Digital Chocolate has unveiled its newest Facebook game, New In Town, giving players the opportunity to pursue their dreams and aspirations virtually.

New In Town is a life simulation game that allows players to take another shot at life after high school, choosing a career, falling in love, building a home, and establishing themselves in a fictional city.

“New In Town gives users the opportunity to pursue their virtual dreams and aspirations … We’re bringing a different spin on life simulation games, and the possibilities are endless,” said Marc Metis, President of Digital Chocolate.

In the game, players begin their journey fresh out of high school and new in town.

Like in most life simulation games, you will have to improve your skills by taking classes and using that towards getting a better career and making your dreams come true. But, as the old saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” there are many fun and social activities that can be perform in your virtual life – having espressos at cafes, shopping at boutiques, apparel and home customization – are some of the other elements that will influence your success in the game. You will also be challenged to complete missions (quests) faster than other NPCs in friendly competition.

New In Town has good graphics and the in-game tutorial is enough to get you started. What’s interesting about life simulation games is, there are so many ways to progress through the game and so many different ending depending on how you play the game.

The game is in beta now and available to play for free on Facebook. Digital Chocolate will be updating the game in the coming weeks that will include more neighborhoods and content including ways to interact with friends.

You can head over to New In Town game to start over your life, virtually. Don’t forget to check back later for a game review.

Facebook Triple down game from Spry Fox is a cute little matching game with a surprising twist.

Unlike other matching games where you group together matching tiles, bubbles, jewels or anything to clean up the board, in Triple Down, you match up items to build up your board or town.

The game starts off with a 6×6 grid game area that is randomly filled up by different objects like grasses, bushes, house etc. Your basic mission is to attempt to grow the greatest possible city by matching three or more similar items together. Match three or more grasses to make a bush, three bushes to make a tree… until you’ve filled the board with cathedrals and castles.

Check out the screenshots that I have put together to get a clearer picture of how the buildings are build.

Apart from building, you will have to watch out for pesky bears and ninjas. They themselves won’t do any harm but you will not be able to build on the grids they are on. So, you will have to kill them by trapping them. Once trapped, they will turn into tombstone. Three or more tombs will turn into a church. You can also corner three of more bears at once. Three churches make a cathedral, and three cathedrals turn into treasure.

Trapping a bear is easy with a little bit of strategy. But, ninjas are of different league. You cannot trap them because they will shift their location at every turn. You can only remove them with an Imperial Bot that erases any object from a grid on the board.

Besides imperial bots, you will get a crystal every now and then. Use the crystal as a wild card. There is also a storage facility where you can store objects to use them in times of need. You can also buy items from the game store with the coins that you earn.

When you put down the last piece of a triad, the upgraded object will be formed at that piece’s grid. So, the game requires a careful thinking. A particular board ends when all the grid of the board is filled.

The game graphics are cute and nice. I don’t have anything to complain about the game, except for its limited social feature as a social game. The only social element I have come across was inviting friends and a weekly high score chart. It would be nice to be able to send gifts.

All in all, Triple Town is a very addictive puzzle/matching strategy game that is full of challenge, fun and be warned that you could get stuck with the game for hours.

You might want to try it out if you haven’t.

(Play Triple Town Facebook Game)

The Sims Social has now an average of 9.3 million DAU surpassing FarmVille's 8.1 million by over 1 million., with players playing at an average of three times a day in 15 to 20 minutes intervals.

“The Sims Social” from EA and Playfish has now overtaken Farm Ville from Zynga as the no. 2 game on Facebook, according to Appdata. The Sims Social has now seen an average of 9.3 million DAU, with players playing at an average of three times a day in 15 to 20 minutes intervals.

During the first week of its debut, Sims Social had 4.6 million DAU, while making it the 10th most popular game on Facebook. But now it has amassed over 9.3 million DAU within a month surpassing FarmVille’s 8.1 million by over 1 million.

EA’s CFO, Eric Brown commented: “What has made [The Sims Social] a success so far is the Playfish expertise… combined with the creative excellence of the core Sims team,” said Brown. “Those teams work together exceptionally well”.

But no doubt, Zynga’s CityVille still tops the DAU chart with nearly 14 million users. But regardless, Sims Social which is still a new game in Facebook has succeded in gaining a huge DAU base within a very short time. However, in MAU base, it has just over 34.3 million bit short of FarmVille’s 35.6 million.

Taking in view the domination of Zynga’s games in Facebook, EA and Playfish has a lot more to achieve in coming days, if it is to make Sim Social above all.

Deadline Hollywood is a Hollywood-themed Facebook game set to launch this summer.

The game is everything the celeb-obsessed and wannabes could wish for.

Players will have different career paths including actor, screenwriter, producer, director, agent etc. to choose their career from, and collaborate with friends to produce blockbusters. The game will also be influence heavily by real-time breaking news from Deadline.com.

Nikki Finke, editor-in-chief of Deadline.com, describes the game: “The ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ will allow experienced gamers, real-life Hollywood players, movie fans, and casual users to truly experience the grit, intrigue, and rivalry of the Hollywood industry. And just like the real town, this game is not for every schmo — only the strongest will survive.”

Finke worked with Liquid Entertainment to develop the Deadline Hollywood Game, which will be published and distributed by Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Deadline Hollywood Game will be initially available as invite-only to showbiz insiders ( smells like Hollywood already ), but Facebook users can pre-register here to be the first to know when the game goes live.

Pre-registered users will also automatically enter into a sweepstakes for Hollywood Mogul Swag.

Happy Oasis is the latest farming game on Facebook, with an Arabian theme.

Ten minutes into the game and you will realize that the game is very similar to hit farming games like Zynga’s FrontierVille.

Anyway, here is a short review of the game.

There are lots of things to do – farm, rear animals, plant and tend your trees, build different kinds of buildings, clear rocks and grass, chop down trees, visit and help your neighbors, and do different kinds of quests.

As with any farming game, this game will also expect you to do a lot of farming, and yes farming will be your main way of earning money in the game.

For non-Arabic speaking players, you will have to change to English, by clicking on a big button located on the lower left corner. The game loads with Arabic as the default language.

After a short tutorial, you are left on a deserted plot of land, where you will be striving to build your own happy oasis.

Gameplay is easy and leveling is easy at first. Occasionally you will have quest that will require help from friends.

Like any other social game, most of your actions  are energy-based, and game progress will bank heavily on your friends/neighbors. Traditional social components like sending and receiving gifts, visiting and helping neighbors, sharing and receiving bonus etc. are featured in the game.

The game interface is easy to get accustomed, and follows the traditional layout of Facebook games. Graphics are fresh and heavily based on Arabian nations and culture.

Despite the fresh theme, Happy Oasis fails to provide anything new in the farming game genre. But the game comes with a big ambition as we mentioned in earlier post. If the game becomes a hit, it will not only be a success story of a little-known game developer as well as for the Arabs as a whole.

(Play Happy Oasis)

One of the lastest farming game on Facebook, Happy Oasis, comes with an huge ambition – to end extremism. This Middle-East-themed game will put players right in the sandy world of the Middle-East countries.

The man behind the game, Suleiman Bakhit – newly appointed TED fellow talked aobut his project at the TEDGlobal Conference in Edinburgh, hopes that the game will create postitive role model for children wo might otherwise be enticed by extremist views.

According to BBC, Mr. Bakhit, who comes from Jordan, was a student at the US University of Minnesota when the 9/11 took place and was attacked by four men shortly afterwards because he was an Arab.

Instead of feeling bitter, he decided to engage in an education campaign.

He began telling Alladin-style stories in local schools, where a child asked him if there was an Arab superman, when he realised there wasn’t. So, he started his comic-book project with an aim to create a rage of positive Arab role models that fight extremists.  More than 300,000 copies of his comics were reportedly sold in Jordan

He than realized that there was a market for a web-based version, which got him started with Happy Oasis game.

Happy Oasis has attracted more than 50,000 players in about a week. In the short period I have tried out the game, the gameplay is very similar to popular farming games like FrontierVille.

Check out the game if you need a fresh farming game. We will bring a short walk-through of the game in a little while.

Millionaire Boss is the latest simulation game from Digital Chocolate. This game puts you in the shoe of a budding office tycoon striving to become a millionaire after being booted from another multi-million company.

You begin the game as the CEO of your start-up company, tackling the chores of office life and all the while competing with Lootco, the company from where you have been fired.

In order to become a millionaire boss, you will have to oversee everything – right from recruiting employees, assigning works, interior decoration, and perks, to meeting different goals in the form of quests.

As soon as you procure the necessary items like a working desk, you will be able to hire an employee by selecting anyone from your real-world Facebook friends. Do not worry, they don’t have to confirm/play the game.

Some planning regarding the distribution of your human resources is required, so that your workforce is evenly distributed among all the necessary departments. Having none or too less in a particular department will result in taking too much time in completing department-specific goals/quests. Moreover, there is a limit to the maximum number of employees you can have.

You can always increase your maximum workforce by providing different kinds of perks like break room, treats, and indoor sports.

To become successful, you will have to rely of strategic planning and try to get the most out of your company’s assets. Decors and arrangements will also greatly increase the productivity of your employees. Recruit managers to keep your employees in line and to increase their overall productivity, but the recruiting process of managers is harder.

To add a little bit of difficulty to the game as well as to adhere to the traditional social element of social games, you will need different items in different parts of the game to complete various tasks like recruiting managers or providing perks. You can get the items as daily gifts from your friend. You can also ask them. You can also visit and motivate each other’s employees to increase their productivity.

There is also a “Dream Mansion” section with a coming soon tag. But the screen shot below provides enough information about what we can expect, and it certainly looks interesting.

Leaving aside a few goals,  most of the quests in the beginning are easy to achieve making it easy for players to progress through the game. Most of the time you will be assigning tasks to your employees and collecting the reward, making the gameplay mundane.

Millionaire Boss is fun and easy game to play, but lacks competition. Game graphics are acceptable and gameplay is breeze. All in all, Millionaire Boss, lacks the elements that make players come back again and again. If you are a fan of tycoon games, you might like this game.

(Play Millionaire Boss)

FishHunt is the latest Facebook game from developer HitGrab, Inc. Though, the game has been around about a month. There is something fishy about this fishing game, and that is why I would like to share the game with you.

FishHunt revolves around, well.. fishes and fishing, and there is relatively not much to do apart from fishing. We have seen a couple of fish-themed games on Facebook already, most of which are aquarium based. This game will let you sail off to different spots and give you the chance to cast your rod. There is no point-based leveling in FishHunt. All you need is fishing license to become a pro Angler.

You start out as an amateur fisherman (fisherwoman), with a small boat, a basic fishing rod/pole, and a basic A1 fishing license.

Fishing license is a major component of the game – the territories where you can fish, the type of poles and nets you can use, boat upgrades, amount of fishing nets you can cast, and even the amount of maximum energy you have – are all determined by the license you hold. Moreover, unlike traditional Facebook games, here your game progress is determined by the license you hold and not level, in fact, you don’t have the point-based levels in this game. You complete a set of tasks, and you are ready to advance to the next level (acquire your next license).

Gameplay is grid-based, much like Treasure Island. You can navigate around with your boat and start fishing to your heart’s content. The types of fish, you catch will depends on various factors like location, depth of water, quality of your rod and the type of bait.

The first of every type of fish you catch will go to filling out its place in your Trophy Room. As you go on catching a particular fish, clues/hints will unlock. Hints gives out information about a fish’s habitat and other tips on helping you catch them/ determine where you can find them easily. They are indispensable when it comes to fishing in a new territory or new type of fish. You can also buy hints either with in-game cash or Facebook credits. You can also share and request for hints from your Fish Hunt neighbors.

You can sell your fishes in the market, which has a dynamic economy. Note that prices of items in the market get updated every hour. But, we have boat capacity and time limit before your fish becomes stale. Spoilt fishes are useless and they have to be disposed off as chumps. You can buy gradually-melting ice to keep your fish fresh. So, a little bit of strategic gameplay is required here.

In this game, you will be needing a lot of money, and there are also quite a lot of ways to get them apart from fishing and selling them. It pays to have a few friends, visit the maps they are on and you will find free coins and baits every day.

Also visits the maps where you can do some community service like cleaning weeds. The good thing here is, you don’t lose energy cleaning weeds and other dirt. Instead there is a lot of possibility that you will find energy along with coins and baits for cleaning them. As long as you have the money, it is not hard to progress in this game. Energy fills up pretty fast, as compared to other games, and you only have to complete few tasks to acquire a new license. Moreover, your energy bar is refilled every time you complete a task.

Sometimes while you are fishing, a small mini-game will also be triggered. But don’t worry; Old Chappy (the guide in the game)will be there to guide you.

Once you upgrade your license to A2, you can click on the world map and go to different location to fish. You will also be able to cast net. Nets take time to fill up, and if you don’t collect them in time then all you will get is a broken net. So, remember to collect your net in time. Different nets have different fill time and capacity. The world map will also reveal the current location of your boat, nets, and friends.

There are lots of fishes to catch and learn about, lots of fishing spots to try out, and tons of money to  make .

FishHunt is a nice little game, unless of course you get bored by the constant fishing and relatively so little else to do. But, I am sure many casual gamers will love this game. Also, check out the tip/hints for FishHunt.

(Play FishHunt Game)

Empires & Allies the latest offering from gaming behemoth Zynga, and it goes live today.

Zynga claims that the game includes “more social features than any Zynga game. “Unlike past Zynga games, “Empires & Allies” focuses more on competitive gameplay – there’s also apparently a single-player campaign – and appears to have a more real-time strategy focus.

In Empires & Allies, your mission is to build army units to fight evil enemy forces that have invaded a thriving, multi-island world. Players will also be able to recruit or invite friends and derive clues from allies and villains. Fund your armies by collecting rent on huts and cottages, and choose your battleground: air, land, or sea. The game looks a little more kid-friendly, going by the official trailer, than most combat games out there.

Empires & Allies debuts worldwide on Wednesday in 12 languages: Malay, Korean, and Norwegian (for the first time), English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Turkish and traditional Chinese.

According to Gamasutra, Zynga has doubled its workforce to 1,500 from at least 12 game studios: Beijing’s XPD, Austin’s Challenge Games, San Francisco’s FooBrew, Tokyo’s Unoh Games, Boston’s Conduit Labs and Floodgate Entertainment, Frankfurt’s Dextrose AG, Dallas’ Bonfire Studios, McKinney’s (Texas) Newtoy Inc., Redwood City’s Flock, New York City’s Area/Code, and team members from Dallas’ MarketZero. The company boasts 250 million active users a month.

If you are one of those Facebook gamer who likes to lap up every single Zynga game, then here is a welcome change for you. For the otherwise, though too cartoonish, the game looks good enough for a try. Check out the official trailer below.

Tourism Ireland has been seen wandering around at the Facebook gaming scene with a game titled Ireland Town.

The game, according to Tourism Ireland, has created in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

In the game, players try to build their own slice of Ireland. The game can be described as a cross between Zynga’s popular “Ville” titles like FarmVille, FrontierVille, and CityVille. So, you can expect what to get from the game.

Apart from that, Tourism Ireland brings many iconic cultural sites such as the Blarney Stone and the Cliffs of Moher that players can visit in the game. Players can also run pubs and brew beers.

Tourism Ireland is also offering real-life prizes for players who sign up for Ireland Town on Facebook. Prizes include Irish-themed goodies such as jumpers, bags and comedy DVD’s of Dara O’Briain, and wait for it… a 4-night holiday trip to Galway for the lucky ones… or is it lucky one? Sorry, not sure about that, but OMG, I just sounded like Barney!

Anyway, the bottom line is, even if you have had enough of farming and spin offs, you can still check out the game for its goodies.

(Play Ireland Town)