This looks like a neat RTS city-building game, and the play control is pretty enjoyable. Getting your warriors to shout their battle cry at buildings to weaken the defenders is pretty cool, too. But the game has a huge stumbling block very early on - you have to pretty much perfectly maneuver and execute an attack on a massive enemy force, and if you lose, you lose! Lame. I want this game to be cool, but it just doesn't execute itself well.
Gameplay centers on raising a fleet of trade ships to engage in commerce at every port in the North Sea. "Buy cheap and sell dear" is the basic strategy, but each level of play is increasingly demanding - requiring ever-greater wealth levels to advance - such that it's hard to get into the middle-game, i.e. the point where you move from simply being a trader to owning more property in towns. Fun game, but frustratingly hard to advance.
This game has a lot of charm. However, the road system is terrible, all buildings can only be accessed on the south face, and combat is a huge gamble. With a lot of patience, you can really enjoy it, but in the early levels, I kept feeling like I was running out of resources and could do nothing about it. This game is like a really cool, funny guy you meet in class, but he just doesn't have it together. Worth a try, and certainly an amusing interface.
