Game Reviews

Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children

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Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children

With all the technology at our fingertips and, indeed, in our pockets, it's easy to forget that a simpler way of life used to dominate. Virtual Villagers 2 is all about starting from scratch, learning the basics to build a new society from the ground up without toasters or televisions.

You will need your iPhone, though, to help shepherd a group of children into a fledgling society. Discovering these kids unskilled and alone, you have to give them a start by helping with gathering food, procuring shelter, and discovering new technologies.

You even have to nudge them to procreate, though when I mention that there are storks are involved you'll know this is anything but x-rated.

If all that sounds daunting, then don't be discouraged. Virtual Villagers 2 is a gentle, almost placid, ride. Your only tool is the ability to pick up your inhabitants and plonk them back down again. Want them to fish for food to feed the village? Then scoop them up with your finger and drop them in the sea.

Think the villagers could do with a fire? Then you need to first drop an adult off at a pile of twigs and then at some dry grass before coaxing them into lighting the thing. In essence, you guide your inhabitants into vocations - farming, healing, and so on - in order to ensure your group's survival.

It's all logical stuff, but there are some conditions. The adults and children, for instance, have different roles that can't cross.

Children can't swim or carry out any manual labour, but they can uncover little collectibles that form a nice sidetrack to the main action. Adults, meanwhile, can't see these sparkling gems, but they're good for gathering food, healing sick folk, and generally pushing the population forward.

The game does have a hand in your progress, however, either in the form of natural events that put a block on your strides forward or the points-based skill system. Throughout the game you pick up points used to advance your community in a variety of skill areas, whether Engineering, Medicine, or Culture.

What's most impressive, however, is that all this carries on in the background when you're not playing. Put your iPhone to bed and your civilisation will stay wide awake; when you pop back for another round, things will have moved forward without you having to even flick your finger.

The offshoot from this, however, is that your actual play time can seem rather uneventful. Life in Virtual Villagers 2 ticks by slowly, making it the perfect long ranger for those small spare moments, but a pretty poor companion for a no-holes-barred gaming marathon.

Anyone after immediacy will find it virtually non-existent, but for those who like playing god, this is a perfect antidote for that nutty, unhinged world out there.

Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children

Like a wave of calm in an ocean of action-packed arcade thrills, Virtual Villagers 2's slow paced take on the God-sim will not be to everyone's tastes, but it will satisfy anyone up for an extended adventure
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Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.