A really great strategy game with its own unique features.
General Gameplay:
There are three different gameplay modes in the game:
- The Campaign Mode where you're given few missions in different cities and have to fulfill them to make each city happier and richer.
- The Challenge Mode where you build your city but face lots of challenges and obstacles throughout the way
- The Free Build Mode where you get to choose a land from a variety of lands with different difficulty levels (Easy, Medium and Hard), and then build the city of your dreams with no missions or challenges, just try to keep the people happy and the city well-protected.
The game doesn't have a large variety of buildings, there are few decorative buildings (like gardens and temples) but I would've loved a larger variety to choose from. Buildings are built by slaves (not by regular citizens) and require resources that your city has to own before the building can be fully constructed. If you run out of a specific resource or your city does not currently have the buildings to produce some resources you can always use the trade post to trade resources with other cities. Of course as with most of such strategy games you'll have to make sure your citizens are happy, your city is well-protected from riots and that you have all the resources for a well constructed city with a good economical base.
Graphics:
The graphics in the game are quite good, you cannot zoom in for street level or anything but you can see a detailed view of your city and its buildings. You also cannot see what's happening inside a building.
Sounds:
I don't really think that sound matters very much in such games, but the music here is classic and nice and there are few un-noticeable sound effects when you zoom in above specific buildings or for example, when a fire is started somewhere in your city.
Overall:
This game is a really good and fun strategy that'll probably keep you busy for a couple of weeks (depends on how hardcore you are of course). The different modes are really great and add lots of gameplay hours. Whether you're a regular or a hardcore strategy gamer, this game is highly recommended.