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Monsters, haunted mansions and angry mobs wielding torches. It\u2019s either Halloween in springtime, Thursday night in Transylvania, or Haunted Hollow<\/em>, Firaxis\u2019s first foray into iOS territory. Given the way the House that Sid Meier Built loves its turn-based strategy games, we\u2019re putting our monster bucks on option three. <\/p>\n

At first blush, Haunted Hollow<\/em> looks as straightforward as a zombie shambling down Main Street in search of a brain-matter platter: In turn-based fashion, build rooms for your very own haunted mansion on the hill, crank out several different types of monsters and descend upon the nearby town to scare villagers, earning stars and level increases in the process. But this is the developer that gave us the Civilization<\/em> series, so you know there\u2019s more here than meets the undead eye. Your opponent, whether of the AI or warm-blooded variety, is trying to do the same thing you are. You\u2019re only given a limited number of Fear Points to spend each turn on things like moving, scaring villagers and attacking your opponent\u2019s monsters. It\u2019s possible to obtain extra fear points each turn\u2014controlling entire neighborhoods (sets of 2-3 houses) is the easiest way\u2014but no matter how many you have, spending them strategically is a must.<\/p>\n

You can add a new room to your mansion every turn, but if you\u2019re not using your mad architecture skillz to do it, you\u2019re going to lose quickly. Certain types of rooms produce certain types of monsters, and you\u2019re given the ability to access more powerful level 2 and level 3 versions of your ghoulish hordes if you place the same type of rooms in adjacent blocks of two or four. The laws of gravity and sound architecture only marginally apply here, so you can feel free to drop in multiple additions that jut way out over the cliff\u2019s edge. It\u2019s spookier that way.<\/p>\n

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One of several clever X factors in Haunted Hollow<\/em> is the appearance of the Angry Mob, a collection of aggressive and revenge-minded villagers that shows up after you and your opponent have scared a certain number of houses. Once they\u2019re on the scene, they move around the town each turn, scorching houses that have been scared\/claimed by monsters or, if you\u2019re slow and unlucky, your monster units. You can send a fight-type Frankenstein\u2019s monster or werewolf to attack and eliminate the mob, but you\u2019ll be spending a clawful of fear points to do it, and may end up helping your opponent in the process. Unless they\u2019re about to burn down the very last house you\u2019ve claimed and cost you the match, you\u2019re probably better served just avoiding their fiery fury.<\/p>\n

Haunted Hollow<\/em> is billed as a freemium game, but devouring everything on the free buffet won\u2019t take you very long: You can take on the fairly pedestrian AI for control of the village, challenge friends by passing your iOS device around the room or remotely through GameCenter and chew on a set of nine relatively easy challenges that you\u2019ll slash through in a few quick turns. The challenges are good for learning some of Haunted Hollow<\/em>\u2019s subtle nuances, but they won\u2019t cook your brain stew much past medium rare.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where this cartoon-cute exercise gets a little prickly. Simply put, the game doesn\u2019t hesitate for even a second to rub your werewolf snout in the cool stuff you don\u2019t have yet. When the AI is cranking out shape-shifting bogeymen, monster-freezing wendigos and gibbering\/exploding goblins to plague you while your army is limited to a mere five monster types (vampires, zombies and ghosts, oh my) it\u2019s a lot harder to resist spending up to eight bucks\u2014the price of the game\u2019s equivalent of a baseline season pass–to unlock the full array of new monster and mansion-type sets.<\/p>\n

Not that there\u2019s necessarily anything wrong with that. In an iOS gaming universe that\u2019s still cluttered with a lot of offerings that are barely worth their free price tags, it\u2019s good to show some financial support to entertaining and clever games like this. Even when all the houses have been scared and the entire village is in my mad-scientist hands, I\u2019m left to wonder if it wouldn\u2019t have felt less monstrous and more reasonable to slap a $8 price tag on Haunted Hollow<\/em> and call it a day. Er, night. <\/p>\n

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Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Turn-based structure is great for two-player matches
\n+ Wide array of monsters and monster abilities\u2014if you\u2019re willing to pay for them
\n+ Cutesy-creepy art vibe <\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– In-app purchase strategy is seriously off-putting
\n– Challenges aren\u2019t exactly challenging<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: iPad\/iPhone
\nPublisher: 2K Games
\nDeveloper: Firaxis Games
\nRelease Date: 5\/2\/2013
\nGenre: Turn-based Strategy
\nAge Rating: 9+
\nPlayers: 1-2
\nSource: Freemium game<\/p>\n