This could be one of the best games for ios. It have a deep solid strategic layer, it is fun and replayable. The cons are a boring map with little info (why the hell the planets don't have the empire icon and a color layer for development stats) and a manual with many unanswered questions. Despite that, it is a fun game, developed with passion for core strategic gamers.

Star Traders is a good attempt to fuse RPG and strategy elements with business management, resource management, and human intuition...with a splash of 4X elements for color. It's a game with a massive scope and with a lot of possibilities for the player. Let's tree it down. On the positive side, there's a lot to talk about. ST:E allows you, the player, to make a lot of decisions about what sort of game you want to play; you can choose from a wide variety of "careers," ships, and allegiances to the various factions in the game world. There's a lot of customization options to your ship in a mechanical sense (artistic types, sorry, no paint shop). So, whether you prefer military life, exploration, trading...whatever floats your starship, you can go for it. The game world is very large, particularly for a single-player iOS game. Gameplay is a pseudo-turn base, so it's a pick-up-put-down style of game. All of these are great things. So why not a 10? Two reasons. The minor reason, really minor, is somewhat weak graphics, but I couldn't really care less about that. Graphics aren't really a necessity. But what really chops into Star Traders' score is the fact that with so many options and gameplay paths, the game really just throws you into the deep end without so much as a packing peanut to keep you afloat. The game just...starts. The "tutorial" isn't really any help whatsoever, so it's left to you to try to figure out what to do, how all the tools work, and how to work in the game world. While too much hand-holding is annoying, none at all just leaves you feeling lost and frustrated. Once you can figure out what's going on, Star Traders has a lot to offer. It's just getting there that can drive you nuts. So, a 7 to Star Traders, a huge world with options and **** no manual.