Dotville Deluxe Review

It's good to be king! Or at least, it seems like that would be the deal. In any case, Dotville Deluxe is a pretty original civilization game, starring a small... dot who has big plans of starting his own kingdom! Starting out as a mere civilian, you work your way up as your community grows larger and more powerful.

So the gameplay is pretty basic. You have the options of building, trading, build your army and overall attempt to do whatever will let your civilization grow. You can build farms, which increases food for dots and trade, marketplaces, which increases your amount of 'bucks', a mine which produces iron, and a 'smithy' which is for weapons. You can trade, which is basically another way of buying, since money is really the only thing you're using to purchase. You can choose the 'army' button, which increases your dot troops, a 'food rate' choice in which you can increase food for your villagers, you can raise or lower the tax rate, and lastly you can make the expensive choice of upgrading your fortress. The game's simplicity makes it fun, and especially easy to get into.That being said, it's easy to get out, too. There are a number of ways you can lose the game, which is why keeping you must keep your dots healthy, happy and free from harm. It's your job to be a good, friendly king who is good to his people.

The illustrations are fairly basic, not sleek nor ugly. It's your standard, fairly-scraggly flash animation that is sufficient for any Flash game of this kind. The set-up is extremely easy and uncomplicated, which does good for the game overall. The only issues of ambiguity is within the game mechanics, where losing can seem simultaneous, which seems to be the game's biggest flaw when you begin.

For this type of game, it seems you lose too easily at first. Everything will be going well, and suddenly you find that your dots run away to never return, and you don't know why. For some it may encourage you to figure out why you lost, and how to prevent it, but for others it may be a large turn-off. It really depends on how much enjoy games like this. This is essentially why it's important to go through the instructions. (it's even in red)

Pros and cons:

Pros:
- Simple

- Challenging

- They're dots, that's enough

Cons:
- Ambiguous at times

- Repetitive

One of the game's biggest problems is that it gets repetitive very quickly. While being simple is good at the beginning of the game, it can also be a problem if it limits the game's growth. The game turns out to be a bit more suiting for those who have the patience to sit through the same style of levels over and over for a while, with slow progression.
It's sort of Travius like, without actually being online. Sometimes it seems like you're doing nothing to get nothing as an outcome, which can be a flaw in a lot of games (perhaps in games in general).

ANYWAY, the game is definitely a lot of fun if you've got patience and some time on your hands. Working to the 50 turn mark can be tedious, but it's definitely quite satisfactory when you make it. The game may not be as good as some of the more polished and intricate Flash games out there, but it's definitely pretty fun.

I'm going to go ahead and give it a 7.5/10!
Play Dotville Deluxe on Kongregate!