My Empire Preview

Facebook fans might think that there is little new left in the world of city-building games, but that’s only because those fans haven’t played My Empire yet. Combining aspects of city simulation with resource collection and a Greco-Roman setting, Playfish’s My Empire appears set to breathe new life into the city genre.

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City-builders go back in time with our preview of Playfish’s latest game My Empire.

Facebook fans might think that there is little new left in the world of city-building games, but that’s only because those fans haven’t played My Empire yet. Combining aspects of city simulation with resource collection and a Greco-Roman setting, Playfish’s My Empire appears set to breathe new life into the city genre.

Constructing a new empire from the ground up is never easy, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun! Players will build houses to increase their population, and then build places for their people to be entertained. Entertainment buildings will produce happiness, which will in turn increase the population your village can have. This basic mechanic behind increasing your population is strikingly similar to the population/leisure system found in Social City, which is itself a great game to draw inspiration from.

My Empire

Players will earn coins by visiting their neighbours islands and collecting taxes from their residents. Tax collection seems to take a page from Playfish’s own Hotel City, letting you hire a tax collector who will work for a set number of hours, after which you’ll return to the game to add those collected taxes to your available coins.

Where My Empire seems to really begin to set itself apart from earlier Facebook titles is in resource collection and the building of wonders. Certain buildings will produce special resources like wood, stone, and bronze which will be required to build certain buildings and monumental construction projects that will cement your reputation as the world’s greatest leader. Players will unlock a variety of famous historical landmarks as they progress through the levels including Stonehenge, the Parthenon and the Colossus of Rhodes.

My Empire

Players will also be able to unlock an Academy at Level 8 which will introduce a research element into the mix. While we haven’t progressed far enough in our brief experience with the game to confirm it’s purpose, it appears as though the Academy will research things like logging, construction and prospecting, which you’ll require to build certain buildings later in the game.

Having only launched yesterday, the game is still in its early stages and could very likely see new twists and tweaks added in the coming weeks. Be sure to add a Gamezebo game alert to be notified the moment our walkthrough and review become available!

Jim Squires is the Editor-in-Chief of Gamezebo. Everything you see passes his eyes first, so we like to think of him as "the gatekeeper of cool stuff." He likes good games, great writing, and just can't say no to a hamburger. Also, he is not a bear.