"1701 A.D." by Aspyr Media

I have a rule when it comes to games:

Dont buy anything unless you play and enjoy the demo first.

The corrolary to that rule should probably be:

If you cannot stop playing the demo, reward those devs by buying the game!

Which brings us to 1701 A.D. - I think the 4th Anno game from those crazy devs in Germany (or one of those EU places).

Europe has very different game tastes from the US - less shooting and more detail management. While I like some of their values, I dont always enjoy the finished product. I have tried previous demos of Settlers and Anno games and did not feel the call.

But for whatever reason, I played the 90 minute demo of this game at least 4 times before I decided to buy the full version. Every time I played, I was a horrible failure but I was totally engrossed right up to the point the timed demo ended. *argh*

Like any good game, this one kept me wondering how I could do better, and kept me up when I should have been in bed. So give it a try. It deserves a look.

Gameplay

Although it appears to resemble an empire game like Civilization, this game is really an economic simulation and a real-time one to boot.

Part of your job is to build buildings that gather resources and craft goods and to grow a self-sustaining colony. The other part of your job is doing all that profitably. As of yet, I have done no combat except for a few ship battles. Not because I didnt want to but because I couldn't build a profitable enough colony to afford troops. In fact, trying to build a profitable colony has been the hard part and the thing that keeps me trying again, and again, and again.

There is a scenario mode and I tried the first scenario but it was dumb to the point of boring. The main game here is the open-ended campaign mode in a random map.

My one serious complaint is the real-time aspect. I dont like it, not one bit. You can pause the game but when the paused, you cannot look at your units or your economy. In other words, the game never gives you any time to really think about or plan your colony. Heck, it doesnt even give you time to understand how your colony works.

Maybe a small point but one that they could have totally avoided. There is no technical reason why they prevent you from meaningfully pausing the game.

And it was important to me because my colonies quickly got out of hand, with my people rioting and burning down my buildings. Not to mention the earthquakes, the fires, and the volcanos. Trying to manage anything beyond the first level colony is a serious challenge.

Artwork

Even though the gameplay is decidedly un-sexy (economics?) the presentation here is simply breathtaking. This game has some of the best looking graphics I have ever seen in a game. Walking the little people walk around town is a hoot and the earthquake and other disasters are similarly entertaining.

They even have a funky mode called "postcard" that creates a postcard view - the foreground is focused and the background is slightly unfocused - as if you are standing on a hill taking in a scenic outlook. This feature would be stupid if the game didnt look so darn amazing.

Quality

This is the 3rd or 4th Anno game and that history really shows here. This game is rock solid. The GUI is both clear and good looking (although the keyboard commands are rather weak/odd). I experienced no crashes in the game or demo.

The game behaved like all games should: rock solid so I could enjoy the game itself.

I have no idea if I will get bored of the challenge here but 1701 AD is worth a look.