Pharaoh + Cleopatra

As pointy, clicky, isometric manager games go this is one of the best. And just as time consuming (in a fun way) as it was back in the late 1990s. Once started it's really hard to stop until you've compeleted a level/map. Except now the screen is MASSIVE and it's more of a thrill to watch all the little Egyptian plebs and their camels walking around while the Gods bless and curse this and that.

Best city building game ever!

This is the 1st city building game I bought from GOG. 1st a few good points about Pharaoh: The animation is excellent, the basic gameplay is easy and practical and there is a wide variety of possible buildings and items to incorporate in the game. There are probably many good cheats as well, I never use cheats so this may enhance your experience. If you're a power gamer who hated Sim City and found it too easy you can change this rating to a 4. Now for the bad news: This game is insanely, mind achingly, waste hundreds of hours of your life difficult. I've only ever played on the easy level and it's a slaughter. It seems like the designers determined to make the game as difficult as possible so as to attract hard core city builders. All the fun of building a city was, for me, taken away as there's no time whatsoever for strategy. It's a madman's dash of knee-jerk reactions and desperation as you race against the clock and your own hemorrhaging bank account to juggle the endless and unbalancable needs of your city. I spent several months playing, reading reviews and walkthroughs online and watching dozens of hours of Youtube videos scouring for info to help me advance. All to no avail. I find my head burns and I'm stupid with exhaustion after a bout of this game. It's a candidate for the hardest game I've ever played. The "hard" level is called "impossible." Another issue is the general glitchiness of this game at least the copy I bought from GOG. I've experienced occasional glitches from patched games from GOG before but very minor. They sell quality games consistently in my opinion. This is the 1st time it's really been a problem for me. Crashing mid game, freezing (especially while skimming freeform missions). Also the freeform missions have restrictions. If there's a totally freeform map where you can access all the features and buildings of the game I've yet to find it. I've been playing Pharaoh for several months and have finally decided to abandon it. I'm not alone, many experienced gamers even in the city builder genre have given up and gone back to Zeus. I wrote this review not to bad mouth the game but just as a warning. There are many 5 star reviews who make no mention of the difficulty or glitches. In my opinion unless you are a power gamer or a heavily experienced city builder you will find this game borderline impossible or worse. If this level of difficulty appeals to you by all means check it out for the excellent artwork and extremely deep learning curve.

Charming and delightful in about a hundred different ways. I adore this game; it has such a shallow learning curve, all the recorded voice lines are really good and the design of the buildings is great. If you have even a passing interest in city builders, then this is definitely worth a try.

Great old school builder game. 5/7