Mafia Wars meets CityVille (sort of) with Urban Warfare on Facebook

Enjoying CityVille, but in search of more competition? Well, Blue Shell Games' first effort on Facebook hopes to bring social gamers the best of both worlds with Urban Warfare. With both city-building elements and Mafia Wars-style battles with friends, Urban Warfare is a jack-of-all-trades of sorts, allowing players to both maintain a sprawling town while defending it from invaders. However, this game is certainly not without its flaws. In fact, it has those in spades.

Take a look behind the break to get a detailed look at whether this game might interest you (but probably not).
Urban Warfare Battles
Urban Warfare throws players into a war-torn world where every city is required to have a full-blown military to defend itself, which would be absolutely badass in most situations (fictional, of course). It's too bad that this game doesn't bring much in the fun department. Sure, Urban Warfare is functional, but that's about where development seems to have tapered off to a point. For instance, the image above is what every battle looks like. And that's it. (Well, aside from a blank loading screen that simply reads, "Battling!")

So, don't think you're preparing for full-scale war here. Battles operate almost exactly like those in Mafia Wars, but with less detailed artwork and it's the bland soldiers you train that decide the outcome rather than collected items. Not to mention that Battles can be repeated over and over again with no real benefit or penalty. You'll almost immediately catch on to the trick of finding a weak player pummeling him repeatedly to level up at lightning speeds (due to the lack of animation), but what's the point?

City building
Not much really, though in order to compete at later levels you'll need to build out your city with coin-generating businesses, residencies that boost your population and barracks to train more soldiers--all of which cost coins. The balance between generating coins and population via plopping buildings on the grid and training an army is simple enough. In fact, it's probably too simple. In my short time playing the game, there are really no perceivable setbacks aside from losing a Battle and the excruciatingly long time it takes to train soldiers.

Despite its many shortcomings, Urban Warfare does get a few things right. Take Quests, for example. While they've surely been done before, it's somewhat reassuring to know that Blue Shell at least realizes that these have essentially standard to guide players along in social games. Taking a cue from games like CityVille, players can visit their friends' cities to provide them with boosts to supplies. Alright, I'll admit it: that's all I can think up. For Pete's sake, the game allows players to pay coins for decorations that have no benefit whatsoever besides a sliver of XP. I can get more XP in an instant by pummeling Random Newbie #27.

The game offers a paid currency known as Reward Points (sound familiar?), but I would strongly recommend you not spend your hard-earned dollars on a game with little to no animation or interesting artwork and a gameplay dynamic that doesn't feel complete before really getting to know it. It's a shame too, because the initial premise is spot-on and has loads of potential for the next big social game, which Blue Shell deserves credit for. Unfortunately, it's in the execution that Urban Warfare goes AWOL.

Click here to play Urban Warfare on Facebook now>

Russian Little Helper maker Pixonic sets sights on Facebook, iPhones

Sure, Zynga has created some of the most popular social games around, but it has also created its own competition. (See: EA, Disney, Wooga.) Elena Masolova, the 27-year-old founder and CEO of Russian social (and mobile) game developer and publisher Pixonic, was inspired by the company's success in founding her own game company. Since its creation in 2009, the company has created 40 games for local and European networks, but has big plans for its global expansion.

Ahead of opening its third (and first international) office in San Francisco, Pixonic published Little Helper (pictured below) for iPhone and iPad. First released on Russian and European social networks, Little Helper is the mobile version of a simulator game similar to Pet Society, but with heavy Russian themes. Despite the visible cultural influences, Little Helper hit the U.S. top 10 free games chart in September, hopefully setting a precedent for future releases.

Pixonic is also slowly making headway on Facebook with The Island: Castaway, a farming-type social game that proved largely successful on local Russian networks. While it's unfortunately not doing so well on Facebook at the moment, according to AppData, Masolova looks to make a splash in the U.S. and around the globe the old-fashioned way.
Little Helper
"I don't think there's some secret sauce--you just need to make high-quality games that promote themselves," Masolova tells us. "Second, you need to be very numbers-oriented in marketing. I think it's a numbers game, and you need to look at the numbers constantly. The goal by the end of the year is to launch several high-quality games on Facebook."

The Russian game creator and publisher also looks to bring six of its most popular social games to iOS and Android devices, likely in the same vein as Little Helper, which was developed for Pixonic by MobyTail. However, Masolova says that the company has its 46 plus employees working on three mobile games from scratch. Despite coming into the Facebook and mobile games space just as the big players begin to exert their dominance, Masolova is confident that Pixonic will succeed.

"For the first three months of the company's existence, we were focused on Russian markets in social networks," Masolova says. "I think for the time it was the right decision, but now we can move to Facebook and other networks and feel very comfortable there."

Pocket God on Facebook spooks pygmies in 'Clash of the Frightened'

Well, not any more spooked than they are on a daily basis, really. We're not terribly sure why the first major update to Pocket God is titled "Episode 2: Clash of the Frightened," but we are sure of the changes it brings. Quebec-based Frima Studio brings plenty welcome changes like more solo quests for when the friends aren't around, the ability to pay for items and powers with either Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points (the game's two currencies) and the option to unlock Powers early with either currency.

The iPhone-turned-Facebook game is enjoying mild success with nearly 140 thousand monthly players and is one of the more gorgeous and inventive games I've seen on Facebook. Unfortunately, the update doesn't include my most wanted change: A completely Facebook-connected Pocket God iPhone app in vein of the FarmVille app.

There's always next time, but until then check out a full list of the exciting changes after the break.
Here's what you can expect in the first Pocket God update:

        Social Quests: Combine forces with your Facebook friends to compete with rival deities across the world! Team up and take down powerful foes with a host of your favorite powers.
        Taunt Your Friends: What could be better than having a shark bite the head of your boss, or frying your roommate to a crisp with a bolt of lightning? Why, rubbing it in their face afterward, of course! Tease the friends you have sacrificed with all-new power-themed taunts.
        Choose Your Currency: Upgrade your godly presence any way you want. Acquire new powers, powerful items and glorious idols with either Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points, the two forms of currency in the game.
        Unlock Powers Early: Can't wait to unlock exciting new powers and get the drop on your unsuspecting friends? Now you don't have to! For a little Pocket Change or Sacrifice Points, players can catch up to their friends in the game by unlocking powers early.
        New Idols: New idols to represent the rival gods
        More Solo Quests: Players have spoken and Frima has listened – five brand new quests, one of the most popular features in Pocket God, have been added with this update to give you plenty to stay busy!

America 2049 on Facebook: A dismal game about a dismal future

Professionals and supporters alike have clamored for social game developers to use the rallying powers of Facebook to create interesting interactive experiences that spur players to change the world around them. A noble cause, sure, but the struggle has always been the fun factor. Can you spur people's desire to change their abysmal environment without them knowing that they're doing it? After playing America 2049, a Facebook game by Breakthrough (a company that uses popular culture and media to raise awareness to severe social issues), it's beginning to seem as if that's impossible.

Don't worry, this isn't some bash session: America 2049 is a finely-designed game with a start-studded cast of characters like Harold Perrineau of Lost, Victor Garber from Alias, Cherry Jones of 24, Rent's Anthony Rapp, and comedian Margaret Cho. In other words, Breakthrough spent a lot of money to not only garner some notoriety for its game, but for its creation as well. America 2049 looks fantastic, and while it is just a series of menus and maps, those are damned beautiful menus and maps.

America 2049 Clue
The game starts with an immense premise: You are a new member of the Council on American Heritage and the country has collapsed. It's up to you to find out what went wrong and reclaim the American culture for good use in the future. You must follow a series of clues by commanding "operatives" to uncover spots on a map. These spots may or may not hide clues to the puzzle squares, which normally amount to word puzzles or code cracking.

Of course, these actions all consume Energy, which will replenish over time or recharged with capsules you'll find in otherwise empty squares. Unfortunately, it's all as boring as it sounds. However, playing the game for longer than a few minutes will unlock some seriously intriguing stuff. Breakthrough has created an entire alternate reality through mock news websites, blogs and even a website representing "your organization," the Council on American Heritage. Eventually you must use this crafty little alternate-reality to find answers to the games more difficult puzzles.

America 2049 Information Reward
While set almost half a century into the future, it's all a clever way to raise awareness to the scars on the face of America and other developed countries today. It most definitely is galvanizing to be reminded of societal plagues like violence, division and corruption with such a perspective albeit fictional. America 2049 is a success in its mission, but the lack of engaging gameplay might bring the excitement to change the face of America to lukewarm temperatures.

Click here to play America 2049 on Facebook Now>

Have you tried America 2049 yet? What do you think of social games built around the goal of social change?

Zynga rides Drop7, Words With Friends to iOS success; what's next?

Zynga's mobile efforts have officially been tripled in the past few months, and it's all thanks to a little developer called Area/Code. The New York-based studio, essentially gave the company one finished mobile game just by signing the paperwork, Drop7. Last week, the company rereleased the critically acclaimed game under the Zynga name in both a free and premium, ad-free version for $2.99.

This sounds familiar: Didn't Zynga do the exact same thing with Newtoy, McKinney, Texas-based studio that offered Zynga a finished, successful mobile game in Words With Friends? After connecting the dots, you can already see what Mark Pincus and his crew are up to.

While Zynga has developed some mobile games to mild reception (even FarmVille just recently hit the Top Grossing App Store charts after a Farm Cash sale), these existing properties will bring more financial success on mobile to Zynga. For instance, Words with Friends sits comfortably at Number 8 on the Top Free charts just above--wait for it--Facebook itself. Not to mention it's in the same position on the Top Paid chart. Just think of all that money falling to Zynga's pockets at little to no development cost.

The same thing is underway with Drop7, whose premium version was available for free all this weekend. While it's not yet on the charts, Zynga could very well take its newfound game to the top thanks to all the cash saved in, well, making the game. While the company is certainly capable of creating a mobile game, it looks as if the company is working another strategy to make some coin off of Apple's magic devices: ride already successful mobile properties from recently acquired companies. Sure, that will rake in the dollars, but what happens next?

Words With FriendsEven Zynga can't go on for much longer just gobbling up every popular iPhone game developer there is and rereleasing their work. There has to be a self-sustained plan, and one is plain as day. Zynga will continue to develop mobile games both internally and through its many satellites, because it has the money and exposure to do so. Both Words With Friends and Drop7 have ad-supported, free versions. Did the lightbulb go off yet? Zynga could simply just advertise and cross promote its existing and future original games through already successful games like Drop7.

Out of the company's 11 recent buyouts, both Area/Code and Newtoy have to be the most clever. While I don't get paid six figures to map out product strategies, you can bet that Zynga is already working on this idea after some suit thought it up months ago. But now Zynga has enough money and notoriety in the App Store to probably beat Angry Birds from its perch at the top. Now, it's time to bring on the original games.

[Image Credits: TipRadar and MCV]

Have you tried either Words with Friends or Drop7 yet? What do you think of Zynga's potential to dominate the mobile gaming space thanks to these games?

Combat in Civilization World is like cards, but with angry soliders on 'em

The more we hear about Civilization World, the more we want those guys working the Large Hadron Collider to discover time travel. Firaxis has just released a blog post covering combat in the upcoming Facebook edition of the seriously huge strategy series. According to the post, combat will be decided in card games. Wait, you mean to say that battles aren't fought on bloody fields and treacherous waters? Well, they are in your imagination, least.

The combat system allows for a set amount of card slots per battle. However, players can stack extra amounts of the same unit on a single slot, whether it be from the calvary, ranged, naval and melee classes. Of course, certain units do well against others and vise versa, but some perform better in certain environments as well, granting them attack bonuses. All of this information is displayed on each unit's card, thankfully.

Units can then attack their opponents heroically or on the defensive. The former increases both damage dealt and taken while the latter decreases both. Each style will have its own use, which you can likely deduce on your own, but what's important is that you build a squad of units with varying skills and stats to be prepared for anything. Not to mention that, like any Civ game, research is the gateway to not only fierce armies but sprawling, beautiful cities. Can you tell that we're excited? Just a little--OK good.

[Image Credit: NeoWin]

What do you think of the combat system in Civ World when you read about it? Do you think Civ will do well on Facebook?

Take to the sky and fly as far as you can in Rocketbird on Facebook

BeTomorrow first launched Rocketbird, a simple "survival" game on the iPhone, back in 2009 and it has gone on to become a fan favorite (especially with children), to the tune of over three million downloads. With such a simple premise, one wouldn't think that the game could find a following on Facebook, but the port of the game has done just that and currently sits at over 500,000 monthly active players.

As we said before, Rocketbird has an incredibly simple premise, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You'll play as a cute yellow chick with a rocket strapped to its back. Each time you play, you'll guide the bird around the screen (from a behind the back perspective), avoiding obstacles and picking up lightning bolts to give yourself more "fuel" to continue on. In terms of interaction from you, the player, you'll need to do little more than move your mouse left and right to avoid trees, fences, buildings and rocks. Hitting one of these items will end your game instantly, while running out of fuel ends the game slowly, over time.

As you play, you're forever racking up distance points for how far you've traveled. The game is level-based, with the level system being similar to titles like Angry Birds, to give you an easy comparison. That is, each level has three stars possible, with the more points you earn (the farther you travel) earning you more stars. You'll need to earn a specific amount of stars to unlock subsequent levels, and you'll also unlock an additional power-up early on: a teleportation bubble that instantly launches you to a fairly close distance to where you last failed so you can hopefully increase your high score.

If all of this sounds simple, there's an added element of challenge thrown in as your bird increases in speed as you travel farther and farther through each level. Once you're going fast enough to have trees and barns whipping by in a blur, you won't be stuck thinking you're playing a "kids" game. Luckily, you can also activate Bullet Time by pressing the space bar, which slows the game down allowing you to avoid obstacles.

In terms of social features, these are understandably pretty light, but do include two leaderboards for tracking how many stars your friends have overall, and your scores for each individual level (with two whole worlds of levels still marked as "coming soon").

All in all, Rocketbird may not be the game you come back to each and every morning and spend countless hours on, but it's a fun little distraction from the real world with cute graphics and a charming premise. That's worth at least a few moments of your time, right?

Play Rocketbird on Facebook -->

Have you tried Rocketbird on Facebook or on iOS? How do you think the Facebook version of the game compares to its iPhone predecessor?

Disney's cleaning house, Playdom's ESPNU College Town is next

Did you get the email too? Social City--um, never mind--Gardens of Time maker Playdom has announced in a mass email sent to players that ESPNU College Town will be closed for good this Dec. 20. According to the message (the game features a truncated version), Playdom feels that the game has run its course." And players already appear quite upset in the forums.

No information has been given on whether players will be able to transfer their existing premium in-game currency to another Playdom game nor whether players will be reimbursed for their money spent. And that fact seems to have players more upset than anything.

"What a waste for everyone who ever did anything with this game," player Dean, Johnstown State writes. "I'm ashamed I ever signed up. Get an email saying I was one of the game's best, well, I hate myself for the money I spent playing this POS game and what it became and, now, how it's going out."

ESPNU College Town was one of the first major branding attempts in Facebook games, which enjoyed considerable success in 2010. And, at least as far as we know, ESPNU was the first social game to receive TV advertisement. As of this writing, the game welcomes just 150,000 monthly players and 20,000 daily players, according to AppData.
ESPNU College Town Closing Notice
This is the second game this week alone to get the axe, following Social City. A lack of players is certainly the primary reason, but you can imagine that Disney is looking to make room for its upcoming Facebook games to be developed by Playdom. It looks like the company's new social games head is already hard at work.

Were you a long time ESPNU College Town fan? How do you think Playdom should handle the shutting down of these games, and do you plan on picking up any other Playdom games?

Kixeye's War Commander blasts onto Facebook for all to conquer

Hardcore gamers have established a beachhead on Facebook, and now can make their next offensive in War Commander. The next social strategy game by San Francisco-based Kixeye has entered public beta is now live and available for all would-be commanders on Facebook to dominate with. The game isn't a far cry from the studio's previous efforts, except for one thing.

Players can finally control individual units on the battle field in real time as they slaughter enemy units and demolish buildings. Clearly inspired by traditional strategy staples like Command and Conquer on the PC, War Commander continues the developer's tradition of real time gameplay with asynchronous interaction between friends ... or enemies.

Based on our time trying out the game's closed beta test, our very own Brandy Shaul found attacking and defending bases to be a largely passive experience, regardless of whether you can now directly control units. Personally, I find the choice to decide which unit gets fired at first by enemy defense turrets a strategic boost, though a small one.

Regardless, this marks Kixeye's next step in its ultimate goal to bring a true RTS (real time strategy) experience to Facebook, Kixeye CEO Will Harbin told VentureBeat. "It's the most advanced strategy game ever created for Facebook," Harbin said. "We're getting closer and closer to real-time strategy titles that you've seen on the PC."

Gallery: War Commander on Facebook
Based on my brief experience with the game, War Commander suffers from brief lag issues at the moment, with intermittent pauses during gameplay. However, Kixeye appears to be hard at work on optimizing the game already. (It is in "open beta," after all.) "We're learning from the past and optimizing the code base more and more," Harbin told VentureBeat.

While Kixeye mentioned that it's "waiting for an onslaught of competition" that it has yet to see, the company does have one worthy opponent that it has already exchanged stern words with over its most recent release, Kabam and Edgeworld. We're sure this rivalry is far from over, so why not check the latest traded blow right now?

Click here to play War Commander on Facebook Now >

Are you a fan of hardcore strategy games on Facebook? Regardless, what do you think of the growing hardcore scene on the platform traditionally dominated by mothers and other casual players? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment

Karma Kingdom looks to combine social good, social fun on Facebook

A Facebook game that can score us some good karma points--where do we sign up? We've seen games like FarmVille and CityVille run social good campaigns, but Singapore-based developer Asvathaa has a made an entire game of the idea. The developer just released Karma Kingdom on Facebook, a quest-driven game that looks to help you "Create Your Better World," according to its tag line.

Karma Kingdom integrates Indian mythology into modern lessons of doing good for others. It does this by allowing players to curate an island nation and maintain their citizens' happiness using the three tenants of happiness: health, community and knowledge. You will be guided by several Indian gods and goddesses in your efforts to keep the people happy through quests.

You do this through creating homes for your people to live in, and then surrounding those homes with decorations that promote Health, Community and Knowledge. It seems as if it's important to keep that balance in the decorations you place. Otherwise, your citizens will quickly become unhappy and provide less Goodwill, the resource you need to provide for your people.

Players can plant crops to provide more Goodwill, and the game doesn't seem to be governed by any energy system. (Now, that's something fresh.) But what's more important is the real goodwill Asvathaa aims to create with Karma Kingdom. The Singapore developer has promised to donate a 10 percent of its income through Facebook Credits to non-profit charities. (However, Asvathaa doesn't say which charities it will donate to exactly.)
Karma Kingdom in action
The more happiness-generating decorations you buy in the game using Facebook Credits, the more Asvathaa will donate ... somewhere. "We want to offer a personal CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) platform for every individual as the desire to give back exists in each one of us," Asvathaa CEO and founder Ashok Desai said in a release. If anything, the game looks to be a fresh take on the genre given that it doesn't limit your play time through energy, and maybe it will do some good, too.
Click here to play Karma Kingdom on Facebook Now >

Have you tried this new Facebook game yet, and what do you think of the fact that it doesn't limit you via energy? Would you ever pay up in the game, not knowing exactly where your Facebook Credits are going? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Half of all U.S. social gamers own a game console, RockYou study says

As if we already didn't know: Some social gamers are more "hardcore" than we thought. But the next study released that attempts to drive this point home is courtesy of Zoo World creator RockYou and conducted by Interpret, a media research firm. Titled the "Social Gamer Thought Leadership Research Study," it finds that 50 percent of U.S. social gamers own a traditional gaming console.

The study, which polled over 2,00 social game fans living in the U.S. aged 18 and older with a 60-40 women to men split, also found that social gamers are more "sophisticated." To back up the claim, the study reports a quarter of social gamers prefer games with quests, and that 22 percent admit that score-sharing drives their urge to play more. Oh, and these players also spend quite a bit of time with the games.

Of the over 2,000 people polled, RockYou and Interpret found that the average social gamer spends an average of 9.5 hours playing out of the 13 average hours they spend on networks like Facebook. The average social game player, according to the study, has just over 16 real-life frieds playing these games with them and has made 20 new friends through social games. Of course, the study doesn't get into how deep said friendships are, but how could you?

The study also reports that 42 percent of social gamers would play a social game more, if offered real world rewards like coupons or gift cards. (But isn't the idea to get them to pay up?) It was just recently that Raptr discovered that a number of Zynga fans may be Halo and Grand Theft Auto fans, too. And before that, Kabam found in its own study that the hardcore crowd on Facebook is growing.

What should you take away from this influx of studies and reports? Regardless of whether you still dig tending to virtual crops or running a shanty town, many developers--even the "casual" ones--seem all but done with your farms and cities of yore.

What do you think of the numerous reports on the growing hardcore crowd in social games? How do you think this will change the industry in the long run? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Baseball Superstars: The League goes for a grand slam on Facebook

Just in time for the playoff season in the states (Philadelphia NL East Champs! ... sorry), Gamevil has released its very own baseball simulator on Facebook, Baseball Superstars: The League. The Korean and Los Angeles-based developer best known for the Zenonia series of RPGs (role-playing games) on the iPhone released this social version of its hit baseball sims on iOS.

Of course, EA Sports and Playfish have already staked their claim to the sub genre on Facebook with World Series Superstars, but already Gamevil has one thing going for it: global multiplayer. That's right, once you choose your team's name, logo and specialty between Power, Accuracy and Speed, you can jump into games immediately with anyone playing the game.

While you will certainly need Facebook friends to play in Exhibition games, those looking for a fast and easy Quick Play game, the world's digital baseball managers await you. There's also a Home Run Derby mode as well as full-blown tournaments, which are coming soon. And the gameplay is surprisingly interactive, having players actually swing at pitches with clicks.
Baseball Superstars Logo
Baseball Superstars features a full-blown pitching system as well, in which players select from a variety of pitches and choose exactly where they land in or around the strike zone. There are also a number of commands you can give to base runners to attempt to steal bases. All in all, this looks like an impressively full-featured baseball game on Facebook at launch.
While much of the game has players tweaking their stadiums like most sports games on Facebook, it's the actually Quick Plays and Exhibition games that are the meat and potatoes of Baseball Superstars, and what could make this game a competitor to existing social sports games. "It builds upon our years of strategic advances in the global games market, and shows that we can adapt and offer a unique yet competitive social games experience," VP and head of Gamevil USA Kyu Lee said in a release.
Baseball Superstars gameplay
Baseball Superstars is just Gamevil's second release on Facebook after Train City, which didn't do so hot, according to AppData. Considering the hype train that is US baseball in September and October, baseball fans (the closet Facebook game-loving ones, at least) are going to be on the hunt for a new experience on Facebook.

And it looks like Gamevil will be there to meet them with a Facebook game that actually focuses on, you know, the baseball? Hey, the second time can still be a charm, too, right?

Click here to play Baseball Superstars: The League on Facebook Now >

Have you tried this new baseball Facebook game yet? What do you think of Gamevil's second entry into the Facebook game space, and what about their existing iOS games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment