Game Review Summary: Flotilla is fun and quirky, like a fast play version of Sid Meier’s Pirates, but in space.

Three Reasons to buy Flotilla

- Reason #1: Fun, easy to learn
- Reason # 2: Great value for ten Dollars
- Reason # 3: Re-playability

Three Reasons to avoid buying Flotilla

- Reason #1: Not so great graphics.
- Reason #2: “Careers” are short.
- Reason # 3: No story to follow

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Full Game Review:

Remember when strategy games were fun and compelling without requiring years of your life. Or worse, when they degenerate into annoying click-fests, when the player wins by merely being able to drag and drop faster than the AI. Flotilla by independent game developer, Blendo easily avoids both these pitfalls.

In Flotilla, you are the Captain of a small fleet of space ships. Starting with two missile destroyers, you seek adventures in space. Each planet explored brings opportunities for trade, growing the fleet, getting new personnel and other alien encounters or fighting for your life. The ‘story’ is advanced through a series of text boxed decision points where you must make a choice. It is in these snips of dialog that the games shows much of its odd charm as the player interacts with Panda bear pilots, aggressive space pirate chickens, bellicose rhino bounty hunters and other strange “aliens”. This way of advancing you through the game’s action reminded me a lot of the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books from the 70s and 80s. In that each decision changes your fate in the game.

While the exploration and adventuring is fun, it is the combat mode that is the heart of the game. When you encounter a hostile force, the game mode changes into a 3-dimensional (3D) battle space. The combat is simultaneous-turned based, which means that you and your opponent make decisions while the play is paused, but the combat is resolved simultaneously.

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Ships armor is weakest on the bottom and rear. The fleet commanders maneuver their ships to achieve bottom or rear shots on the enemy ships to inflict real damage. The combat continues until one side or the other is totally destroyed. The combat is easy to learn, but hard to master, as you must learn the capabilities of your own ships as well as the enemies. Each class of ship has its own individual strengths and weaknesses. Further, the AI is no pushover and you can lose rapidly if you don’t fight well.

Each time the game is replayed the game’s universe is randomized, which means no two “careers” are ever the same, giving Flotilla lots of re-playability.

So, if you like PC strategy games that are fun and interesting; Flotilla is a beautiful gem of a game, you should not missed.

World of Goo by 2D Boy must be seen to be believed. It started in 2005 as Tower of Goo; just another rushed-together game in the Experimental Gameplay Project. But thanks to its runaway success, this prototype mutated into a complete game that defies expectations and demands attention. World of Goo is a construction/puzzle game like nothing you’ve played before, and nothing you’ll ever play again.

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In each of World of Goo’s stages, all you have to do is get the little balls of goo from their starting base to a pipe somewhere else in the level. Building towers and bridges and whatever else the demented designers have in mind for each level is as simple as dragging one ball of goo to another ball of goo. But these aren’t your usual building blocks. They sway, they collapse, they shudder. They’re alive and they’re always watching you. Even when you sleep.

You never reach the goal the same way twice in World of Goo. Sometimes you have to build tall, sometimes wide, sometimes around things, and sometimes even move them around. And it’s always something different. And just when you think there couldn’t possibly be any other ways of playing with the goo balls, another new species of goo ball promptly introduces itself and throws everything you thought knew about the game out the window.

One thing World of Goo doesn’t do is take itself too seriously. The unseen Sign Painter offers hints, advice, and fourth-wall smashing in the signs strewn about the levels. Picasso-inspired people blithely play with dangerous World of Goo Corporation products. The levels in the game can be played through or skipped and revisited. Or for diehard goo architects, there are OCD (Obsessive Completion Distinction) criteria for collecting goo balls. The levels whimsically throw in everything from giant spinning stone heads to a blatant parody of the frog from Zuma. From subtle satire to broad farce, there’s enough humor for everyone.

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Not only does World of Goo play like nothing else out there, it also looks like nothing else out there. Kyle Gabler is a one-man environment machine, spitting out a world of creatures that look like extras from The Nightmare Before Christmas – creepy but strangely cute. The genre-bending music is as perfect a soundtrack as you could conceive for a game about building goo constructions, and the organic bloops, pops, and shouts from the goo balls constantly reinforce that all of these gooey things are very much alive.

What else needs to be said about World of Goo? It never gets boring, it never shows you anything you’ve seen before, and it looks like it’s worth $30 more than 2D Boy’s asking price. And it might even teach you the meaning of life. If that isn’t worth a 5 out of 5 rating, I don’t know what is.

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Real time strategy meets The Sims in My Tribe, and the result could hardly be better.

GAME PLAY – 5/5
Have you ever found yourself playing a real time strategy game and wondering what type of city you could build if you did not have a pesky opponent always trying to foil your resource gathering and destroy your buildings? My Tribe fits this bill exactly. My Tribe is about turning a small, primitive tribe into a culture of art and science using the individual abilities of each member of your tribe. The people are indeed created as individuals. One might be naturally strong and a good woodsman while another might be smart and a good researcher. In fact producing new people requires the mating of two existing people and produces some combination of the parents’ attributes. Almost the entire game consists of dragging your people to the tasks you want them to complete, but with mysteries to solve and technology and potions to experiment with this rarely gets dull. If you do get a little jaded watching your little people gather resources just close the game. Yes, that is right. They will still be gathering resources and otherwise living while you are gone!

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GRAPHICS – 4/5

The graphics of My Tribe make no attempt at realism. This is a good thing. The little people have a hand-drawn appearance to them while the trees and other items appear to be made of a few very simple but colorful polygons. While bad things do happen to your little people, this is generally a light-hearted, feel-good game and the graphics do a wonderful job of keeping it that way.

SOUND – 5/5
The music is an airy, tribal tone which further helps to preserve the fun atmosphere set by the graphics and game play. The little people also make interesting sounds when you pick them up or set them to a task.

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CREATIVITY – 4/5
While this game does borrow clearly defined elements from a few genres, and how many games do not, it does it well. Everything from the character design to the many uses of stardust and moondust make this game a pleasing experience, different from any other.

INNOVATION – 5/5
While it may have been done before combinations of social simulators and real time strategy are a rare breed. Even rarer still is a game in which your people will continue to work on their tribe while you are not playing.

OVERALL – 5/5
My Tribe is a refreshing game almost in a genre all its own. If you enjoy real time strategy, social simulators, turn based strategy, or even pet simulators you must try My Tribe. For the $19.95 price tag many professional quality games cannot even compare to My Tribe.

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Westward III is the combination of sim game, adventure role-play, and strategy scenarios that meld to create an exciting and captivating addition to the Westward game series. With the ability to choose from three main characters, each with their own distinct advantages and abilities, the player is sent off in search of success in the Wild West. But beware! Natural disasters, lack of supplies, crafty thieves, and a multitude of various problems of the day will act to thwart your attempts to giddy up and go!

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Your quest begins with a lengthy, but necessary tutorial that will guide you through the ins and outs of game play. Pop-up tips and highlighted buttons will advise you on what steps to take next until you have a feel for the logistics of navigating the scenarios. Since Westward III relies mainly on manipulation of characters and movement through point-and-click mouse use, it doesn’t take long before you are well on your way. You will learn quickly how to complete the various required tasks, including how to build your village, supply your townspeople, assist neighbors and wayward travelers, battle bad-guys, and search for riches.

Completing a variety of challenges to the tune of catchy southwestern style music, the player gradually finds himself receiving less and less computer guidance. Eventually, decisions are left entirely in the hands of the player, with the computer providing only the challenge or goal of the scenario and the occasional basic tip or tidbit of information.
With an assortment of locales and comical characters, including “Redd” Baron, the trusty sidekick on your quest, there is no lack of interesting individuals that you will encounter on your adventure. Thieves, damsels in distress, hired guns, and old time miners will hail you as friend or foe, ally or enemy along your travels.

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Game play for these diverse scenarios takes place on a reasonably sized map that is enhanced by the addition of a mini-map, which allows for quick navigation of the area and easy location of characters and positions. The key to successful completion of each scenario relies not only in the ability to problem solve issues that arise along the way, but to do so while building structures like farms, granaries, wells, and camps, as well gathering food stores, wood, and gold, all in an attempt to keep not only yourself, but others fed and supplied as well.

While for the most part Westward III provides enough information to guide you as to what your next move should be, on occasion there are points where one is left wondering what to do next. Making sure to talk to townsfolk and other travelers and paying close attention to the on screen pop-ups, can make your decision making process quicker and easier.

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Westward III is a highly captivating game, that whisks you away to a time of boom or bust where everyone was staking a claim and going for the gold (literally!). Its ability to combine adventure role-play with real-time strategy makes Westward III a goldmine for countless hours of fun for kids and adults alike.

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Mystery PI New York is a new twist on an old favorite. Mystery P.I. is an “I spy” style game where you play as a New York City sleuth working to locate lost items to fulfill a will. After playing the limited demo of the game I rated it a 5/5 based on five sections.

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Game Play:
Mystery P.I. features a simple point and click style interface. Game play is mediated completely by the mouse. This means that gamers can look forward to a very easy and intuitive style of play. The screen is divided between a list of things to find and a large static image that contains the items. Players simply scan the screen to locate the items. While it may not sound difficult some of the levels with have even the most seasoned gamer scratching their head and frantically searching.

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Sound:
The soundtrack to Mystery P.I. is very low key and groove oriented. The sound effects are subtle and well done. Each level features the same music, and so it can get a little repetitive after a while. This is a minor flaw in the game, especially when compared to all of the other rich aspects of Mystery P.I.

Creativity:
The creative department must have had their hands full with this game! To put it simply, Mystery P.I. is visually stunning! The levels are gorgeously illustrated and look painstakingly constructed. The side bar menu is a nice creative touch and all of the color elements work together extremely well. There is never a time during game play when you feel distracted by other aspects in the game. The colors used are vivid and striking and all of the animation is simple yet crisp. The amount creativity that was put into developing Mystery P.I. more than makes up for the lackluster sound track.

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Innovation:
The “I spy”/puzzle combo is unlike any other game that I’ve personally played. This game borrows the best from both and melds them together in a unique and exciting way. Mystery P.I. combines the items found in the “I spy” portions of the game into a final puzzle at the end of each section. The point and click interface is pretty basic, but this falls by the wayside when compared to the other unique aspects of the game. The added back story to the game adds a new dimension to the old style “I spy” theme that keeps the game interesting and gives the player a sense of accomplishment every time they complete a level.

Fun Factor/Addictiveness:
Mystery P.I.- The New York Fortune is an extremely fun and engaging game that you’ll be hard pressed to stop playing. The puzzles offer just the right amount of challenge, just enough to make you sweat but not enough to leave you feeling frustrated. The back story also adds an additional layer to the puzzle experience by giving you an end goal that sucks you in and leaves you begging for more.

Summary:
Overall Mystery P.I.- The New York Fortune is a gorgeous game with rich visuals, simple playability and an enticing back story. Short of the repetitive sound track, this game is flawless from beginning to end. The free demo version is just the beginning, with even more features available in the full version of the game. Mystery P.I. should set a new standard by which all other puzzlers to come should be judged.

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County Fair is the game that fans of RollerCoaster Tycoon have been waiting for. Right from the start of the game, players are thrown into a story of long lost relatives and inheritance. Controlling an unnamed character, players soon discover from a stranger’s lawyer that the two are actually related.

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Much to the characters surprise, this stranger turned relative named Russ Pendleton has left behind a traveling fair and a sum of money to maintain and expand the fair business. That’s where the player comes in, as they must do everything they can to fulfill the last wishes of Russ and keep everyone that visits the county fair smiling.

Game Play
With the help of an assistant appointed by Russ Pendleton, the whole objective of the game is to manage a traveling fair as it makes it way around numerous towns. When playing County Fair, it is important to keep an eye on the bills and revenue of the fair. As such players must also keep an eye on workers hired and the status of rides or amusements.

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County Fair is a game that makes it easy to just jump right into the action, starting with small fair grounds and then expanding into much larger ones. The number of amusements built on the fair grounds lead to more customers, but setting the price for tickets too high on them may slow down crowds to a halt.

Also increasing in size with the advancement of each stage is the objectives that players must complete to move on to the next. In the first stage players must gain three thousand dollars before a few days pass in the game. With each day comes bills, but with every minute that passes more revenue is gained by visitors to the park.

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Clearly there are countless amusement rides and stands that players can set up to gain revenue and attract more visitors. Aside from that, it is also possible to purchase advertising space or create other promotional items. Its pretty interesting that nearly everything this game has to offer is similar to that of games like RollerCoaster Tycoon, so fans of that will surely love this.

Graphics
With graphical options that can allow some of today’s low-end computers to play this with ease, County Fair is perfect for those who are tired of today’s games focusing mainly on graphics. Players are able to turn down the graphics from 32-bit to 16-bit, and they still look great. In addition its pretty interesting being able to see all of the visitors to the county fair walking around and entering amusements.

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Sound
While the sound effects of this game are definitely the downside of the experience, players should expect them to suffice when it comes to adding to the experience. On the upside of things, if the county fair music bothers players too much, there are options to turn them off.

Creativity & Innovation
Overall, County Fair is an amusing game aimed at a wide variety of age groups. This game has a similar feel and style to that of Roller Coaster Tycoon, and should be expected to entertain players for hours. County Fair is well worth the price tag, and should be played by anyone who enjoys this type of game.

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Tik games created County Fair.

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BrainPipe: Simple, Psychedelic, and Sub-Cerebral
The independent developer Digital Eel has a history of creating games that go beyond the conventional familiarity of gamers’ expectations. After all, this is the company responsible for Weird Worlds, which was known for its “weirdness” (yes, an appropriate title indeed) yet won an Independent Games Festival Award in 2006. Their latest venture, BrainPipe, is another example of visual brilliance and non-traditional subject matter.

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Playing BrainPipe is like traveling through the Matrix on acid. In a first-person view, you travel down a psychedelic wormhole, a twisting tunnel into the deepest parts of the mind, rendered in colorful 3-D graphics. You navigate through the levels collecting glyphs and avoiding obstacles. You also have the ability to temporarily slow down time, which is helpful especially as the movement through the wormhole becomes faster. A combination of atmospheric ambient music and classic arcade-style sound effects compliment the trippy visuals perfectly. The gameplay is simple, involving only movement of the mouse and left click to employ the time warp. So, instead of frantically looking down at your keyboard to find the right key to hit, you can focus on the intense theme of self transcendence that the game is strangling your subconscious with. That is perhaps the strange duality of the entire BrainPipe experience. On one side of the coin, it is seemingly a simple game of hand-eye coordination. But if you take the red pill…

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As you go through the levels, BrainPipe becomes challenging, both visually and in gameplay. Gaming vets will enjoy the increasing speed; for casual gamers, the possibility of sensory overload may be very real. There is an addiction potential here too, as you restart again and again to beat your last score. Do you need another sensation of reward from the dopamine being released in your brain? Are you truly trapped within the freeway of consciousness in your mind? Who knows? Maybe the fact that you keep restarting is just a result of the game’s replay value (obstacles do not always appear in the same spots) and lasting fun factor. Even the menu was entertaining; the icons are all eyeballs that follow your cursor as you move it around the screen.

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BrainPipe is a great experiment and well worth the $14.95 that Shrapnel Games is asking for it. You reach “Confusion” as an achievement in this game – that’s a testament to Digital Eel’s sense of pushing the envelope in game design and content.

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Machinarium is instantly recognizable for all of us who have played Samorost (if you haven’t played it, Google it now – you’ll not regret it!). Amazingly detailed and somehow delicate backdrops frame this fantastic point and click puzzle game. Machinarium takes place in a slightly run-down world inhabited only by mechanoids – almost everything is a machine right down to cats and birds. You take the part of a small robot who starts the game being dumped in a pile of old parts. As the game progresses the story unfolds and it’s your classic story of love, love lost, love broken by robots and so on. You get the picture! Each screen is lovingly drawn and the electronically minimal soundtrack perfectly suits the ambiance.

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The game play itself is straightforward. Click on objects around you to make them solve various problems like getting all your bits together or entering into the main city. Some objects can be collected and stored for later use, some objects you use there and then. The puzzles themselves are generally quite logical. However, a bit of lateral thinking won’t hurt in solving the puzzles. As the game progresses, the puzzles become more involved and require you to move between screens a fair bit. Not a bad thing and it adds a certain continuity to the game. There is a good mix of puzzles and even a lit bit of arcade action to spice up the proceedings. Not too much for those reflex-impaired gamers such as my good self but enough to break it up a little bit.

Give me three reasons to buy it, I hear you cry! Okay, (1) it’s a joy to both look at and listen to, (2) the balance between simple gameplay and challenging puzzles was just perfect enough to keep me wanting to play more and more and (3) you truly get sucked into the Machinarium world – a great sign of any game.

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So, with three good reasons to buy it, why would you not want to buy it? Not so easy this, but I would have to say (1) it’s all over too quickly – I just wanted it to go on and on, (2) the inclusion of hints and walkthroughs was too distracting and too tempting for a weak willed soul like myself. I would have liked an options to disable them to avoid that all too tempting click to find out what to do and (3) dang it! I can’t think of a third reason!

Overall then, one of the more satisfying games I’ve played. Bearing in mind the reviewer is a little bit old with limited keyboard skills, this game kept me enthralled for hours at a time. The lack of violence means it is a game suitable for our younger audience and I for one can’t wait for the next release by this talented company.

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Archibald’s Adventures by Rake in Grass is a 3D platform game, ideal for kids ranging from 5-10 years. It’s the story of a boy named ‘Archibald’ or ‘Archie’ who ‘lives in a small town not so far from you’. In a skate board face off with his friends, he is led to a dangerous junkyard which is next to a mad professor’s mansion, where he dumps the toxic chemicals from his experiments. By a freak accident, he lands inside the Professor’s underground, humongous lab, ‘Sector 215′, where some of the professor’s experiments have gone wrong and Archie suggests to help Professor Klumpfus set things right.

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Gameplay : [4/5]
The game starts off as usual like any other game with tutorials and gameplay basics. The tips and hints are given as you go, so there is no interruption in gameplay, It’s engrossing and one should have enough time on hand to play because you won’t know the time passing. But it has one flaw. If the switches of a particular door are away and the screen shifts to show the door opening, the game fails to stop the enemies around you moving. So by the time the screen focuses on you you’d probably be dead. It’s a minor error which can be fixed, so don’t let it stop you from trying the game. ‘Archie’ can do so many things that you need not get close to the enemies at all.

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Graphics : [4/5]
The graphics part of the game will come as pleasant surprise to you. They are very good compared to the games of those fields. No Bugs, No Glitches. The graphics of the game run smoothly even on the lowest of computer configuration. Animation and in game graphics alike are impressive and do not stress the eyes a lot. Pure gaming fun.

Sound : [4/5]
The sound of the game is clear and crisp according to the scenario. For intense levels, the game plays more intense and fast music whereas for slow and normal levels, the music goes with the level. The sound effects of the game are great. balancing of sound effects is also as per the movements of the in game character.

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Creativity : [4/5]
The game brings a breeze of fresh air with the creative idea of the skater boy. The idea of the game plan and the extreme game play combined together will surely rack the player’s brains and keep them on toes. This game is a perfect stress buster as it relieves pressure very easily without forcing the player to think a lot, but interests enough to make you wanna play for a long time.

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Innovation : [4/5]
Plastic plasma goo, teleporters and magnetic wall climbers are some of the ideas that make the game rock. Never before seen ideas on the small games, these features f the character will make you play the game over and over again, even if you have completed them.
Winding it up, this game is a sure buy for people who work from long hours and want to have some simple fun at the end of the day. Yeah, this games is good for adults also. Overall the game would fetch a 4/5 for its ideas in game.

And since it also has a version for Mac OS X, I would surely buy this game.

Rake In Grass created Archibald’s Adventures.

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The PC game, BC Kings, by Mascot Entertainment, is an excellent real time strategy game with single player quests, multi-player capability, and a random map option for more versatility. After playing this game for several hours using the trial version, I was hooked. I am definitely planning on buying this game so that I can finish all the quests in single player mode and try out the multi-player and random map options.

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The game begins with a fun cinematic which includes a stunning view of the earth from outer-space as a hurling ball of fire approaches. Then, the player finds out that his cave man ancestors are in need of help as they combat alien mutants and survive in various environments from snow-covered terrains to jungles. Each of the quests are unique and require different gaming skills. For example, one quest may have you attempting to find the best path so that losses are at a minimum as you battle alien mutants and raptors at almost every turn in your path. I found the quests challenging yet not impossible. And, yes, I had to start over several times, but that only made me more determined to save my army of prehistoric humans. Other quests will have you defending and scouting an area while keeping your workers and main hero characters alive.

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The graphics and sound were both excellent. The maps were well planed and the movement in the game is smooth with no collision or path finding problems. The music was very nice and pleasant to listen to, making the overall gaming experience that much more fun!
Each level in the single player mode has at least one cinematic that follows the story line. Additionally, the story itself is interesting enough to keep the player’s curiousity level up. I found no annoying gaps in the story line that often bother me in other games.

Another added plus for the game is the ability to find and collect various objects that help the hero survive. I wouldn’t have survived without those health potions I picked up. And, it’s just plan fun to discover something shiny in one’s path- cavemen love shiny things! Oh, and did I forget to mention cavemen can share items in this game and change their weapons as the game progresses.

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Overall, BC Kings, is an amusing, engaging, and fresh real time strategy game. It has the feel of a game like Age of Empires, yet isn’t buggy and is just fun to play.

Mascot Entertainment created BC Kings.