8.4 Great

Gameplay 8 Fun 8 Interface 7 Community 10 Tilt 9

4 Screenshots

- Strong community.
- Lots of options for players to choose from in creating their own unique strategies.
- Excellent Game Manual.


- Steep learning curve.
- Lack of newbie games.

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Merchant Empires is a game that primarily appeals to longtime players of space trading strategy games. Its interface is pretty complicated and hard for novices to figure out. To say that the interface is "busy" is an understatement. The game also has a steep learning curve so much so that there is a high quitting rate among new players despite the fact that Merchant Empires features a very well detailed player's manual. Complicating matters for new players is the lack of a newbie game in which novice players can figure things out before playing with the big boys.

However, if you are willing to tough it out and learn the game, then Merchant Empires can prove to be a fun and rewarding experience. One idea for new players to follow is to try out a similar but easier to learn game such as Space Merchant Realms or the still existing Trade Wars before tackling the more complex Merchant Empires.

Game play in Merchant Empires is more in-depth than in any other BBG that I have ever played in. As the name of the game implies, Merchant Empires is basically a space trading game. However, as any Merchant Empires veteran can tell you, combat is a key component of the game. Players can follow either a strictly commercial strategy or go for piracy and running up as many kills as they can. Alliances (the Merchant Empires term for clans or guilds) vie for power in the galaxy.

One strong aspect of Merchant Empires is that you play as a ship pilot, giving you the feel of a genuine space ship commander. You can upgrade your ship to bolster its defense, maximize its firepower, and increase its cargo capacity for additional profits or a combination of these factors for your own unique personal strategy. You also have other options such as creating base structures and investing in a research tree. There are many options for players to choose from resulting in many different personal strategies that players can opt for. This is in direct contrast to all too many BBG's in which there are only a handful of tried and true strategies to use.

One of the best aspects of Merchant Empires is the community. There is both live IRC chat and a forum. Both of these are well attended. There is also regularly updated in-game News. About the only thing missing from Merchant Empires community-wise is a developer's blog.

Overall, Merchant Empires is one of the single best space strategy browser based games out there. Its interface is both complicated yet at the same time probably a fair representation of what the view from the pilot's seat of a merchant spaceship will be a hundred years or so from now. This gives it a realistic feel.

The single biggest drawback is the sharp learning curve that the novice player encounters upon entering the game. However, if you have what it takes to study the game manual, read and participate in the forum and IRC and follow the advice of veteran players combined with the patience required to go through a trial and error process towards coming up with what is the best strategy(ies) for you, then Merchant Empires can be both a fun and rewarding experience.