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Ikariam.org is a great website which is home to an interesting on-line game. The game itself is web-based and is similar to Age Of Empires or Civilization games, in the sense that it's a real time strategy game. However, unlike those games, it takes a good amount of dedication to master this game.

Dedication isn't all that Ikariam asks of you, the game itself takes a large amount of time. Players need to build a town from scratch, and it turns out that each building takes over six minutes to build. Perhaps thats one of the only downsides to a game where players are separated on islands with around ten or so other players from the rest of the game population.

However, how does Ikariam stand up to other games just like it? Lets take a look at the design, and features of Ikariam and even talk about how this website and it's browser game could be better.

Design-

In terms of design and layout, Ikariam is a pretty great website. The front page displays pictures of the browser based strategy game itself, and lists details of its features. The artwork is kept colorful and easy on the eyes, and makes the game itself seem very intriguing.

Features-

Ikariam has many interesting features just like any other real time strategy game. It is indeed very slow and takes time, but it does seem to be very entertaining. As mentioned above, players are separated by islands in a massive in-game world where resources are scattered on each of the islands.

Players of Ikariam are able to create war with other towns, or even send spies to each of those towns. With each building you create, there are upgrades for your town that you can utilize from each of them that will help you and your allies. Aside from those features and much smaller ones, there is even a paid membership version of the Ikariam website, which has its own benefits.

One great thing about Ikariam is the pillage feature, which allows players to attack other players towns in order to steal resources. Of course players need to watch out when randomly attacking towns, as they may attack back and are able to attack 6 times within 24 hours according to the games rules.

Spies can be created and sent to other cities in order to see what resources those towns have. Also, those spies are able to check for military troops and so on. Keep in mind the in-game world is massive, there are towns with hostile owners everywhere so be careful who you attack.

Improvements-

Though Ikariam is a great browser based game, and an overall very nice website, there are potenially several improvements that would increase the fun output of Ikariam. The designers should think of a way to cut the time of building, researching, trading, and so on.

Aside from that, the game should probably be downloadable instead of being forced to play through a browser. A few features of the game are still bugged or inactive, but the developers continue to program updates to fix the bugs and add features.

Notes-

Overall, there isn't much more to say about Ikariam. It's a game that could potential take tons of your valuable time, or you could just visit every now and then. Towns can be upgraded after time with the use of resources, new villagers can be hired, trade routes can be set up, and new land can be purchased.

Final Score-

3/5 Average. (5 Being Perfect. 1 Being Worst.)

Learn more about this author, Matt Remley.
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