Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Cute *and* helpful. What more could you ask for?

Choosing to name their game Secondhand Lands may have been more than a little prophetic for Callipygian Games. Upon initial entry into the world, it certainly looks like a hand-me-down from the shareware games of the mid-90's. Unless you're using a truly ancient monitor, you'll be graced with an 800x600 window. If I had loaded this onto my Instinct or an iPhone (either one of which is probably powerful enough to run it), I wouldn't be complaining, but this is the 21st century where the less powerful games run on an easily accessible browser window rather than forcing the players to download a full client.

The only benefit of limiting the game to such lackluster graphics is that there's no reason it shouldn't run on any computer out there. We've all heard the arguments debating the need to keep a game's requirements low in order to reach the broadest possible audience, but there needs to be a line that developers should not cross if it’s going to make the game less enjoyable. When I finally discovered how to adjust the screen size (and believe me it took a little work), I discovered that Secondhand Lands did have its fair share of charm.

Charm is actually the only thing I think Secondhand Lands has going for it when you get right down to the nitty gritty. The developers have obviously spent a large amount of time infusing the characters of their world with a cute sense of humor. The concept of Secondhand Lands appears to be classic fairy tales all mashed together then gone horribly wrong. It's this slightly skewed view of the world that gives it any interest.

I started my journey out as a wolf since they're the natural bad guys of the land. The idea of an army of wolves working for Little Red Riding Hood was entertaining, and the fact that she has you talk to her friend, Rustee, (a proclaimed "big bad wolf”) to train up and get stronger definitely got a chuckle out of me. After talking with Rustee, I was off to go hunt monkeys. What monkeys have against the wolves or Little Red Riding Hood is anyone's guess, but at this point, I wasn't going to ask.