by Michael Collins

Created on: June 14, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2008

"Empire of the Gods," by Lonely Troops, is a single-player, card-based strategy game that essentially comes down to good planning and mathematical acumen. Your goal is to become the greatest leader in all of ancient Egypt by using your resources wisely enough to build several structures, like obelisks and tombs.

If you like games that are heavy on resource-management but light on action (perhaps if you're more of a cerebral gamer) - or if you enjoy other card games, like Magic: The Gathering or World of Warcraft TCG - then you'll like "Empire of the Gods." In "Empire," you must use some of your cards and low resources at the beginning of each level to expand your supply of other resources, repeating the process until you have the amount required to be able to play the "Master" card, representing the structure that you're trying to build. The concept is original enough to make the game interesting, but because we've seen card-based computer games before, the idea is not innovative enough to be really noteworthy.

The graphics are adequate, but that's just not enough: while the game does focus extensively on numbers, it can be difficult to tell which cards are which without having the cursor hovering above them. Real-life collectible card games include brilliant art, and "Empire of the Gods" would have been greatly improved by such a feature. The art that is included is reserved for backgrounds and the level map, and those are indeed well-done, lending much to the mood of the game.

The music is fantastic, putting you in the right frame of mind for becoming a master Egyptian builder. It is perfectly suited to the game's concept, following the same style of Egyptian/ancient-themed music we've seen in movies and on TV.

One limitation is that you don't get to choose your own cards for use in the game; you are limited to what has been pre-programmed. Part of the fun of collectible card games is finding new ways to win with new combinations of cards. Based on Empire's static set of cards though, the game is interesting to play once, but becomes entirely too easy on a second play-through. The ability to gain more cards or resources to work with by spending "Fame" points is a good twist that gives you some degree of control, but sadly, not enough to satiate one's desire for true customization of gameplay.

"Empire of the Gods" is a unique, fun game, but can hardly be called addictive. While the more mathematically-minded players will find some fun for a few hours, other gamers will simply find the repetitiveness tedious, and the rewards lacking. "Empire of the Gods" deserves a 3/5 rating.

3/5

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