Hills and Rivers Remain

Did You Know?

• A demo version, Hills and Rivers Remain Lite, was released for free and contains elements not present in the full game.
• The iPhone version was shown at the Tokyo Game Show in early 2009.
• In Japan, the game was released as a DSiWare game on October 28, 2009, as well as a cell phone game.

Premise and gameplay

Players control Alan, leader of the forces of the country Julius, who reluctantly follows his king's orders to attack the neighboring country Herbert, previously peaceful with Julius. Over the course of the game, plots and betrayals lead Julius to fight against the countries of Frost and Sandia, and the war ends with so much devastation that only hills and rivers remain. The map is a grid of connected forts, with each player controlling a section. Each turn, the player selects one base as their main base, which spawns troops at the end of the turn based on the number of held bases. Troops are sent to reinforce own bases or capture enemy bases, traveling over time so circumstances may change before arrival. Capturing bases depends on comparing attacking and defending troop numbers. Bases include varieties such as mines and castles that grant bonuses like increased movement speed or attack power, and ports that form choke points by allowing travel over water. Capturing a base may yield an item that grants a bonus to all units of that side. The match ends when one player controls the entire map, with each match lasting around ten to twenty minutes. Some battles feature more than one enemy player. The campaign mode is ten missions long, and a free-play mode lets the player fight on any chosen map.

Reception

Levi Buchanan of IGN rated the game a 7.5 or Good, praising its depth and complexity while cautioning about its great difficulty, and noted simple, precise controls but minimal graphics. Andrew Podolsky of Slide to Play gave it three out of four, praising the gameplay but noting slow starts and derivative elements from Galcon, and enjoyed the tearful, overwrought storyline. Peter Lettieri of TouchArcade also noted similarities to Galcon, calling the plot loaded with clichés and uninspired characters, awarding three out of five. Tracy Erickson of Pocket Gamer was less positive, finding the game briefly entertaining but lacking depth and replay value, disliking the lack of multiplayer and finding the story thin and wince-worthy. Bonnie Eisenman of 148Apps found the game too short, with simple and lengthy battles marred by poor controls, and found graphics serviceable but not impressive.