Civony makes a splash

[VMV]

It has only been around for a week, but browser-based strategy game Civony is already looking pretty good. At first blush, the game offers robust trading, questing, building, chat, tutorial and alliance systems. Armies are lead into combat by heroes who can be customized with a decent number of rewards, upgrades and buffs. The game also starts off at a blistering pace -- through a combination of development rewards and "speed" upgrades, the first few hours make for a fairly compelling click-fest.

The game does adopt a monetization model. Players can use real money to buy a wide array of goods including scrolls of instant development, hero experience, and even tokens for gambling in a "wheel of fortune" slot machine. However, early adopters of the game are being given a big pile of swag and game money to begin, so everyone is at least starting the game on the same level.

It remains to be seen how the long-term game plays out. But with lots of building options, research trees, NPC castles to conquer, alliance diplomacy to engage in, and plenty of crazy neighbours to pick on, Civony seems like a pretty solid competitor in the browser-based gaming space.

EDIT: And at second blush, Civony was fun for about 10 days. After that it just turns into another exponential farming quest.