Strategy Game: Virtual Villagers

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Review

Stunning Graphics! That's the first thing I must say about Virtual Villagers. I test-play a lot of games and there are a lot of excellent titles out there but this one really surprised me. Just look at the screenshots. If you are like me your first thought may be something along the lines of "Yeah, sure." But it really looks every bit as good as that.

It reminds me more of Black and White or of Age of Empires: The game world is big, a lot bigger than what I would have expected. It feels broad and wide as if you could scroll right around the globe. It reminded me so much of AOE actually, that I fully expected the user interface to be the trusty left click select and right click direct thing. It is not. Virtual Villagers uses (and needs) only the left button so as not to frustrate first-time strategy players.

Have I mentioned the music already? Pure resort feeling. Light hearted, relaxed. Just like Tropico. Ya. Tropico. That was a game. Great background music. Memories ;-)

The gameplay is all about building up an island colony, exploring, researching, and coping with desaster. That kind of thing. You drag your villagers around the island, they breed new villagers, you let them earn technology points so that they can learn how to fish or heal, you make them do something useful so that they won't run out of food. Or you don't. The villagers seem to know that they will starve to death if they are too lazy so even if you don't do much but watching things will still turn out okay most of the time.

That said the game is pretty easy and experienced players should do quite well with double speed turned on and switching back to normal to take care of minor village disasters. Solving the puzzles along the way can be great fun but is at the same time (obviously) limiting the replay value. Still a good buy for coffee-break players.

From the Developer:

Care for and nurture a tribe of little people by teaching them the basics of survival. Fleeing from a volcano eruption, your little villagers find themselves stranded on a mysterious new island. They need to become farmers, builders, scientists and parents as they make decisions about unpredictable 'island events'! Help them explore and restore their new home. As your village grows and prospers, your villagers become curious about their mysterious new island home and the secrets it holds. How will you lead your tribe?

System Requirements

• OS: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Me
• Memory: 96 MB
• DirectX: 7.0 or later
• CPU: P300

"Great Game!"

Order Now (Only $19.95)
Free Strategy Game Download