Anno 1701 A.D.

I love this Series but if you're expecting a fair fight you won't be getting that here. The ANNO series has given me hours of fun and I still play it every year or so. The graphics and sound of all the ANNO series has always exceeded the standards of the time. There is a lot of fun to be had with this game. Where this series falls short is cheating NPC's. I'd like to point out that this may not affect everyone the same so you may love this game regardless. However the people who enjoy strategy will find this very annoying. What I mean by this is there is almost no real chance of economically crushing your enemies. They must all be put to the sword. That is the only means of conquering them. You can control the entire board cutting off you're NPC opponents from the resources they need. Even destroying there ports so they are cut off from all external supplies. At this point you should be able to watch them slowly crumble from a once modern superpower back to a small insignificant village. Unfortunately for the player that never happens. The NPC's citizens and cities will riot and recover endlessly all the while some how maintaining their technology and military might. It will become obvious to the player that they must swoop in with overwhelming military might to face off against the NPC's never ending magical resources and military. It is a real shame and the only stain on what would be a pristine RTS experience that could leave you playing this series regularly for years to come. I do still play this series every now and then but I'm always left with a deep sadness over what this series could have and should have been.

I originally owned a hard copy of this game which would not only fail to activate but would also BSOD my laptop. The GOG version however fixes all of these flaws and finally allows me to eperience the awesomeness that is 1701 AD (which was the original title that I knew it by). A strategy / city-builder without too much to keep track of such as Anno 1701 makes for a somewhat theraputic experience; the visuals are pretty incredible for their day and stand the test of time, and the gameplay somehow never becomes stale or boring. With the various modes of play, I could literally kill hours just sandboxing in this game and doing nothing with my life, and that's a quality that I truly seek out in most games. Replay value is increasingly important for me, and this game delivers.

Of the three first games, which all share roughly the same setting (not counting 1404, which I haven't played, yet, and has more of a medieval style, as far as I can tell), this one is, in my opinion, the best. This only recently occurred to me, as I haven't played the first two in many years and I only realized some of their shortcomings when I recently started them up again after buying them on GOG. See my reviews of Anno 1602 and 1503 for my opinion on these games. Anno 1701 was the first with 3D graphics and the last with the "New World" setting. I actually didn't play it until 2013, when I finally got a pc that could handle it, but I have been playing it a lot again, lately, especially the expansion campaign "Sunken Dragon". In many ways, 1701 is more similar to 1602 than 1503 was, and where it is different, it is usually better. It is more streamlined and less complicated than Anno 1503, but also has more beautiful graphics and a more modern interface than Anno 1602. Other improvements include automatic placement of fields around plantations, computer players who are not just faceless rivals but have their own, distinct personalities and comment on the player's actions. To spice things up, the free trader periodically offers small quests which can be useful in the early game to make a few extra gold coins. The 3D graphics are still beautiful more than ten years after the release, and the music is just as good, if not better, as in Anno 1602, but in a much higher quality. It is just a pleasure to watch the city grow over time, and seeing the clear water, the white beaches and the lush forests of the various islands is like a small vacation. If you have never played an Anno game before, I recommend you start with this one!

Loved this game back when, my only complaint was the DRM that made it impossible to play on Windows 7. Now that it's on GOG, that's no longer an issue. Probably the best Anno a notch above 1601.

I love Anno 1701 since 2008. I can truly say that is game is a game that i grew up with. After all it is also my favourite anno game. I was 8 years old when i played it the first time. I was 12 when i stopped playing it because i moved to another computer that could not run the game with the CD version. Now i 17 and im absolutely in love with the good old memories that are brought back with GOG making it playable again. Thank you so much, this game means so much to me. Cheers!