14 DAY TRIAL // 
I'm convinced that by now, most of you have heard about Playrix Entertainment or at least have played some of their amazing games. From trademark names such as Fishdom or Call of Atlantis, many of you have become fans of these types of time management and puzzle games.
So, here I stand giving you a small sneak peak into their latest release, Royal Envoy Collector's Edition, that is nothing short of the developer’s crown achievement until now. Although it has just hit the market, it promises to be a smashing hit among children and grownups of all ages that want to experience the sheer pleasure of a time management game packed with amazing graphics and sounds.
Story
Our story begins in a magical kingdom in a time of great need, after people suffered from a terrible natural disaster. The king’s councilor asks for the necessary resources so that the empire can be rebuilt and brought back to its glory giving his majesty the chance to recapture the trust and support of his folk. Not to worry, unlike other games, you will not be assuming the role of the powerful king but of someone even more important, the man who helps the people get back on their feet.
By the king's orders, you will be assigned to gather all the necessary resources and travel to every island in the empire so that you can rebuild the homes destroyed by the great disaster. In your quest, the king's trusted councilor and architect will be by your side, giving you pointers, tips and updating your quests. As you explore more of these magical lands, your mission will not be without peril, as you will be attacked by pirates and face the most difficult tasks of your life. Embarking in this new adventure will give you both the gratitude of the king and of the people and you will find that new friends will join you in your mission to rebuild the kingdom to its former glory.
Gameplay
Although it is not different from any other time management game in the series, it stands apart by giving the player the ability to choose among a wide range of homes and other settlements when building a new town. Even if you are strictly limited to completing your objectives, this doesn't mean that you have to build the same houses and structures over and over again. Each new level offers you even more stunning structures to unlock and use, some of which will even surprise you. For instance, how many times have you heard about being able to build banks that will double and even triple your income, or about searching for treasure maps and digging for long lost pirate treasures as you raise a town?
One of the great features of the game is that you can choose between two styles of gameplay. You can either play to complete your objectives as fast as you can before the allocated time expires or you can play in a relaxed mode, where you take your time in completing your tasks and you focus on making the town as lovely and as comfortable as you can. Even if the time expires, you can still play your mission until you complete your objectives.
The true challenge behind the game lies in reaching all your objectives within the specified time frame because there is nothing more satisfactory than winning new rewards and gold medals that you can later view in your trophy room. At times, you will be faced with the difficult decision to choose which houses to build first, mostly because you have a limited number of resources at the start of each level. So, if you start off by building the most expensive homes such as a villa or a cottage, you might be short on resources and run out of money or wood to upgrade your buildings or even worse, you might have to restart the entire level.
The strategy part of the game lies in the way you start building your town and the beginning of each mission. Don't think it is all about mindless building and completing your objectives as fast as you can. You will often find yourself in the situation where you will have to choose which structure to raise first so that you will have enough resources to carry out your mission only to demolish it later and create a new structure on its ground.
If you want to speed up the process of rent collection or to build and upgrade buildings faster, you can buy new workers and tax collectors that will get the job done a lot faster. If money is ever an issue, the game allows you to build a bank that will double your income in time, as you collect more rent fees. Another way to go could be raising a market place and selling wood in exchange for money. This should be taken into consideration only when you have a lot of wood and no money.
Unlike most time management games, you might not always have access to all the building lots on the map. The game places various obstacles such as fallen trees and branches on the road that prevent you from reaching your destination and even money-hungry pirates that you will have to pay off so that they can move off the road and let you pass. So, the constant battle with resources, money and time will put your skills to the test and any decision that you make, no matter how small, will influence your mission. Making the right call at the right time is what stands between reaching your objectives on time and winning lots of awards.
Royal Envoy might seem like an easy game, but it's a lot more complicated than that. For children, it provides the basic understanding of tactics and planning methods in order to achieve their objectives and grownups will be pulled in by the challenge of winning all the awards.
An interesting feature of the title is that if you're in the middle of a mission and you want to exit the game, when you come back, it resumes your mission exactly from where you left off. This is a double-sided issue because, on the one hand, it's great that you don't have to restart from scratch and, on the other hand, you might forget where you left off. Considering time is of the essence, until you figure out what you have to do next, you will lose precious seconds and even minutes.
Graphics and Audio
The most remarkable aspect of the game lies in the small cinematic fragments that split the missions. Besides being captivating, the cartoonish graphics have never looked better. The characters are very expressive and you get the feeling that you are always in a constant adventure. Each cut-scene is vividly colored and although the comic book type of creating the story line is common for these games, in Royal Envoy, you get the sense of a movie-like experience, mostly because of the dialogue between the characters.
Each game comes with a unique soundtrack and Royal Envoy is no exception. Having melodious and cheerful background music, the sound effects bind in perfectly, though at times hearing the same music over and over again may become a bit boring. Even if you hear the same building sounds, the game compensates by adding a dialogue between the characters from each small cut-scene. Sometimes, hearing what you have to do is a lot better than having to read out instructions and tips as you play. This major feature lightens the burden of figuring out what your objectives are and makes the background story of the game a lot more interesting.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
