You can conquer the world if you try hard enough. I’m sure some adult told you that at one point when you were younger. It seems like kind of a stretch though, doesn’t it? Well, conquering the physical world is probably best left off your bucket list. It might be nice to conquer the world in virtual form instead. That’s cool, right? Less casualties, too. With Geocannon, that power is in your hands. Pick any location on Earth and battle it out with other players on a real map to claim that area as your own. The game is free with in-app purchases for iPhone and iPad.

Did you know that every single city in the world is actually covered with giant crates? It’s true, well, at least in the game of Geocannon. These crates are the secret to slowly but surely conquering the world. Visit any city and Geocannon loads a 3D version of its satellite imagery as a playing field. The technology is just mind-blowing. Being able to visit any city in the world alone is just stunning already, but add a gaming layer to that and the concept gets slightly better.

Your initial weapons are just a magnet and a bomb. Crates are scattered all around the territory. Launch the magnet (green) to collect as many of these crates together as possible. Then tap the pin to switch from the magnet to the bomb (red) and destroy them. The more you’re able to bomb in one shot, the higher your score is.

Geocannon plays online or offline, but offline is boring. When you log in with Facebook, you battle against every other Geocannon player to own that city. Whoever scores the most points during their short visit in that city claims ownership.

It’s also important to monitor your “geopower” which is basically a number representing how likely you are to score well relative to other locations. Your geopower is at its greatest when you’re closest to your current location. It’s wise to start off playing in cities nearby to strengthen your abilities and geopower, then expand outward.

When you get to level three, you unlock another important weapon: black hole. This acts like the magnet by gathering crates wherever you launch it, but takes the functionality a step further by sucking them up and dumping them right where you place your pin. That, as well as the ability to move your pin around the city, are two free upgrades. Other upgrades are available for in-app purchases of US$0.99 and up. They mostly just enhance what is already possible though.

It took me a little bit to really get into this game, but it has a very peculiar charm to it. The game isn’t even in my preferred genre, but there’s no denying that visiting cities all around the world and earning points is entertaining. Collecting crates and bombing them also has a soothing effect too, almost a stress reliever.

My one real gripe with Geocannon is it takes too long to level up. I’ve been playing for days and own multiple cities, yet I’m still on level one. It’s kind of disheartening.