Ravenwood fair follows in the footsteps of LOLapps' last game, Critter Island, featuring a cast of cute, bobble-headed animals perusing attractions. But the island has been swapped out for a forest, and the foundation laid for a more in-depth game.

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Playing Fair

In most Facebook games, it's hard to find anything remotely unfriendly, whether in the characters or the scenery. Ravenwood Fair starts the player out alone in a scary-looking forest, with only an odd-looking raven, Huginn, as a guide. (In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are Odin's pet speaking ravens.)

Another moment, and seasoned Facebook players will sense an influence: FrontierVille. Your first job is to chop down a tree. When you do, prizes representing coins, experience and various items pop out to be picked up. Just as in FrontierVille, it will be a constant job and battle to keep the encroaching forest back.

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But where FrontierVille merges in elements of FarmVille, ultimately becoming a farming game, Ravenwood's heart is still in island and business sims. After the tree is down, you get to build your first attraction, a hotdog cart. Each new attraction adds to the "fun" of your fair, with successively higher levels of fun attracting more guests.

Your guests will wander the fair for as long as the fun level is high enough, and if you click on them, they'll talk. Sometimes they spout one-liners, and other times make a statement or question that can be answered. While there's nothing like a dialogue tree yet, and the responses are usually little in-jokes (one of my fair-goers mentions that he liked the fair in Chrono Trigger), there's clearly potential in Ravenwood to grow an interactive single-player game.

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The trees, by the way, are more than a barrier, harboring various unseen monsters that can scare your guests silly. When this happens, it's necessary to sooth the guests. There are also protective objects that can be placed around the fair, like a "Happy Oak", that keep back the bugbears.