Common Sense Media Review
By Carolyn Koh
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
War strategy Facebook game is polished fun.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Empires and Allies
What's It About?
In EMPIRES AND ALLIES the Dark Alliance has attacked your country and you must defend your humble island nation and assist your allies. Players begin by clearing the land of destroyed buildings before setting to work building their own. They can create homes for refugees and workers, as well as farms, lumber yards, oil rigs, and ore mines to gather the materials they need. Players must also construct the means to defend their land, including barracks, naval shipyards, and hangars to manufacture the machines of war.
Is It Any Good?
Empires and Allies is the latest offering from Zynga and is easily the most polished of their various building games, which include Frontierville and Cityville. It places a strong focus on community, which makes working with neighbors essential. Each player makes only one kind of ore, which means they have to obtain other kinds by asking friends for them, picking them up as a reward for helping allies, or buying them from their friends' markets. Icons on the friend's ladder show when rewards may be received by helping out on a friend's island. This leads to the temptation to add as many players as possible to your community, which leads to privacy issues for younger players.
With the ability to participate in war games in the storyline as well as against friends and their attackers, the game can be quite compelling.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Facebook Privacy. Do you realize that everyone you invite as a friend can see your wall and your photos? Do you know who these people are? Do you want them to see everything?
Families can also talk about creating a separate profile just to play games so kids can add people who do not have permission to see their photo albums or post to their walls.
Game Details
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