Known for crafting a variety of addictive, microtransaction-based Villes, Zynga has yet to step into the strategy genre. But with tomorrow’s launch of Empires & Allies, the predominantly casual gamer-focused company enters the ring with the likes of Firaxis — a veteran developer currently honing its own Facebook strategy title, Civilization World. And strategically speaking, Zynga’s in a good spot launching tomorrow, considering Civ World’s still ambiguous “summer” release window.
Per Zynga’s press release, Empires & Allies is “strategy combat gone social … think CityVille meets Risk,” further explained as a combination of Zynga’s world-building games with a new strategy-combat twist. Beyond fighting off other empires, brokering diplomacy and navigating global politics with Facebook friends, players will also be striving for vengeance against an “unapologetic tyrant” known as “The Raven” who, apparently, collapsed your empire. Thankfully, video game omnipotence has made it possible to seek revenge.
Ex-EA Command & Conquer designer Amer Ajami is heading up the project as executive producer, the first title Ajami has released as head of Zynga’s Los Angeles development studio. Head past the break for a look at the game in action, four short hours before launch.
Gallery: Empires & Allies
Empires & Allies launches preemptive strike for Zynga against Civ World, arrives June 1 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 31 May 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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