How do you bring the excitement of strategy and board games alike to a console that fits in the palm of your hand? That is a tough one, but Harvey Smith (Deus Ex franchise) believes he has it figured out. He has decided to present iPhone nation with KarmaStar. A strategy game that ditches the old board and die layout of its real life predecessors and instead presents the user with an experience catered specifically to the iPhone. What KarmaStar does is focus the overall experience around two choices:

• Boost a trait, which will allot one point to the trait selected by the player.
• Attack an opponent, which will allot the player two additional points to their overall score if they are successful in their attack.

By boosting traits players can improve their overall chance at winning a battle. Higher stats allow for more attack turns, which definitely helps, but will not always win the game. Players will need to balance their choices and not favor one over the other.

Tying into the two basic choices are wild cards and bonus points. These two features are the difference makers in every battle. Players can use wild cards to help gain advantages over their opponents, while bonus points will be reward to the player for completing certain strategic actions.

Each game lasts eight rounds with the winner being the player with the most points at the end of the eight rounds. With every action being handled by a simple screen tap and combat using a simple “roll” of 1-5 die the game progresses at a nice pace, with most games lasting no longer then 10 minutes. With the inclusion of Wi-Fi multiplayer and achievement tracking KarmaStar presents users with an enjoyable strategy game experience on a handheld.

Score: B