In reviewing a game like Weblings, I had to take a step back and admire a different experience than I’m used to. It’s all in the little things. This isn’t the kind of game I was able to become immersed in, but that was never the intention. Electric Bat has offered a different experience to the gaming community. This is the kind of game one plays in their downtime. It is a Web-based monster fighter, and it’s pretty good.

Weblings underwent a recent reconstruction and has been re-released for the public to wreak havoc on the Internet instead of the Internet wreaking havoc on you. The developers told me in an interview, “The community just wasn’t connecting with the game as much as we’d hoped, so we drilled down to what they did like in the original game We took their feedback and enhanced those elements — daily adventures, collecting, etc. — as well as added new gameplay to allow players more control. The new, cuddly pet Weblings were actually being developed as an enhancement to the original game, and we quickly found they were generating lots of positive feedback and enthusiasm, so we adjusted the overall art direction to reflect their style.”

You play with a species known as Weblings; they are Bugs, and there are numerous types of Bugs for you to fight and acquire through advancement. The Bugs usually are based on various script errors but are not generated by script errors you may run into on sites you visit.

Weblings is built into your browser, and as you browse through pages, you guide your mouse up to a toolbar that’s easy to use and doesn’t get in the way of your usual toolbars. You can select to fight a monster that will be randomly generated on the website for you to fight. You also encounter boss Bugs or special Bugs on certain pages — selected on specific days. Weblings gives you the option to jump to these pages as well.

One neat thing I found was that there is a function similar to stumble in which I was able to visit certain websites based on type and Bugs were there, ready for me to fight.

You will also be raising your Weblings, decorating their rooms, feeding them and playing with them to keep them happy. If your Webling becomes unhappy with you, it will not fight in certain battles. This is a big deal, because certain encounters will require specific Bug types to take them down — they will have weaknesses and advantages.

The user can’t yet control the battles: You initiate, you choose type versus type and sit back and watch. This was something I was disappointed with, but there may be hope in the future for this much needed aspect of gameplay. The developers told me in an interview that they “regularly have discussions about that. There are a number of possible approaches we could take to allowing more control in the battle, and we want to make sure that if we decide to make that change, we do it in a way that enhances the game without taking away from core elements.”

Overall, Weblings is a nice experience and a neat addition to my browser. I would recommend the game for gamers who enjoy Flash-based games and need something to occupy their time when surfing the net.

Learn more about Weblings at http://www.playweblings.com/.