety of cards roll out. Each turn, a new card rolls out and can be a hazard, weapon, charge up or tractor beam. The conveyor belt holds four cards so players have the opportunity to think ahead about what’s coming and which cards will serve them best.
During a turn, players can do one of four actions: grab a card from the conveyor belt and add it to their active deck (only four slots available), attack an impending hazard, skip a turn which causes them to lose an AP point or discard a card to end turn without losing AP. Discarding also charges special base abilities once you’ve unlocked them. If you place a card in your active hand, it takes a few turns to fully charge so assessing future dangers is important. Defensive cards come in varying amounts of damage, as do hazards so there is a great deal of strategy involved in managing your resources and timing their usage. The closer a hazard gets to hitting one of your base buildings before you destroy it, the more points you earn in the round, adding an additional challenge. The game include various goals like scoring over 18,000 points in a game or winning a game without the use of missiles. Completing goals earns you coins you can use to unlock new weapons.
As you progress through the game, you’ll have the ability to unlock a variety of new defenses or offensive weapons as well as a variety of special base abilities, which allow you to handle increasingly more difficult levels of gameplay.
Missile Cards is such a perfect combination of arcade-like intensity mixed with strategic thinking that it’s no wonder so many players have found it both satisfying and addictive. The game requires no internet connection to play and with the turn-based mechanics, it makes a great on-the-go diversion that you can pick up or set down at any time.
Missile Cards is available now for $2.99 on the Apple App Store or on Steam for $4.99.
