Empire Island

User's Review
By Lazaru76

I read an article in National Geographic magazine the other day about the Aztec people and how they lived on a lake as a city state because they were chased out of every other region by the local tribes. Then as they established their own military and economy, they began to subjugate the very tribes that forced them out demanding tributes of cocoa and gold. Now that you’ve had your history lesson, knowing that helps you appreciate Empire Island just a little more. You are the ruler of a small island who is besieged by enemies unknown and unrelenting as you try to keep the population safe and develop your city sate of an island. I know, I know it was a long way to go for a simple explanation, but I thought it was strangely funny so sue me.

The game is played much like any defense tower game, you place your structure on the map, then shoot at the bad guys as the attack you. In between waves you have about one minute to repair, build and fortify from the taxes and bounties you’ve collected. The tech tree is pretty simple in that you have to upgrade the palace and workshops, respectively, to gain access to better buildings. The better the tech, the more damage the weapons do and the more expensive they are.

I enjoyed EI, my only real complaint is the money system is inadequate to cover for upgrades and building. You simply don’t earn enough in between waves to compensate for the enemies advances and so you find yourself fighting WWII fighters with bows and pikes. Funny, yes, but it can be frustrating. The only real saving grace was the ability to start at a more advanced level after you pass a certain age of tech.

Graphics are okay, music sounds epic but gets tiresome after about 20 mins of play. Replayability is significant with different difficulty levels, achievements, and the depth of strategy. Well worth the time to play. Post below if you find a better way to make money than I did. I’m interested to see if there’s a flaw in my strategies.

All in all a good play: 3.5/5