Battle of the Kingdoms -- We Rule by ngmoco Vs Miracle City Online by DroidHen

I decided to do something a bit different for this review. Instead of reviewing each game separately, I am going to do a side by side comparison of these games to see which one is the "better" kingdom.  Today I am looking at We Rule by ngmoco and Miracle City Online by DroidHen. Let the battle begin!

Name: We Rule | Developer: Mobage | Genre: Casual | Players: 1 | Version: 1.3.4 | Size: 17 MB | Price: Free |

From its market page: “Create your own fanciful Kingdom. Start with a small keep and expand into a towering citadel! Fill your realms with castles, peasants, pirates,  dragons, and more! Deliver goods to friends, harvest crops, and collect taxes to earn rewards and claim new realms.”

Name: Miracle City Online | Developer: DroidHen | Genre: Arcade & Action | Players: 1 | Version: 1.0.5 | Size: 22 MB | Price: Free |

From its market page: "Miracle City is a social game to run a city together with your friends. By growing crops, building houses, and mining, you gain money and energy to develop your city. Decorations will please your citizens and so to make them work harder and more efficiently. Visiting and helping your friends often so that you may receive gifts and help from them which will accelerate the development of your city."

Many of you probably have heard of We Rule. It is a very popular iOS game that was recently ported to Android. Miracle City Online on the other hand, is a relatively new game which I just happened to find one day.   If you like social building games, then you will like these games. I do but if I only had to choose one to play... read on to see which one I would pick (no peaking at the bottom!).

The premise of both games is the same: Build your kingdom. There are many quests that you can complete alone and many in which you need the help of your neighbors. In both, you can easily rearrange your buildings, decorations, roads, etc. You can also expand your land and if you need more in-game cash, in-app purchasing is available. With the basics out of the way, the question is how do they compare?

1. Developers/Social Network

We Rule is developed by ngmoco, a very successful iOS development company that is beginning to move onto the Android market. They have produced other games such as Pocket Frogs, Tiny Tower, and Zombie Farm.

Mobage is the social network they developed around their Android apps. You can download the games individually but to find neighbors you will need to join Mobage. You would think having a dedicated social system build around the game would make it easier to find friends. Not from my experience. I had a very hard time finding active neighbors to help me with quests. I got number of requests for others who wanted to be friends but when I looked at their profile in Mobage, it did not appear they were playing We Rule. Because of the lack of active neighbors, it has been hard finishing certain quests.

Miracle City Online is from DroidHen. They are not a new developer, having produced such titles as Fruit Slice and City Jump. To play Miracle City, you need to set up an account and log into their network, so you can find neighbors. I was pleasantly surprised that finding active and helpful friends for Miracle City was very easy. I was able to scan the "world" and pick out some players to connect with. Also I received numerous requests to be neighbors, again from active players. How do you define an active player? One that builds regularly, sends gifts regularly, and most importantly provides assistant on the quests you need. I have had no problems fulfilling quests in Miracle City.

2. Speed of Game

We Rule is slow. I will not beat around the bush. It take awhile to load on my DroidX (on both wi-fi or 3G).  When there has been an update, I normally just let the app sit there and I go do other things and come back.We are talking minutes to get updates. Loading the game is also slow and even going into the different panels within the game can be very slow. It has been very frustrating.

Miracle City responds very nicely. It is quick to open and if there is an update, you can run the update while you are playing, with a progress bar showing you its progress. Going to the different panels also works well.

For both games, leveling up move quickly when you first start but as you reach the higher levels it takes a bit more time.

3. In-Game Cash

Both games have in-game purchases. With We Rule you can purchase mojo. They also have MobaCoin, their social media currency, which is good over all of their games. I have not made any in-app purchases, so I cannot comment on how well it works. You will also find ads within building panel.

For Miracle City, you can purchase crystals. They also provide you the option of earning free crystals by downloading and trying other apps. A neat thing the game has is a lucky wheel, which you can spin for free daily to win crystals, coins, experience, and more. Did not see any ads the game. Again I did not make any in-app purchases but with active neighbors, gifts, and other ways to earn items, not sure if I will need to.

The game reason for purchasing mojo or crystals is to help speed up the game. If you have patience, you can save some real money. Also for both games, you earn money from the business, planting crops, fulfilling quests and gifts.

4. Graphics

We Rule has more "serious" and "better looking" graphics. The flash screens are cool and the building have quite a bit of detail to them. They definitely have a more "medieval kingdom" feel to them. The citizens walking around your kingdom, look pretty small. The buildings and objects look a bit fuzzy to me when I zoom in, which I do not like.

Miracle City has more "cartoon" style graphics. The buildings and objects are a bit more fantasy and fun. The hunting log has a big shotgun on the roof,while the bar has a keg on it. The citizens walking around are a bit bigger than what you see in We Rule and building are sharp even when you zoom in.

Both games allow pinch to zoom and have relatively easy to use game interfaces.

We Rule	Miracle City

5. Game Content

We Rule has by far the most game content. It has been updated many times since it first appeared on the market. They have holiday updates, new quests, and theme updates regularly. When you look at the details though, much of the material is for the higher level players. As we speak I am getting an update (the new snow fort is for level 58 players). I love the updates, it keeps the game fresh, but the load time is killer and I am only level 34.

We Rule also has a ton of buildings, decorations (trees, bushes, signs, furniture, etc) that you can purchase. There is almost too much; it usually takes me some time to find the item I am looking for.

Miracle City Online has seasonal updates as well as regular content updates. They too have a variety of items you can purchase to decorate your kingdom, but many of the buildings are level dependent. So I have a lot left to unlock.

Conclusion:

So which would I chose? I really, really want to pick We Rule. I saw this game initially on an iPod and it looked cool, so I was excited when it finally came to Android. After playing both game for weeks, right now Miracle City Online just runs better on my DroidX. The load times, how the game does updates, active neighbors, sharper graphics, makes it the choice for me. Have you tried these games? What is your experience? Anyone try these on a tablet? I am curious to hear your experience with these games.