"If you are a patient person, and have 5-10 min a day to spare, this is for you!"

At www.starkingdoms.com they say that their game is an online RPG, but it is really more of a strategy game. You create a kingdom that has a planet of its own, inside of a random one of forty sectors in a random galaxy. When the game starts, you are in ''Newbie Mode'', i.e., you cannot be attacked, probed, or had a missile fired at you, no can you attack, probe, or fire a missile (or even build one) at anyone else. Everyone in your sector is like a team, an the Sector Leader (SL) is determined by the majority vote of those in the sector.

The object of the game is pretty much to just get the highest net-worth (a number that represents the overall value and strength of your kingdom) and/or have the most land by the end of the round which is about 3-4 months long (at which time a new round begins and everyone is reset). The game is very complicated though, and involves probing your enemies to find out their weaknesses, researching technologies to give various bonuses, and putting your land to good use with the score of buildings available.

Don't worry about getting attacked by someone who is far more powerful than you, because such behavior is considered ''bashing'' and he will likely be made a ''kill-target'' (a ''target'' is someone who is to be attacked by several people. a ''kill-target'' is someone who will be targeted until he is dead). Most of the players are decent people, and while you do get some jerks now and then, those are the people who usually end up targeted.

The game runs in real-time and attacks are carried out immediately, but every other decision that you make doesn't have an effect until the next hour starts, where the population grows (or declines), your army is mobilized, your buildings are built, your power is calculated. You can run your kingdom effectively if you log on at least once a day (though more often does help), and if you are hurt badly enough, you enter ''trouble mode'', where the other people in your sector are able to send you aid in the form of power, money, population, or soldiers so that you can defend yourself and get back on your feet.

So, if you like to put your mind against the minds of other in a game of pure strategy, you need look no farther than Star Kingdoms.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/03, Updated 01/31/03