Superb, now and upon release. The countless positive reviews exist exactly because this game is easily 100 hours of your life -and memorable hours -long after you've moved away to other titles. Lacks the magnificent colour palette and camp voice-overs of Zeus, arguably the best Impressions title, but still Ptah after all these years.
Patrician the Third is a classic trading sim. Many reviews here have it down as one of the best and this is true. I recall playing this with a mod now long lost where your character started with -nothing-. Neither ship nor cash. You had to head straight to the loanshark to enable enough of a loan to have your first ship contracted at the local shipyard. Then you could play. Remarkable with or without this lost mod that was so excellent that particular start has remained a gaming moment for me ever since.
Maybe one of the best early Annos for complexity. Now, after the disappointment of 2205 (shallowest and prettiest of them all), Anno 1800 is almost at release but the old Age of Sail Annos seem entirely within their natural habitat, as it were. Hemp, fish and leather feels more 'right' than futuristic gubbins and space elevators. One downside: the prospector has a voice actor -and the mix is well off; he shouts in your ear like you're profoundly deaf at each and every click upon him and his mule. "HOW MAY WEEEE BE OF SERVICE?" "YES MY KING!" (read as if 72 point font) at 590 decibels does not a great sound experience make. Eh?/5 stars
Those two monolithic Empires of late antiquity before the arrival of the Islamic invasion were at it hammer and tong for *centuries*, from pre-Christian Rome and the last vestiges of the Parthian Kings' reign. So little covered by video gaming in general, but an important part of middle eastern (west asian) history -- did you know that the first 'Crusade' was set against Mazdayasnan (Zoroastrian) Iran to recover the true cross from the Iranian capital, Tisfon? --Alright, so here we use the term 'crusade' not within the confines of its later context, but there we are. Recommended for all of the above. HOWEVER. The price. Its Sitherine and you must pay for the titular game to get access to Sahansan Xosrau and his armies and Belisarios. Probably far too expensive for those whose interest lies elsewhere.
We get that this title is a unappetising Distant Worlds: Universe ersatz serving, but to draw attention to the fact is laughable. Buy a real cup of space-faring coffee instead.
Leaving aside the related issues of asking price and 'DLC dysentery', Stellaris tries to emulate Distant Worlds and GalCiv with anaemic and/or arthritic results; it lacks innovation and vision across its shallow depths where the other two titles (when the latter fully patched up) show spots of brilliance occasionally (DW's private and public sector for instance). The second game to ever have been deleted from my Steam library, it was that lacking in any redeeming features, I don't feel bad about it. Absolutely not recommendable.
Fantastic in its day, this is simply too expensive to recommend nowadays. Paradox's pricing policy can be -is - insulting with such old titles.
It most certainly is. MatrixGames' DW series tips a nod to a sister title, 'Pride of Nations' which offered two broad categories of income: Private Capital and State Funds. Here, the division is Private Funds and State Funds, with the latter depending fully on the former to get anything done. Consequently, the galaxy is buzzing -with the haoppy sight of all manner of private corp freighters and miners doing their thing (you can't really interact directly with them) -as you concentrate on the bigger picture. It's a stunning achievement with the amount of moddablity through the roof (mod guide PDF included in the docs). It also stands as a Story generator/Soap Opera if you enjoy that route in your games. Accordingly, its closest competitor, Stellaris really is a poor imitation of DW and won't have a flood of mediocre DLC incoming. What you see is what you get here -hundreds of hours of Empire building and Story-telling (and modding). The only downside is the music. It's the second worst bugle soundtrack in gaming -truly dire. I mean it, turn it off before you have a taste aneurysm.
Lost patience with this title during my first playthrough, when my character collapsed two inches from his front door, unconscious. Why? Because of an arbitrary time limit on his day's activities. Alright, so a lot of work went into creating a good world atmosphere (nostalgic apparently, I have never played Harvest Moon or the like) but time limits are an almighty turn-off for this player. Buy if you like ... Harvest Moon, I suppose.
