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The Settlers: Rise of an Empire Review (continued)
More User Submitted The Settlers: Rise of an Empire Reviews
Date: 2007-11-05
A Must have if you love all things Medieval
I have to say that to me this is a very similar game to Stronghold 2. I patched the game and then it auto-patched when I restarted it before I started playing out of the box. After hours of play, I've had one hard lock-up where I had to reboot. I save often so it didnt impact me. It seems to be much more stable now that the patches are out compared to other reviews here. I'm playing with the default video options which to me are just fine. The graphic artwork is absolutely fantastic. The water looks like realy fluid water and the animations is high quality.
This is a "make-your-people-happy" game. Dont get this game expecting to have the depth of military combat that Stronghold 2 does, but I'm quite happy I purchased it since I love the Medieval time period. This is another way to observe the mechanics of medieval society.
The only real combat strategy for your swordsmen and archers and siege engines (that's all you get), is to mass on the enemy and win by numbers. This game has MUCH potential.
My hope is an expansion with mounted cavalry (archers, swordsmen and lancemen) and add pikemen and crossbowmen to the footsoldiers... then add the ability to control your troops with formations, etc... along with a few new resources you could gather, like a fish/eel farm, cobbler's hut, and alchemist hut for starters, you could even add clockmaker's and toymaker's huts for kicks and what about a ship builder? You have docks that are built into some scenarios, so why not make a dock available to build? I don't like how you get a candlemaker, carpenter and blacksmith only after you have upped your knight to the highest level. Those professions were always some of the first and most vital needed up front.
I have to say though, ulitmately, after I hooked up my 5.1 surround options in game and upped the quality of sound, I was taken just a bit deeper into game play. Very nice.
Things to actually improve in game: 1. Military aspect is lacking greatly both in variety and control. This is the number one problem with this game in my oppinion. And they need the ability to build fires closeby so they can produce torches, instead of having to run all the way back to base to get more...building fires was easily done and it's frustrating that you can't.
2. if your fishing hut is built too close to the water, sometimes, only one fisherman can get to the fish at a time. If you upgrade the fishing hut you can have up to 3 fishermen working the same resource. Also, when it's winter and the water freezes over the fishermen can't fish. In real life they could actually cut a hole in the ice but I've found when the narrator announces, "A fisherman can't find any fish." it's usually spring time and the water is thawing out, so the timing is off on that. Long winters are a drag in the northern scenarios. 3. when you touch the edge of your screen to move around, it's a bit choppy so map movement needs some work.
I feel confident that patches and expansions will do justice to this game. It can only get better from here.
Date: 2007-10-24
Just fun - that's it.
The game is just damn fun. It starts off very easy (a little too easy) but towards the end it gets pretty dang hard. So far, I'm having an absolute blast with it and am almost done with the game. I'd love to see a custom map generator.
My only complaint is the sandbox games; some of the maps are just boring. However, since the campaign has been so much fun; I gave it a full 5 stars.
(and the guy that gave it 2 stars - played 15 minutes.. um, hello?
Date: 2007-10-18
Mind-numbing lack of depth and too much handholding
I have never played any of the other Settlers games, and this one piqued my interest when I first heard about it. I've been flirting with the idea of picking it up for the past several weeks, and I finally did.
I am extremely disappointed.
First of all - I thought the demo's tutorial was a one-time thing. No - your very first mission in the real game requires you to complete the same tutorial with no option to skip it. After this - you figure the tutorials are over... WRONG!
Your hand is held constantly through each mission, and they basically walk you through exactly what to do. There is no challenge to this. What is worse - you begin each mission in the same position... having to rebuild the same exact buildings... having to watch your gold/stone/wood/food crawl up to the same exact level... having to do the same exact upgrades... and then - just as you hit the fun part and your settlement starts rolling along...
New mission. Repeat everything again.
Though it looks pretty at first, and you might not mind building up a settlement the first time - having to do it over and over and over and over with no variety and crappy voice actors hand holding you through every step and forcing you to click through their dialogue is not fun.
This game has potential... but ultimately it is completely lacking in complexity and most importantly fun. I uninstalled it after 15 minutes and it is going on the shelf to collect dust now. When it says "Ages 10+" on the box - just read: Age 10 or below.
Date: 2007-10-01
Drastic improvements over the previous, back to the settlers we know
If you've played Settlers 1 or Settlers 2, this would be very familiar for you.
1. Focused on building your econ & city planning.
2. Military is very small part, can only build swordsmen and archers. + some siege.
3. Graphics - it's good enough for game like this.
4. Music - very good actually, many different songs.
5. Multiple Generals for you to choose from, each with their own passive ability and special power. Actually makes a significant impact on the gameplay. This really increases the reply value.
6. Length - Haven't finish or gone very far yet. About mid game. Games like this there is plenty of replay value in it even after you finish the campaign.
Some issues:
1. Slow - there is no time adjusting or speed increase, so some parts does feel a bit slow. Nice to have a EGM or some magazine handy while playing.
2. Walling - Very difficult to wall correctly with the 3D terrain.
3. Very long saves, takes well over 1 minute for a save, at first thought my computer froze cause it took so long.
4. Military - Even though this is more of a sim game than RTS, the warfare could of been a little more deeper. Maybe an addition of Cavalry Unit or Kights to spice things up a bit.
Overall, it's an enjoyable game. Nothing major new, if you liked Settler 1 or 2, this one gives you more of it with minor improvements on the overall gameplay.
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire Reviews Page: 3 of 3 Prev<< 1 2 3
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