What I'm Playing - Social Games pt.2

Facebook has a lot of copy cat games. It's pretty entertaining to watch. I don't know which came first but clearly as soon as one game is successful there are 1,000 copycat versions. Like 20 different aquariums! But like I said, I played THEM ALL so you don't have to.

In most cases the 'bigger' and more popular a game is, the more fun of a social game it's going to be. Nothing is more depressing than a farm with no neighbors. Then again, we can't cow tow to sub-par games purely because our friends are. I try to have a healthy mix of both, I'll try to get my friends to join games I like that no one has heard of (THE SUMMONING AHEM), but I'll play some games that aren't so great just because I have 40 neighbors and 10 pending gifts.

PETVILLE vs. PET SOCIETY

PETVILLE IS THE WINNAH! Oh the graphics, game play, server speed and shopping experience are sooo far superior! Pet Society has the additional thrill of a garden, fishing pond, aquariums, food stores, more neighbors, and pretty much everything that should make this game great. But for some reason I don't find the rewards of Pet Society (slowed animations, plain low-tech graphics, poor treasure/coins/shopping rate) nearly as exciting as watching my Petville Pet eat one Ninja Cookie.


CAFE WORLD vs. RESTAURANT CITY

RESTAURANT CITY IS THE WINNAH! I will keep playing BOTH for some time, they are both addictive games in different ways. Cafe World has better graphics and a more satisfying cooking process. Restaurant City makes you scrabble and hunt for each ingredient unless you're willing to pay IRL money (or wait each day to win a free ingredient via the food quiz). The process of combing my friends restaurants hoping they'll trade me a bay leaf for some flour is really fun to me. You can also grow a tree by your Restaurant and go visit random restaurants around the 'city,' as you wonder what on earth gets you good enough ratings to one day make it to "Gourmet Street" - there are a number of articles online with things like Game Play instructions, as it's actually pretty complicated to get ahead in Restaurant City. But I'm happy with my humble, slowly expanding restaurant... I've noticed when it comes to FB games, if I can't figure it out by clicking around, I just won't play.