Ice for Android is a colorful and pixelated space game, in which you try to take over territory by massing ships to take over other locations on the map.

At first when I launched Ice I didn’t really like the pixelated text that explained how to play the game. It was a little hard to read. But when I actually started to play the game, I grew to enjoy the old-school graphics of the game. I think the graphical style was chosen well to fit with the gameplay.

The ships in the game are small little triangles, and it’s cool because you get to pick the color of your army. The little bases look like small little octagons with circles around them. The bases show how long it is needed for you to take over the base, by opening a grey circle and thus being fully closed when the base is sealed. The lines in the game that link the bases are line-dashes.

Everything about this game fear feels very geometry-based. In order to conquer a small location on the map you have to have your base lined up to it. For example if you have a base in the middle of four bases, the main base must be connected to the side base and from there you would have to connect that side base to the other two bases in sequential order. This becomes tricky when you have enemies trying to conquer those exact bases that can ruin your geometrical advance.

The way you control the units in the game is pretty intuitive. You simply tap a location and all of the units moved to that base or location. Whilst playing the game I could not help wanting to split up my armies to attack different bases at different times. This limited rule set does introduce different strategy when you’re considering which base to attack, but, I think other options to control your army would also have diversified the gameplay. When your ships are attacking other ships, they shoot out little dots that make funny little noises. The noises get quieter when you zoom out to you the whole map and they get louder when you zoom in. When you accumulate a lot of ships it is very satisfying to have a big army.

Ice is a fun little game but there isn't that much to it besides changing the difficulties. In order to get a larger map in which to play on, you have to buy the premium version. While I do like the game, it can’t be ignored that it takes its main idea and gameplay mechanics from other games that have done similar. This game is very representative of the popular game Galcon and its sequels on iOS. And for that matter I think Galcon is a little more complex and deep, but I still enjoyed Ice for its art style, simplicity, and the way you can upgrade your little ships to increase attack, speed, and health. It is a very easy game to pick up, and for those looking for a more complex space-faring title there are other options for you out there.