KMGR of Stratego Fortress

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Stratego Fortress, despite the name, has nothing to do with Stratego (tm) at all, nor does it really have anything to do with a Fortress. Instead, this game is basically a "random exploration" game that has you doing trial and error, and that is not a GAME, but rather, dice throws, with none of the charm of a puzzle.

Imagine this: the playing field has 3 "levels", the higher you are, the smaller the field. You have the following units: knight, king, wizard, dwarf. A flag is randomly hidden in a square among the 3 levels. Explore the level with your 4 units (one at a time) and try to locate the flag without taking too many steps or run out of units. As such, it is neither really a puzzle nor a streategy game, but sort of a weird hybrid. However, even puzzles and strategy games have RULES, and this one basically have you be BLIND and randomly run into things and see if it kills you. How "fun" is that? (That's a pun)


The levels are made of "squares". You decide which directly to move one square with your unit. You don't know what may be ahead. it could be a wall (you wasted a move), or clear, or a ladder (leading upstairs, if you choose to go up), trap door (if at one of the upper levels) and character takes damage (except knight), or have an enemy unit (king will beat any unit except princess), or a poison cup (kill any unit except wizard), or a secret tunnel (invisible to all except dwarf). You can decide to switch unit at any time until you move. And you will need to switch as you will need to deal with the threats as they appear.

You gain points by defeating enemy units and getting the flag. You lose points by losing units and wasting moves. If your points go negative, you've lost the level and must restart. However, as explained before, the level does not change from game to game, so with a little memorization, or perhaps, some grid paper, you can easily come up with optimal solutions by wasting a game or two to map out all the levels. And what fun would that be, once you're done? A game that relies on trial and error is rather dumb, as there's neither strategy or "game" behind the mechanics. Thus, this game, if you call it that, really has little to recommend it.

Graphics are below average for a mobile game. I feel like I'm playing the old Q*Q*Bert, except it's nowhere as cute. Sounds is forgettable.

Overall, this game just isn't worth your money. There are better puzzle games out there.

Overall rating: 5 out of 10
Pros: not that hard to pick up
Cons: not much game there at all
Verdict: if you enjoy banging your head against the wall to find a weak spot (i.e. trial and error) this may be up your alley, else, forget it.