Shadow Kings - Guaranteed awesome fun for younger gamers

Shadow Kings from silvergames.com is a strategy game played in real time, set in a fantasy world that borrows from the Tolkien books – humans, elves and dwarves battling orcs and trolls. The player creates a small city that features wood harvesting, stone quarrying and production of food. Small animated villages carry on these tasks as the player builds structures, collects taxes, and engages in espionage, battles and alliances with other players contacted with an in game messaging system rather than live chat.

Shadow Kings drops the player directly into the game under the direction of two characters who, with little explanation, tell the player exactly what to do. This is somewhat confusing. A virtual game manual with descriptions of features and functions would be a good idea. There are Help features that can be accessed in game, and the explanations are clear and well-written with few of the spelling and diction errors often seen in online games.

A major drawback is that navigation and play buttons are not labeled. The player cannot tell what a button or other symbol represents without clicking on it. Mouseover labels would be helpful, and would be a nice feature for someone who wants to look around and figure out how the game works without taking any action.

The mood and graphics of Shadow Kings seem geared to younger players. The appearance of the game is cartoon-like and the animations are minimal. The color palette is pleasant to look at, featuring muted greens and browns. The background music is nice but unremarkable and sound effects add to the game’s ambience without overpowering it.

The player manages resources that include diamonds, stone, wood and food. As is common in many online games, players can spend real money to add to their in-game inventory. Purchase prices run from a few dollars up to $99.99, which seems inconsistent with a target audience of young players. However, the game can be played with no additional expenditure, but it will take longer for the player to achieve higher levels.

There is nothing extremely new or original about Shadow Kings. The player will learn the basic methods of resource management that can then be used in more complex games. This is a good MMO game for younger or inexperienced gamers who want to learn how real time strategy games work. The sound from this game will not disturb the neighbors, and the content is appropriate for even very young children.

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