Review: Horus Heresy Drop Assault For Android

With Games Workshop pumping out a constant stream of mobile games these days, I thought it would be good to sample one; and what better one to try out than a free one.


Horus Heresy: Drop Assault is a game available for ios and Android devices, and is a free-to-play Clash Of Clans clone, based on one of our favourite hobbies. You take control of one of four of the Space Marine Legions (each with a unique game bonus), and choose to side either with the Emperor's loyalists or Horus' traitors.


The gameplay is fairly straightforward, if a bit slow and repetitive. It all boils down to taking over territories whilst bolstering your forces with a reasonable variety of troops, upgrading troops via research and managing defences with turrets. It does take a while for things to build and level up, unless you're prepared to spend Mechanicum points, the games instant-build currently which can be bought as well as being earned slowly. It is a formula very common for this type of game, so there is no point berating this game for it without considering the fact that every other 'freemium' game out there that came before. It is a sin of the genre, not Drop Assault.


Whilst it is very easy to criticise this type of game (and many do) the game has plenty going for it. First off, it's free! A rarety on GW's part. The best things in life are free, and if you don't like this game, you haven't lost anything financially.

Secondly, it has a cartooonish charm to it. I quite like the graphical style. Having gotten used to the more gritty and "realistic" graphics of Dawn of War and Space Marine, it is charming to see a game with cartoon-styled characters, backgrounds and colouring. It is a refreshing change to the grim-dark style we are used to.
Sadly the game does have a few faults. When I first downloaded it, there were a number of severe (but not game-breaking) bugs. The big ones were having no HUD when performing recon on enemy bases, and no victory/defeat announcement after finishing a battle, meaning I had to restart the game to go back to base. Whilst these have resolved themselves (possibly an auto-update) it is an issue which will put many of you off.

Drop Assault also takes a very long time to load. This might be down to Android 5.1 (which is very slow on Nexus 1st generation tablets) but waiting so long to play a game is a bit frustrating. I often have to refresh and try loading again.

All-in-all Drop Assault a fun little game with plenty of character, that sticks to the fluff and history of the game, but is  product with a few flaws. Whilst it does have a few bugs that needs fixing, and it can be slow-paced at time, it is a fun, free little distraction that is worth a download, for curiosity's sake if nothing else.

(Images from dropassault.com, used for review purposes only)