I usually try out most of the pc games online before I will ever think about buying them - I mean, you test drive a car first, right? So, after playing some of the other "virtual" games that Yahoo! Games offers, I figured that I would try out Virtual Villagers as well just to check it out for all you BrightHub readers out there. So, I hit the site and downloaded the free 60-minute trial. After playing the whole 60 minutes, here is my review of this fun-to-play, virtual PC game.
Game Basics - When it comes to the virtual games that you will find on Yahoo! Games, Virtual Villagers is their version of "The Sims". And, what is funny is that this is the same island that you play on in Fish Tycoon from Yahoo! Games. But, in Virtual Villagers, you control everything that these little villagers do after they crash their boats on a desert island in the ocean.
You start off with 6 villagers, 5 adults and 1 child usually, which means that you have 5 villagers to use to gather food, build, and research things on the island. The child doesn't really do much but run around and play, but you can drag the child onto special objects that you see (like mushrooms) and they will gather them up to help out the village. You will have to have villagers that will gather berries off of the huge bush, villagers that will clean up the debris off of the beach so they can build more huts and clean off the well so that they have fresh water to drink, and a villager (or two) that can research some of the plants and items on the island so that you can gain tech points and have a villager help to heal your sick ones.
By gathering food, the villagers will build up a stockpile that any of them can go eat from when needed. But, this berry bush does go dry, so you have to make sure that you have villagers on the research side of things so that you can up your tech points quickly so you can buy experience in farming for your villagers. When you have villagers that build other huts, you can then breed your villagers and get more to help you out with farming, building, and so forth (just keep in mind that mothers take care of the babies until they are 2, so they won't do anything else on the island until then). Your researchers will study the plants and such on the island to build up your tech points so that you can get experience in farming, science, construction, and more to help your villager live better lives.
There is actually so much to this game that I would recommend downloading the free trial so that you can see all that it has to offer! But, keep in mind that this is a "real time" pc game, which means that the game keeps going even when you exit it. So, you can easily change the time on your computer's clock to manipulate the game and the growth and tech points that your villagers have! (Just a tip there for you who enjoy these types of games!)
Graphics - The graphics are pretty good. They are what you would expect from a Yahoo version of the Sims, but a lot less detail than the Sims games. While they graphics aren't horrible, they aren't as bad as the fish shop graphics on Fish Tycoon, so they are playable. The detail of the villagers and the island is good and worth playing.
Overall, I give Virtual Villagers a good 4 out of 5, if not a 4.5 out of 5. I will be buying the full version of this game to see how long it takes me to actually beat it and what happens when you do!