Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Total War vs Age of Empires Mobile

Total War 4.9★ · $14.99 75
Winner Total War
Age of Empires Mobile 3.7★ · Free + IAP 50

Total War offers a more authentic real-time strategy experience for a one-time purchase, despite its technical issues, while Age of Empires Mobile is a free-to-play city-builder that disappoints fans of the original PC game.

Full reviews: Total War · Age of Empires Mobile

Total War provides a deep, classic strategy experience on mobile, though it struggles with crashes and bugs. Age of Empires Mobile, while free, deviates significantly from its PC namesake, focusing on city-building and alliance mechanics with heavy monetization.

Head to head

Core Gameplay & Authenticity edge: Total WarR2R8R17R23
Total War Total War is praised for being an amazing game and a faithful port of the PC version, offering big battles and cool strategy with many factions R2R8R23. Users appreciate its depth and seamless integration from PC to mobile R17.
Age of Empires Mobile Age of Empires Mobile is widely criticized for not being like the original PC game, with many users feeling it's a 'Clash of Clans reskin' or a generic city-builder R61R67R87R91. Players express disappointment that it lacks the build-from-scratch and direct unit control of the classic Age of Empires .
Performance & Stability edge: Total WarR1R3R4R6
Total War Total War frequently suffers from crashes, especially during large battles or after updates, making it unplayable for some users R1R3R4R6. Users report issues with units not following commands and general bugginess R15.
Age of Empires Mobile Age of Empires Mobile has some reports of lag and errors, with users needing to restart frequently . One user was unable to install the game on a newer iPad .
Price & Value edge: Total WarR7R8R15R28
Total War Total War is a paid game at $14.99, with additional costs for DLC, which some users feel is excessive given the game's age and the full PC version includes all DLC R7R8R15R28. However, many find the base game worth the price for its depth and quality R8.
Age of Empires Mobile Age of Empires Mobile is free-to-play but heavily criticized for being 'pay-to-win' with numerous microtransactions and a significant power difference between free and paying players R69R76R79R93. Progress is slow without spending money R79.
User Interface & Controls edge: Total WarR12R21R38R40
Total War Total War has a mixed reception regarding its mobile interface and controls. Some find the touch controls surprisingly good for a PC port R38, while others struggle with operation, find the interface horrible, or desire controller support R12R21R40. There are also reports of visual issues like low resolution and overlapping text on newer devices .
Age of Empires Mobile Age of Empires Mobile's UI is described as 'widely clunky' . The game is also criticized for misleading ads that don't reflect the actual gameplay R61.
Replayability & Features edge: Total WarR5R9R11R14
Total War Total War users desire more replayability through mod support, multiplayer, and additional factions or units R5R11. Some features like hotseat balance fixes were partially reverted R14 and bugs exist in hotseat mode R9. The campaign can feel sluggish to some .
Age of Empires Mobile Age of Empires Mobile's replayability is tied to its alliance-focused, multiplayer nature, which some players dislike, preferring single-player or offline options . A popular sub-game mode, 'Battlefield survivor', was removed, reducing reasons for some to play or spend .
Pick Total War if

You want a deep, classic real-time strategy game with complex battles and campaign mechanics, and are willing to pay $14.99 upfront for a premium experience, even with potential bugs and crashes R2R8R23R38.

Pick Age of Empires Mobile if

You are looking for a free-to-play city-building and alliance management game with Age of Empires branding, and don't mind a 'pay-to-win' progression model or the lack of traditional Age of Empires gameplay .

Evidence note: Total War's reviews, while generally positive for its core gameplay, are heavily skewed towards technical issues, especially recent crashes and bugs on newer devices. Age of Empires Mobile's reviews are dominated by disappointment over its deviation from the original PC game and its aggressive monetization.

Frequently asked

Is Total War: Medieval II a good mobile port of the PC game?
Yes, many users consider Total War: Medieval II an excellent mobile port that retains the depth and content of the PC version, with surprisingly good touch controls R2R17R23R38. However, it is plagued by frequent crashes and bugs, particularly on newer devices or during large battles R1R3R4.
Does Age of Empires Mobile play like the original Age of Empires PC game?
No, Age of Empires Mobile is widely criticized for not resembling the original PC game, with many users describing it as a generic city-builder or 'Clash of Clans reskin' rather than a real-time strategy game with direct unit control R61R67R87R91.
Is Age of Empires Mobile 'pay-to-win'?
Yes, many users describe Age of Empires Mobile as 'pay-to-win,' noting that progress is very slow for free players and there's a significant power imbalance compared to those who spend money on in-game purchases R69R76R79R93.
Are there any issues with Total War's pricing or DLC?
Total War costs $14.99 for the base game, and some users are frustrated that additional content (DLC) requires further payment, feeling it's excessive for an older game that includes all DLC on PC R7R15R28.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] Total War 5/5 · US Best game: An amazing game and won worthy of the title with seventeen and more factions two choose from it is an amazing game,e
  2. [R8] Total War 4/5 · US My personal ideas and thoughts on this game: This is a cool game and if you want to have big battles and cool strategy, then this is the game for you. Yes it does take a chunk of your bank account but it’s worth it. The reason for 4 stars is, well, the price. Also I don’t know if the developer would do this but, I think it would be cool if you could be one of the soldiers. This is my honest review
  3. [R17] Total War 5/5 · US Equal to or greater than 3K: This game is world building crack! I played years of Total War 3K. Started playing this while my computer is down and can’t put down my iPad. 12/10 rating
  4. [R23] Total War 5/5 · US The best strategy game: I’ve been playing this game since it first came out and put hundreds if not thousands of hours into it during my high school years. So I had to pick this up, and sure enough it’s as good as the PC version OTHER than the bugs you’ll encounter when trying to maneuver multiple units during battles. But that’s not nearly enough to take a dent out of the 5th star
  5. [R1] Total War 1/5 · US Sucks: This game sucks AND it runs horribly. I can’t stress enough how horribly the game truly runs
  6. [R3] Total War 3/5 · US Big battles = crash: I loved this game back in the day, and was so excited to see it offered on a mobile platform. HOWEVER, don’t bother trying to fight the Mongols. Their armies are so huge, this app is almost guaranteed to crash. Beyond frustrating, especially after you’re already an hour or so invested in your carefully planned out and executed battle. Your options to reduce the graphics lo
  7. [R4] Total War 1/5 · US Crash: Crashes randomly all the time, latest iphone & ios
  8. [R6] Total War 3/5 · US Keep crashing: Keep crashing since the new update can’t spam cheat no more
  9. [R7] Total War 1/5 · US Waste: So you’re telling me I spent all this money just to have to pay even more money to unlock the other half of the game. What a waste!
  10. [R15] Total War 3/5 · US Cavalry?: This game is a complete scam, you buy it for 15 dollars and then have to pay even more to unlock the full game, I don’t mind that much since the game is fun but what I find a huge problem is that even on easy battles one group of cavalry can’t kill 1 group of Norse archers cause of some stupid bug where either cavalry doesn’t run or when it does it doesn’t charge, it just runs at the ene
  11. [R28] Total War 1/5 · US Greed: The game is med 2 one of the best total wars it’s an amazing game and their phone version isn’t too bad, my issue is the greed with DLC you pay basically full price for the game which in steam gives you all the DLC since this game is very old instead they up charge every DLC and kick their new updates like hot-seat behind it most computers can run this game so if your just playing from home
  12. [R12] Total War 3/5 · US Great port, but…: It needs control controller support, backbone pro or any controller support like that would make it so much easier. My fingers freeze up, my forearms and hands begin to cramp which has prevented me from playing this very fun title time and time again when I want to come back to it.
  13. [R21] Total War 3/5 · US Great game but hard to operate: This is my favorite PC game and it definitely caught my eye when I saw it was on mobile so I had to get it. I understand it’s hard turning a PC game to mobile but it’s pretty difficult to use the game. The graphics are very smooth but still it’s hard for me to even operate the game.
  14. [R38] Total War 5/5 · US Fantastic strategy game: One of the best strategy games ever on the go. Touch controls work surprisingly good for a game designed to be used with KB/M. I’ve played it on my old iPhone XR phone and now on my iPhone 17 pro max and it has ran great on both. UI has been simplified for mobile. They did a great job with this port. If you enjoy strategy games, you will love this game.
  15. [R40] Total War 1/5 · US Amazing Game Unusable on M4 iPad with 2024 Magic Keyboard: I bought this game sight unseen because I’ve played it for countless hours on other platforms. That said, they’re charging $15 for it on newer devices (this game is over 15 years old) and the tracking on the newer Magic Keyboard does not work at all. This makes what should be an amazing tablet gaming experience borderline unplayable. If Fe
  16. [R5] Total War 5/5 · US please make it mod accessable: or have it like DOOM where they have pre installed mods built in. make it more replayable. even if you added 10 preinstalled mods we could use. it would still be amazing and add so much more replay value
  17. [R9] Total War 3/5 · US Hotseat bug: Love this game but I tried to fight a defensive battle in hotseat mode and despite having selected that I wish to have all battles be playable before starting my campaign the game just auto resolves every defensive battle. (this happened in crusaders campaign)
  18. [R11] Total War 5/5 · US This game is awesome but will iOS support mod support like android: This port is probably the best one I have kingdoms as well but I’d say it lacks replay ability so can you please allow mobile mod support like on pc or androids I’m using iOS iPad and wanna play great mods like tsardoms Finale rating 5 stars
  19. [R14] Total War 4/5 · US Seamless.: Only reason I didn’t give it 5 was that they partially reverted a change so that you can no longer use the hotseat balance fixes in grand campaign. I loved those balance fixes because it made certain tier 4 and 5 buildings actually cost-effective in the late game.
  20. [R61] Age of Empires Mobile 2/5 · US Nothing like the original, annoying ads claiming it is.: How did this take 7 years?
  21. [R67] Age of Empires Mobile 1/5 · US Not what I expected: Nothing like the original game on pc. It’s more like a role playing game. Where you don’t get anything accomplished. Very disappointing
  22. [R87] Age of Empires Mobile 3/5 · US Disappointed: As someone who played a ton of age of empires and age of mythology as a kid, i was excited to try this game. After playing through the tutorial i am disappointed to say it seems like a clash of clans reskin. It feels like any of the other numerous city builder games on the app store. The main difference i see so far is that there doesnt seem to be exactly the same gacha type thing as
  23. [R91] Age of Empires Mobile 1/5 · US False: This is not age of empires! This is clash of kings, on the way it’s played!!!!! Don’t get dooped
  24. [R69] Age of Empires Mobile 3/5 · US Ads: Too many ads for micro transactions. You have constantly find the x (that blends in) to cancel the micro transaction.
  25. [R76] Age of Empires Mobile 1/5 · US P2w: Pay or lose!
  26. [R79] Age of Empires Mobile 1/5 · US Played for over a year, quit because the game has no path forward: I played for over a year and was a mid level spender (think more than a few hundred dollars, less than a thousand). I was in the best alliance in our server which was an upper mid server. Nevertheless, very few of the inter server events were even close. Because the biggest thing that matters is fully upgrading your heroes, and
  27. [R93] Age of Empires Mobile 3/5 · US Bring your wallet: Such a fun game but as others have stated the power difference in free players to paying players is insane. Goodluck

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store