Phenomenal First Effort – Ant Raid Review

I'd never heard of Ant Raid or developer Prank before, but after seeing the game's basic info on the New section of the App Store decided to give this one a look. Research showed me it's the company's first effort, but having spent some time with the game I can safely say Ant Raid is one of my favorite apps (and I spend a lot of time gaming). The premise is simple, but surprisingly unique: you protect a home base and send groups of ants out by clicking on them as they suuround the base, then click a target for that group among a variety of different bug enemies. It grows from there, offering added depth through differing enemies, squash powers gained through a meter that charges during battle, and management of ants as you decide how many to send after which enemies, how many to send after fallen ants to revive them, etc. It all adds up to an easy-to-grasp, fun-to-master game. Where Ant Raid really shines is in its production values: every inch of the game is dripping with polish, proving Prank's love for their creation: menus are colorful and fully-featured, gameplay is flawlessly tight, the maps and characters are beautiful and fluidly animated, and the story cutscenes surpass those of more story-driven apps that also cost twice as much as Ant Raid. This sort of full-featured, attention to every detail, solid core gameplay concoction is exactly the type of game every iPad developer should strive to achieve. I don't normally write reviews for games, but I also don't normally go out on a limb and buy reviewless apps. Prank's charming web page sold me that they're a team in it for the right reasons, and I'm very glad I tried Ant Raid out. I'd encourage anyone who's read this far to give this game a shot: you won't regret it, and we'd all benefit from seeing this new developer's initial effort succeed. I'd love to see what else they're capable of.
Review by lostshore on Ant Raid.