Still Going

Overview: Fun gameplay, but short, extremely quick-paced story, no multiplayer. Paying for more maps is ridiculous.

While the difficulty increases VERY quickly after the second story mode stage, the fun also increases. In the very late stages, I found myself in a frenzy, trying to bring myself back from an incoming loss. The penalty for mistakes during the later parts of each stage is either a struggled recovery or loss, though the game allows you to increase your amount of starting troops in a stage if you lose.
While the story mode gameplay may be unforgiving of mistakes, it doesnt demand true perfection, as several ways to win exist. No stage plays out exactly like an earlier attempt.
My major issue was that the plot threw as many twists as it could at you in the middle of the game, leaving me wondering what had just happened. After that, there wasnt much else there. The story is incredibly short, which is inexcusable based on this game being made by Square. Splitting this into many shorter missions instead of leaving it as a very small number would have been better. Even with my complaints, I would still like to see a sequel, and preferably a multiplayer mode.
A co-op option for some story stages would be impractical, but great, as often my AI ally always sends his troops on suicide attacks.
A multiplayer battle mode is self-explanatory, though with some matches lasting 20-30 minutes I understand why it wasnt put in. Some people would play it, though, and I believe those people should be catered to.
As for the in-app purchases, they are all extra maps for the free play mode. Each costs 0.99, and gives you two more maps. This is the most frustrating thing Square did in this game, considering the price of the app itself. Free mode does make things more interesting, but paying the apps price a second time to unlock more maps is unnecessary and a mistake on the developers part.

If you read to this point, I would recommend this game, but only if you appreciate a challenge and will keep playing after the story ends.

RokStar9000 about Hills and Rivers Remain