In any case, for the uninitiated, the game puts players on an island with five traditional basic resources (wood, brick, rock/ore, sheep, wheat) and one unconventional resource (the bandit). Players are given the task of building settlements and roads in the pursuit of expanding their empires. Much of the game is centered around resources that are randomly placed on the board. Since resources are used to build roads and settlements, there is also heavy emphasis on trade. For instance, if you don’t have enough brick production, you can trade with other players for brick in exchange for whatever it is they want. The bandit is used to halt resource production (e.g. placing it on a “sheep” resource piece will halt sheep production for the adjacent settlement until someone moves it). You can also trade three resource cards for one of another kind or trade via ports (that have their own conversion rates). The last important playing piece is the … I don’t remember the name of the cards, but they allow you to take certain aspects of the game under your personal control for your turn. For example, normally, you only control the bandit when you roll a seven. There is a card that will give you control of the bandit and place it wherever you want. You can kind see where I’m going with this.

All of this is done with the sole purpose of accruing “Victory Points.” You get points for building settlements, having the biggest army (by buying bandit cards) and building the longest road (there are a few other possibilities, but I don’t recall them at the moment). Outside of those very basic rules, players can do almost whatever they want. Trade three of one resource for one resource? Sure. Use your roll w/the bandit to threaten someone into giving you resources? Not only fine, but encouraged.

I didn’t really get the feel for the game until my third play through. When the game says “you can trade for anything,” it really means it. At one point, I traded a friend futures in my ore production. Other strategies included my attempt to completely dominate two resources with careful management of the bandit and trade while playing my two other friends against each other. Even with the many options on the table, the game is still subject to a few problems. It’s really easy to figure out the two basic strategies of the game. Most players either go straight to road building or army building (biggest army or longest road = 2 victory points each). There is a middle road, but it’s harder and you have to be a little sneaky. There are apparently more “advanced techniques” for ruining friendships, but I think I’ll stick to casual play styles for now.

In the end, I really like this game. There is a heavy trade element in addition to an attack element that is carefully limited. It also teaches the power of reciprocity very quickly (keep banditing blue and they’ll find a way to screw you). You really are trying to build a civilization. Well, at least on a casual basis, anyway.

The “characters” that you play aren’t so much a “characters” so much as they are a flowers in a city apartment that are dreaming of a dead gray field. The object of the game is to collect enough flower petals in an effort to reinvigorate those grayed out grassy fields. Control is handled through the PS3 Controller’s motion sensor. Turn the controller left (like a steering wheel) and the petals will turn left. Tilt the controller backwards and the petals will fly into the air. Overall, motion control is pretty well implemented. I am sure this game will re-open the question of whether video games can be art, but, regardless of whether that issues is settled or not, this game is still pretty fun in the mean time. The tagline, if it isn’t already, for this game should be “play and relax.” The gameplay is so soothing that when I started playing this game, I didn’t know 2-3 hours had passed. It’s a little like a good book. I wouldn’t necessarily schedule time to sit there and read a book, but if I’m between things, I’ll read the book. Same applies here.

There isn’t much variety in terms of gameplay. Some of the levels try to mix it up by having you “paint” the grass with colorful lights, but it’s just more of the same. I think the game tends to accomplish what a lot of games are missing: it finds 30 seconds of pure, rewarding fun and repeats it as often as possible without becoming repetitive.

For the most part, players can do whatever they want. They can cheat, steal, scam, and/or kill other players with impunity. On the other hand, players can be perfect little angels. All of this unfettered-ness has resulted in an in game economy that is both prosperous and ruthlessly capitalistic. The problem is that when someone does something “illegal,” there is no recourse. There is no punishment. In this regard, the game is most unrealistic. This lack of accountability (outside of reputation) results in a situation where players, when given the opportunity, will steal billions of the in-game currency. It has also resulted in mercenary assassination guilds being formed that cause massive harm to other guilds and players. While many players and critics laud the hands off approach that the developers take, one of my two criticisms (the other being more related to game mechanics) is that there really doesn’t appear to be rule of law. If you get scammed through a misrepresentation, then too bad. You should have known better. Many say that the economic decisions you should make are similar to real life financial decisions. As the Wiki states:

Such dangers are an inherent part of Eve Online’s virtual economy and thus are purposely not dealt with by the developers. Players are expected to make financial decisions based (among other factors) on the possibility of other players’ financial malpractice, much like in real-life economics. Source: Wikipedia.

The problem is that in real life, those bad actors get punished and people recover some, if not all, of their money. Granted, yes, I get it. It’s a video game and it wouldn’t be much fun unless there is some allowable mischief. Even WoW allows some level of “illegal” behavior (e.g. assassination guilds) on their RP-ing servers in addition to the time-honored practice of ganking. Imposing some kind of rule of law requirement would likely hinder the gameplay, but I can’t see the situation where players can literally steal billions of the in-game currency as a good set up. Is there a way for the in-game companies to recover? Is there a way to punish the bad actor? Or more precisely, is there a way for the in-game companies to tangibly police their rank-in-file? Correct me if I’m wrong (I haven’t played the game seriously) but from what I can tell, there really is no way to do any of the above.

Then again, I suppose that’s part of what makes the game fun. Even just thinking about the prospect of playing the game however you want sans lore is appealing to me. I start my own mining corporation. I can be a smuggler. I can be a hired gun. I can even become a pirate. The game offers a veritable wild west in space where survival is based on guns and wits. What the game offers me is very appealing in terms of the possibilities it offers, but thinking that it is a pure capitalist market economy is a little inaccurate. Even capitalist economies have rule of law where thievery and misrepresentation are not tolerated. It’s implying that a pure capitalist economy in the real world would allow thievery and misrepresentation. Even my most ardent radical capitalism supporting friends wouldn’t agree with that.

The game is set in a Lovecraftian city where all sorts of portals to unknown lore related extra-dimensional locations spring up. The point of the game is to close the portals and kill the monsters that come from those portals before the countdown timer runs out. Oh, did I mention there was a countdown? At the beginning of the game, you randomly draw an ultimate evil and, depending on which you draw, the instant game will be limited by the corresponding number of rounds. To “win,” you either have to seal all portals before you run out of rounds or you can simply fight the “ultimate evil” or you simply lose if you pick the wrong ultimate evil. Strategy-wise, your group is basically working together and has to decide to either attempt to shut down portals or to bulk up with the intention of killing the ultimate evil. There is a lot of long term thinking involved due to the round limitations. Luck is also factored into it in the form of rolling dice and drawing random cards. For example, one of our party members was completely debilitated by a curse that he could not remove for the entire game. That curse he had basically lost us the game.

Overall, a rather complicated game with complicated mechanics, but really easy to pick up and learn while you play.