Article:
iPhone App: We Rule

FarmVille has become an internet phenomenon. Casual players all around the world have been playing it strong, though those who don’t play it can’t for the life of them figure out why. Maybe it’s the sense of achievement the game gives, or the sense of community as you compare your farms with your friends that keep people coming back.

We Rule is a game that hopes to capitalize on FarmVille’s success. While the similarities are striking, it’s clear the creators were hoping to say “Hey, we’re like FarmVille...only with more.” A large portion of the game is centered around building farms, and cultivating crops that grow in real time, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can also build roads, and houses for your people to live, and schools, and even tailor shops. An entire kingdom is yours for the making.

While it’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot to not like about this app. Crops can take a long time to grow, which is fine for people who only want to check in on their farm a couple times a day, but I’ve found that the crops get rotten to quickly, and there were times where I would lose track of time for a number of hours only to find all my crops ruined. A game promoting casual play should be more forgiving.

Also, the game is completely online, and has been experiencing numerous server issues. It will randomly hiccough during gameplay, and you can run the risk on numerous occasions of losing all your crops in a freak server accident. Drop a building, you can lose the money for the building, and then come back to the game in an hour and find the building isn’t where you left it. But the money is still gone.

Ignoring the minor hiccoughs (which will probably improve with time), there is also the problem with community. A game like this would have benefited to be released both on the iPhone, and on Facebook so that you might be able to play with your friends who might not have an iPhone. As it is, only people with iPhones can play We Rule, and if you don’t have many friends with those (I don’t have any) you’ll quickly find a large portion of the appeal of the game will be lost to you.