Slitherine has made a fantastic name for themselves in the strategy game arena of the App Store, particularly when it comes to games based around realistic settings. Their previous release, Vietnam ’65 ($9.99), for instance, tackled the Vietnam War. These kind of war games always seem divorced from reality enough that you can still enjoy them as a game, even though the premise is very real. Afghanistan ’11 ($19.99) is pretty interesting as it’s a game about a conflict that’s still active (which is really sort of hard to believe when you consider how long the US has been fighting over there). This maks Afghanistan ’11 feel a bit too real for me, but maybe that’s a good thing for fans of these kind of modern era military strategy games?

In Afghanistan ’11, you don’t just need to win battles, you also need to win the hearts and minds of the people, which (as we’ve seen in real life) is easier said than done. Check out the trailer:

Afghanistan ’11 was well received when it was released on PC earlier this year, and it’s safe to assume that the game will be just as good on the iPad. Unfortunately, like most Slitherine games, that’s the one rub with this game- It’s iPad only, leaving iPhone-owning strategy fans out in the cold. We’ve also got a thread in our forums which will likely fill out with first impressions over the course of the day.