Which city-builder should I play?
I realised I've never made a poll on this board at the same time as I wondered which of the old Impressions City Builders to play yet again, now I am done (er, got bored) with Children of the Nile. Et voila.
I've had all these games since they were first released in the UK. The older games I've played more often simply due to the fact I've had more time to replay them, but all have been put on my HDD at least twice, most often three times.
Liked the Roman setting of Caesar III, but now it pales in the shadows of its decedents IMO. No road blocks, gah! And the way the entire city burned down/fell down at the drop of a hat, even with way too many prefects and engineers, gah! to that too. But it was one tough game. Probably because of that. This one I never finished, despite numerous attempts at various points.
Loved the complexity and challenge of Pharaoh/Cleo, and the monument building. The feeling of achievement I got with this game is almost unique; it was the game where I began to understand the concept properly, and so my cities took off and became sprawling, complex and stable entities, no longer the haphazard, devolution prone messes that resulted as I lurched and staggered my way through each mission. Mmm, housing blocks, mmm. But then, those monuments are often rather dull to build once your city is set up and running smoothly. Maximum speed just does not go high enough, and pyramids take decades of work even if everything goes smoothly. Which is good, in a historically accurate way. But bad, from a gameplay view. I did finish this one.
Loved the Army system and world map of Zeus/Poseidon, plus the lighter atmosphere and mythical stuff. Overall I think I loved this one the most, because it was so much fun. Zeus was much more relaxed feeling in every possible way, perhaps the easiest of the series, and that is nice ... in its place. The lighter edition of monument building was welcome, as was the way it called gods to your city and gave bonuses. Finished this one too.
Emperor was simply refined, the pinnacle of this idea. The best, in many ways. But playing with feng shui in my city makes me feel like Linda Barker (for non UK people, that's an annoying woman off a rubbish DIY programme I don't watch) However, that is my only major grumble with the game. Did they ever release that second patch? The one which was supposed to fix the bug with farms? I stopped playing the game after waiting several months for this patch, and have never really found a satisfactory answer as to what happened. Last I heard was “Soon, we’re working on it, and yes, we know it’s been something like 4 months since the last patch.” Never been able to keep my interest right up to the last campaign, and each time I re-install it I start from the very beginning again, then get bored at roughly the same point.
Hehe, I could add Caesar II to the poll, but getting it to work promises to be too much like work. Plus I still hear “Plebs are needed!” in my sleep, sometimes …
Reply With Quote
Oh how that game get me pissed off sometimes !
Originally Posted by Ranika
Bookmarks