Erepublik Review

[Dabchan]

The web browser gaming community is a place where the twitchy impatient gamers will just groan as they either wait a day just so they can see them go a level up where they can actually buy something with the ingame currency, or have to 'donate' to get the goodies up front.
Erepublik however, is a game that CLINGS onto that idea so much that the above is just enough description of what the experience is.
Well...Erepublik is where you live in a ever changing virtual represntation of the Real world. One day Russia could be controlling all of the United states, and the next Columbia would be duking it out with Russia over the states.
The things that draw you into this are the fact that everything you do in the game ACTUALLY effect everyone else. Their are political Parties, Users who own large companies, and you can actually become the president if you try hard enough in it( Just like your Mother told ya!)
But( and a BIG BUT) The Game overall is the type where you go in while getting dressed for work and quickly getting off in 5 minutes. It sounds easy but imagine having to do that EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.
One of the Awards you have to earn is that you have to work for 30 days straight. Which basically means you going into the site and logging in, click the button 'Work' and your done. But you have to do that for a WHOLE MONTH. If you don't, you have to restart which is about as frustrating as...well, working for 29 days then having your head cut off for not showing up on the 30th.
Then there is a big emphasis on GOLD( The International standard in Erepublik). The sad thing is that you have to spend MORE then 30 days getting all the features that users (who pay a donation fee) Can get instantly.
I Know this sounds kind of harsh, but 80 percent of the internet is comprised of Cheap Bastards.
And the other 20 percent are the feudal lords who look over the 80 percent with snobbery and contempt, making us work for their food while they battle it out over who gets to rule over Florida.
Now, if you are the type who doesn't have anything to do on some monday's, or you get a boner for the idea of ruling over a living breathing community, go on ahead.
But for people who are impatient and for people who have lives that don't center around a computer, then I suggest you go out and get the tan you deserve while we nerds sit in our caves( AKA Our rooms)

Summary: Register. Try it and just log off if you don't like it.

 

[Mobung]

You could expand upon your description of the game play and add a description of the interface. Based on your review, the game seems like a cross between Civilization and The Sims, but the game won't pick up until I've fiddled with it for thirty days.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

Your review is a little untidy, a nice bit of appropriate paragraphing would go long way. The review is also a little sparse, as Mobung said. We all start somewhere though.

 

[Opie85]

They are about to release version 2 of Erepublik.

I think the previous posters got the most of the description correct. It is a MMO RPG/Social game/Civilization game. You work, you run for political office, you can join militaries or militias, invest in stock markets and interact with others.

Basic gameplay: Aka "Two clicking". There is no much to this. These are your daily tasks. Fight in a battle. Heal at a hospital. Work. Train. In the next version this will changed slightly.

Social Interaction: Write in your newspaper, fight for subscriptions. Write news-worthy articles, people will vote up your article, more people will see it and subscribe to your article. This is an one way to have your voice heard. There are also many forums, official, and unofficial, such as the eusforums, where topics are discussed, for example how the admin is screwing us over this time.

Militaries/Militias: There are government run militaries and private, sometimes for profit militias who deal a lot of damage in battles. The goal is to either preserve your borders or take over other regions and countries to capture their resources to improve your economy. There is usually a lot of interaction within the militaries and militias, with people coordinating what the next move is. Battles are usually fun and people can really get into supporting their side or the other. Recently the US tried to invade britian, conquered everything but london then withdrew and just this week Indonesia has invaded Australia.

Stocks: The stock market is a new thing, that is actually run by a individual and not directly through erepublik, but it is intergrated into erepublik using api. Anyways, you can invest in companies and make even more profit (usually spent on houses, weapons, food).


The future of battling:
In version 2 of the game they plan to change the way that combat works. Instead of generically throwing "damage" at one side of the other and the side with the most damage, they will try a system much like that of civilization. 1 on 1 combat, times MMO, battling for control of a map. To take a region you must control more than 50% of the map plus the major city. It will pit citizen versus citizen. It appears it will take massive coordination between the leaders of each side to win the map.

So if you like the idea of a MMORPG/Social/civilization like game. Check it out!