Evony II is a 2D strategy browser MMO with a medieval setting. The game was originally launched in 2009 and it grew pretty fast through aggressive marketing and advertising on one end and classic, yet polished game elements at the other end.
In Evony II players must gather four different resources build their city, keep the population happy and in general manage this urban universe in a tycoon-like fashion. However, this is not the ultimate goal of the game, but that of conquering the world. In order to do that players must address military and diplomatic issues: build troops, make alliances and eventually make war against neighboring cities.
The game?s micro-transaction system is pretty common, but since this is at its core a PvP oriented game, the offers of the in-game store tend to make huge differences in a conflict. With the help of the game?s currency called ?cent? players can ignore the building time of a new construction, they can instantly gain extra resources and in general perform actions which gives the upper hand.
Evony II doesn?t reinvent the genre, but manages to do a nice job with the classic browser based strategy MMO recipe. The game looks good, is entertaining, and doesn?t take a lot of time to understand or play. Its only flaw is related to ?the dark side? of the free-to-play business model, a side unfortunately unavoidable especially for a browser MMO.
Pros: A good social environment with cut-throat politics.
Cons: People using bots and alternate accounts. Risk of total loss of cities/resources/heroes when left alone overnight.