IGF Spotlight: Neptune's Pride

Neptune's Pride is a real-time strategy game where a winner is declared after a player captures half of the stars in the galaxy. Different factors play into how you capture new stars. You can interact with, trade with, and battle other players as well as upgrade your scientific research and natural resources. Tax money from each star is added to your account once a day and can be spent on improvements or trading. E-mail reminders are sent a few times a day, whenever there's a production turn, to check in and make any necessary adjustments or improvements.

Sound is almost nonexistent in this game, save for a few sound effects, and the graphics are quite simple, with more emphasis on the textual information in the menu. This isn't the type of game that should rely on flashy design anyway, so it's not a factor.

If you're looking for some fast-paced action, this definitely is not the game for you. You're pretty limited as far as the moves you can make at a given time, but communication with other players helps offset that. If you're not the type to engage in social interaction online, again, this might not be your type of game. The games I played involved very little contact for the first week, and then eventually short interactions developed over time.

While I appreciate the numerous ways you can strategize to win, the flow was a bit too slow. Also, interaction is supposed to play a huge role in succeeding in Neptune's Pride, but communicating can be difficult when you log in for only a few minutes throughout the day as other players probably do as well. However, hardcore strategy gamers might be up for this type of challenge and welcome the change of pace, possibly even creating a small cult following among niche gamers.

For more games like this, check out the downloads blog on GameSpot.