From Apezone, developers of the excellent games Starships Unlimited and Battleship Chess comes this new title--an interesting combination of the tropes of the "4X" genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) and the mechanics of Risk.
Risk is, of course, a fine game, and has been the basis of some well-conceived computer games (notably Lux Delux); but it is so familiar a style as to be somewhat jejune. Starship Kingdoms adds a high degree of interest by incorporating technology development, putting production more directly under the players' control, and pitching the game as a struggle between two "major houses," with much of the galaxy controlled by neutrals who may join the weaker side in the mid-game.
Technologies players can develop include beam and missile weapons, armor, and star drives. The outcome of a battle depends not only on the number of ships in the opposing forces, but also on their relative technologies. (Battles are played out in attractive 3D.) Each turn, players are faced with a choice between devoting resources to additional ship construction, or advancing their technology--trade-offs such as these often make for interesting gameplay.
One of the flaws of Risk as a game is that the strong get stronger; the more continents you control, the more quickly you can overwhelm your opponents. Thus, the end-game is often dull--the strongest mopping up the weaker. Starship Kingdom counters this by having the 'neutrals' join the weaker side in mid-game, thus rebalancing the game and ensuring that the remainder retains interest.
Starship Kingdom has a wide variety of starmaps, which ensures repeat playability, and is playable both as a single-player game (against an AI opponent), as well as online, against another live player.
