Posted on: June 28, 2010 Posted by: Aaron_George Comments: 0

Rock Paper Sumo is a new Facebook game from Firm studios, in concept the idea is a great one and sounds like it would be a blast, the execution suffers from similar problems to most Facebook games though. What problem is that? To put it plainly, not much happens in RPS. Unless of course you count clicking things that have no instant effect, and waiting.

In RPS you control a Sumo wrestler and your goal is to reach the top of the world pyramid of wrestlers, each one controlled by other face book users. To reach the top you take part in best-of-three Rock Paper Scissors matches, for some reason, I guess this is an alternate world where you have to be really over weight to play the game we all played when we were ten. The presentation of the game is quite nice, smooth graphics and a good amount of (weak it may be) humor. Your wrestler is customizable through items, and you are also tasked with eating, training, and challenging your friends by means of the annoying game invites we all get forty of every day even if we don’t play any Facebook games. .

Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, sadly the game revolves around you challenging people who most likely aren’t at their P.C. when you are. This means that matches don’t take place in real time, which means that the instant gratification we seek from video games isn’t met. Making this yet another Facebook game that requires being checked every day and maintained, while offering very little action as reward.

What the folks at Firma are hoping will keep people playing is making it to the top of the world pyramid (not that that would be something to brag about to get dates) and the customizations that you buy with bento bucks (free) and dojo dollars (not free). Its the same formula of almost every other Facebook game, and really it’s a little worn out. I know, they need to make money, but I think it’s clear that with most of these games, of which RPS is just another addition, the goal of the developers is not to give players a good time, but to get players to drop money. That’s all well and good, lots of people are eager to lose their cash for poorly drawn online crap, and if they enjoy it, more power to them. If you are looking for something fun and innovative though, RPS is not for you. It’s sad to see such a promising idea meet this all too familiar fate, but such is the reward of money I suppose.

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