Hyperiums.com, multiplayer persistent strategy game (hyperiums.com)

Member Name: PSmith33

Product:	hyperiums.com
Date:	14/05/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Deep & rich game, original & elegant concept, addictive, great community

Disadvantages: Mostly text-based, elitist, addictive

Hyperiums is a massively multiplayer strategy game running since early 2001.
It is browser based, which means you do not need to download anything, you can play it from anywhere, including from work (if you have internet access and a cool boss).
The game takes place in a futuristic and/or distant galaxy. Each player starts with one planet, develops its civilization level, builds exploitations and factories, trades with the surrounding planets. The income generated by the exploitations and trades is used to build ships and raise armies, which you send to other planets in order to conquer them.
The players usually team up and form alliances. The game incorporates a full-fledged alliance management system, with private forums, security levels, a voting system for electing or dismissing the president, and many more options.
As you progress on the different paths of the technology tree, brand new parts of the game are unveiled, deepening the richness and addictiveness of Hyperiums. You will discover, for instance, the Stasis Field which slows down ground and space battles, the Black Hole which destroys a whole planet, the Energy Blast which drains the energy from all surrounding planets, the different Scanners giving you instantaneous informations on distant planets...
Hyperiums can be played for free without limitation in time, and there is no advertising cluttering its pages. The game finances itself through optional paid features, and offers an original credit market that allows anyone to get these optional features for just in-game money.

All in all, Hyperiums offers a rich and elegant concept, unique on the web and much different from the planetarion/ogame/utopia clone family.
Hyperiums is a must for any serious strategy gamer.

Summary: Fight for planets, develop their civilization, trade and spy, join or lead alliances, and much more!