Township

Township is a town-building game for mobile devices that's appropriate for the whole family. Depending on your tolerance for this latest breed of strategy sim, it can be either an exercise in patience or an exercise in frustration. The core experience here is a classic city-builder. You start off with a small grid of land and buildings and slowly expand as you successfully tend to it. Managing your crops is important, but just as important is the need to keep your citizens happy by offering increasingly more complicated amenities, services, and facilities.

There are deeper levels to unlock than what you'd find in the traditional mobile city builder too. Basic crops can be processed into manufactured products that require more complex supply chains but offer higher rewards. Fortunately, the learning curve is very shallow, so you can get used to the more complex mechanics at your own pace. But the biggest change from the traditional formula is the social element built right in. Whether you choose to specialize your economy or go more all-purpose with your city design, you'll eventually need to trade to continue.

Township especially benefits those who play with friends, and it does an especially good job of making those sorts of relationships complex. Finding supply lines for resources you need - and tailoring your own resource development for trade - is a game in its own right. The core game experience here is solid, and it's wrapped in a bright and colorful package that will appeal to both kids and adults.

Pros:

• Bright and lively design aesthetic
• Uniquely social take on city and farm management
• Shallow learning curve but decent skill ceiling

Cons:

• Playing without friends puts you at a disadvantage
• Random difficulty spikes in progression