RTS is a genre that's notoriously difficult to approach for someone who has never played it, as managing an army, buildings, research and resource gathering simultaneously is a task that proves overwhelming even for experienced gamers. Swords and Soldiers shoots for the sidescrolling RTS, a variation of the concept that does a lot to undo the inherent complexity. However, I feel it might have gone a bit too far towards the other end of the spectrum.

In the game, two players have bases on opposite sides of the map, and any non-worker units deployed walk in the opponent's direction until they either die or destroy the base there. There's no degree of micromanagement involved, nor are there hotkeys or anything of the sort, and the difficulty is kept pretty low. It's pretty simple, and at least for me, stages were over in very few minutes. It took some of the more challenging achievements to create some more involved gameplay.

The story is also not bad, but also not anything to write home about. There are three playable factions in the game, Vikings, Aztecs and Chinese, and they're not fighting for any reason you would expect. It's all very cartoonish, which you would expect given the cheerful presentation.

It's good for some casual fun, though.