Mobile games aren’t always my bag. It’s nice to have something to help noodle the time away when you’re sat in a waiting room or something, but largely I’ve not dabbled with games on mobile phones for a good while. But when YouTube forces adverts down your throat, sometimes something sticks. Enter Age of Origins.
I knew very little about Age of Origins going into it, other than it looks like a Tower Defence Zombie game. And it’s kinda is, but it hits me with a lot of other elements, too. For better or for worse.
What is Age of Origins?
Contrary to the numerous YouTube adverts, Age of Origins isn’t a zombie-themed tower defense game. It does have a mode for that, so it is there, but it isn’t the core of the game.
What it actually is, is a city-builder with online elements to build-up an alliance and to essentially build the biggest and best cities, armies and defenses possible.
It reminds me a lot of Boom Beach in that you’re always build and improving what you have at your home base, but Age of Origins is much more involved. Initially overwhelming, I feel like I’ve got a handle on what’s going on.
Daily quests, alliance quests, gifts and rewards all of the time, and a massive amount of the game trying to sell you microtransactions.
As is often the case with games like this, Age of Origins is always trying to encourage you to spend. New building under construction? Why not pay to speed that up a little? How about some more resources mate? I can hook you up, just give me some money.
Age of Origins has a very busy UI, largely because of all the “rewards” and opportunities to purchase things. However, it’s been completely playable without spending a penny.
City building, improving your standing globally and against the in-game zombie apocalypse. It’s quick and easy and largely fun. Just a little aggressive in pushing those real-money upgrades.
Story?
To its credit, Age of Origins is working hard to build a narrative and to engage you with the game a little more. You’re not just thrown in and told “build this stuff to kill that stuff”. There are a lot of text-heavy “cutscenes” helping deliver exposition to the wider game world.
Trying to stop the virus, building a city and saving the people. Working on your army and medical research. It’s not fantastic by any stretch, but Age of Origins tries, and I think it’s totally commendable to give you some context.
I’ve got a commander that’s been bitten but trying to hide it, so we’re slipping treatments into her drinks. We’ve rescued a Zombie that we’re trying to cure. I keep having conversations with her after various surgeries.
There’s plenty to go at if you need that stuff to continue. It works, and credit to Age of Origins for building that out, because mobile games haven’t always been good at that kind of thing.
Worth a punt?
Is Age of Origins worth your time? It depends on your mobile gaming habits. For me, it’s filling that Boom Beach hole that sees me doing daily bits and pieces, playing the tower defense mode, levelling-up my city and helping my alliance. It’s 10 minutes of your day to set-up your next upgrades to happen over a few hours. Nothing too traumatic.
If you just like a match-three or something, it’s probably waaaay too much. Certainly, Age of Origins hits you with a significant chunk of information on the screen all of the time. It’s trying to tell a story, it lets you do that micro-management stuff that just ticks along in the background, and you feel like you’re working towards something.
Having that in your pocket to pick up whenever you want, is cool. I don’t care enough to rush my buildings and buy stuff in real life. But I do care enough to give Age of Origins a few more weeks to see where it takes me.
It’s free and it’s fun. What more can you ask for?
