It is not very often that we write reviews about browser games, but this is, obviously, the exception. Heybit Empire is an indie strategy game developed by a single guy, who happens to be from my city. It is of course free of charge and ideal to play at work [TM], because it does not require your constant attention, and only five minutes per hour are enough to maintain your own city, army and eventually empire.
The game is written (mostly) in php and thus it doesn't require neither huge amounts of processing power nor fancy graphic cards. It relies instead a lot on your imagination to picture battles, armies and towns, capability of tactical analysis in every situation; patience and enjoyment of complex things; and last but not least in you having some time to spare every now and then of course.
In the beginning, you are given the choice to pick one of the three sides: Greeks, Romans or Persians. While each may have some different traits, units or buildings in the higher tiers, the differences are really minor and it doesn't matter much who you choose to play in the larger scale of things. Just pick your favorite faction from the history books.
A random location will be picked as a starting place for your empire, but if random just doesn't cut it for you, here are a few pointers:
In addition to manage your crop production and providing enough lumber, iron and stone for buildings and upgrades, you also have to manage your gold income, including tax income and gold from trades, and your upkeep, ensuring houses for a constantly growing population.
You can also trade resources with your neighbors of course once you construct the appropriate building, assuming that they actually need what you have to offer them. Bear in mind pretty much everyone will ask for lumber and such...
The game seems to have a decent amount of active players from what I could tell, and it helps to know you will actually have someone to play with. Even if the help for beginners is scarce, you will probably be able to find someone to answer most of your game related questions on the forums or on the built-in chat box Heybit has on the left side of your interface screen.
Even if you aren't feeling particularly chatty today, the game is not rocket science, and it starts small so you can catch up with some of its base concepts. There is even a suggestion box, showing you what you can build next, generated dynamically depending on your current resources.
Just expand evenly and you'll be marching your own army to the gates of an enemy city in no time.
The graphics in Heybit aren't that great, but everything is constantly improving. This is, after all, a one man show, developed and maintained by an individual in his spare time.
Heybit is completely free, but you can always go the easy way and help the developer in the process by using PayPal to buy bonus points. You can find this feature under the Premium tab, in the game's main menu.
Bonus points can be used to purchase additional troops without going through the headache to train them. Alternately, you can just buy a stack of resources when you feel you just can't wait any longer to upgrade that mighty keep of yours.
Conclusion
If you're looking for something to fill those boring hours at work, or just find yourself bored stiff at home, you should give Heybit Empire a shot. Even if this isn't a fancy looking game, you'll find yourself addicted to it in no time. Plus, Laurentiu, the creator, ensures me he will keep pushing forward and add new features as time goes by, so you can indeed become that ruthless conqueror or peaceful king the game promises it will turn you into. http://www.heybit.com/