Settlers IV Preview
We take a look at the next installment of Blue Byte's long-running city-building series.
Settlers is a venerable real-time strategy series that has a considerable following. Developed by Blue Byte software, it puts a tribe of developing people in your hands and asks you to shepherd them from a mob with resources to a bustling community. The games are often specific in scope, and look like cartoonish versions of the other real-time strategy games on the market. Over the years, the Settlers series has come to play very much like the 'Craft or Command & Conquer games, but it has always emphasized complex economic interdependencies over combat. It's a different kind of game from the Tiberian Suns and Starcrafts, which people are used to playing. But different isn't bad. And in an environment where RTS games are moving toward more tactical combat, Settlers IV, the newest iteration of the series, is going the opposite route. It's definitely a game about resources and base building. But realizing that the current market is also looking for exciting tactical combat, Blue Byte has continually been adding more combat elements into the series. Does this latest version of Settlers successfully provide the best of both worlds? Engrossing tactics and challenging economics? Let's find out.
In Settlers IV's storyline, a dark angel has angered the gods and has been banished to the earth. Accompanied by his sultry female assistant and a contingent of his dark minions, this angel called Morbus, has decided to remake the world into a more comfortable living place. Since Morbus is physically pained by beauty and order, he has no choice but to defile the very earth itself and turn the entire planet into a wasteland. Using corrupting plants that leech all life out of the soil and blacken the earth, he has defiled the land.
Meanwhile, in the part of the world that has yet to feel Morbus' creeping evil, several nascent human tribes are battling each other and are trying to turn themselves into thriving civilizations. There are three such tribes, and these are the playable races in the game. Settlers fans hoping for a return of the female Amazons will be disappointed. There are the Romans, who return from Settlers III, as well as the Mayans and the Vikings.
The three races play similarly, with only a few differences in resource requirements and a unique unit each, but they and their buildings look different. The Viking settlers are potbellied bearded men, while the Romans wear togas and short-cropped hair. The Mayans are bare-chested and dark-haired, and they use more stone in their building, while the other two races use more wood.
Each has its own minicampaign consisting of three missions each. The mission objectives are very straightforward. Those who criticized the previous games in the Settlers series for having monotonous missions where you just beat on the competition will find that the missions appear to be the same for the most part. Most missions for all sides boil down to destroying whoever is on the same island or continent with you. After going through each of the minicampaigns there is a longer final campaign, wherein you take on Morbus and his Dark Tribe. Morbus has poisoned the earth, and you must wipe out his forces and then recultivate the barren landscape so you can build on it again.
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