Evony Review

Free Browser Game Review: Evony

A game with several flaws that still delivers an addictive play experience.

If you frequent sites such as RPG.net or Facebook, you will likely have seen banner ads of buxom women in medieval garb asking how they may serve you. And at some point you will decide to click on one of those banners and see what this game is all about. You may indeed be surprised to discover that Evony, the game advertised on these banners, is actually a real-time strategy massively multiplayer online game. I certainly was. Once you get over this surprise you might decide to create an account, log in to a server, and begin to build your empire.

This was my first experience with Evony. I lept straight in, with no instructions whatsoever to get me started. I selected a name for my account, Lothair, and selected at random a server, in this case 63. Picking a name for my city (originally Lorraine, until I realized there was a nation with the same name; currently by city is called Wroat as an homage to the Eberron Campaign Setting).Getting started was simple; a Quest tab gave me several suggested actions in return for a reward in resources and allowed me to get started with building cottages to increase my city's population, farms to feed my subjects, and other sources of necessary resources.

Shortly after my introduction to Evony I was contacted by a nearby neighbor, Asterix who invited me to join the Alliance he hosted, known as TheGauls. I probed Asterix with several questions, and joined his Alliance out of gratitude for the prompt answers. This has turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made in the game. My Alliance is very active, full of friendly members quick to help each other whenever needed. If reading this review persuades you to try Evony out, I strongly encourage you to start you city in Friesland and then get in contact with a member of TheGauls and ask for an invitation; it will greatly aid you in getting started.

Having played for a week now, I have come to find a number of very positive points for Evony, but also several flaws with the game. To begin with the positive, Evony starts its players off with a week-long beginner's period that allows new players the opportunity to work on building their city without worry of being attacked during that period. As my Alliance went to war with another Alliance, it was a great comfort to know that I could keep building in safety.

Evony is also game that does not require a great deal of attention. You can get working on a project in your city, like upgrading a building, and then walk away content that your attention is not need for a few minutes (or hours when you get to higher levels of upgrades). I can happily sign on as I eat my breakfast, decide what to work on while I'm gone, and then leave for work knowing that there is nothing else I could do while I was gone. After I return from work me projects will (mostly) be finished, and my city will be ready for me to choose new projects. The only downside to this is that if I'm looking forward to working on several projects for the night I'll be disappointed, because upgrading a building might take half a day or more, leaving me with little to do until I finish that project, or restore my expended resources.

A key element to gameplay in Evony is attacking other players. A variety of cities will surround yours. Some will be NPCs, but many will be ruled by other live players. Beyond cities there are other areas (collectively called Valleys) that provide a boost to a particular type of resource production if you control it. Attacking an area might allow you to conquer it, or you may just plunder the area, allowing your armies to return with a fresh supply of a resource. Marching to attack a city or valley takes a certain amount of real time, though the fighting takes place in the blink of an eye. As I write this review, my armies are returning from attack a rival city 17.3 miles away from Wroat. They still have 46 minutes, 30 seconds until they are back in my city and ready to march again. This is both a benefit and a curse, for while I can rest easy knowing that I will have time before any opponents attack my currently defenseless city, I know that it will take at least two hours for the gratification of getting to attack my opponent again, and there is nothing else I can do in the game. My forces are all committed, my city is busy upgrading a barracks, and my academies still have an hour to go with their current research, and I don't have the resources to produce enough additional troops to be worth the time.

This is my major complaint with Evony. While I love that I can leave for work and see the results of my labors upon my return, I agonize over the lack of things I can do at a time. I am capable of building multiple barracks in a city, allowing me to produce a different type of troop in each barracks, albeit limited in numbers based on my resources, and a second Academy in another city would allow me more research options. However, I can only work on one building project per city. I can't even build another building to allow more production, or just create a queue to get started. Time is your most valuable resource in Evony, and the long production times eventually lead to waste. Is it better to upgrade a single building to a higher level when I could choose to upgrade multiple other buildings in the same time frame, but get a smaller return from those upgrades? That's a major aspect of gameplay, but it would be nice to know that I could get my next upgrade started while I was gone. Even if I could only have 2 projects in my building queue, one currently being worked on and another ready to go, it would still allow me to feel like I was maximizing my time more efficiently.

In terms of a technical review, Evony plays with fine on my browser, though I have experienced trouble at time when I first load it. Whether this is because of an issue with Google Chrome, or just a flaw in the game's code I am uncertain. Usually reloading the page clears up the trouble, and takes little time. So it's a minor irritation, but it is there nonetheless. I also feel the game could have a better layout. Canceling an attacking army requires you to navigate into first the Reports tab, then Army Movement, and then finally clicking on the report for the individual army that I want to recall. And during this whole time there is a progress bar showing how long it will take for my army to reach its destination. Why not just put a cancel button next to that bar and let me cancel it with a single click? Other odd layout choices could be cleared up with a slight change to layout. A “buy” or “sell” button next to a resource could easily make using the marketplace more intuitive. There are other areas where things could be cleared up to make things easier for the player, but these are good examples to get things started, and listing too many of them would make these flaws seem like they take more away from the game than they really do. Each of the flaws are surmountable, but the fact that there are so many of them makes me wonder why the game designers decided to create the game the way they did.

In conclusion, Evony is a fun game. People who love the strategy involved in managing multiple resources while challenging other players will enjoy this game. Despite the fun of this game, there are several flaws that I hope the designers are able to clear up with a patch to the game. Despite these flaws, the large players base says it all; people are having fun playing this game, and so am I. I encourage you to sign up a free account and try it out for yourself. If you do, send a message to Lothair and I'll get you in touch with a fun Alliance who can help answer questions and make navigating the game easier.