Social Empires developer Social Point has rolled out its latest Facebook release, Men vs. Women. This strategy title pits members of the opposite sex against one another in a literal war to determine who will rule the world. It launched in late November.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Men vs. Women currently has 520,000 monthly active users and 110,000 daily active users.

Men vs. Women is a military strategy title inspired by Zynga’s Empires & Allies. It’s set in the future, where women (or men, if you decide to play as a woman) have taken over the Earth and forced men into slavery. A group of men decide to fight back to reclaim the planet, and do so by building bases, raising an army, and, ultimately, destroying women (or vice versa). It’s an out of the ordinary concept, for sure, but definitely takes a turn for the weird when an army of men — however cartoon-like — are depicted shooting an army of women.

In the game, players initially build their own military base, complete with training centers for troops, houses for workers, and buildings that produce offensive weapons such as tanks and attack helicopters. They’re also able to chop down trees, mine, and refine oil into fuel, all materials that are needed to build more of their war machine. Performing actions requires energy, which recharges over time or through micro-transactions, but rewards players with gold and experience points. When players accumulate enough experience points, they level up and have access to more items and deco to purchase, while also receiving the premium currency, dollars, and energy refills.

Once they’ve purchased/trained some troops and vehicles, they can engage in simple real-time strategy style combat by selecting their units and clicking on enemy troops/vehicles to attack. Players can also build defensive measures to help fend off attackers, even when they’re away from the game. After they reach a certain level, players can go on quests and seek out other players to do battle with.

Social features span the usual array of adding friends, sending/receiving gifts, and bragging about accomplishments via viral channels. Players can also visit their friends and collect bonuses once per day.

Social Point is monetizing Men vs. Women through the use of Facebook Credits to purchase additional premium currency, as well as premium some premium buildings, vehicles, units, and deco items.

You can follow Men vs. Women’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Being Human is based on the Syfy TV series of the same name, which was itself based on a BBC program. The game follows the plot of the series, which revolves around a vampire, werewolf, and ghost who all share a house and must do their best to deal with the conditions and fit in with society. Launched in beta in early November, the game is the product of London-based Utinni Games and Zodiak Active.

Clarification: This game is not licensed or operated by SyFy.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Being Human currently has 60,000 monthly active users and 10,000 daily active users.

In Being Human, players take on the roles of the series stars — a vampire, werewolf, and ghost — who go on missions in order to improve their aura and earn money to spend on household decor and clothing. The game is divided into two portions, the world and home. While out in the world, players must use the characters’ unique abilities to fight other supernatural beings, which increases the player’s reputation meter. There is also a humanity meter, which fills as players perform actions such as helping humans. When both meters are full, the player goes up a level and unlocks more missions, items, and so on. The gameplay out in the world relies heavily on exploration, with players spending energy points each time they wish to interact with anything. Energy replenishes over time, but can be immediately refilled by players if they purchase boosts.

Energy also refills faster as players interact with the home portion of the game. As they purchase new furnishings for their home, a Home Score meter fills. The more full it is, the faster their energy replenishes. In addition to improving their homes, players can purchase new clothing and styles for their characters, as well as choose names for them. The game also offers a means to expand the size of the player’s home.

Social features come in the form of bragging about accomplishments via viral channels, visiting friends’ homes, and adding friends to the game. By visiting their friends, players can earn energy boosts. They also earn one additional energy boost per day per friend they have playing.

Being Human is monetized using Facebook Credits in exchange for many of the game’s household deco items, clothing, and appearance improvements. Some items can be purchased with the soft cash currency, which can also be had in exchange for Credits.

Utinni Games has recently expanded the game with additional “episodes” and expects to do so on a regular basis. The developer is also taking a very active approach to the game’s Wall, soliciting feedback on features that should be included in future updates from its community.

You can follow Being Human’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

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.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Wonder Cruise currently has 8,000 monthly active users and 2,000 daily active users.

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.

You can follow Wonder Cruise’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

As we reported back in June, Gamzee has been working on its first social game, Skyscraper City. Built on its own HTML5-based game engine, the title launched on Facebook at the end of November, but is playable on any device that features an HTML5 compliant web browser. According to AppData, the game now has 3,000 monthly active users.

Skyscraper City is a game of urban development, which tasks players with clearing out slum housing and replacing it with new residential buildings, businesses, and power-generating locations. First off, slum buildings must be demolished, which requires multiple steps and consumes energy. Constructing new buildings in the freed-up space also requires energy. It will recharge over time, or can be refilled by purchasing items. Removing slum properties has the bi-product of  rewarding players with the raw materials they’ll need to build new properties. As they continue to play, players can obtain permits that allow them to build more than one level high, placing properties on top of one another, creating skyscrapers, hence the title.

Residential properties produce population. Businesses, such as coffee shops and arcades, produce money. Buildings require power, but also add to the happiness of the populace. If players buy power plants to offset their residential and business construction, the happiness level of the city will decrease, so players must place decorations, such as trees, ponds, and zoos to boost it. Players also have to contend with slum lords that attempt to rebuild their derelict housing. This creates a cycle of managing all of these various levels by purchasing the right properties depending on the situation. As players continue to build their city, they receive experience points. These count towards leveling up and, once players reach certain levels, they gain access to new types of buildings to construct. the game also offers up missions for players to complete for additional rewards.

Social aspects of Skyscraper City include send and receiving gifts, sharing news of accomplishments via viral channels, and adding friends so that their cities can be visited by the player. Players can visit their friends’ cities from a real-time leaderboard at the bottom of the screen on a daily basis and, once there, collect coins.

Gamzee is monetizing Skyscraper City through traditional means. Players can use Facebook Credits to purchase Skybux, the premium currency they receive when leveling up and completing missions. Gold, the soft currency, cannot be purchased and must be obtained through the payouts of commercial buildings. The game’s store, where players purchase new buildings and deco, offers a good balance of items that can be purchased with Gold, versus those that can only be bought using Skybux.

6waves Lolapps has teamed up with developer Game Ventures (Howzat Cricket) for Homerun Heroes, a new baseball game for Facebook. The game combines arcade-style batting mechanics with league-based play, power-ups, and training options.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Homerun Heroes currently has 5,000 monthly active users and 300 daily active users.

Homerun Heroes lets players choose the name and colors for their imaginary team before heading out onto the field. Rather than play full games, the title has them meet specific requirements to win, such as scoring a certain number of runs without striking out more than an allotted amount. Gameplay unfolds from a viewpoint over the batter’s shoulder, with a clearly defined strike zone and an indicator of where players are aiming their swing with the mouse. Swing types can be switched between center (easiest), left or right field (harder), and power (most difficult to connect). The pitcher throws automatically and players can see where the ball is heading inside or outside of the strike zone a moment before they must swing.

If players are able to hit the ball, they’ll take their base automatically and the computer-controlled fielders will do their best to get them out. Players only control their team when they’re at bat; there’s no fielding gameplay. Players can’t steal bases, but can tell their runners to go home if they think they can make it, but there’s a risk of being tagged out.

Playing a game requires one challenge point. These recharge over time, and the maximum amount of them the player can have increases as they level up. Challenge points can be purchased should players not wish to wait for them to refill automatically. Coins and Glory Points are also awarded for winning games. Coins can be spent on buying new equipment to help their teams play better (one-game use) and on training to restore stats for tired teams. Training takes time, and players can’t play a game while training, but can hurry up the process using Facebook Credits. Glory Points count towards players leveling up.

The game is structure such that there are various tournaments players can enter into that become progressively more difficult and contain a varying number of match-ups. When players have completed all of the games in one tournament, a new one opens up.

Homerun Heroes lets players add their friends so they can compare scores in a real-time leaderboard a the bottom of the screen. It’s also possible for players to share stories about games they’ve won and other activity via viral channels.

The game is monetized using Facebook Credits, which can be spent to purchasing the soft currency, coins, which are then used on power-ups, training, and Challenge Points. Facebook Credits can be used directly to speed up training.

Speaking to Inside Social Games, Game Ventures Founder & CEO Zaki Mahomed explains that the developer hopes to satisfy what he feels is the under-served sports game fan community on Facebook, mobile, and other social networks and web games portals. The management sims that currently dominate the sports game genre on Facebook, he says, have a limited appeal and a lack of intensity. In 2012, Mahomed hopes to see Game Ventures launch five sports games on Facebook and at least one for Android (and possibly iOS). The developer raised a bridge round of $800,000 from investors Neoteny Labs, Digital Garage, IIPL and from the NRF Singapore fellowship program, bringing their current funding up to about $1.1 million.

You can follow Homerun Heroes’ progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

German board game maker Ravensburger has just released its second Facebook title, Puzzle Adventures. The game combines conventional jigsaw puzzle concepts with power-ups and timed challenges for determining high scores.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Puzzle Adventures currently has 60 monthly active users and 30 daily active users.

Puzzle Adventures sees players solving a series of progressively more difficult jigsaw puzzles, while competing against their friends to score as many points as possible on each. The act of placing puzzle pieces is adapted for a click-and-drag interface, with additional clicks used to rotate puzzle pieces. Scoring is based on how quickly players can complete a given puzzle and can be increased by successively combining individual pieces to create point combos before a timer bar runs out. The puzzles themselves are comprised of actual photos and increase in complexity as players move from one themed world, such as an island setting, to the next.

A number of power-ups are available, with players having the option to assign and use up to five per puzzle. These include items that automatically rotate all of the pieces so that they’re right-side-up; one that displays an outline of the pieces in the finished puzzle on the screen; another that joins together random pieces for the player at the outset; as well as those that extend the timer, freeze it, and so on. In order to aid players in solving the puzzles, the game displays an image of the finished result in the bottom corner of the play field at all times.

Each time the player wishes to attempt a puzzle, one heart is removed from their stockpile. When all of the hearts are exhausted, players must wait for at least one to refill in order to play again (each requires around 10 minutes to be restored) or purchase refills. These are sold at the rate of one heart for five coins. Coins are also used to purchase power-ups before attempting a puzzle. Players receive coins based on their performance, as well as experience points that count towards players leveling up. Leveling up provides players with coins, heart refills, and keys. Keys are required to unlock some puzzles and can be purchased with coins.

Players can add their friends in Puzzle Adventures in order to compared high scores. The game also supports posting announcements regarding players setting new high scores, leveling up, and so on to their Facebook Walls and those of their friends.

Puzzle Adventures is monetized via the purchase of additional coins, used to but keys, power-ups, and additional hearts, using Facebook Credits.

You can follow Puzzle Adventures’ progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Tetris Online Inc. is looking to spark some competition with the likes of Bejeweled Blitz. Its latest game, Feevo Blaze, is a puzzle title that combines match-three mechanics with pachinko and power-ups. It launched in early October.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Feevo Blaze currently has 590,000 monthly active users and 120,000 daily active users.

Feevo Blaze challenges players to clear as many blocks as possible from an ever-filling game board in 60 seconds. In order to do this, players must match at least three same-colored blocks in any direction. Doing this causes them to disappear from the board and reward players with points. Combining four same-colored blocks in this fashion fuses them into one flaming block. When it’s combined with two blocks of the same color, they explode in a flash of lightning, clearing a entire row or rows, depending on the shape and orientation formed. When a flaming block is combined with three or more of the same color, it creates a bomb. When clicked, the bomb destroys an entire row in four directions. It’s also possible to form a bomb by combining five or more blocks of the same color at any time.

When blocks are cleared using lightning and explosions, it creates glowing balls that drop down the left and right sides of the screen. These bounce off bumpers, as in a pachinko machine, until they drop into troughs at the bottom of the screen. These spots have different point values, and players are rewarded depending on which ones the balls drop into. There are also coin switches the balls can hit, which reward players with bonus coins. Coins are generally awarded at the end of each game, and depend on the total points achieved by the player. Coins can be used to purchase power-ups, including ones that ignite random blocks at the beginning or the game, mix them up creating chain reactions, and so on.

Players earn experience points for each game, and these go towards leveling up. When they level up, players gain access to a wider selection of power-ups. These items can be equipped, up to several per game, and automatically deduct from the player’s coin total.

Players can invite their friends to play Feevo Blaze, which allows them to see each other’s high scores and serves as a way to multiply the number of coins players can win in weekly tournaments. This is in addition to other social features such as sending/receiving gifts and bragging about high scores using viral channels.

Feevo Blaze is monetized by players purchasing additional coins using Facebook Credits, as well as more energy, which is required in order to play at the rate of one energy unit per game. Energy replenishes itself at the rate of one unit every five minutes, should players not wish to purchase more. The game also allows them to purchase one- and seven-day unlimited energy using Facebook Credits.

You can follow Feevo Blaze’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Calling the release the latest step in its new cross-platform strategy, Digital Chocolate has released a free-to-play iOS version of its Facebook game Zombie Lane that is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The title hit Facebook in March of this year and is currently played by 2.5 million monthly active users, according to our tracking service AppData. A version of the game for Google+ was released in August. The iOS version debuted on November 22.

Zombie Lane for iOS is nearly indistinguishable from its Facebook and Google+ incarnations, although there are a few minor differences — and one more significant for players hoping to continue their experience between mobile and social networking platforms. That’s because, despite the versions being so similar, there is no interaction between the mobile and browser-based releases. Anything players do in the game on Facebook or Google+ has no impact on the mobile version and vice versa. This differs from the approach being taken by other publishers, such as Pangalore, for their upcoming native iOS releases that share data with their Facebook counterparts using Facebook Connect.

Still, the mobile version does an admirable job of capturing the qualities of the browser-based release. The game is visually engaging, and runs well even on earlier generation devices.

In Zombie Lane, players take on the role of either a male or female survivor of an undead apocalypse. Rather than a pure action game, it combines defending a location from zombies — in this case the player’s home — with building and farming aspects. Players must not only shoot zombies (by tapping on them), but expand and improve their home with various amenities and defenses as well. These goals are laid out in a series of various missions, that has players working towards goals such as repairing their homes so that their spouses will return, building new additions like tool sheds, and racking up a specific number of zombie kills in a 24-hour period. Players are able to unlock and purchase new weapons to aid them, but must also make sure to buy enough ammunition in order to keep using them.

Players are able to build and repair structures by salvaging supplies from the rubble of their once-idyllic neighborhood. In addition to the materials, such as bricks and screws, they’ll find, various actions will reward them with coins and experience points. Coins can be used to buy deco, housing components, weapons, and other items. Cash, the premium currency, is spent on premium items, energy (all actions expend this and it recharges over time otherwise), and for amassing required materials more quickly than through normal gameplay. Collecting experience points helps players level up and, when they do, they gain access to new items to purchase, bonus coins, and energy refills.

Social aspects of the game include visiting the neighborhoods of friends in order to help them pick up rubbish, thus earning bonus coins and items, and sending/requesting items that they or their friends might need to complete collections. The game is able to post updates to Twitter, should players give it permission, and connect with Facebook in order to invite players’ friends to try out the iOS version. All interaction between friends using the iOS release are handled through Game Center. A number of Game Center achievements are also available to unlock.

Digital Chocolate is monetizing Zombie Lane for iOS through in-app purchases of cash and coins using real money. Available transaction amounts range from $0.99 to $84.99.

Players will notice that the initial character customization options seem limited compared to the Facebook/Google+ release, but once in the game, the same options can be accessed from the customization menu. Some minor gameplay tweaks, such as a reduction in he number of steps required to perform some tasks like building, have also been made. The user interface has been modified to take advantage of multi-touch gestures, including pinching to zoom the player’s viewpoint.

You can follow Zombie Lane’s progress using AppData, our tracking service for social and mobile games and developers.

This article originally appeared on our sister site, Inside Mobile Apps.

Funtank has launched its latest Facebook game post-Publishers Clearing House acquisition, a “social cooking adventure” called Chef Quest.

According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Chef Quest currently has 108 monthly active users and 16 daily active users.

In Chef Quest, players travel around the globe on a mission to become the planet’s greatest culinary master. In order to do so, they pass challenges set out by seven master chefs, which require them to cook new dishes and build their cache of recipes. The 140 dishes available in-game hail from major regions including the U.S., Japan, Italy, and France.

Players accept challenges from the master chefs and then must cook the dishes they desire. Doing so requires having the right ingredients and completing a series of mini-games. The latter include the likes of chopping, boiling, and sauteing, and can be quite elaborate, depending on the dish. These games involve clicking buttons at the right time, making motions with the mouse pointer, moving the mouse side to side, and other actions. Each step of the cooking process requires energy to complete. If the player runs out of energy, they must wait for the gauge to refill before proceeding, or purchase energy items from the game’s store. It’s possible to fail at the dish, but succeeding rewards players with coins and experience points. After dishes have been prepared, players can add garnishes to them for additional experience points.

Ingredients must be purchased using coins, which serve as the game’s soft currency. Players can collect special items, such as candlesticks, and combine them with dishes they prepare in order to create banquets which can be exchanged for Cook Bucks, the game’s premium currency. Players can also change the appearance of their chef avatars, using purchased items, and customize their home kitchens with new appliances, cookware, and other trimmings.

Social features including adding friends and bragging about accomplishments via viral channels, sharing experience points when leveling up, and asking friends to provide components that players need in order to complete banquet collections. Players can also invite their friends to “taste” their dishes, with both sides receiving rewards if they accept.

Chef Quest is monetized through the use of Facebook Credits to purchase Cook Bucks and coins. Cook Bucks cab be exchanged for energy refills and various premium deco items, as well as new clothing and looks for the player’s avatar. Many ingredients can be purchased using the soft currency, coins. Items used for completing banquet collections must be earned by players or requested from their friends. Dishes must be made by players for inclusion in collections and can’t be bought or requested.

You can follow Chef Quest’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.

Paramount Pictures and developer Funtactix have teamed up to deliver a new Facebook game based on the former’s Mission: Impossible franchise of spy movies. It had previously partnered with the developer for a Facebook game based on the film Rango. Mission: Impossible launches today ahead of the December 21 theatrical release of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.

According to Facebook, Mission: Impossible currently has 2,000 monthly active users.

Mission: Impossible puts players in the role of an agent for the international spy organization IMF, or Impossible Mission Force. For the sake of game mechanics, this means that players take on various over-arching missions, each comprised of various sub-missions in which they must satisfy certain requirements in order to pass. For the most part, this means clicking on objects and people in the environment to interact with them, which costs energy, a commodity that recharges over time or via the purchase of premium refills.

Players must also fight enemy agents, which involves clicking on them until they are dead. It’s possible for players to use the soft currency, cash, that they receive for completing missions in order to purchase better weapons and armor to improve their chances in combat. Better weapons make killing enemies easier, while better armor reduces the chance they themselves will lose. Defeating enemies and completing missions rewards players with experience points. Leveling up enables players to have more energy by default, refills their energy, and makes available more items from the game’s shop.

Another component of the game is the player’s safehouse. This is a separate area that players can add various functional and decoration items to in order to generate money and change its appearance. They are also to purchase elements such as intelligence gathering devices which will pay out cash over time.

Some of the game’s missions are friend gated — meaning that players must invite friends to play in order to complete them. Other social features include posting about accomplishments to the player’s Wall, sending gifts to friends, and seeing their friends who are playing the game, along with their score data, at the bottom of the screen as part of the player’s spy network.

Paramount is monetizing Mission: Impossible through the sale of deco items, safehouse devices, weapons, armor, and energy refills. Players can purchase the better items the game offers using Facebook Credits, and can also use Credits to buy the cash currency, which can be used to purchase a fairly wide assortment of items. Energy refills can only be purchased using Facebook Credits, as can buying non-playable characters to aid players on missions.

Keep an eye out for Mission: Impossible in our AppData traffic tracking service for social games and developers.