Age of War

Released by Max Games in 2007, Age of War compresses the entire arc of human military history, clubs, catapults, tanks, lasers, into a single side-scrolling lane. Both you and the AI base sit at opposite ends of the map, and units you train march automatically toward the enemy stronghold while you decide what to spend resources on next.

Experience earned from kills evolves your civilization through five distinct eras, and the timing of that evolution is the whole strategic core of the game: jump to the next age too early and you're paying inflated costs for units you can barely afford yet, wait too long and the enemy's superior-era troops roll straight over your defenses. Special attacks, drawn from a separate meter, are best saved to break a stalemate rather than fired the moment they're charged. Stick War runs a similar single-lane base-defense structure if that back-and-forth army push appeals to you.