Fans of the 1983 movie War Games (starring Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, and Dabney Coleman) are no doubt familiar with this line, which is actually voiced by the computer known as WOPR (War Operation Plan Response), although its creator, Professor Falken, refers to it as Joshua. For those of you that haven’t seen this iconic film about a teenage hacker who accidentally stumbles onto NORAD’s classified defense system and starts up World War III, now is the time to rent this classic cautionary tale of computer science gone awry. But those who treasure this fun bit of fluff as an integral part of their childhood will almost certainly want to download the officially licensed mobile game, WarGames: WOPR, for their favorite Apple devices.

It will cost you a mere 99 cents to download this game to your iPhone or iPad (although you can purchase additional RAM in-game for anywhere for $0.99 for 1,000 kB to $24.99 for 50,000 kB). But considering that the iPad version has been optimized for the retina resolution, you might want to go ahead and download it to your tablet if you have the option. Once you’ve decided which device you want to play with it’s time to get started, and you’ll no doubt be excited to hear that you’re not playing as David (Broderick), but rather as the WOPR computer itself – and you won’t be playing a nice game of chess with Professor Falken.

In fact, you’ll start a game of Global Thermonuclear War in which you’ll play against the main characters from the movie (who have lent their voices to the game). The game is not an exact replica of the film you remember, but it takes inspiration from the events in the movie and expands on them to deliver a digital board game experience complete with everything WOPR might use in a warfare exercise (radar, nukes, etc.). With more than 40 levels you’re sure to get plenty of game time, and you can upgrade your systems with 24 areas of tactics and modifications, each of which has six levels. Gameplay takes place by playing tactical tiles to damage your opponents, destroy the tiles they have played, or nuke the whole board. And you’ll use mods to get bonuses during the game. You’ll also have to keep an eye on your money and health, both essential to continuing gameplay.

Users have lauded the game for providing challenging gameplay without being too frustrating, making nostalgic nods to the movie, and offering actual opponents to play against (unlike the otherwise similar Dungeon Raid). As strategy games go, this one has been designed nearly perfectly to appeal to a wide range of players, even those that aren’t particularly adept at tactical maneuvering (the game starts easy and gets more difficult as you advance through the levels). And anyone who loved the movie will certainly enjoy the nods, including the characters, music, and old-school feel of the game. So if you’ve grown bored of collecting the latest WOW gold pieces or playing endless mode in DR, download WarGames: WOPR from the iTunes store and challenge your friends to see who can get the highest score on the leaderboard.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this guest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

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