Evony Review a Free Flash / Flex Game

For all those that don't know, Evony is an online real time strategy game. It is written in Flex & Flash and thus runs in your browser and takes download / software installation or updates. I first stumbled across it after seeing the advertisement so many times, I decided to have a look.

From the first time I signed up and started playing, I was hooked. There are a large number of buildings, technologies and troops that can be built over time and the levels of units are deep and well balanced.

A lot of these types of games, I have trouble getting into, they are either too simple or too complex and you just end up being frustrated. But this game is different, it has a series of quests that instruct you through the game, it's almost like playing a campaign while playing a multiplayer game at the same time, very clever indeed.

These quests are both things that you need to learn how to do and you learn them by doing them. The quests are also level based, so you complete one, it opens up others and so on. I found just by doing the quests I learnt about the game, it was really enjoyable.

At some point through the game a quest to join an alliance is undertaken, you join forces with up to 100 other players, who can them help you, send you resources and even reinforce your town if you're under attack.

Alliances can declare war on each other, be friendly etc. There is a dedicated alliance chat, where you chat only to your alliance members and there are heaps of active players. I'm really not that into multi player games normally, but I enjoyed the quests and it just transitioned perfectly into an online multi player experience, now I'm sending alliance members resources, having them teleport next to me for protection and helping in battles.

Probably my favourite feature of the entire game, is that it's real time, even when you're not playing. This is good for all the people who have jobs and lives, you can leave buildings being built, your workers working, your troops training and come back tomorrow for another adventure.

Some of the buildings I need to build are now taking 50-100 real hours to build, and while you can't queue buildings there is always something to do, with three cities now, I'm finding its always keeping me busy even for the couple hours a day I play.

One final point, they advertise this as Evony Free Forever, this is 100% true, the game is 100% free, it doesn't cost you anything but your time and you can do everything you need to do if you're prepared to invest the time. However you can also buy items that will speed your progress through the game without having to wait to win or find them within the game. I think this is a good model and more common of late.

I recommend people give it a go, if you want to see me there, join Server 34 and select Lower Lorraine, I'm in there and look forward to meeting you online

http://dale131970.evony.com