by Tommy Walton

Created on: November 30, 2008   Last Updated: December 02, 2008

Review: My Tribe by Grubby Games. 2/5

My Tribe begins with a small group of castaways on a deserted island trying to build a life for themselves. As you play, you guide your tribe while they go about their daily lives on the island.

The game is visually appealing. It uses cartoony drawings as opposed to polygonal figures which gives the entire game a cute, childish look that fits it quite well. The audio isn't that spectacular. There are enough background and action noises to give you a good feel of what is going on, and the narrator is pleasant enough. The music track isn't stellar, you could easily play the game muted and it wouldn't make a huge impact one way or another.

The game controls are very simple and user friendly. All commands are point and click, and all menus are easily accessible from the interface on the main screen. The tutorial was very helpful in getting started and answered all of my questions about how to play. There are three basic resources you have to gather in order to progress your Tribe, as well as a number of buildings you can construct, and a couple extras here and there. The biggest problem I encountered was how slowly the game progresses. There appears to be plenty of opportunity to customize and beautify your island and people, but none of that was available in the first 45 minutes. My Tribe began with five tribesmen and two children, after 45 minutes I was able to construct three buildings and three babies. At the point I stopped playing it had become evident that it would be at least another 45 minutes before I would actually be able to do anything else with my tribe. Resource collection is slow, building costs outrageously high, construction is slow, and it takes forever (one hour is equivalent to one year) for your people to age. The only redeeming factor is that the game continues even while it is turned off, thus if you come back after a break you'll have enough stockpiled to have at least a short burst of activity. Trying to play straight through without breaks is very similar to watching grass grow.

The concept behind the game seems solid, a cross between Gilligan's Island and The Sims. Based on what little I did play, there seems to be plenty of room for customization and growth late in the game, however the problem is getting there. The game just starts too slowly to be fully realized without a lot of time being invested in it.

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