Lord of Ultima Review
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While Lord of Ultima is free to play, players must use diamonds to purchase items and services that speed up gameplay. A few are rewarded for completed quests, but for the most part they require real cash payments. Diamonds are available at around a penny each with bonus amounts given for bulk purchases. For 10 diamonds, players can purchase 5k of any resource. Building construction and troop recruitment can be sped up by using cash shop items as well. There's no limit to the number of premium items, or economic artifacts as they're called, which can lead to severe gameplay imbalances. Anyone who is willing to open up his wallet can pour enough money in to repel any invasion or win any battle. This is in contrast to the premium services in games like Grepolis which give paying players a bonus but not a blank check. Players can also hire ministers using diamonds. There are currently two available: a Building Minister who increases the queue limit from 5 to 16, and a Defense Minister who increases the recruitment queue from 5 to 16 and alerts alliance members if the player is attacked. All item malls in free games cause some imbalance, but it would of been better if there were more minister options and fewer resource-for-cash items.
Lord of Ultima is EA's first major browser release and it doesn't disappoint. The strategy genre is full of clones, but Lord of Ultima does enough differently to distinguish itself while still maintaining the classic, familiar gameplay style. Fans of the franchise may be left confused, but strategy fans who approach Lord of Ultima as a stand alone game which appreciate it.
