Some eight weeks ago, I began playing a multiplayer online game, and I've been hooked ever since. Yes, I hear the collective groan, "Ophelea, big deal. You're talking about half the games on the Internet!" Well, perhaps I am. But, this one is a little different, or I wouldn't have mentioned the time I've been playing — as verbose as I am want to be. You see, when I began playing, I was able to make a move every 7-15 minutes. Eight weeks later, I make maybe six to 10 moves a day. I am so hooked.
What is this mysterious game of limited interaction that keeps me riveted to my screen, you may be wondering? (Or simply wondering about my sanity ...) It's a title by Gameforge, a German company known for its Flash titles; only this one is in Ajax — meaning no real movement to speak of, just screen changes.
Called Ikariam, the idea is to build as many colonies as you can and then either continue to build and monopolize resources or build an army and conquer other colonies. The setting loosely can be considered Ancient Greece — particularly if there were a Steampunk version of Ancient Greece. The art is clean, passable and does exactly what it is intended to; I never confuse the marketplace for the tavern or the barracks for the academy.
The game is absolutely free to play, and though I did purchase $15 worth of ambrosia late in the game (partly for this review and partly because I wanted the benefits it would afford me at that stage), I honestly did not need to make the purchase. None of the content in the game is premium. There is nowhere I couldn't get to, nothing I couldn't achieve without spending money. It is, quite simply, free.
So ...
I make an account, pick a server and land on an island somewhere in a very large world. The island contains two resources: building material (aka wood) and one of four other resources — marble, sulphur, crystal glass or wine. Eventually you will need all four additional resources to build your colony into a cultural center. But, with only one of the four available, some savvy trading is required right at the beginning.
Marble is the first required resource. If you find yourself lucky enough to land on an island with marble as a resource (my son started nine times and found himself there once), consider yourself lucky. You'll not have to trade for quite a while. Marble builds most buildings beyond their fourth level or so. Crystal glass is used to build the academy (your source of research for successive science upgrades) beyond the first two levels and eventually to complete research if you gather enough. Wine keeps the plebeians happy — lots of wine keeps them very happy. Sulphur keeps your armies, well, army-like. It's hard to be the hailing conqueror when you do nothing more than sling pebbles at a big stone wall.
As I mentioned before, the game isn't what I'd call "twitch." I run it in a separate tab while I work throughout the day. When building my first (and each successive colony), it's like the game is on crack. Assuming you assign your colonists well, you'll be building and upgrading every 7-15 minutes! Woohoo! As the buildings become more complex, as science advances — along four lines no less: seafaring, economy, science and military — and as the ability to upgrade units in the military is added, each colony may require only one to three decisions per day. Of course, by then — one would hope — you'll have three to four colonies. (Getting that fifth colony takes some serious effort.)
The world isn't populated by just your glorious self — I'm there, too! And, well, there are a few hundred other people per server. Once a trading port and marketplace are built, the ability to trade the resource you have and don't need — like say the sulphur you gained for your first island but don't need until the end game — for the resource you need quite badly — as in the marble that lets you build beyond a weed-infested, dirt-path village. The larger the marketplace, the farther your reach.
At some point during this building process, you're bound to be attacked by ... anyone and everyone wanting the resources you have or just generally wanting to harass you. You have a seaport, city walls and defensive military that will help repel the attacks, but each has its maintenance cost. Of course, these items in concert with the spies in your hideout can become effective should you want to do your own pillaging.
Early on I learned it was a much better tactic to make cultural treaties with the mercenary in my area of the world, trade all my excess goods to him and sick him on those who had the *cough* audacity to harass me. It works.
The purchase of the ambrosia — the only premium purchase in the game — has only three benefits. And of these, I found only two useful. The first opens a much larger UI that gives you an overview of your colonies in a single spreadsheet-like interface. As I never found working with each colony tedious, I didn't repurchase the option when it expired. The second let me trade resources with an NPC trader: one for one on unique resources, two for one on building materials. When I was impatient to get the last 6,000 or so pieces of crystal glass to increase my governor's mansion to reduce corruption and unwilling to wait 9-12 hours for it, this was really handy. The last I especially liked later in the game: I could purchase, 7 days at a time, the ability to increase production on a resource by 20 percent. Most of the time, I found this unnecessary. But when I hit that fifth colony, the consummation of resources made conservation to build really difficult.
As I said, there aren't many decisions to make each day. If I were spending my time attacking other colonies, this might be different. Even so, I have five colonies to manage. Each has resources I trade (mostly with my mercenary friend). I need to keep them happy: ensure my technology proceeds according to plan; ensure my peoples are avenged when attacked; and do my best to get to that next colony. I keep it up in another tab and check on the game when I remember. Sometimes, often. Sometimes, not for days. But I'm hooked, I really am. If you visit Theta, be kind to the colonies of Mousetrap. My protector is not kind. *grins*
I'm a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 10 and live in the chaos that ensues. I've a permanent disability that keeps me homebound, so books, kids, games and books are my constant companions. Oh, and books, too. *grins*
My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.
I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers.
I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.
