Really bored? Go outside. Really, really bored? Come play Tetoris.

As you can tell by the screenshot, it’s Tetris in a super-zoomed out playing field. It’s taken some gamers 34 hours to lose at Tetoris. Of course, you can pause the game whenever you’re un-bored and come back to it. Enjoy the “fun”!

Other uses for Tetoris:

• Seeing how dirty your screen is
• Alt-Tabbing to make it look like you’re “enriching your mind” with a puzzle game

Duels: Warstorm is Challenge Games’ newest browser based game, based loosely on a collectible card game.  In it, players assemble decks of certain cards and battle each other to see who can top the leader boards.  As is normal for Challenge Games, the graphics to the game are slick and polished, but the game play leaves quite a bit to be desired.

The ironic problem with Warstorm is that it’s made by Challenge Games, the developer of Duels.  I found myself unable to avoid comparing the two games.  Warstorm, a very basic card game in which the entire strategy is building your deck and praying that your cards get drawn in the right order, pales terribly in comparison with Duels, which is all about equipment, skills, strategy, and build.  Frankly, I’m surprised that Challenge Games began developing a collectible card game and essentially threw all the strategy out the window.

In Warstorm, you’re awarded cards from leveling up and winning competitions.  These cards are split into 4 races:  humans, elves, orcs, and undead.  In building your deck, you’ll need a hero card (either human, elf, orc, or undead) and then six cards which match the hero’s race.  Each different card has the normal collectible card game information on it, including health, strength, and special abilities.  Planning and building your deck is the only strategy to this game, and a good portion of the actual game play relies purely on luck.

In a normal gameplay session, each player draws a card and puts it face up in front of them.  Each card has a “timer” on it, which shows the number of turns that must pass before that card can be put into play.  Once the card is put into play, it automatically attacks every turn until it is destroyed.  There is absolutely no input from the player.  In it’s entirety, Warstorm is a giant, glossy, colorful version of the card game “War”.

Challenge Games put in their usual touches, however.  Some of the troop cards are green or blue, which indicates their rarity.  However, the rarity of the cards is nearly useless considering how much this game relies on luck.  It seems like a gimmick cooked up by Challenge Games to get people to spend money on new cards.

There are, of course, tournaments in the game.  However, you must be a paying member in order to compete in these tournaments.  Also, Orc or Undead cards are only available to pay-to-play members, which means that most of the cards you’ll see will be Human or Elf.  It seemed to me that the Orc and Undead cards were extremely overpowered compared to the lowly Human and Elf heroes and troops.  Nearly every Orcish card played has huge amounts of health and strength, and almost every Undead card I saw inflicted some sort of disease or degeneration on my units.

It’s too bad that Challenge Games took a great formula from their first Duels game and utterly wadded it up and flushed it down the toilet with this game.  The only strategy in the game is building the deck and, even then, it’s all up to the luck of the draw.  Maybe it’s unfair to compare Duels with Warstorm, since one is an RPG and the other is supposedly a collectible card game.  However, it would have been great to have some strategy and planning during game play instead of a glorified version of “War”.  You might as well boot up Solitare instead of Warstorm, if you’re looking for strategy with cards.

Duels, by Challenge Games, may be the ultimate time sink for most casual browser based game players.  This strategic RPG offers a lot of content, with great presentation, and a broad player base to boot.  Duels is a game in which the player duels other players and NPCs in order to get better equipment, higher levels, and general bragging rights about who is best of the best.

In this post World of Warcraft era, Challenge Games seeks to bring an MMO feel to their game complete with character classes, skill trees, and equipment.  Numerous quests, player actions, and an avatar based chat system contribute to making the game stand head and shoulders above most browser based games today.

Make no mistake, however.  This game is all about one versus one combat, pure and simple.  The quests are simply about defeating certain NPCs, one by one.  Game play is extremely easy to get into, and the game tends to suck you into it right from the start.

From the very beginning, you’re able to graphically select your avatar from a number of different colors and styles (another nod to MMOs).  This character will be how other players will see you throughout the game; however, your appearance will change as you wear the different armor and weapons you’ll come across during the game.  It’s very refreshing to see such graphical detail from a browser game.

As you first start out, you’re immediately given a quest.  From there, your quests progress onward and involve learning the dueling system, the equipment system, and eventually the skills and actions systems.  Almost every aspect of this game is easy to comprehend, although mastering these aspects is another story entirely.

Gaining levels gives you more points to “spend” in the loadouts screen.  Each item that can be bought has a Power Rating associated with it.  This power rating cannot exceed your total power.  So, as you gain levels, your total power increases and you’re able to wear better items.  With each level, you’re able to spend skill points that contribute to a number of different things.  The skill system is very diverse and clearly thought out.  Each skill provides a specific boost to certain aspects of your character.

Combat, in the early levels, is pretty straightforward and mostly centered around how well your character is equipped.  In the later levels, however, you’ll acquire actions to play during combat.  Actions are like a set of special attacks or defenses you can perform as each turn progresses.  This makes the combat much more about planning your strategy than about arming your character with all the most expensive weapons.  Although, toward the end of the level progression, it comes down to gaining the best equipment slightly more than having the right set of actions for the circumstances.  Combat is completely centered around planning your strategy and you’re unable to affect anything during the actual duel.  I would’ve liked to see more interactivity during combat, but Duels is about planning and not action-oriented game play.

Gaining equipment comes from fighting duels and gaining tokens which are, in turn, used to purchase packs.  Each pack contains a certain quality of item as well as different scrolls.  Scrolls can do a variety of things, including inflicting damage on the opposing player to healing or buffing your own character.  At the early levels, these can be invaluable in swaying the flow of battle in your favor.

Challenge Games offers membership packages which compliment players with more packs and the ability to share items between each of their characters.  They also offer straight buyouts in which players can purchase tokens or packs directly. All of these have obvious advantages, but that does not mean that the free-to-play player is unable to get to the higher levels.

Events such as tournaments and ladders make the competition even more fierce, since winning an event or gaining a high stature in a ladder can lead to large token rewards.  The system even keeps track of your win-loss record and allows you to scout other players to learn their most used strategies and abilities.

For a browser based RPG, Duels is a refreshing step in the right direction.  From the graphical content and the MMO style equipment system, it’s easy to see why Duels is often referred to as the ultimate time killer.  The interface is easy to understand and the combat is deep enough to provoke enough tactical thinking from most casual gamers.  All in all, Duels will steal quite a few hours away from anyone.  Challenge Games has committed itself to providing quite a bit of content, and they tend to provide updates every week.  If you’re a casual gamer, you owe it to yourself to take Duels for a spin.

Dragon Tavern, by Trident Games, takes a straightforward approach to the casual dungeon crawl.  The game, like any RPG, is all about killing monsters to level your character.  However, the approach is geared toward the total casual gamer and I found the simple, direct combat somewhat refreshing.

Combat in Dungeon Crawl is strictly about percentages.  For instance, you’ve got a base 70% chance to kill a monster and, depending on your skills, character, and equipment, this percentile can go up or down.  Then the engine makes a simple dice roll and if you roll lower than the ending percentile, you kill the monster.  It’s a very simple system, yet makes the game run quickly and efficiently.

Being devoid of storyline, the game is all about killing.  The main thing you’ll be focusing on is which skills to invest your skill points into.  In Dragon Tavern, each character and monster is governed by the “TOAD” system, meaning Tactics, Organization, Attack, and Defense.  It basically works like a rock-paper-scissors aspect in combat.  Certain Tactics are strong against other Tactics, and some, of course, are weaker.  Each stat (Tactics, Organization, Attack, Defense) is matched up against the monsters’ stats, and then adds or subtracts from the ending chance of success.  Therefore, if you’ve got a character who is strong against melee fighting, he would get a bonus to his chance of success if he were facing a melee monster as opposed to if he were facing a monster with magical qualities in their “TOAD”.

Also, there are a number of skills in which you are able to invest.  Some skills offer a bonus to victory if you’re facing monsters with certain attributes in their “TOAD”.  Other skills offer straight bonuses to your chance of victory versus all TOADs.  Like many RPGs, how you distribute your skill points plays a big role in how successful your adventuring career will be.

Equipment is also handled simplistically in Dragon Tavern.  You’ll need to upgrade your equipment often so that you can stay competitive against the monsters you’ll be facing.  If you’re facing a high level opponent and still using very low level equipment, you’ll take a subtraction in your chance of victory.  Inventory and equipment is handled very simply as well.  For instance, after you slaughtered a bunch of monsters, you can return to the Tavern and the system automatically sells all the loot you’ve acquired while on your adventure as well as healing you to full life.  I found this quite nice since I didn’t have to worry about selling items manually or constantly watching my health points.

Having a simple, straightforward approach to inventory and combat is refreshing for me, but this endless dungeon crawl might turn some gamers off.  There’s no storyline in Dragon Tavern and no quest system at all.  It’s purely about slaying monsters to get more experience.  Being able to automatically sell all the useless loot to the tavern is all well and good, but I feel like having an inventory system and acquiring better arms and armor from monsters would bring more people to play this game.  On more than one occasion I found myself completely uncaring of which loot dropped since I was only going to be selling it when I got back to the Tavern anyway.

There are sub-locations you can visit in each zone, which hold different types of boss monsters.  These boss monsters usually hold a lower chance of success for you, and often have more than one hit point (meaning that you’ll need to succeed against them more than once).  Boss monsters, however, often drop much more valuable loot and give a significant amount of experience upon defeat.

One of the bigger draws to the game is the competition groups.  In these, you can see how your character stacks up against everyone else.  Trident Games has implemented many different groups you can join, ranging from the country in which you live to the social network site that you’re on (Myspace or Facebook).  Also, upon reaching level 20, you will unlock the ability to make a hardcore character which gains twice the amount of available actions per day at the cost of only being allowed to die once.  For me, this was where I found the most fun since the competition groups tend to thin out due to characters dying off.

Dragon Tavern is the perfect dungeon crawl for the lunchtime adventurer.  The combat and inventory system is simple and direct which is both a good and a bad thing.  Trident Games does offer certain bonuses which are purchasable through the site, though the bonuses don’t make the game unbalanced or unfair.  Also, they’re fairly cheap, which is refreshing.  While not for everyone, Dragon Tavern does call back to the old dungeon crawlers and should rightfully appeal to most casual gamers.

From the makers of the highly popular game Travian, comes a new browser game unlike any other: Travians. Travians is a browser game in which you take the challenge of living the everyday life of a villager in the universe of Travian.  Not only can you lead your villager to getting an occupation, but also can build your own home, join a guild, and take part of fighting and recreational games.

When you register, you can choose from three tribes: Romans, Gauls, and Germans.  The look of your villager will change depending of which one you pick.  After you choose a tribe and gender, you’re ready to play. You’ll notice upon login in that this game is very similar to the Sims.  You are given a house, a pet pig and access to a village.  You can gather resources and then sell them to get bronze, the in-game currency.  You’ll need this to buy tools, armor, weapons or to training to get an upper hand fighting.  When you gather resources, you use occupation points which generate every 45 minutes. After an occupation point has been used, it turns into an action point. Action points can be used to play minigames such as blackjack, tic-tac-toe, and battleship which you play with other players. By performing community service, you get social points which are used to upgrade your home. You can choose from a range of furniture or even get a bigger house if you so desire.

With every passing real day, your villager’s will increase. After reaching 111 days of age, your villager’s generation ends. You then have to create a new villager.  Luckily, all belongings are passed down, including house, money, and tools.

As with any RPG, there are quests which you must complete to level up.  If you have any questions about any of them, you can access the support chatroom available on the main screen.

On the toolbar, you will notice 4 bars: hunger, need to sleep, fun, and higiene.  These needs can easily be satisfied by eating, sleeping, playing minigames or taking a bath. Your villager won’t starve if not fed. If you gather resources when hungry, you will not get all the resources you would usually get.  Similarly, if your villager smells due to lack of hygene, all prices will be much higher.

In the begining, this game was fun.  Playing blackjack and tic-tac-toe with friends was entertaining. Also making sure your villager was fully satisfied had a fun sense of accomplishment.  But then you stop caring. Simply put, this game lacks a hook factor.  Your need of fulfillment will not be satisfied.

Second Opinion – By LordLComet

Travians is a browser-based real-time role playing game developed by the company that created Travian.

Travians is more social than the original game, with a focus on communication rather than war.A chat box is permanently displayed and the use of messaging is encouraged. You can add other players to your “friends list”. Players can join clubs and guilds, create blogs, and play a number of mini-games.

As with the original Travian, players choose a tribe from Romans, Gauls or Teutons.The resources of wood, clay, ore and grain are available. Additionally, there are 6 secondary resources: bread, iron, coal, boards, bricks, and flour.

Rather than simply building clay fields, your character in Travians can take that clay, create pottery items, and sell those items for copper. 100 copper coins makes a silver and 100 silver points make a gold coin. Apart from money, the game also uses “social points” which you get from playing in-game minigames such as tic-tac-toe and doing social actions such as washing dishes. Social Points are used to buy furniture in you virtual house, or even buy a new house.

The game is long term, you need occupation points to do actions such as mine ore. Occupation Points come with time, 45 minutes per OP. After you use an OP, you get an Action Point, which is used for social point benefits such as minigames and such.

The game is free to play, though as with the original Travian, there is the option to make payments to gain access to extra features and benefits. In Travians, Diamonds are bought instead of Gold. There is also a Travians Plus which is the Gold Club, and it cost a certain number of diamonds for a biweekly submission.

In the end, this game will end up like so many browser based games before it, and thats with you no longer playing it after x # of months. The game is exciting when you first start playing, but just loses that excitment over time.

Trophy Manager is a free online online football management game where you take charge of your own soccer club.  The game is now in it’s 12th season and as of August 2008 has over 100,000 teams playing the game from 125 countries alone.

In Trophy Manager you take total control of your own soccer club. An ever-confident and enthusiastic board has selected you as the manager who’s going to make the most of their club’s potential. When you start out you have got a squad of 25 eager players, as well as a heap of cash to spend on players and stadium upgrades. You must decide the tactics, find and hire the perfect coaching staff, train your players best as you can and expand the club’s infrastructure – All to get as close as you can to promotion, championships and, possibly, the Champions Cup of your region.

When you join Trophy Manager your club is automatically entered into two competitions- The league and the national cup. In your league you compete against seventeen other clubs for a trophy and promotion to the next league. In the national cup your team plays in a massive knock out competition against every other club in your nation. Once you reach the top division in your country you have the opportunity to qualify for one of the International club competitions. In these competitions your team plays against the best teams from other countries. In addition to all this, you can also play friendlies against other teams, which are usually non-competitive, but fun non the less.

The first thing a user does is start the team creation process, this is done by entering the desired clubname and a valid email address. This process can be more or less rapid according to the number of users who are on the waiting list. After the registration process, the new user gets a team (which they name). The beginner becomes the manager of whole new team of 25 players. Moreover, the team has at its disposal a small stadium and a small amount of money. The name of the stadium and of the coach can be changed in the settings. The manager has to decide which tactics to use, to find and hire the perfect coach, and to train the players and expand the infrastructure.

Teams now can invest in the stadium and in improving the youth players and the centers of training. Teams are also able to improve the capacity of the stadium, improve the food and merchandise, services and infrastructure.  There are many customizations that a user can do on his own team, as rename its stadium or change the type of training. But, like in any game management, the user must place his players in the position that they want to play.

There is some third-party software available to help the player in his experience with the game – though many users discuss whether or not they diminish the talent of the game – such as administrators of teams to indicate which is the best team and the best training for each player.

Each season lasts roughly 3 months. If the team is successful, it can be promoted to a higher division through direct qualification or by disputing a play-off (if a team of the 2nd division rises to the 1st by play-off) with a team of the division above. This division scheme varies from one country to another, and some countries have more divisions than others.

There is the option for teams in the game to go pro. This is the paying option of this game. This gives advantages but none that give any sort of competitive edge. “A TM Pro membership grants you access to a host of extra features for your Trophy Manager team. You do not get any performance enhancing advantages, but instead a lot of great-looking add-ons, insightful extra data and smart functions. The TM Pro package is under constant development and improvement.”  Advantages of Trophy Manager Pro include; a buddy list for quick links to other clubhouses, a notepad so user’s can make notes on players, a 3D trophy cabinet so users can show off trophies, a club crest to the clubhouse and a host of more features.

Overall i had alot of fun with this game. I’m a big soccer fan, so to come across a game as fun and exciting as this was pretty awesome to say the least. The only downside that i found was just like all BBG’s, you start to lose interest after a while. Regardless of that, if your a soccer fan your going to definitely want to try this game.

Second Opinion – By Codanon

The first thing that surprised me about this game was the interface.  It is a lot more attractive that other games like it, namely Hattrick.  It succeeds where Hattrick fails.  It is a true team management game.  The only complain I have about it is that game outages occur a bit more often than usual.  I actually got hooked into this game after playing for a few weeks.  This is a definite try.

The Kingdom of Loathing. A nifty web-based game that relies on humor and quirkiness, instead of graphics and music. This is nearly the exact opposite of todays games… where graphics are king, and gameplay takes second fiddle. Sad, really.

Graphics: Okay, take the graphics with a grain of salt. Stick figures and poorly hand-drawn monsters. You can tell that Assymmetric Publications doesn’t put a lot of time nor effort into it. Then again, that’s really part of Kingdom of Loathing’s (or KoL) charm. The goofy little monsters, and stick figure heroes. The main guy’s poorly drawn sword in one hand, and a martini in the other.

Gameplay: Well, it’s a web-based game. There are menus. Turn-based RPG combat, too. You click around the kingdom, selecting where you want to go… like the Seaside Town, the Gnomish Gnomad’s camp, or the Misspelled Cemetary (Yes, it’s supposed to be spelled that way). Depending on the area, you can be brought into a combat, another map to “explore”, or there can be an adventure with no combat. Combats themselves are simple. You encounter the foe (which often has a humorous name and description), click on if you want to attack, use an item, use a skill, or run, and go at it. Next round of combat, and so on. Really, it’s quite simple.

Ah yeah, I mentioned adventures up there, didn’t I? Adventures are your “turns”. Most actions take them. Going into an area that has combats or other such events will take an adventure. Exploring non-combat areas like most of the Seaside Town, though, will not. Buying from the Market and Mall won’t, either. Making booze and food will, though… unless you get some certain items. All in all you should have a certain # of adventures that starts you out for a day. Once you run out of adventures, your day is over and will have to wait until tomorrow.

Booze and food! Ah, the lifeblood of any adventurer. Now, you don’t have to eat or drink. Not at all. Doing so, though, gives you more adventures. Some booze is better than others, and some food is better. Some… do bad things, too… so be careful.

Combat. Back to combat. When you fight something, you lose an adventure. However, when you kill something, you gain Meat (the local currency), experience for one of your three statistics, and possibly items. The higher your statistics get, the stronger, more magical, and more moxious (ability to hit, not get hit, etc.) you shall become. Also, more quests open up the stronger you get.

Now, you can also interact with the other members of the Kingdom of Loathing… though not as much as in your standard online game. You can enter the chat (provided you pass the Alter of Literacy’s challenge), and speak to other members there. Also, you can send messages, items, or beneficial spells to other members. There’s also a clan system, where you can get bonuses and go through automated clan combats. While the interaction isn’t as rich as a standard online game, it’s simple, and effective. Theres also PvP or Player Vs Player. In your camp there should be a stone called the Magical Mystical Hippy Stone. Break the Stone to enable PvP.

Sound: Nonexistent. This is a web-based game, and a very simple one at that. It’s nothing to worry about, though. It’s not like you can’t turn on some music and listen while you play. As has been stressed, this is a simple game… so don’t expect a lot of bells and whistles (or any sounds, for that matter) from KoL. Just play, and enjoy.

Story: You are… an adventurer. A weak, wimpy little adventurer with nothing but your class specific weapon and other item. You’re pathetic! Anyhow, apparently, the Naughty Sorceress, who is the bad-girl supreme in the lands, has kidnapped the wise and noble King Ralph XI. She’s taken him into her tower, and imprisoned him in some sort of crystal, no less! What lack of respect!

Anyhow, the Council of Loathing, which is led by presumably the wise minds of the Seaside town, wish you to help them out. Sending you on many quests and missions, it all comes to a climax when you come face to face with the Naughty Sorceress herself. There, you fight for the fate of the Kingdom. Sally forth, adventurer.

Fun Factor: Incredible. I have had a great time with this game.(note the past tense for I no longer play it) It’s updated very often, and there are so many quests and different places to explore. Play differently, depending on your class. Do as many sidequests as you want, or none at all. Take your time and enjoy the game, or try and blow through it as fast as possible. You can play it your way. It’s fun, funny, and all around enjoyable.

I’ve rambled on through this a lot longer than I thought I would… but I hope I’ve conveyed that the Kingdom of Loathing is an entertaining, funny game. it’s not as complex as it may seem, and it’s very deep at the same time. Extremely satisfying, without a doubt. Enough reading!  Go complete some quests, join a clan, and get your butt kicked by a Ninja Snowman.

Rating 16/20

[ Graphics | 3 ]
[ Gameplay | 4 ]
[ Through | 4 ]
[ Fun Factor | 5 ]

PLAY NOW

Second Opinion – By Codanon

Ahh, Kingdom of Loathing.  This game is quite a gem.  I’ve been playing for several months and still enjoy it after all this time.  This is not a game for everyone.  While it’s seeminly a simple and entertaining game, it is quite clever.  It can be sometimes subtle and quirky, but a good sense of humour and sarcasm will leave you quite satisfied.  While the quests you have to complete aren’t always as easy or obvious, there are plenty of walkthroughs which can help you if you get stuck.  Definitely a must try!

The long awaited sequel to the popular Nation States game is finally here. While its still in beta form, many of the original Nation States players have received invites to actually play the game already. So first things first. Many of you probably want to know how is this game different to Nation States 1.

The main difference is that your nation is no longer a perfect, untouchable entity. You still guide its domestic development through daily Issues, but there is a new sphere of interactive gameplay with other nations. Domestically, you guide your nation’s evolution by addressing two daily Issues. These generally involve some manufactured crisis or other that demands you pick a side. As was the case with NS1, as you address Issues, your nation changes to reflect your ideology, so that over time it may become a beacon of freedom and democracy, an authoritarian police state, a community-minded nation of liberal-leaning scholars, or something else entirely.

On the international stage, your nation’s place is defined by its diplomacy, which means, essentially, how you conduct yourself with other nations. You may choose to shun, contact, seek it out, refuse invitations to join Alliances, recruit for your own alliance , establishing Trade pacts, or simply riding on market prices. Whatever you choose, though, you will probably find yourself drawn inevitably to like-minded nations.

NS1 Regions are replaced by both Continents and Alliances, meaning there is no longer any need to physically move your nation to enter a social group, nor a restriction on being in just one at any time. Thus, in NS2 your nation is fixed in a particular Continent, but can join, create, and leave Alliances as you wish, and “endorse” others nations for positions within each Alliance.

The big feature that I and probably half the NS1 users were excited about was the addition of war in NS2. From what I’ve learned so far is that NS2 is not a war game, but rather it is a nation simulation game that has the possibility of war in it. Your nation does not need to go to war, and probably will not ever be involved in war unless you want it to. But of course there’s a big price to pay for going to war. As of right now they haven’t added the war feature to the game yet, but from what i understand this is the way its going to work- There will be two signals, one Red and one Black. If you activate them, they will place your nation on a war footing against the specified nation. Your nation will then prepare to launch a military invasion.This will take time, and consume a great deal of your nation’s GDP (in-game money). Your target may repel you, perhaps with assistance of another nation, which is where the White Diplomatic Status comes in. By setting another nation to White, you agree to automatically provide military assistance to defend it from invasion. Should the target capitulate, though, you occupy them: you cannot eliminate your enemies, but you can topple their governments and make them a little more like you.

Sounds fun so far, right? Well not so much. From the time I have received the invite I have been playing, err – trying to play but have found it very difficult to keep my attention. Number one reason is that the NS2 page loads slower then a teen browsing for porn on a 56K modem. That’s when the page even loads. There’s been many times when the page just wouldn’t load at all.  Number two reason is the addition of Ambassador status. What is Ambassador Status you ask? A highly esteemed and greatly valued member of the NationStates 2 community. You can support the game and upgrade your nation by purchasing an Ambassador upgrade. your nation then receives a special symbol after its name, so that all may know you are a valid supporter of the NS2 game. These benefits include:

• Upload custom flags
• Press Releases
• Edit Nation Summary
• Commendations
• Espionage Resources
• Trophy
• Advertising removed
• Ambassador-only worlds
• Private worlds (soon)

I was actually a little shocked and annoyed when i found out about Ambassador Status. ESPECIALLY about only being able to load custom flags with Ambassador status. Are you kidding me? Adding your custom flag in NS1 was so much fun, and FREE OF CHARGE as well. Now we have to pay to add a custom flag? Doesn’t make much sense. As for the paying part in general, I can understand the need for donations to keep the game running, i just don’t believe there’s going to be a lot of people willing to pay for a text based browser game.

The main page of your nation could also be a lot more user friendly. I really liked the look and feel of the main page of NS1 because it was nice and simple. I think they really over did it with NS2, and the look and feel just aren’t working for me.

All in all if you are getting your hopes up and refreshing your inbox waiting for that invitation to come, stop. While i know the game is still in beta form, there really isnt anything to get excited over at this point. And to be quite honest, adding little things here and there isnt going to make this game exciting in the future either. Big let down for me.

—————————— UPDATE——-

I just want to add in here that they have in fact fixed the slow loading of the pages. Even so, i only find myself logging in, accepting or dismissing two issues, and logging off for the day.

Play It Here

OGame is a real-time strategy played with a browser. However, this game isn’t a true real-time strategy – rather than controlling units you play the role of a planetary emperor directing how your resources are spent and the actions of entire fleets. A bit of a change from the other browser based games.

By getting resources from your planet (which happens continually) you are able to build new upgrades for your ships and create new buildings as well as upgrade technology. As you progress in the game you will have an increasing amount of choices about where your resources are spent.

The Good:

There is a sort of thrill in attacking someone and waiting for the time your fleet hits. As you raid more and more people you will have the resources to attack larger and larger armies. When you mix all sorts of ships you can defeat other fleets.

You can also join alliances and make friends with new people. There are so many alliances in a universe and consequently there are a lot to choose from – whether you want an alliance for trading or protection or whatever. You can even start your own alliance if you want.

There are also other rewards that you can get if you are lucky – for example, a moon. By having a large battle over your planets there is chance that a moon will form from the debris. This moon allows you to spy on other planets’ fleets so that you can have the heads up on when to attack.

OGame does not have a monthly fee associated with it. However, if you want to become an Ogame commander – which adds several new views and removes the ads – you have to pay a small monthly fee.

For the time you enjoy it you can get pretty far and advanced in technology.

The Bad:

The game is real-time strategy so the whole game is waiting for something to finish. Some of the things take more than a day – some take several days. The more planets you have the more you have to pay attention to the game so you don’t get killed. When you have a large fleet and a lot of planets you must have a routine of checking your whole empire.

Another downside is that there is always someone bigger than you. Once you have a big enough fleet people will chase you for those resources. Generally once someone big has targeted you they won’t quit until they get what they want – which is almost exclusively the destruction of your entire fleet. After your fleet is destroyed you start completely over (except for buildings and research) and this can get very repetitive if you lose your fleet often.

Once you lose your fleet it’s possible that you will completely lose interest in the game even if you do happen to be lucky enough to get a moon. It takes a really long time to become super strong and you will never be in the top unless you start with a new universe and dedicate a lot of time to OGame.

OGame also has a plethora of ads… I would suggest that you use Mozilla Firefox or any other browser with ad-blocking capabilities.

Conclusion:

Overall OGame can be a fun diversion at first, but its just not one of those games that you can really get into for the long haul. I would recommend passing up this game and only play if your completely bored out of your mind.

Rating 9/20

[ Graphics | 3 ]
[ Gameplay | 2 ]
[ Through | 2 ]
[ Fun Factor | 2 ]

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Second Opinion – Codanon

If I had to describe this game with one word, it would be ‘addictive’.  From the begining, this game has some enjoyment but more than that, it gets addictive, fast.  The begining is by far the best part but as you level up, the enjoyment and fun factor become less.  It’s not a casual game and unless you’re checking constantly, you’re going to be the victim of stronger players who will pillage you into oblivion.  Enjoy it early, while you can.

NationStates is an online game that allows you to dictate and be master of your own conspiracy theories by giving you the chance to run your very own country for just a few minutes of your time as often or as not-so-often as you please.

Thankfully, all your citizens are (I really hope) mere pixels on your screen and therefore none of your judgments actually affect anything in the real world whatsoever, allowing your experiments with their lives and livelihoods to not get you thrown into jail. This has led to an extremely varied audience participating within the international community there, ranging from classes full of schoolchildren learning to be responsible citizens to crazed sadists desperate to execute as many of their own nation’s inhabitants as possible.

The mechanism of NationStates is to emulate national and international politics within a virtual global community in a fun and accessible way. The game is entirely text-based and the pace of the game is customisable to the player’s individual needs. For example, you can select an option to limit play to weekdays only in case you only have internet access via an office or university connection. A very welcome innovation in online gaming. Upon registering on the site, a series of options are selected via a required form so that the game’s engine can pre-determine what kind of leader you are going to be, and then places you into an official United Nations (Changed to World Assembly now) classification category which will change as the game progresses. Since the game works in real-time, it is open-ended and so this category usually changes significantly during the course of play. Interestingly, membership of the World Assembly is entirely voluntary.

Each nation also is given a set of classifications showing the level of Civil Rights and Political Freedoms awarded by each nation to its citizens, along with an economic rating. These are affected directly on a daily basis by judgements that you, the player, make in running your country. These judgements are shown through a series of issues, which appear as a screen of text summarising the problem and presenting you with a series of options based on the demands of your people and the opinions of your advisors. These are typically either issues of legality or tax judgements, although there are a small number of moral decisions that you can make as well. This is where the game is weakest – a major complaint is that any attempt to improve the public facilities or civil rights of your citizens results in a detrimental impact on a nation’s economy, which is by no means true to life. On NationStates therefore, only the countries which would be classed as rogue nations in the real world are able to maintain a strong economy, which clearly holds no true representation of real life.

Further to this complaint, any decisions made by a nation have no effect whatsoever on any future issues that arise. For instance, on two consecutive days I made public nudity compulsory and also made it compulsory for women to cover up their entire bodies. This led to some very interesting information being displayed on my country’s introduction page and also led me to wonder what the hell they were covering themselves up with! Repetition of these issues is a common occurrence and is noticeable very quickly when playing the game for weeks rather than days – the game has a fast turn-around of players to say that it has such a large userbase. Anyone can establish a “Region”, which is a grouping of nations usually with similar government types or goals, but to actually get involved on a wider scale one must join the World Assembly, committing the player to their laws and guidelines and generally providing a detrimental effect to the players who are trying to run their corrupt dictatorship in peace.

Joining the World Assembly can allow a player to gain a great deal of influence in the game. For instance, I joined the WA, rose to the position of Delegate for my Region and can now endorse policies on behalf of my entire region. I can also field and approve proposals placed by other players as well as propose my own policies. Whilst this doesn’t make the game any more fun to play, it does allow me to feel like an active part of a community-based game and give me additional hope for change in the future. Sadly, although the complaints about individual issue repetition for those selectable by everyone are common to just about every player there, this situation does not seem to be changing.

In summary, NationStates is a game with grand ideas and grand potential, but a lack of consideration to its users and a lack of realism means that it fails to meet its objective. It is fun for a while, but only if you play in a light-hearted manner. After I found myself starting to get bored, I decided to spice things up so to speak, and as Delegate, I destroyed my entire region just to see and feel the after effects. No matter how often you hold elections in your nation, you are still in charge – the eternal dictator. Taking this seriously can lead only to disappointment. Hopefully with Nation States 2 just around the corner, we will be graced with an even better game with alot more features.

Rating 12/20

[ Graphics | 3 ]

[ Gameplay | 3 ]

[ Through | 3 ]

[ Fun Factor | 3 ]

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Second Opinion - by Codanon

This is an interesting role playing game for anyone who enjoys politics and history.  While it is not for everybody, it is rather fascinating as you can see how your friends and neighbors rule a nation in their own ways.  Sadly, the interactivity only reaches as far as your nation.  But with NationStates2 around the corner and with promising features such as war and trade, the next generation will definitely be a game to try.