World of Western
info:
Publisher
Users
Available On
Facebook.com
Strategy Game :
Play
as a Marshal intent on leading Cowboys and Indians to fight off
Outlaws! Defend your citizens, build your town, and invade your friend's
territories in the wild World of Western!
Review :
World of Western brings cowboy trappings to social strategy.
World of Western
is the kind of social strategy game that you'd expect a guy like me to
love. I might be fat and chained to a computer during most of my waking
hours these days, but once upon a time I was a cowboy on the ranches of
Texas – spurs, chaps, and even a slightly bowlegged walk. Alas, this is
no Red Dead Redemption. World of Western's
heart is in the right place, what with its rifle toting buckaroos and
friendly Native Americans patrolling digital Tombstones, but in
execution it bears far too many resemblances to the many other
city-building-meets-combat games that have been popping up on Facebook
lately.
If you've played one of those (and if you're reading this, there's a
good chance you have), you'll know that you start your gameplay by
clearing your town of joshua trees, rocks, and the occasional saguaro.
From there World of Western's implementation of a cowboy theme on a template normally designed for fantasy strategy feels a little forced.
Consider,
for instance, the sheriff's offices that take the place of the usual
barracks and military encampments. Consider, too, the inclusion of farms
(here called "plantations," a significant nuance that might be the
product of iffy translation) in regions that usually couldn't support
them because of their famed hardscrabble. At least the buildings
themselves capture the intended ambiance, complete with cowboy homes
cobbled together from discarded wood and saloons that would look at home
on any episode of Gunsmoke. Too bad you can't rotate them; as a
result, it's tough to recreate the streets with shops facing each other
that we know so well from Western duels.
Nice touches all, but perhaps not unique enough to win over players
who've been soured by the proliferation of turn-based combat in other
social games; charming cowboy aesthetic or no. At heart, World of Western
follows the same template of city building and turn-based combat we
know from so many other titles, but this time it's brought some
Western-themed duds that hit the trail for the dude ranch of social
gaming. If you're fine with that familiarity and intrigued by the
Western theme, by all means, bring along some friends and start a posse.
If you're burnt out on the standard social strategy boilerplate,
however, you'd be best forging a new trail in search of more innovative
social games elsewhere. I hear there's gold in them there hills.
why the game is good?
Charming Old West aesthetic. Entertaining turn-based battles with bosses. Wide variety of units and buildings.
why the game is bad ?
Feels like a re-skin of other social strategy games.


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