.....bawwitabawdebangdebangdiggydiggydiggysaid the boogie said up jump the boogie! bawwitabawdebangdebangdiggydiggydiggysaid the boogie said up jump the boogie!
And we're off again! Welcome all you purveyors of the refined gaming experience, you hunters of the inexpensive electronic entertainment, you kings among men! I am NoCashReq, and this is Flat Broke Gamer Review. Let's get started.
Going for the brass ring this time is:
BLUF: An interesting concept piece, and definitely helpful in interesting young people in history, this game falls short with unbelievably slow development of your castle, town, forces, architecture, etc., and is not Free-To-Play, it falls definitively in the Pay-To-Win category.
SCORES
Playability: 1/5 A poorly written tutorial that prompts you through only the bare bones of the game, little to no logic to the myriad of menus you have to use, and an unclear goal in your development starts this game off on the wrong foot.
Atmospherics: 3/5 The look of the game is neither inspiring nor hideous, but fits into the overall theme of boring and pedantic.
Learning Curve: 3/5 The fact that you should (note the hesitance in my usage of the word should) be able to win as many points in the game throwing banquets and developing priests as you would in destroying you neighbor's castle is a nice idea, but the sheer mass of choices leaves you with no real idea how to get to either endgame.
Community: 2/5 I had no interaction with the other players aside from several offers to let me become someone else's vassal, and no real clear idea why I would want to do that. This does not seem like the game that you would have the opportunity to get online and actually interact with fellow players much.
Support: 4/5 No issues with the game's play, a regular newsletter that keeps you up to date on the game developments and other players/factions actions, the people at Firefly Studios seem to run the game well.
Cash Shop: 0/5 The only way to develop quickly enough to actually let you play for long periods of time is to buy premium tokens, unlocking queues for your research and building projects, and in-game cards that speed your production/give you resources/improve your playing make this a Definite PTW.
Overall: 13/30 This game is not worth your time. It is boring and slow, and really, I wouldn't even expect you to finish this review, let alone try this game. History buffs might get into it, but those are about the only people I can think of that would.
Ever read any European history book? Good! Then you already know the backstory to this game, as it takes place in Medieval Europe, with you as the next up and coming landowner. You are given charge of a new town in a random parish, and are given just enough resources to start a town and castle. From there, you are led by one of your peasants to build a woodcutter's hut, stone quarry, and apple orchard to provide for your building needs and food for the villagers. He will walk you through one of your many options for research, show you all the menus that you'll have to get used to, and then depart as soon as a random marauder group decide to take you down a notch. After that, you are on your own, and with NO hints or prompts, it is really up to you to figure out how to do anything else. Want to build a bigger castle? No problem, just go to the castle tab, and oh wait, you don't have the knowledge to build in stone, or build bigger structures, gotta go to the research page, oh wait which option lets you build more? Architecture? Defenses? Combat? Wait, we'll need more wood and stone for that, how do I get more? Oh that's right, I need more woodcutter's huts and quarries, but I don't have any more people to put to work there, how do I...? And so on, and son on, until you are left bewildered and frustrated, which is right about when your complimentary Premium token will expire and you will only be allowed to build one building at a time, and only one research project can be set up. I was mad before this, and that just pushed my little candy-like red button.
I kept going though, convinced that the game would pick up after I got to attack someone, even if it was only the local wolf den. But wait, you haven't developed enough to build weapons yet! AAAAAUUUUGH! FINE! I researched and built a weapon factory, started building bows, and that's when I realized that the number of people in my village to be recruited for Archery duty was not something I could directly control, I only got new move-ins on the game's time, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Fine, I waited for a day to calm down, rubbed my ears and said "Woo-sah," a few thousand times, and dove back in. Got my archers, got some scouts, got some villagers with pitchforks, and set out to kill me some wolves. Then my neighbor set out on horseback with knights that moved twice as fast as me and killed them all before I got there.
And that was when my head exploded.
Seriously!?! I get hosed out of killing anything? Nope, that's it. research the rest of the game, write it off, and move on. The support for this game seemed solid, the Community seemed non-existant and non-communicative, and the Cash Shop, well.....
SOUND THE DEATH KNELL
Premium tokens that speed your development up, allow queues for building and research, and generally allow you to develop five times as fast, cards that can be played for any number of advantages, and everything that someone with a lot of disposable income could buy to beat you senseless means that the final nail in this coffin was set.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Even if you wanted to drop your hard earned sawbucks on this game, I would encourage you to try any, ANY other game first, as this game will simply bore you to tears, frustrate you to violence, and then irritate you into getting the sledgehammer and "hitting any key" repeatedly. Do not waste your time.
Like I have.
Next time on FBGR, I will tackle into Maplestory ( I found another avenue to download it that worked) and hopefully the only suffering will be the soreness of my fingertips from playing far too long. Until then, Get in the pit and try to LOVE SOMEONE!
[NoCashReq has left the room]
No comments:
Post a Comment