An Average Game

Game: Hyperiums, the Massive Galactic Wargame

I started playing hyps in the Fall of '05 and all in all honesty it isn't a bad game (compared with some of the other games out there), but it's far from a great game. Playablility: 3/5 The game is dominated, mainly, by a few major alliances who have been around since, or very close to, the start of the game. As a result, their planets population scores are off the charts while the new players' planets are extremely poor. This causes the game to be fairly unpopular as no new members are joining. In reality the only people who stand a chance are the veterans, and even they have a tendency to leave occasionally. What would make the game better in this sense is to have several "universes" in the game at the same time. Ogame does it. Ferion does it. Hyperiums should do it?. Defending your "empire" is also an issue. DaGod (the owner of Hyps) DID integrate several extra parameters that give defenders a significant advatage, but in a sense they backfired as now the bigger alliances get an even bigger defense bonus. Forums: 4/5 The forums are relatively friendly. N00bs are thrashed around, but it doesn't take too long before you gain some respect. Fairness: 3/5 Hyperiums doesn't take too long to learn to play before you can compete just as well as the veterans. This is the problem. While there are many good players on Hyps, most of those good players aren't given enough credit. Rather, the ones who dominate the game are the ones who have been there for two or more years. The game itself radically becomes a game of "Who got to Hyperiums fastest?". It's just not fair in that sense. Cost: 2/5 Hyps has too many problems to ask for money. Hyps has this credit system where one credit = 90 days of full-version play. If you buy the credits, your planet limit becomes 14 and you can access VERY necessary technologies. If you don't, your planet limit is 6 and your account is excessively limited. That means if you don't buy the credits (or hope someone is generous enough to give you one [for free]), you have no future at Hyps. There are far better games than Hyps who still want money, but are cheaper. Imperia, for example, costs $4 for four months. Hyperiums is $4 for three months. With Imperia you get a far better game at a cheaper price. Uniqueness: 2/5 There's nothing special about Hyperiums. You build ships, manage streams of resources, bash alliances, get bashed yourself, the works. It's also very unrealistic. While reality isn't much of a factor with games, it doesn't make sense at all that you get to command 10+ Million ships. Now, 10,000 is more realistic and actually makes sense. At 10+ Million ships, the only people that will survive are the ones who have the most planet population. Overall: 3/5 I'm not fully satisfied with Hyperiums. You pay a good amount of money for a game that isn't worth playing. The universe doesn't reset except for once every 3-4 years. That's enough time to go through high school, or college, or 4/5 of graduate school (places where you'll actually accomplish something and are worthwhile). I'm sorry, but some of us players actually have lives and don't want to have to wait every four years to play and have a chance. Suggestions for Hyps: 1) Make several universes and reset them more often. 2) Make credits cheaper. $15-16 for a year isn't worth it for a game of this caliber. 3) Put a cap on planet population that operates as a function of the planet's size. Planets can't support 300 Billion citizens... 4) Add some mystery to the game! Make those suncruisers and mooncruisers available. That would add some awe to the game.