Astro Empires (Fighter)
Quality: 5/10
Fun: 8/10
Longevity: 8/10
Total: 21/30
This is a textgame in space that starts you out on a small underdeveloped planet somewhere in the universe. From here you can develop your planet before expanding your empire with more planets.
Since it is a textgame it is a little bit different to other popular browsergames like Ikariam and Travian. If you ever played Utopia (1) you will feel right at home though. The game is menubased and there are crosslinks and shortcuts from every page. It almost feels like a small world of pages you click around while getting the whole picture of your empire so that you can make a good decision about what to build, research or do.
There are a couple of main screens; the Empire view, the "Tables" and the guildpages. You will also spend some time on the galactic view, the economy and trade view and perhaps on the fleet view. The latter are support pages and I wont go over them here, but the main pages are of interest if you want to kow about this game. The Empire view is the center around which all the other pages exist. Here you can see the basic info of each planet you own and what buildings, ships and research they are occupied with. There are also links to all of this info making it easy to give orders about what to do next. There is only one resource - gold. This actually makes the tactical depth more challenging because you will have to make very hard priorities at almost every thing you decide to do. There is never any extra resources that can be used in a offhand manner, everything you build has to count towards your goal or they are wasted since they could have been used for something more important. The tables view is more a techtree page that shows you what you have access to and what you need in order to access the rest. The guildpage shows you information about your guild and has several very easy to use ingame boards. Other games could learn from this!
Since there is only one resource all buildings, all research and all ships are judged by their immidiate and longterm return value. There are alot of buildings and alot of ships to choose from and different types of planets needs different setups. Bigger planets offer more space but cost much more to defend and develop. Much like in Ikariam the game is openended which means that there is only soft caps to science and buildings. Also, if you are playing the free version (more about this later) you can "only" colonize 9 planets so you have to choose wisely. This isnt a major issue since 9 planets is about the max for what is fun to micromanage anyway but it does make your prioritizing choices very important.
You will probably spend alot of time (weeks) building up your bases before you get engaged in heavy fighting, but there is a crude level prohibitor saving you from the worst ganking if you can want to get involved in some low level fighting. Once the bases are getting developed the game changes a bit and becomes more of a fighting game where the bases only serve as means to replenish your fleet. The guildplay is pretty good and more or less required since you will easily be ganked if you try to fight alone. The fighting is quite complex; the fleets are composed of 10-15 different kinds of ships and you need to use most of them in order to be successful. All of them have weaknesses that correlate to other types of ships. Even the mighty Deathstar can be destroyed by a bunch of capital ships.
The game changes pace several times. At first you will spend alot of online time setting up your first base(s). They will finish buildings and research quite often and the two queuespots dont make much of a difference. After a while it is quite enough to login once a day to make decisions and fill up research- and construction-queues. This changes again when you start fighting in the guildwars that more or less constantly rage. There is almost always skirmishes that needs battling.
I will make a short note on the free versus paid game since there are a few differences. Free accounts can colonize 9 planets, paid accounts can colonize an unlimited number. However, you cant really effectively control more than 10-15 anyway. Besides, the cost doubles for every base and around 20-21 it just isnt worth it anymore. Free accounts get 2 queueslots for buildings an research (per base/area) while paid accounts get 5. I rarely use more than 2 anyway, so no big deal. Paid accounts also get access to a couple of supporting views in the menu, they would certainly be nice but I cant say I miss them terribly. There is one thing that you do miss out on and thats the Scanner. The scanner gives you information about troopmovement in the vicinity of your bases, quite a large vicinity as well. Again not a must but defo a nice perk!
I want to mention one more thing and thats the size of the universe. It is huge! I mean really really big! There is an exploring thrill to this game and the fact that there is a big difference between and bad planet, a good planet and a great planet makes it well worth the time and work to scout around. But dont forget to stay fairly clustered or it will be hard to defend all your planets. When they get occupied you have to liberate them by force if the occupier has left a garrison. And a little tip, when you decide which guild to join, pick one that is close to you and one that isnt archenemy of the guild that controls the territory you are based in...
All in all, this is a very good game with a balanced learning curve and lots of fun for a long time. It is also very free and lets you play the way you want instead of forcing you in a linear development. If you dont mind textgames, this is highly recommended.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Review: Ikariam
Ikariam (Builder)
Quality: 7/10
Fun: 5/10
Longevity: 8/10
Total: 20/30
This game is very similar to Travian, but I wouldnt call it a clone because it is very well worked through. You begin with a small village out of Asterix & Obelix that looks like a collection of mudhuts. Over time you can collect resources and build new buildings and expand existing ones. There is also a complete techtree to research that reminds me of the Civilzation games a bit, very linear.
This game has a couple of great things going for it and I'll start with the first thing you notice. The graphics are well done, both technically and from an art perspective. The style is best described as "cute". It is very clear the developers have put some effort into the graphics because as you develop your little village into a fullblown city the graphics change alot. Not only the buildings but the village background changes. For example as you expand the village size more and more of the village ground gets paved. When you grow past certain sizes a village well is built, or an aqueduct. All of this does a good job of masking the numbercrunching, textbased browsergame that is behind it. A very small minus from this is that it takes a while to load when surfing from a handheld device.
Another really big positive thing about Ikariam is that it is openended, something I value very high in all games. There is no built in max level of buildings or villages. Of course, as things get exponentially more and more expencive, somewhere along the line they will hit a soft cap. But this allows the game to be played in two ways, either you build effectively and use "best-bang-for-the-buck" tactics to succeed or you pay ridiculous amounts of money to be very hard to beat in a specific area. In the same way, the techtree is open, allowing for "Future Tech X" (think Civilization end game). This gives the game a really good longevity score fo course.
What about the fighting? I tagged this game builder and not fighter as opposed to Travian. Thats because in Travian you will be involved in fighting wether you want to or not. In Ikariam it is possible to reach a balance where you can have good enough defences that it isnt worth attacking you. Naturally, once in a while someone will attack you anyway, but if you play defensively it is very rare. If you do want to get involved in fighting, there is plenty of opportunities for that as well. The fights are very tactical in nature and good intel, army composition and timing is essential as it is possible to have a very good defence. Recently they also added the option to occupy a hostile village which makes for some interesting situations.
Because it is possible to have a good defence and because of the openended buildings that takes alot of resources, this is a game that you can afford to just login once a day and give some orders and leave it to itself. If you do want to micromanage resources that is possible also and will give you a small edge but is not required in any way.
All in all a very solid game that I will play for long time yet just to see if I can max out my main village. Not much everyday action but doesnt require alot of time either.
Quality: 7/10
Fun: 5/10
Longevity: 8/10
Total: 20/30
This game is very similar to Travian, but I wouldnt call it a clone because it is very well worked through. You begin with a small village out of Asterix & Obelix that looks like a collection of mudhuts. Over time you can collect resources and build new buildings and expand existing ones. There is also a complete techtree to research that reminds me of the Civilzation games a bit, very linear.
This game has a couple of great things going for it and I'll start with the first thing you notice. The graphics are well done, both technically and from an art perspective. The style is best described as "cute". It is very clear the developers have put some effort into the graphics because as you develop your little village into a fullblown city the graphics change alot. Not only the buildings but the village background changes. For example as you expand the village size more and more of the village ground gets paved. When you grow past certain sizes a village well is built, or an aqueduct. All of this does a good job of masking the numbercrunching, textbased browsergame that is behind it. A very small minus from this is that it takes a while to load when surfing from a handheld device.
Another really big positive thing about Ikariam is that it is openended, something I value very high in all games. There is no built in max level of buildings or villages. Of course, as things get exponentially more and more expencive, somewhere along the line they will hit a soft cap. But this allows the game to be played in two ways, either you build effectively and use "best-bang-for-the-buck" tactics to succeed or you pay ridiculous amounts of money to be very hard to beat in a specific area. In the same way, the techtree is open, allowing for "Future Tech X" (think Civilization end game). This gives the game a really good longevity score fo course.
What about the fighting? I tagged this game builder and not fighter as opposed to Travian. Thats because in Travian you will be involved in fighting wether you want to or not. In Ikariam it is possible to reach a balance where you can have good enough defences that it isnt worth attacking you. Naturally, once in a while someone will attack you anyway, but if you play defensively it is very rare. If you do want to get involved in fighting, there is plenty of opportunities for that as well. The fights are very tactical in nature and good intel, army composition and timing is essential as it is possible to have a very good defence. Recently they also added the option to occupy a hostile village which makes for some interesting situations.
Because it is possible to have a good defence and because of the openended buildings that takes alot of resources, this is a game that you can afford to just login once a day and give some orders and leave it to itself. If you do want to micromanage resources that is possible also and will give you a small edge but is not required in any way.
All in all a very solid game that I will play for long time yet just to see if I can max out my main village. Not much everyday action but doesnt require alot of time either.
Review: Molehill Empire
Molehill Empire (Builder)
Quality: 5/10
Fun: 4/10
Longevity: 3/10
Total: 12/30
By the time I tried this game I had tried a couple of browsergames and was awakening to the genre. Therefore I had a bit more expectations. Initially they were also fulfilled, but over time my initial sense of freshness was diminished.
The game is about a little garden gnome that gets responsibility over an abandoned garden with nothing but weeds and stones in it. Over time he (or she) plants vegetables and fruits that can be sold to customers or on the player market. At first the money is spent on clearing your garden of roots, weeds and stones. For all things planted and harvested you get points in addition to the money you can sell them for. As your points increase you get access to more advanced vegetables and fruits that generate more money but also take longer to grow. Once you get enough money you can invest them in many things, like gardenhelpers, faster growtimes, more gardens or vanity stuff.
Alot of things in this game is very fresh and new and gives you alot of pleasure when starting to play. For example the possibility to sell to both the computer and fellow players gives a sense of reality and absence of rules. There is also a fair amount of functionality to discover when you start playing that isnt obvious or told in the tutorial. There is also a very clear progress through the score which directly affects what vegetables and fruits you have access too.
So, the game seems like a breath of fresh air and lots of fun eh? Well the bad news is that the game grows old very fast. The only long time incentive for playing is reaching a higher score and accessing more fruits and vegetables. But since there is little to use the new stuff and money for even that dies a little. Also, even with helpers and different gadgets you can achieve the daily login and orders are very much like reallife work. Gardens have about 250 slots and most things you can grow require one slot. So you have to click 250 times to grow one garden and after a while you have 2-3 gardens. Since you do this every day or sometimes several times a day it grows tedious very fast.
There isnt much else to tell about this game. There is some interaction with other players, both hostile and guildplay, but it is fairly limited and pointless in most cases. There is however one major positive thing I want to mention. The game is free, like all games I will review here, but you can spend real money to get 'coins' in the game. These can be used to purchase stuff or sold on the player market. They can also be used to open up additional functionality in the game. This is interesting because it means you can aquire the 'coins' without being a paying player - though at a high (ingame-)cost.
All in all, this game is fun to try if you want to try something refreshingly new but it has little longevity-value.
Quality: 5/10
Fun: 4/10
Longevity: 3/10
Total: 12/30
By the time I tried this game I had tried a couple of browsergames and was awakening to the genre. Therefore I had a bit more expectations. Initially they were also fulfilled, but over time my initial sense of freshness was diminished.
The game is about a little garden gnome that gets responsibility over an abandoned garden with nothing but weeds and stones in it. Over time he (or she) plants vegetables and fruits that can be sold to customers or on the player market. At first the money is spent on clearing your garden of roots, weeds and stones. For all things planted and harvested you get points in addition to the money you can sell them for. As your points increase you get access to more advanced vegetables and fruits that generate more money but also take longer to grow. Once you get enough money you can invest them in many things, like gardenhelpers, faster growtimes, more gardens or vanity stuff.
Alot of things in this game is very fresh and new and gives you alot of pleasure when starting to play. For example the possibility to sell to both the computer and fellow players gives a sense of reality and absence of rules. There is also a fair amount of functionality to discover when you start playing that isnt obvious or told in the tutorial. There is also a very clear progress through the score which directly affects what vegetables and fruits you have access too.
So, the game seems like a breath of fresh air and lots of fun eh? Well the bad news is that the game grows old very fast. The only long time incentive for playing is reaching a higher score and accessing more fruits and vegetables. But since there is little to use the new stuff and money for even that dies a little. Also, even with helpers and different gadgets you can achieve the daily login and orders are very much like reallife work. Gardens have about 250 slots and most things you can grow require one slot. So you have to click 250 times to grow one garden and after a while you have 2-3 gardens. Since you do this every day or sometimes several times a day it grows tedious very fast.
There isnt much else to tell about this game. There is some interaction with other players, both hostile and guildplay, but it is fairly limited and pointless in most cases. There is however one major positive thing I want to mention. The game is free, like all games I will review here, but you can spend real money to get 'coins' in the game. These can be used to purchase stuff or sold on the player market. They can also be used to open up additional functionality in the game. This is interesting because it means you can aquire the 'coins' without being a paying player - though at a high (ingame-)cost.
All in all, this game is fun to try if you want to try something refreshingly new but it has little longevity-value.
Review: Travian
Travian (Fighter)
Quality: 5/10
Fun: 5/10
Longevity: 9/10
Total: 19/30
This is one of the first games I tried apart from Utopia. Since all my previous experiences were from textbased games I was initially very impressed by the graphical . The game is well done and has many levels of play. Being able to see the world you are developing is very satisfying initially but very quickly raises your expectations of the rest of the game.
All players get control of a small village that reminds me heavily of Asterix & Obelix. It has different buildings that you can build or expand. There is a rudimentary techtree that requires some conditions to be met before you can build a certain building or troop.
The game is easy to get into and you will immidiately from the start get a feeling for the games priorities; troops, fighting and war. This game is very dependant on how much time you are able to spend online and even though it appears to be turnbased it still is a game that relies heavily on you being able to be online in realtime during important times. This might appeal to some players and scare off others. The good news is that the game scales very naturally - you can spend alot of time online if you want to be hardcore and get good returns from that. If you are not able to be online alot you will not be be immidiately punished for that but it will severly limit your experience of the game.
Travian is a game that revolves alot around fighting and teamplay, and if you rather play solitarily and prefer to just log in once a day, then this is not for you. However, if you do like browsergames to play our fairly 'realtime' then this is an excellent game. It is one of the few browsergames where you actually benefit, and maybe excel, from a constant supervision and attention.
There is some focus on buildings and infrastructure here, but it is secondary to the primary objective - fighting. This might be a good or bad thing depending on what type of player you are.
The really good news is that since this game focuses on teamplay and fighting, the longevity of it is exceptional if you like that. If the interface is of less importance of you and your primary focus is fighting, then the chance is that this game will be your companion for a long and active time. The bad news is that if you dont like fighting and prefer to build, defend and explore then there is really not many ways to avoid the brawls in the long run.
Quality: 5/10
Fun: 5/10
Longevity: 9/10
Total: 19/30
This is one of the first games I tried apart from Utopia. Since all my previous experiences were from textbased games I was initially very impressed by the graphical . The game is well done and has many levels of play. Being able to see the world you are developing is very satisfying initially but very quickly raises your expectations of the rest of the game.
All players get control of a small village that reminds me heavily of Asterix & Obelix. It has different buildings that you can build or expand. There is a rudimentary techtree that requires some conditions to be met before you can build a certain building or troop.
The game is easy to get into and you will immidiately from the start get a feeling for the games priorities; troops, fighting and war. This game is very dependant on how much time you are able to spend online and even though it appears to be turnbased it still is a game that relies heavily on you being able to be online in realtime during important times. This might appeal to some players and scare off others. The good news is that the game scales very naturally - you can spend alot of time online if you want to be hardcore and get good returns from that. If you are not able to be online alot you will not be be immidiately punished for that but it will severly limit your experience of the game.
Travian is a game that revolves alot around fighting and teamplay, and if you rather play solitarily and prefer to just log in once a day, then this is not for you. However, if you do like browsergames to play our fairly 'realtime' then this is an excellent game. It is one of the few browsergames where you actually benefit, and maybe excel, from a constant supervision and attention.
There is some focus on buildings and infrastructure here, but it is secondary to the primary objective - fighting. This might be a good or bad thing depending on what type of player you are.
The really good news is that since this game focuses on teamplay and fighting, the longevity of it is exceptional if you like that. If the interface is of less importance of you and your primary focus is fighting, then the chance is that this game will be your companion for a long and active time. The bad news is that if you dont like fighting and prefer to build, defend and explore then there is really not many ways to avoid the brawls in the long run.
Review framwork
All games I review will be put on either the toplist or the bottomlist. There will also be a complete list for a tested games. All games will be rated from 1-10 (1 being lowest) in the following categories:
Quality
Here I will include evaluati0n of graphics, usability and intuitive play.
Fun
This part is for the "Wow-factor". This includes both innovation and emotion.
Longevity
Most games will make you log in a second time, but how many games will make you log in 100 times? Or a 1000?
All games will also be labeled according to their presumptive targeted audience:
Fighter
Games for persons that play in order to be able to attack their neighbour.
Builder
Games for person that mostly defend and want to achieve maximum infrastructure.
Social
Games for person that play to lead, organize or socialize.
Quality
Here I will include evaluati0n of graphics, usability and intuitive play.
Fun
This part is for the "Wow-factor". This includes both innovation and emotion.
Longevity
Most games will make you log in a second time, but how many games will make you log in 100 times? Or a 1000?
All games will also be labeled according to their presumptive targeted audience:
Fighter
Games for persons that play in order to be able to attack their neighbour.
Builder
Games for person that mostly defend and want to achieve maximum infrastructure.
Social
Games for person that play to lead, organize or socialize.
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