Children of the Nile Complete

I'm not really great at city sims but I enjoy this one due to more simplistic yet immersive environment. It's really cool being able to zoom down to street level and watch your people go about their lives. It also runs pretty well on low end hardware. I have it on my netbook which is no powerhouse (Asus EeePC 900 - 900mHz Celeron, 1 gig of RAM and Intel integrated graphics) and it runs decently enough to be enjoyable.

People tend to compare this title with "Pharaoh", a game using Caesar's III engine. To be fair, the only thing in common would be the historical setting! This game has more to do with Caesar 1 or 2, but much improved: You are not dealing with a puzzle game here, where you need to constantly fit as much as a pre designed pattern possible to negate the effect of stupid walkers, you'll have on your hands a true strategy/city building game! Every citizen would travel any distance to get his goods. Gone are ridiculous concept like the "market lady" needing to knock each door to offer its goods, or devolving homes because they don't know how to access the service next door... The citizens can go up or down on the social ladder depending on their hard work, or your skills as a city planner (buildings have an unlimited area of effect, but you want to make them easy to access and not overcrowded). Realistic mechanics according to the time period and civilization are in place too! A "prestige" mechanic will make you seek it constantly, realistic trading and lack of money (replaced by a barter system which was what ancient Egyptians used during bronze age). Still not convinced? Let me list you some extra characteristics: All buildings need to be "built" (no instant "spawning", you'll see the worker putting all the bits and bobs ) Huge maps: This is not like Caesar IV where you'll struggle to finish the tutorial because of lack of room to place that necessary building, you have all the room you want to build! It works smoothly on a 2006 non gaming laptop, so chances are that your computer will be able to run it and take a nap at the same time. No effort!

Seriously, what's not to love? It's from the same people, same style of gameplay, only now it's fully 3D. I cannot recommend this game enough to city builder fans and fans of Egyptian history. It's fun, it's challenging, it's beautiful, and it's deserving of more attention.

I already own this game - and the soundtrack - but will likely get it here just so I can play it without the cd. Fantastically engrossing game. The only reason it didn't get five stars out of me is because - for me - it had a bit of a learning curve. Either that, or I spent too much time following my citizens around listening to my city live and breathe...