Jul 04 2008
PC Review: The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (2007, PC, strategy)
The Settlers is a long running franchise, now in its 15th year already. Numerically speaking, Rise of an Empire is already the 6th entry in the franchise and it attempts to streamline the resource gathering mechanics, inject some RPG into it with 6 heroes you can choose from, and less emphasis on combat than the last game.
The Settlers is, first and foremost, all about gathering resources. You hunt animals, catch fish, grow grains and then transform them into food. Food makes the villagers go do their jobs such as woodcutting, tanning, and soap making. The more stores and workplaces you have, the more taxes they pay. Taxes are used to hire soldiers, or trade resources with nearby villages.
If you think the mechanics sound too complicated, The Settlers does a good job at managing it all by itself. After you construct a few buildings, everything happens automatically. Resources are gathered, goods are produced and distributed to every villager. Even when your hero enters a friendly village, trade negotiations are automatic so all you have to do is sit back and relax. Of course creating a village and watching it run smoothly is fine for the first few missions, unfortunately that is how every mission starts. You only have a lowly castle, storehouse and a cathedral. You must construct everything again in every mission which can get pretty repetitive. In addition, the de-emphasis on combat means there’s actually not much you can do in the game apart from resource gathering. Campaign tries to tell the story of rebuilding the Darion empire but progressing through the campaign is an odd feeling since your progress in each mission is wiped clean in the next one, even though they’re interconnected.
In the end, The Settlers: Rise of an Empire tries to simplify and get rid of the micromanagement, and it does it too well. If you can play through the technical bugs (and there are plenty in this game), you still won’t find a satisfying experience. It is better than the previous Settlers game, but that’s not saying much.
Rating: 45%
