This innovative puzzle game, set in ancient Egypt, offers players the role of male or female Egyptian ruler. As the ruler, the player must help Egypt's civilization grow in juggling numerical representations of such abstract traits as fame, wealth, faith, life, and power, by playing the right cards at the right time.

Sound tough? It is. Empire of the Gods is a game of logic, not reflexes, but it offers a perk to make up for the challenge: no time limit. While gameplay is turnbased and limited by a number of turns (which can be lengthened using the right cards), the player may take as much time as needed to make decisions.

The gameplay board is surrounded with small cards. Each type of card may be used a set number of times. Four medallions, with their own colors, rest at the inside of each corner of the screen: faith (purple), wealth (yellow), power (blue) and life (green). Cards are played mainly to increase or decrease the number of points in each medallion. For example, a card may "cost" a wealth point and "give" two faith points when played.

In the center of the screen rests the goal: usually, an important structure to be built for the Egyptian culture, represented by a special card. Playing this card means beating the level, and in order to play this card, your medallions must reach a particular number: for example, when all turns are used up, you may need to have exactly thirteen life points and twenty wealth points.

Some cards cost many points, and offer greater rewards, like bonuses in multiple medallions, extra turns, or "fame" points. Fame is an additional bonus point system, with its own small cards. The player must "spend" fame points in order to use these cards. Still, this is merely an overview of the playing system: more awaits those who download the 60-minute trial, or purchase the game for as low as $6.99.

The music in Empire of the Gods is beautiful, fitting the style of play. Slow, thoughtful gameplay is helped by interesting music that encourages the mind to keep moving while the mouse-hand is still. Empire's music fits this requirement nicely. It's even possible to be distracted by how pretty it sounds. Empire's visuals are impressive, too: the bright color coding representing the four medallions is set appealingly within an earth-toned playing area.

Bad news, Macintosh fans: only PC users can play this game. It works with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, requiring a 600 Mhz CPU, DirectX 9.0, and 47 MB of hard drive space. Most PCs a few years old should be able to handle this game easily, though it loses points for excluding Mac users.

Also preventing Empire of the Gods from getting a perfect score is the help section: instructions are written in a very compact way, with no tutorial, making gameplay somewhat frustrating and confusing at first. Those who love puzzles and prettiness, however, are likely to move past this quickly to enjoy hours of play in the role of a card-playing Egyptian ruler.

3/5

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