1849: Gold Edition

1849 is NOT LIKE Caesar 3 or similar games- it's more like Caesar 1, or designs over 20 years old. That wouldn't be a criticism if it wasn't a brand new game. I won't repeat the many other reviews above on point about the tired format, lack of developer insights, lack of critical city management screens, manual, price and repetitiveness; but I do agree. The main problem that may catch you unawares is starting the story campaign, getting a few missions down, and then saving halfway through a city; then doing some exploring in the game (such as the Epilogue or Silver missions) only to find that you can't rejoin your old campaign. It's gone. Wiped out. There is NO load screen/save screen. It saves only ONE copy and you have to "continue" or loose it. If the save file glitches from overwriting, you're screwed. This means that you can't reload if you have a bug, a glitch, a power outage, or an act of life interfering. I have rarely seen developers insult the intelligence of players in quite so deliberate a fashion. If I sound mortally offended.....yes I am. Another problem is the "clickfest" you have in trying to determining the trade routes / prices. This means finding the trade screen (one to buy, one to sell) click on a route, then exit via dump to the main screen and having to go around again and again to get all of the information. The game still has bugs: for example, 2 towns grew housing without a school. The lack of 360 degree map rotation is an issue when you can't see behind buildings or onto hidden roads, but the old style 4-square (x90') rotation wouldn't help- a problem, long ago corrected in the field, that shouldn't have been re-committed at this late date. Building rotation doesn't affect road access, so I won't argue it. The typos and run-on sentences need to be copy-edited by someone who actually reads English... Bottom line, I'm not sending another penny to these guys on a new game until they fix this one. Completely. Period.

As others have mentioned, it is a bit too expensive.

While most of the reviews focus on it being to expensive for PC I disagree, while stating the mobile release was cheaper. Most of them probably do not understand the dynamics of coding a game for PC vs coding a game for mobile devices. The games itself is fun and allows you to quickly jump in and play a mission through in 10-20 minutes. I am a programmer and I find it a nice way to take a quick break during the day. My only complaint is when putting down roads you can't drag to make a long road you have to click for each section you want built. This is not that big of a draw back as maps are not that large. The other issue is each time you place a house you have to go back up and reclick on the house icon to place another one. All in all small issues.

The points are a bit too low on this game. It´s actually pretty nice - though the price is high, and of course, the amount of fun gameplay you can have is limited. The main problem with this game is that it becomes too easy, too fast. As soon as you start to make money, there are no real problems to tackle - and most of the city becomes a bit messy. If there just was something more at the end of play to make it more exciting, like a few more buildings, negative effects of too many mines etc - then this game would be much more fun. I enjoy the simple graphics and music, and I enjoy the simple gameplay. Though it is TOO simple, and to the regular price it is just too expensive.

It looks a simple title and it is. But full of charming old western feelings, gameplay with direct answers to your actions and a light challenge management which possibilities a relaxing game. What are the strong points are the weakest ones for many players. I´m a fan of sims, but my scope goes from hardcore to titles like this one. Some can dislike the simplicity, limited sense of development (both for space area, time progress and tech-trees) and tablet graphs. But this one carved a place in my gaming heart. I´d call it a mixture between Cultures/Setlers (caring for villagers and city aspect) and SimCity (economical management aspect) in a not stressful way.