It's almost impossible to do justice to a game like Evony in a short review. Instead, the reader should take away the following key points, and make their own decision as to whether it is for them. To answer a few salient questions:
- It is stable;
- It is playable;
- It can be fun.
There are no major bugs, the interface is self explanatory, and the tutorial, delivered through a system of unfolding Quests, is a great introduction to the game. While there may not be anything strictly innovative about the game play or interface, it's a solid portal through which to play the game.
What is Evony?
Evony is a game which allows the player to build up resources, build cities, and engage in combat with other players within an alliance system. Beginners get 7 days grace to build their defenses, and make sure that they understand the game before they can be the victim of attack.
To help players along this path, there are a series of Quests, achievement of which are backed up by various gifts of resources. These resources break down into four categories:
- Food
- Lumber (wood)
- Stone
- Iron
Each of these is produced by a separate building type, which is the starting point for the city development and building side of Evony.
City Development and Building
Inside the city walls, players can build a variety of different building types : houses for their population, barracks, forges, an academy for education and research, and so on. Each takes various amounts of resources to create, and can be further upgraded.
Correct leveling up takes precedence, as only certain combinations of levels, resources and wealth can unlock the possibility to research advanced classes of soldier and defense mechanisms. Herein lies the rub - everything takes time to create, and the player can only research, build and train one specific thing at a time.
The building process can take 6 or 7 hours of real time. To help the player along, real world money can be used to buy 'speedups'. And that's where the model begins to break down; anyone with more money than time can come along and make themselves invincible.
PvP Wars in Evony
PvP battles are a common thing on Evony. Logging back in to an account just after the 7 day player protection ends is usually a very depressing event, as it is more or less certain that while the player was sleeping, their city has been raped.
Avoiding this is achieved through the Alliance system. Real players can gang up together on other Alliances, and it seems that those players currently in an Alliance are less likely to get attacked than those without any affiliation at all.
Getting into an Alliance requires some in-game finessing : building up a level of experience points (called Prestige) helps, as does having a high level of Embassy. At the end of the day, it's woven into the fabric of the Evony experience in a way that is designed to help everyone along, but will alienate players who think they might go it alone.
Beginners Evony Tips
For those getting started:
- Build and level up the academy as a first priority;
- Defense is the best form of offense;
- Follow the Quests just as a way to get more resources;
- Level up buildings straight away as far as possible.
Above all, newbioes should be prepared to invest in a few false starts, which is fine because Evony has multitude of servers to play across, and to engage with other players through the alliance system.
Evony is worth the investment, if the player is willing to put up with juvenile in-game communication, and the nasty feeling that their cities will get pillaged at every available opportunity. While there is something inherently irritating about having production of food, stone, iron and gold wiped out, those either not willing to participate in PvP Wars, or unable to sit back and take the consequences shouldn't get started in the first place.
Guy Lecky-Thompson - Guy W. Lecky-Thompson is the author of several technical and non-technical books, and writer at large. He has written for Dr. Dobbs ...
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