Score: 10
"Fusion of real-time and real-life"
date: August 8, 2009
This game is unique in many ways.
As a new player, you will be greeted with a small yet informative tutorial (although you will still have to learn the dirty tricks yourself), a comprehensive FAQ and even video documentations from the Discovery Channel, including interviews and infotainment about the moon, its future colonisation and He3-fusion power plants. Even if you didn't come to play, this game still has much learning potential to offer, which is a rare thing.
Now on to the gaming experience itself. You can either pit yourself against three human players, or three AI-controlled players, regardless if you registered or not. Your goal is to mine as much He3 as possible - and to sabotage the three other players. With only five bots, of which you can only command two per turn, you need to put a lot of foresight into your moves - just what a good strategy game needs. As resources are finite, you are forced to be both effective in mining and fighting, creating a new challenge every time you play. Here's a little hint: you can also give your bots commands during the turns of other players, if you haven't noticed.
Should you register (which I did), you can work yourself up the global ranks and claim your share of the virtual moon. The experience system shines here. As you mine more He3, your level will increase and you will gain upgrade points for your bots (too bad they are a little scarce) - but you also may lose cash or maybe even whole levels, because the higher your level is, the higher is the virtual starting fee per game. It really keeps the thrill up.
So, as a whole, this game, as simple as it may seem, has kept me amazed for hours now; and I will continue to play it several times a day. Really, a great job. There is only one thing I can hope for the future: that should humanity one day be able to mine for resources on the moon, they won't nuke, laser or suicide-bomb the crap out of each other.
