Heroes of Gaia
Heroes of Gaia is a Flash-based game set in the world of Gaia a land rich in resources, monsters and magical equipment. You start by choosing a look for your hero and then quickly proceed to your town hall. The objective of the game is to build your fame by completing tasks and expanding your kingdom through exploration and upgrades on your town.
The heroes in this town are recruited from your town tavern. Makes sense that’s usually were adventures head when they are traveling through a strange city. Upgrade your tavern to a nicer more top of the line version and you can recruit higher level heroes. Apparently the heroes in Gaia will only show up as long as your city tavern is up to par with the finest in dining and entertainment.
The game offers a wide variety of upgrades, monsters and tasks to work on. So I rolled my sleeves up and started upgrading and fighting and then …. I ran out of money…..At this point Heroes of Gaia comes to a screeching halt. I decided to ask other players for help only to find out that you can not speak in world chat until you have reached a certain amount of fame. I can’t imagine why new players would not be able to ask for help?!?
Combat involves a terrible Flash animation of chess piece-like blobs moving across what looks like the terrain art from the original Legend of Zelda. The game takes care of all the action and requires no actual skill. I use this time to go to the restroom, make a sandwich or play another game..
There are some intriguing ideas in the game. Unfortunately, the game play is too slow and the combat too uninvolving to keep my interest for more than an afternoon. Because there is nothing original about the game style and their subtle attempt at duping you into spending money to make the game go faster is almost offensive. I don’t think I will be missing out on too much. I might consider playing something like this if there was something available in an Iphone or android application. When it comes to free MMO’s I will stick with Dungeons and Dragons online.
