Through the Ages

I bought out of pure impulse. I love Civilization games and thought this game was like a board game version of it, and it is but very different. When I first went through the tutorial I was completely lost. I played a couple games after and was still lost, but could sense a deep game lurking I just had to figure it out. Then I figured it out, and damn ... it's one of the best strategy games I've ever played. You're going to lose your first couple games. You should probably read over the rules so you understand the more abstract mechanics of production and consumption. The game is like playing Civilization where you're managing your empire and trying to strike a balance. You win by having the most culture points at the end of the game, and there's many different ways to get the most points whether it be by military force and/or proper early preparation. If you're a fan of strategy games this is a gem. Even if you're not really a fan of strategy board games (which I am not). It's one of the deepest strategy games I've played, and the cards make every game completely different.

Through the Ages is great as a casual single-player strategy game, a sort of simplified Civilization that works very well. Unfortunately, online multiplayer is locked behind registration. If you wanted a game to play with your board game group remotely and wanted it DRM-free, this is not it. As it is, I'm reviewing mostly the single-player part of the game. Pros - Great game mechanics and setting - The basic mechanics of the game are easy to learn but take a while to master - The tutorial is very good - One playthrough lasts approx. two hours, which is a lot less than most 4X games - The music, sounds and and art fit well together and make playing more enjoyable - There are many challenges with special rules to increase replayability Cons - AI turns are slow even on the fastest setting. This started to bother me after the first couple of games, when I felt like two-hour games included half an hour of waiting. The AI of the first Civilization games made more complex choices faster with a fraction of today's hardware resources. This warrants optimization, especially as we can't play online against friends without forced registration. - The game isn't immersive enough to make the waiting feel worth it. In Civilization 4 and upwards the game was slow because the huge worlds and 3D graphics weren't fully optimized, but there was something to look at while waiting and the world felt exciting enough to make it tolerable. - You have to make some game choices blind, without looking at the situation of your civilization or any other. There seemed to be no logic to when that was possible and when not, so this seems like a UI bug. - If you were looking for exploration, this doesn't have it. Every other part of 4X games is present and well done. Overall for single-player: 4/5 With a faster AI and bug-free UI would be 4.5/5 Online play against friends without registration would make 5/5

I liked TtA a lot when it was just a card game, despite its length, bookkeeping and weak graphics. This is pretty much a digitalized version of it, with added music which is great. This version lacks bookkeeping, is way shorter than the original and streamlined to the point you can play it vs 3 AI's within an hour, which is perfect for me. Just don't forget to put every option on "instant" and you're ready to go. There are also in-game challenges if you ever get tired of a standard formula to keep things fresh. I strongly recommend buying the expansion if you like the base game, as it literally multiplies replayability and rebalances the strategies, making it a way better experience overall. On the flip side, this game is as ugly as the card game was and multiplayer servers are way too weak to handle the popularity of this game, but despite those flaws I still think it deserves 5 stars. For what it's set out to do, it does perfectly.

Actually I dont know the boardgame. The game as itself is good. Its well presented, clearly understandable. Its definetly an to learn/hard to master game. For everyone who likes turn based strategy its good.