Wonder Cruise is the latest social gaming offering from Nexon on Facebook. The title is currently in open beta, having gone live in "pre-beta" form in August of this year.
By Randy Nelson From Inside Social Games
Similar to Perfect World's ailing Perfect Getaway, Wonder Cruise, players are in charge of operating a luxury cruise ship and tending to the needs of their passengers. They do this by stocking up on supplies, building attractions, and directing their passengers to them. These, in turn, pay out coins, the game's soft currency. Supplies for the attractions become depleted and must be re-stocked. If players run out of supplies, more can be purchased. They're also able to take their ships to new ports of call, and earn coins and experience for doing so.
The deck of the cruise ship serves as the building platform for various attractions, including food vendors, swimming pools, basketball courts, and games of chance. There are also "Wonders,"fanciful attractions such as butterfly gardens and animal habitats that can be won during gameplay or purchased using Facebook Credits. The more elaborate the attraction, the more it costs, but also the more it pays out in terms of coins. Players are also able to buy new deco items to enhance the appearance of their ships.
Helping out passengers with their needs rewards players with experience points. As they gain more, they level up and have access to more attractions and decoration items. Actions require energy, which replenishes over time or can be purchased. In addition to pointing them towards attractions, players can help their passengers in need of socializing and partying, and will see when they have passengers who're looking to find a type of attraction they don't yet have on their ship.
Wonder Cruise includes a standard set of social features, such as posting of accomplishments on their Walls, asking for help on the friends'Walls, sending/receiving gifts, and adding friends in the game in order to visit their ships for bonuses.
Nexon is monetizing Wonder Cruise by offering energy, supplies, and coins in exchange for Facebook Credits. Players can also spend Credits on premium attractions, decoration items, and Wonders. Given the game's similarities to Perfect Getaway and Ravenwood Fair, it'll be interesting to see if Nexon makes use of any branding or art design to make Wonder Cruise unique. So far, the South Korean MMO developer has developed or co-developed three games for Facebook and invested in two established social game developers.
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