I've never played Tropico. Is it any good? I've got the urge to build cities, but I've played the Impressions ones to exhaustion. NB: I prefer historical city builders, not modern ones like Sim City; modern settings bore me.

I've only played CotN for about 5 hours, long enough to do the tutorial and two easy scenarios. Whereas I played the old Impressions series since the days of Caesar II, not Caesar II as I stated before. I just never got very far with number II, because I was a young frog with no idea of what I was meant to be doing.

So far I've only build one very small pyramid, but I am saddened by the vastly curtailed list of monuments you can build compared to what was around in Pharaoh/Cleopatra. The mastabas do look better now though; less like unstable, messy piles of bricks.

The way the world map is handled is one of the disappointing things I've found so far in CotN. I also miss the wider range of buildings full stop, not just the larger selection of monuments. Comedy seems to be lacking when compared to, say, Zeus/Poseidon. I definitely miss being able to tell what is going on in my city with ease - I just don't seem to be able to keep up with demand for common wares, no matter how satisfied and well stocked my shops are. I build what feels like far too many and it's still not enough ... I think. I don't know, because the game won't tell you these things. I miss the upgrading homes from the old games quite badly, just as I miss beautification having some effect. I hate the way people whinge about things you can't do anything about, such as not having a yacht when there is no wood available to you in that scenario. The army system feels disappointingly dull, but that's because I liked Zeus' citizen soldier approach so much, and Egypt didn't use that system so it can't appear here. I can't stand the way the birthday announcements are so out of whack! Why should your pharaoh be past his prime at 16?! People lived for shorter spans back then, but come on - this isn't a peasant muck-grubber, it's a king. 16 is entering your prime, not leaving it. 30-35 is getting past it by Egyptian noble's standards, but by that point the game assumes your king is a zombie almost.

I do like the way food is used for currency, and the way bricks are made and used. Needing to educate your future priests, scribes, overseers and commanders is great, as is the need to keep a reserve of graduates to cover for retiring elites. I like the feudal structure which means you need more nobles to farm more land, and then take your cut as taxes, and I like the way more farm income results in upgraded noble homes, then more farmers. I like being able to follow people and families through life and about your city; it makes the place feel that little bit more alive. I love watching my farmers stream out down the streets in huge crowds towards their fields on dawn of the planting season, and again when the harvest starts. The way houses never devolve is nice too, although it removes one big area of challenge ... but I hardly ever encountered devolution anyway, once I understood housing blocks. Upgrading your palace is nice too.

My main frowning point so far is the lack of challenge. Alright, I have been playing easy scenarios, but I am drifting through them with so little idea of what to do and without any problems barring my perennial common wares shortage. I don't want challenge from things I class as annoying, such as poorly designed maps so building space is rare, but I want something more than 6 noble homes and 60 prestige, to be gathered whenever I feel like it. I still grin in almost-horror when I remember a certain level of Zeus where I had to gather the resources to summon a hero as a monster laid waste to my city, or that scenario (heh, many scenarios, actually) in Pharaoh/Cleo when I was so strapped for cash for the first 3 years I could hardly build anything, or the time when …

Hmm. Now I get the feeling CotN won’t rise above ‘fun but not great’ level, and will be played through once and dropped for good. Unlike the Impressions games, which made it back on my hard drive oh … 3 times apiece, on average. Yes, it’s fun, and yes there is much I like, but something is missing. I don’t feel the real need to play until 2AM.