Games We Play

If you've been with me for any amount of time you've figured out that I'm a total dork, and that I'm also completely okay with my dorkiness.

I occasionally play games on Facebook. Not Farmville. Actually I have never stayed interested in Zynga's games for very long at all. For awhile I was pretty interested in a game that outlined the Harry Potter stories, but then they were threatened with a lawsuit and asked to change the characters and the story line, so I lost interest in it. Didn't play anything for a long time after that.

Now I've been playing an HOG called Gardens of Time for awhile and aside from being addicted the soundtrack quality music, it's probably the best FB game I've ever played. Pretty graphics, really awesome story. Only 5 of my friends will play it with me! Those who have tried it before have more or less given up, and the others just ignore the invites.

I too, hate being invited to these games that I don't care about. For a long time there was nothing more exasperating than countless invites from your friends to come water their crops! I blocked all invites to Zynga games. Now I feel bad for doing that because I want friends to come play Gardens of Time with me!! Arrrrgh! I feel like these FB games set themselves up for failure by closing off parts of the games unless you have certain amounts of friends or only letting you buy into it. Well no wonder no one plays the game to the very end. Either you have to have a lot real money to dump into the game - and believe me, I refuse to put hard earned money into overpriced Facebook 'gold' , or you have to convince 120 other people to play it too. Computer gaming sites like BigFish will give you whole games for $6.99. Why not FB Games? At least offer a one-time subscription that allows serious players to get all parts of the game. I actually DID buy coins for this game, I'm ashamed to admit it, but they were used up far too quickly and they are much too expensive to purchase again. I'm not a millionaire and I haven't been able to find any reliable cheats (that don't contain viruses) to get out of it.

Well anyway, this game caught my attention because it's got elements of things I adore anyway. You get to design and build a beautiful garden! The theme is time travel! It's STEAMPUNK too! (YAY!) It's a hidden object game (HOG)! Even better! All my favorite things combined! Let's add more exclamation points for dramatic effect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You join the Time Society and travel through time to different eras and landscapes. You search for the hidden objects, earn coins and then go back and build artifacts and building from different time periods into your garden, which gains reputation points, which unlocks more scenes and allows you to continue the game. There is a pretty cool story that goes with it too involving a traitor in the ranks who is using Julius Caesar to change the course of history. Quite entertaining.

History lovers, steampunkers, and fans of HOGs should give this one a try. Yes, it's on Facebook, which means you're going to be bombarded with invites and updates from your friends, but try to be nice. It's a good one.