| Nice Little Strategy Game |
|
| March 11 2010 |
|
| Release 1.0 |
I've been pleased with Dice Empire. It is a simple strategy game from the vein of Risk.
A randomly generated map is pre-populated with numeric values, each representing a die. You play vs. four computer players. Spaces attack one another one at a time. Each number represents a die that is rolled as part of the attack. Add up the dice values, and highest total wins, and all the dice but one that remains behind move to the new space. At the end of each turn new dice are allocated based on how many spaces you control and randomly distributed on your spaces. Conquer the whole map and you win.
After playing 10 games or so, it looks like I'm winning about two out of three games. The random distribution of your dice limits your ability to outsmart the computer players and brings a nice element of randomness to the game. The new map for every game also means you'll have to reform your strategy each game as well. These things make for nice replay-ability.
I would have preferred an Axis and Allies style dice match up over the totals implementation. The all or nothing nature and one on one limits of the combat and the requirement that all dice in an attack move to the new space limits your ability to be creative in play.
Well worth the asking price as a 20 minute per game diversion.
