If you're looking for constant real-time action, this is not your game. If you want a shoot-em-up, this is not your game.
But if you want an excellent, strategic game, where
* communication with others in your kingdom is crucial,
* diplomacy actually makes a difference,
* the basics are easy to understand, but there are plenty of subtleties to master,
* success can be measured in more than one way
then Visual-Utopia is for you.
VU is a turn (or tick) based game: movement and production occurs on the hour. However, attacks happen between the hours. You also don't have to be online for things to happen: if you lay in a move for one of your armies, then log-off, the move will happen while you're gone. Same with construction and accumulation of resources.
VU is almost impossible to play as a loner -- you really need to find a good kingdom to join if you want to survive. However, finding a kingdom to join is not difficult, and kingdom interaction becomes one of the better parts of the game.
Some have complained about lagging or bugs. I haven't experienced any lagging, though I don't use the in-game chat (our kingdom uses IM and the in-game forums instead). Although there are a few known bugs, I've never personally encountered them. All-in-all the game seems very stable.
It is possible to start the game in a very bad position. Sometimes, it's just bad luck, and you need to try again. Once you join a kingdom, things get better.
Also, VU restarts frequently, and if you're starting the game near the end of an "era", it's harder to make good progress. Just hang in there until the next era begins, and things will be much better.
This is a great game -- the best free game of its type that I know of. Oh, and it is truly free. You can buy bonus turns, but you can get along very well without them (I have).
