User Reviews (1 - 9 of 9)

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Save Your Money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 31 / 44
Date: December 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

Good Concept - Poor Execution!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: April 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Rating this game as a 1 s being overly kind!! It's actually a big fat "0"!

Save your money and do not buy this game!!!!

I was thrilled at the game's concept, but it falls extremely below expectations in delivering fun and interesting game play. Villagers move super sssssslllllloooooowwwwww!!! Even when you set game play to be 2X speed!! It takes villagers HOURS to complete tasks including earning "tech" points required to purchase advanced technologies (which require an outrageous number of points per new technology). The rate at which villagers earn points compared to the cost of technologies is definite as out of proportion as the time required to complete tasks.

There's a new Virtual Villagers 2 that's now out that I was hopeful would correct some of the shortcomings of the original, but, alas, it only got worse. Game play is still excruciatingly slow and new technologies require even MORE "tech" points to purchase. Version 3 is in the works now - we can only hope the game designers get it right on the third try, but for now - BUY SOMETHING ELSE THAT"S FUN TO PLAY!!!

Eh...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is cute. And it's got some nifty challenges. And that's about it. It goes on forever, but once you've beaten the challenges, what's the point? The challenges take awhile, but only because the villagers take forever to get anything done. It's a real time game so you get no instant gratification. Just set them to a task and go away. Check back the next day to see how they're doing. It's like an electronic ant farm. Except that they kind of do what you tell them. Sometimes.

Fun to play, and then you're done.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is very fun to play - you get attached to the little people, and the challenges are fun to figure out. Unfortunately, once you solve it, it is really boring to play again. You know exactly what and when to do everything. If you like to play games and replay games, this isn't a good one to invest in.

Well, I like it!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

I've been playing this game for days!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In this game you will spend most of your playing time assigning jobs to villagers and having them breed. It is a slow game and best for spending a few minutes here and there watching over your growing village. And you can have up to 5 different games going at a time. You need to use the tech points the scientist villagers earn to buy skill upgrades so your village will thrive. (The final farming upgrade is very important to keeping your food supply up.) There are also 'puzzles' that you solve as your village advances and you help them explore. And occasionally an event will pop up and you will have to choose how your villager reacts and the result can either be very good or even deadly.
I found this game to be very fun. I let my game run all day checking it every couple hours.

Interesting and Entertaining

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I read the other reviews before puchasing this game. I actually found it to be quite entertaining. As stated by others this game is not full of thrills and high energy, however, it is fun for those of us who aren't interested in violence and guns, etc.

And it isn't as easy as it might appear on the surface. The puzzles can be quite challenging to figure out and there were quite unexpected solutions.

You can pause it if you are going to be away for a while, or you have the choice to select a "time" speed. Turning off the computer will still allow these villagers to go about their business. It is often a suprise when you turn it back on to see what is new.

You can't just start up the game and let it do it's own thing. The Villagers need to be trained in their tasks. It is your choice as to what they learn.

All in all, I have played this for quite a while, and found it to be quite relaxing.

Great little game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 21
Date: August 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

Addicting

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

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