Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom

Impressions' City Builders are a series of history-focused city management games, and while Caesar 3 introduced me to the series I only truly locked in to an ideal, tight, rewarding and controlled experience when I finally came around to Emperor. Some time in the early 00s a group of game developers sat down and pieced together the history of the world's oldest continuous nation and lovingly drew up a highly detailed two-dimensional experience thereof. I really like this idea: that there was a bunch of adult professionals who were totally happy to develop a game that would be pacific, consistent, formulaic in the best way, and just totally pleasant. There are numerous key improvements about Emperor that go together to make it a quantum leap on Caesar 3. To mention a few: - 4 square standard housing plots. Houses are large, they have a solidity and a fixed size which worked with a reworked goods distribution system to increase the strategy of neighborhood planning. It also meant that the visual rewards of upgrading those houses were more immediate and recognizable. It ALSO allowed a more consistent way to monitor and 'remedy' the houses. - Neighborhoods. Utilizing the ideas of the siheyuan neighborhoods of ancient china, neighborhood walls with doors which can be altered to allow certain walker types through worked to literally partition and micromanage your cities. - Markets. Unlike the simplistic markets in Caesar 3 and it's ilk, markets in Emperor came in two kinds: a 4-slot market and an 6-slot market. Into the market squares you place shops which sell different item types, walkers sent out from the markets distribute these goods to neighborhoods. This allows you to again micromanage the development of your cities and your consumption of resources. The above are just a few points on what sets this title apart. In summary, the tweaks to the gameplay in Emperor result in the most controlled and, simply put, fun iteration of the series. 10/10 for it's genre.

If you love city builders you just must try this game. If they charged $40 I would still consider this game a deal of the day.

The confucius say: he who wants the best city builder shall play this gd game right now Great gameplay, great music and atmosphere. Building, trading, fighting its all here and all with charming graphics that have aged quite well.

I spent countless hours on this game when I was younger. Loved the design, the music and the varied challenges. Very crisp and rich textures. A bargain for this price. Strongly recommended!

I dont understand why so many of the Sierra fans of the city building games dont seems to remenber this game in particular. Emperor take everything from the previous games like caesar, Zeus and Pharaoh making the perfect mix of gameplay improving everything were is needed. Economy, industry. farming , have a good level of complexity follwing the Chinese culture. Even the military side of the game that was always the most annoying part of the Sierra games have the bes gameplay here, the closest thing to a actual RTS combat.