September 18, 2010
PC Virtual Villagers
Posted by: kk : Category: Software
- Real-time, simulation gameplay
- Hundreds of unique villagers
- Uncover mysteries as you play
Product Description
In Virtual Villagers, you’ll help a group of poor villagers who’ve washed up on shore after surviving a volcanic eruption. You have to guide as they learn how to survive — they learn by doing, but you might have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t give up too easily. They need to become farmers, builders, scientists, parents and more in order to thrive on this new island. How will you lead your tribe?
September 18th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
With all due respect I have to tell you that it is best to ignore the negative reviews. It would appear that one reviewer in particular did not actually play the game to understand how it works, so I’ll tell you. It is alot more than having your villagers research, farm, & breed. There are puzzles to be solved. For instance, I’ll give away one of the easiest puzzles, you have to clear the well so the villagers can drink water & water their crops. To learn how to better farm, to gain better knowledge in construction, gain spirituality, etc… you have to use tech points to be able to purchase more knowledge in each area. The more knowledge you have the more your villagers will eventually be able to do & the more puzzles they can solve. You get tech points by various things your villagers do, be it researching at the table, learning about the plants on the island, or learning how to heal eachother, etc… The more tech points earned the more knowledge you can buy. Yes, this game is real time, but you can double that time. You also don’t have to worry about going away for long periods of time only to have your villagers die. There is an option you can check to pause the game indefinitely until you return. If you wish to cheat & play the game in a day you could do so by changing the time on your computer, open your game, & changing it back again after you re-open the game. You can advance as much as you like by doing this, but be aware that skipping ahead more than an hour or 2 can really wreack havoc on your villagers. This is a sims type of game, though, so the majority of people playing this I would think would be the type who enjoy more laid back games that take a while to unfold. It’s definitely not for the impatient. Even using the cheat to skip your clock ahead can still take quite a few hours for you to actually finish the game. It’s not a bang bang shoot em up kind of game, it’s just there for you to relax & enjoy, and think just a little.
There’s alot more to the game than the negative reviews on here would have you believe.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 18th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
I got this game for my birthday and was so excited to get it. I put it on my computer and have not stopped playing since. I have continued to check on my villagers and watched the population of my little village grow. I also have some friends that have played it and have become addicted as well. It is not a game to sit down and play for hours though. Get it started and then let it go and just remember to check on your villagers.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 18th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
I like playing this game because it requires patience and interaction. It is a little slow, especially if one is used to the fast paced action of some sim games. I like that I can start it up and check on it every couple of hours while I get other things done.
Rating: 4 / 5
September 18th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I picked this game up on a whim–it looked cute. It is sort of cute. It’s also just about the most boring game I’ve ever played. The premise is that a group of villagers land on an island and you need to teach them to survive. The trouble is, there are only four things you can teach them to do: research, build, gather food, and heal.
The game has a series of technologies to research, and puzzles to solve. The problem lies in the time it takes to do anything. Every game year is an hour (though you can set it to double time). That means when a mother needs to care for a baby for its first two years, its two hours. And there’s really not anything to do once you teach your villagers what to do but watch them. Playing the game literally takes days–not game days, real life days. The time ticks by whether you are playing or not, whether your computer is on or not. And the scope of the game is so limited, even if you are willing to check on your virtual village each day, the achievements are so minimal, it’s not worth bothering with.
The first time I played, I just left the game running about four hours, and they still hadn’t managed to build a hut, or do enough research to gain a single technology. So I left them over night. By morning they had exhausted their food supply and were all dead of starvation and I had to start over.
You may wonder, why bother starting over? I wonder the same thing, I suppose it was a misguided faith that surely there was more to the game. There isn’t.
If you want a game where you build towns, try Sim City or Caesar. If you like simulated life, you can’t go wrong with Sims 2. If you’re looking for something less complex, Tropico is a pretty decent island-themed simulation game (as is Tropico II: Pirates Cove). For a more family-oriented game (Sims and Tropico have some mild adult themes), try School Tycoon. It’s not as sophisticated as the high end games, but for the price it’s a decent value.
Rating: 1 / 5
September 18th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
I bought this game last summer after I lost 3 kittens to feline leukemia and was looking for something to divert me from the grief. This game actually fit the bill perfectly! It was easygoing, bright and colorful, kept my attention but was not taxing. I really just wanted something to zone out in front of. However, it can be very slow to play and I found that establishing about 3 games at once that I switched between kept me interested. I even had them all on 2X speed and still did not get overwhelmed. Once you figure out the challenges, the only reason to play is to make it the hardest game and see if you can keep all the villagers alive to solve the challenges. But it is a beautiful game to look at and I wanted more to look at, so I am pleased more games have come out in the series!
Rating: 4 / 5