I have two concerns about Settlers HD as a game – the first is that learning curve. Your only concession is a pause button which also brings up the app menu (so you can exit or restart a game) and a fast forward button, for those periods when things are being built and you just want the wait to be over. Unlike a turn-based game, things will continue to happen no matter what you do. The screen can become cluttered and needs a number of button presses to get anything done – so don't have a battle plan that needs you to react quickly and change strategy in an instant!īeing a real time strategy game, there’s no real rhythm to the game other than what you develop yourself. That the villagers go about their business without too much interference from you (you set them the tasks and they go away and do them) means you can set the goals and leave them to it – which also means less on-screen interaction.īut come to command the armed forces, which requires a tighter control of your forces to make the best use of them in battle, and issues of selection, targeting and setting goals appear. There is a lot of detail here, and even with the zoom function, the screen of Settlers HD can get very crowded. What continues to be a bit of a problem is the controlling of the game.
As the amount of time played goes up, and you get more used to the world and how to control it, the AI challenge reduces, although it is in part compensated for by more difficult goals and missions in the levels. I suspect this is less to do with clever programming, but more that the computer player already understands the holistic nature of each element of the game and can put them together. Even though the initial levels are tutorials, giving you a helping hand as to how the game works, and an explanation of what all the icons are for, this is a game that not only has a huge learning curve to understand what’s going on with all the interlocking elements of the game, but also to take all this information and put it together to make a coherent strategy that gives you a fighting (sic) chance of winning.īecause of the complexity, the computer AI seems to be pretty smart on first approaching the game. Set over a number of scenarios (build a statue to the glory of Rome, explore the island without getting killed, etc) with those scenarios over historical periods (Roman, Viking, Mayan and the ominous “Dark Tribe”) there’s a lot to get to grips with. Then you can build mines and get more exotic materials that can be used to fashion better tools, buildings and weapons! Because it’s not just you on all these levels, you’ll find occupied islands to invade, territory to claim and flags to capture. You’ll need to manage the building that creates the raw material (wood and stone), which is then used to build more buildings and tools, which in turn allow you to train and equip your people with more new skills (such as geology). This is an isometric based strategy game with a huge dependence on managing resources.
Developed by Blue Byte Software.It’s a relatively honest transition to the portable platforms, but that’s not without issue. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. The Settlers, Blue Byte and the Blue Byte logo are trademarks of Ubisoft GmbH in the US and/or other countries.
Put your settling skills to the test as you gather resources, establish and manage trade routes, manufacture goods, or wage war. The seamless zoom function allows you to take a close-up peek as your settlers go about their daily business, or to zoom out for a bird’s-eye view of how your very own empire is coming along. The Romans, the Mayans, the Vikings, and the Trojans are the four industrious little races you’ll be settling with. He definitely doesn’t plan on letting it stay that way – his Dark Tribe will soon be waging war on the Earth’s flora and fauna. It really could not have been worse for this particular villain, as Morbus cannot bear the sight of anything green.
Just because of a little uprising, Morbus has been banished to Earth by HIM, the highest god of all. Includes the original The Settlers® IV and its two expansions: The Settlers® IV: The Trojans and the Elixir of Power and The Settlers® IV Mission CD along with a random map generator.