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Ikariam

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Area: North America,Global
Official Site: Ikariam
Publisher: Gameforge
Developer: Gameforge
Platform: Web Browser

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Overview

Ikariam is a browser MMORTS similar to Civilization, whereby players begin with a small plot of land, gather resources, construct buildings, and advance to another era.

Features

MMORTS Gameplay experience
Similar to "Civilization"
Advance through the ages

Area: North America,Global
Official Site: Ikariam
Publisher: Gameforge
Developer: Gameforge
Platform: Web Browser

Review

by Cody Hargreaves

The Real Time Strategy (RTS) genre, at its core, is divided between two very distinct styles of gaming. In one corner, you have the Combat Focused RTS, games like Starcraft and Command and Conquer that focus on quickly constructing a single base, and building an army to destroy your enemy. In the other, you have the Resource Management Focused RTS, games like Civilisation and Age of Empires that stray as far as possible from destruction and focus almost exclusively on base construction, research and development, and micro-managing entire continents, planets and galaxies. Ikarium, a browser-based MMORTS set in ancient Greece, is the latter, and while combat and city defence will later become a paramount portion of your success; in the beginning, it all comes down to building, research, and finding work for the unemployed.

When you first begin playing Ikarium, a feat made extraordinarily easy with the ability to play it right here on mmogames.com, you’ll be presented with your very first city, situated on small island you’ll be sharing with a handful of other players. As your first order of business will be to construct buildings, you’ll first need to assign some of your population to the local Saw Mill to obtain the lumber required to build. With lumber in pocket, the next step is to construct an Academy, a building that allows you to assign some of your population to researching (Seafaring, Economy, Science or Warfare), allowing you to build more buildings depending on the path you choose to research.

With your Saw Mill churning and your Academics studying, you’re next step is to construct a Barracks, allowing you to protect your city with a Town Wall and stationed troops; and a Port, opening you up to the world of Trading and Economy. And from there, the ocean’s the limit. There’s a neat little tutorial included in Ikarium alongside a very extensive ‘Help’ section that will guide you through the steps I’ve mentioned above in more detail, and a great deal more.

With your first city well under way, your next order of business should be deciding how you intend to interact with the players around you. Will you decide to ally with them, strengthening your grasp on the island you live? Or will you decide to crush them, and take their land for yourself? The choice is yours to make, though in the beginning, I recommend the former quite highly, as it’s going to be a while before you’re ready to start a war. You see, unlike single-player RTS games, Ikarium is played entirely in real time. So, should you have devoted say, 30 of your population to gathering lumber earlier, you’d be looking at receiving 30 lumber per hour; likewise for all other actions you take. While this style of play makes a ‘quick start’ almost impossible, on the plus side, it allows you to play for 5 minutes, get back to work, then jump back in an hour and continue building and wrecking havoc to your heart’s content. Two thumbs up.