Back Wars vs MA 1
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Back Wars
Lead a historical resistance against a time-traveling army. Command hundreds of warriors from diverse cultures, focusing on individual heroes or vast armies. Experience strategic world domination combined with interactive battles.
- Lead diverse warrior armies
- Command individual units or entire armies
- Interactive real-time battles
- Territory conquest and defense
- Customizable controls (1-handed, dual wield)
- Fantasy battle mode
- Character editing
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When an army travels back in time to rule the world 1,000 years in advance, they get more than they bargained for from their primitive counterparts! Lead the resistance with hundreds of warriors from different cultures all over the world. Focus on one individual or step back to command an entire army at your fingertips. Combining world-dominating strategy with fully interactive battles, this game offers the best of both worlds! And just when you think it's over, history might just repeat itself... UPGRADES The game is mostly free to play, but you can upgrade to take control of your experience - choosing which side and how much territory to start with. You can also blow off steam with fantasy battles between any 2 cultures - and as many warriors as your device can handle! For what it's worth, you can also edit every character in the world - but please note that this game uses up to 1,000 of them that are regularly replaced. CONTROLS When controlling a specific character, this game offers either the "Classic" 1-handed control system or "Dual Wield" where each hand is controlled separately. If you are not already familiar with these from previous games in the series, you can pause the action at any time by hitting the dateline and then study the "Controls" guide. Also look out for in-game hints from scrolls or books that you can read. In this game, you can change which member of the team you are controlling at any time by either tapping the health meter or literally pointing to them on the battlefield. By tapping the arrows at the bottom of the screen, you can also activate "Commander" mode where you step back and direct any active member of your team by simply swiping from their location to another. Whether you intend them to relocate, fight an enemy, or pick up an object, they will try to make sense of your instructions. But please bear in mind that they can only do so at their convenience and may have other priorities! Whatever device or control method you are using, you can always zoom in or out by pinching at the centre of the screen. MAP The main "Campaign" game mode requires you to increase your territory by moving units from one area to any connected one. You can either "fortify" an existing territory or attempt to seize a rival territory. Note that only 50% of the units in a territory will be available to travel - which necessarily makes it harder to invade than it is to defend. The population of any inhabited territory may grow after each round, so it is important to control as many as possible. Notice that units will also gradually heal over time, so it is a good idea to work with different locations each turn. PERFORMANCE Please note that this is the largest scale game I have made yet, and may require a high-end device to run at 100%. Consider keeping the "Population" low to reduce the number of characters on screen, or tone down other features in the "Display" options. I regret there is more to this game than I could ever explain here, so I hope you enjoy figuring some things out for yourself!
MA 1
Lead any modern nation as its president in this geopolitical strategy game. Manage your country's economy, military, and diplomacy to expand your territory and prove your leadership. Make crucial decisions about laws, religion, and taxes to ensure your civilization's prosperity.
- Lead any modern state
- Manage economy and military
- Engage in diplomacy and trade
- Enact laws and choose religion
- Develop new technologies
- Build military infrastructure
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Modern Age is a classic geopolitical, economic, and military strategy, where you have to appear in the role of the president of the modern state. Are you ready to become a president of Russia or the USA? Maybe Afghanistan will flourish under your rule? You can lead any modern state. Manage the state, explore new technologies, and expand your territory. Fight other countries and prove yourself as a wise president and successful military leader! Your civilization needs a strong leader! War System Annex states and kingdoms, send troops to capture resources. Build a fleet, prepare military units, buy or produce military equipment. Erect airfields, arsenals, barracks, and shipyards. Send spies and saboteurs. Ministries Manage the ministries. Make the life of your citizens better and safer. This will help you: the police, the security service, the Ministry of Health, Education, Defense, Infrastructure, etc. Diplomacy Sign non-aggression pacts, trade agreements, build embassies. Participate in UN work, put forward resolutions. Laws and Religion Make laws depending on the chosen path of civilization development. Choose the official religion of your state. Production and Trade Produce food and raw materials for the manufacture of goods. Get resources. Trade with other states. Taxes Will you bet on production or high taxes? What is your strategy? And much more awaits you in the most epic game in the genre of military strategies for mobile devices! Are you ready to become a president? Which path do you choose? Will you become a dictator or a mild president? Your choice and your strategy will be the key to the success and prosperity of the country and the whole civilization. You can play the game without access to the Internet. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MA 1 at 4.3 against Back Wars's 3.6. MA 1 also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 13 months). Back Wars's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 14.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Back Wars sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and MA 1 sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
MA 1 holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 773 and 823 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of Back Wars's written reviews are positive against 48% of MA 1's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Back Wars ships an update every 13 months, MA 1 every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Back Wars | MA 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (773 ratings) | 4.3 (823 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 48.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 773 | 823 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 625 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 9+ |
| Developer | MDickie Limited | OXIWYLE LLC |
Customer experience
Back Wars
MA 1
User reviews
Back Wars
From 773 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and challenging gameplay
- 💡 Unique concept with past, present, and future factions
- 🚀 Engaging campaign mode
Room to improve
- 🐛 Glitches and bugs
- 🔢 Unbalanced difficulty progression
- ⚔️ Unfair weapon advantages for certain factions
- 🐅 Annoying animal attacks
- ⏱️ Slow character recovery time
MA 1
From 823 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎮 Addictive gameplay
- 🌍 Realistic geopolitical simulation
- 🕹️ Engaging strategic elements
- 👍 Enjoyable overall experience
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 💰 Monetization issues and pay-to-win elements
- 🕰️ Slow progression and tedious resource management
- 🤯 Confusing or unclear mechanics
Bugs and requests
Back Wars
Reported bugs
4 issues- Game takeover by AI during battles
- Inability to customize characters
- Disappearing weapons and items
- Forced retreats due to map boundaries
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to choose faction
- Improve weapon and character balance
- Reduce dialogue interruptions during battles
- Implement friendly fire option
- Optimize performance and reduce lag
MA 1
Reported bugs
4 issues- Game crashes after exiting and trying to reopen
- Freezing and black screen issues on certain devices
- Negative resource values and other data inconsistencies
- Inability to save progress or restore purchases
Requested features
4 requests- Add more countries and political systems
- Improve user interface and accessibility
- Introduce multiplayer and alliance features
- Expand event system and historical scenarios
In-app purchases
Back Wars
- King Upgrade$2.99
MA 1
- 7-Day Subscription7 Days trial$0.997 Days
- 600 crystals$0.99
- Nuclear program$0.99
- Pack$0.99
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- Accelerated Time$0.99
- +1 000 000 gold$1.99
- +10 000 gold per day$2.99
- Easy start for any state$4.99
- Presidential set$9.99
- Gem Madness$9.99









