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Sparta: War of Empires

Sparta: War of Empires, or SWoE, is a 2D browser-based strategy game set in ancient Greece. Players are tasked with governing a small-city state and growing it into a mighty empire with a little help from King Leonidas himself.

Publisher: Plarium
Playerbase: Medium
Type: Browser Strategy MMO
Release Date: March 13, 2014 (International)
Pros: +Impressive visuals. +Cash shop currency can be acquired through quests.
Cons: -Cluttered interface. -Pay-to-win elements.

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Overview

Sparta: War of Empires Overview

Sparta: War of Empires is a strategy-based game from Plaruim. Build your own Spartan city-state, upgrade structures, and expand its borders to gain precious resources. Recruit a variety of military units to defend your city or to conquer other cities, make them your slaves, and raid them of their wealth and resources. Bolster your ranks with a variety of defensive and offensive military units. Use strategies and tactics that match your own playing style. Complete objectives to help your small city grow into a mighty empire and make your mark in history as you lead your mighty Spartan army to victory against Xerxes’ forces.

Sparta: War of Empires Key Features:

  • Great AV – high-quality audio and visual effects with fully-voiced tutorials.
  • Traditional Gameplay with PvP Focus traditional browser-based strategy gameplay with an emphasis on PvP.
  • Immerse Yourself in History set in Ancient Greece with familiar historical characters like King Leonidas.
  • Farm Premium Currency premium currency can be acquired via quests.

Sparta: War of Empires Screenshots

Sparta: War of Empires Featured Video

Sparta: War of Empires - Official Gameplay Trailer

Full Review

Sparta: War of Empires Review

By John Schultz

Sparta: War of Empires is a free-to-play (F2P) 2D browser-based strategy game developed and published by Plarium, an Israeli gaming company. It was officially launched in March 13, 2014. The game is also available on Facebook.

The game is set in Sparta, home of the elite Spartan warriors of Ancient times. Players are thrust into the role of Archon or Governor of one of Sparta’s city-states during the time of the Persian Empire’s conquest through Europe and must expand their cities under the guidance of King Leonidas himself. The whole of Sparta must unite under one banner to successfully take back the Pantheon and drive Xerxes’ forces out for good.

Starting Small

In Forge of Empires, like most web-based strategy games, players start off with a small city which they then have to improve, strengthen, and expand under the guidance of King Leonidas. Voice-overs and popups serve as a tutorial and helps beginners quickly get used to the game’s interface, gameplay mechanics, as well as the variety of structures at their disposal through a variety of quests such as building structures, upgrading existing ones, and recruiting certain types of units. Completing these quests rewards players with experience points, resources, units, and sometimes Drachmas, the game’s premium currency which can also be bought with real-world cash.

Building Up Your City

There are several types of buildings in Forge of Empires. Each one is connected to a different sphere of a city's life. Buildings can be classified as Resource, Military, Command, Fortifications, and the Market. Without some buildings, basic player interactions such as war, trade, and exchanges between Allies are unavailable. Players need to unlock new buildings by researching the required Agreements from the Research Tree and have the resources needed to construct them. Buildings can also only be constructed one at a time although players can choose to purchase Partisans, using Drachmas, which allows players to construct buildings simultaneously.

Like most games in the genre, resources are an essential part in improving a player’s city and constantly improving primary resource structures helps players get ahead in the game. There are two types of resources in SWoE: primary resources and secondary resources. Primary resources, namely bronze, grain, and timber, are produced in the Foundry, Farm, and Timber Mill respectively. These resources are basic necessities needed to build structures and recruit units. Secondary resources are divided into four types: Drachmas, Scrolls, Denarii, and Glory Points (GPs). Drachmas are used to boost up the speed of upgrades, units creation, and the construction of structures. Scrolls are rewarded for leveling up and completing Persian Position quests. Denarii are special Roman coins which can be acquired by exchanging bronze and timber at the Argentarium. 500 Bronze and 500 Timber can be exchanged for 500 Denarii. Denarii are used to hire special Roman units such as Gladiators, Triarii, Velites, and Legionnaires. Glory Points (GPs) can be acquired as quest rewards. GPs are used to purchase Articles that allow the player to sign more Agreements and gain access to more advanced unit types.

Coming to an Agreement

Aside from unlocking buildings, signing Agreements unlocks new units and upgrades to unlocked buildings and units. To sign agreements, players must first build the Ephorate. Agreements are important throughout the game as this allows Archons to create more powerful units and structures.

The Legendary Spartan Warriors

Sparta: War of Empires players can recruit three types of units to build their armies: offensive, defensive, and spy units. Offensive units have high offense values but very low defense values while Defensive units have high defense values and low offense. Spies, on the other hand, are used to gather information on neighboring cities which are useful when planning attacks. These units have varying movement speeds which affects how fast a player’s army arrives at its target. Unit choice is also essential in achieving victory in the battlefield. Light infantries have fast movement speeds while Heavy Infantries are a lot slower but packs a stronger punch. Phalanxes, on the other hand, are great against cavalry units.

The Territorial Conquest

Like other strategy games, raiding cities is a very efficient way of acquiring resources. Raiding other players is limited by the number of Raid Points (RP) a player has. A player initially starts off with 10 RP. One RP is consumed every time a player raids another city. RPs are replenished by one point every 2.5 hours.

SWoE allows players to lay siege to a city, which is a feature not found in most browser-based strategy games. Sieging allows players to forcibly occupy an enemy city and make them a Protectorate. Protectorates are basically slave cities which allows players to regularly collect resources up to a certain limit without having to raid the city. Protectorates also get a 25% reduction in their primary resource production on top of the resources looted by the occupying player. A city is considered a Protectorate until the city’s Archon or an ally liberates it using offensive troops. Players looking to progress should make allies quickly, as newer players have no chance in defending themselves against more veteran players that have been playing longer.

Archon's Best Friend

Drachmas are the premium currency in Forge of Empires and are a prized commodity in the game. Aside from purchasing them using real-world money, they can also be obtained as quest rewards. Drachmas give players various advantages in the game. They can be spent to speed up certain game actions as well as to purchase special units and Premium Content. Drachmas can be used to boost almost anything an Archon can think of, making all functions under the Archon's watchful eye work faster and more efficiently. They can also be used to heal units and revive dead ones immediately after the battle. The cash shop in Sparta: War of Empires is without a doubt, pay-to-win. But this isn't unique to SWoE. Nearly every browser-based strategy game employs the same monetization strategy of selling power. Other examples of strategy games that do the same thing include Knight's Fable, Forge of Empires, Might & Magic Heroes Online, WarTune, and GoodGame Empire. Unfortunately, this seems like a necessary evil of the genre, even if it does create a pay-to-win environment.

Forging Alliances

Pantheons are heavily fortified locations that players must capture and defend from Persian forces. Pantheons are located throughout the game world and can only be captured by Coalitions, SWoE’s version of Guilds or Tribes. Pantheons must be rebuilt after capturing them from Persian NPCs or from other Coalitions. Rebuilding Pantheons takes time and a whole lot of resources coming from members of the Coalition. Once captured, Pantheons must also be defended against attacks from Persians and rival Coalitions. Each successful defense rewards participating players with Orichalcum which can be used to promote a player’s units to veteran status.

Final Verdict Good

Sparta: War of Empire is a solid game that puts a slightly different spin on typical web-based strategy games. Instead of working towards world domination, the game forces players to work together to complete one objective: to capture and defend the Pantheon. Raiding other cities and conquering enemies is still a key aspect of the game. While the game’s visuals are typical of other web-based strategy games, the high quality voice-overs gives it a bit of an edge over the competition. The music also fits the theme of the game pretty well. Unfortunately, the game does have some pay-to-win elements, but is still worth checking out.

Screenshots

Sparta: War of Empires Screenshots

Videos

Sparta: War of Empires Videos

Playlist: Sparta: War of Empires (Browser)

Links

Sparta: War of Empires Links

Sparta War of Empires Official Site
Sparta: War of Empires Facebook
Sparta: War of Empires Official Wiki [Database / Guides]

System Requirements

Sparta: War of Empires System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Equivalent
Video Card: any graphics card (integrated works well, too)
RAM: 512 MB
Hard Disk Space: 100 MB (Cache)

Sparta: War of Empires is a browser-based MMORPG and will run smoothly on practically any PC. The game was tested and works well on Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, and Chrome. Any modern web-browser should run the game smoothly. The game is available on Facebook as well.

Music

Sparta: War of Empires Music & Soundtrack

Additional Info

Sparta: War of Empires Additional Information

Developer: Plarium
Release Date: March 13, 2014 (Worldwide)
Other Platforms: Facebook

Development History / Background:

Sparta: War of Empires, or just SWoE for short, was developed by Israeli-based game developer Plarium. Plarium owns and operates the game world-wide and despite being headquartered in Israel, has development offices in Ukraine. The game released world-wide on March 13, 2014 and is also available on Facebook. Unlike other browser-based strategy games, the early game is fully voiced-over.