Gaming Website Review: Kongregate.com

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Kongregate passes the basic library test with flying colors, probably thanks to its goal of being friendly towards developers. As of July Kongregate boasts over 16,000 games and rising. More importantly, cross-referencing Krogregate's selection with that of other flash-based game websites did not reveal any serious gaps in Kongregate's library. In fact, it seems that Kongregate often has games that other some other websites are missing.

Given the huge library associated with flash-based game websites, and the dependence on advertisements for revenue, the layout of such a website is a big deal. A website which is poorly put together is going to make it hard for the player to navigate through the thousands of available games. Advertisements can also be a problem. Websites like Flashgames247 and Flash-Games.net are horrid when it comes to advertising. Banners are everywhere, distracting from the games and the libraries. Kongregate, on the other hand, never lets the advertisements become the centerpiece of the website. They're defiantly there, taking on the form of banners at the top of every page, but they don't become so distracting that it is hard to enjoy a game. Kongregate also has high-quality advertisements which may be of actual interest, unlike some other websites which are spammed with ads for Civony and IMVU.

The only problem with Kongregate's website is its library navigation. The search functions work fine and the website does an excellent job of outlining those games which are the best rated and/or most popular. There are no sub-genres listed, however, nor any apparent attempt to break up the games among finer lines than "strategy" or "action". Only fifteen games are listed per page when browsing, and there is no way to change that. It would have been great to be able to view games in a list format with perhaps fifty on a page.