Evony - Game Review

I was attracted to the advertisements of Evony. Before, the banner ads of Evony shows a very attractive lady and a message telling me to save the queen (too bad I don't have a copy of the ad). However, unlike my expectations, this game is not an medieval action game or an RPG. It is an MMO strategy game.

This game is in flash, from which I expected more. I expected the graphics to be more active and I expected more motion. In their defense, it is hard to put moving graphics in an web browser game. But then again, I could have wanted to see more motion other the workers upgrading buildings.

Unfortunately, I also did not get to see the queen which I was supposed to save. Nor are there evil characters to be defeated in the game (but there are evil players who want to bully others). But I get to chat with the whole evony world, which most web browser games fail to deliver.

The Good
This is a FREE MMO-Rpg. You get to play with thousands of other players for free! But of course, if you want to support Evony, you can buy some of the in-game items which improves gameplay.

This game is a web browser game.What makes games like this so attractive is that you don't have to install anything else, other than a flash capable browser like Internet Explorer or Fire Fox. Also, the hardware requirements are not so high as some newer games today. You get to play this game on almost anywhere and almost on all available computer nowadays.

Evony have an active forum, which can be a source for a lot of information. Also, there is an in-game world chat, so you can ask help from anyone. The world chat also promote interactivity between players.

They are introducing new servers every after some time. Currently, there are 17 online servers. But even with the number of servers, there are still some lag issue.

The Bad
But of course, in every good thing there is bad. Probably, the worst negative thing about evony is the lag. With their servers over capacity, the lag is so bad sometimes that the game just don't update.

Another negative aspect of Evony is that it is still in development stage. Right now, there are so many new updates and patches being introduced. And the gameplay itself is still open ended without any main goals other than the goals you set for yourself.

I've been playing Evony for more than a month now and I can say it is pretty easy. You learn as you play if you follow the quests, making learning easier.

Gameplay
The gameplay of evony can be considered as real time strategy, with economic simulation.

The battle algorithm is designed on a turn based system, where each group of soldiers automatically attack on their turn, which is affected by their range and movement speed. This algorithm is biased towards ranged units because of the unplanned algorithm, therefore, most of the armies in evony will be archers, ballistas and catapults.

The Economic functions of evony is also poorly designed. There are some ways to take advantage of this poorly designed economic system which will be discuss on the guides on the next posts.

It have three possible views: map view, town view and city view. This will also be discussed in the guides in the next posts.

Over All
This game is a good way to pass time. If you plan for casual gaming, you can play this and do something else while waiting on your upgrades and researchers. The lack of a greater goal for Evony also helps in keeping the gaming casual.

However, be warned that real time MMOs can be very addictive. It can take up so much of your time and attention that you feel like checking up on your city every few minutes.

But honestly, Evony could have been much better. Well, I expect to see something much more better in the release of Evony - Age One - Genesis and Evony - Age Two - Battlefield. They better be able to deliver my expectations. :p