As fine a historical city-building game as I've ever seen.
929296
Whoever designed this game seriously studied the history and culture of ancient Egypt.  The game is totally fascinating, and has taught me some remarkable facts about history.
95947
The common criticism of this game is that it is merely Patrician II in some new packaging.  Insofar as experienced P2 players will have no problem diving right into P3, I suppose that is true.  However, there are more than enough new features in P3 that will challenge even an experienced P2 veteran's learning curve.

In particular, the new version guarantees that becoming Mayor or Alderman actually means something now.  A mayor now has access to the town coffers, which means that if you are some sort of Hanseatic Boss Tweed, you can line your pockets with impunity --- that is, until the next election, when the citizens of your possibly bankrupt town may decide enough is enough and toss you out on your patrician behind.  If on the other hand you are more civic-minded, the game now allows you (as both a Councillor & a Mayor) to contribute actively to the overall health & prosperity in the town.  In P2, being a Councillor was largely symbolic --- you got to vote for Mayor once a year, and participate in the occasional Hanseatic vote, and that was it.  As Alderman, strangely there was even less power to wield, so it never really represented a significant improvement of your fortunes.  You are also given the opportunity to suck up to the local noble (or antagonize him, if you are so inclined).  How you choose to deal with the local Prince can determine whether or not your town finds itself under siege.  Sieges have also been tweaked to allow you a more active role rather than sitting by helplessly waiting to see if the attacking army will break through the gates.

Additions of civic buildings like a school & a mint allows you to have an influence on a town's growth, and the inclusion of Hanseatic missions providing for the contstruction of entirely new towns gives P3 an entirely new depth.  The missions can sometimes be fairly straightforward, but they can also leave you struggling to provide the necessary resources --- a failed mission will leave you in extremely poor standing with the Hanse, so proceed with caution.

The ability now to save your shipping routes is a welcome time-saving addition.  Less welcome (but accurate nonetheless) is the tendency of the northern ports to freeze solid during the winter months.  Watch the ports freeze and then watch your finely tuned trading operation unravel all across the map --- what fun!

For those who find endless trading and management of municipal infrastructure to be a bit tedious, P3 now offers you more opportunities to duke it out with the pirates who seem to litter the north seas.  Escorting fugitives and other travellers can find you in the midst of a battle with a pirate, and if you play it right, can provide you with a nice hulk for the low low price of a few sailors' lives.  Hanseatic missions will also allow you to attack pirate hideouts which can sometimes involve fleets of ships blasting away at each other.  The potential for violence and mayhem has vastly increased from P2, but strangely, the sea battle graphics still are rather primative.  Anyone who has played Ascaron's "Port Royale II" knows that the sea battle graphics can be much better than what is found in P3.

Other inclusions such as raising a family may not actually improve gameplay, but it does personalize your game character a bit more, and that is a nice detail to be appreciated.  All in all, Ascaron's tweaking has resulted in a game that is different enough from its predecessor to make it worth acquiring.  Rest assured that the newest "Patrician" entry is still the all-consuming time-burner it has always been.  Be prepared to devote a mininum of 2 hours each time you play it.
132825
This is a re-make of the 1997 Rosenkonig board game.  The designer is Dirk Henn who created Shogun and Alhambra, both of which are solid, though more complex, Euro games.

The original game board was a lot more busy and distracting.  The current release toned down the contrast and the board, while having an interesting look, is not the eyesore it once was.  Components have been improved as well.

The distributor has this quoted as the theme of the game:

"England, 15th Century  On one side, the House of York, with its heraldic badge featuring a single, snow white rose. And on the other side, the House of Lancaster, its own heraldic rose depicted in blood red.  The War of the Roses, a dynastic struggle for control of the English crown, has erupted between the two houses. In this strategic game, one player commands the House of York and the other, the House of Lancaster. The players use their power cards to bring territories under their control, aiming to keep their territories as contiguous as possible. They also deploy their heroic knights to take over enemy territories and cause surprising upsets. Who will be crowned Englands new king?"

So there is a theme, but the game plays out in a bit of an abstract of this theme.  (That was an awkward sentence...)  But knowing what the back story is and engaging in the theme this way makes it a bit more fun.  Not 'Lord of the Rings the Confrontation' fun, but still enjoyable.

There is a pretty easy learning curve, so you can get to playing pretty quickly.  I recommend one trial run while consulting the rules frequently, then a test run using the rules only when needed.

If you want a solid second tier, quick and easy 2 player board game, then this is a solid option, especially at the super reasonable price of $14 Prime right now!  It will not be a top go to in our household, Agricola Creatures and San Juan get the two player stamp of approval.  But it is in the next rotation, at least for now.  If it becomes stale, then I will update the review accordingly.
1234855
The best part of this game is the zoom feature.  If you're like me, you'll spend most of your time building your city about two levels up from the strongest possible magnification.  At this level, you can see enough of the  surrounding neighborhood, while not straining your eyes to see each  particular parcel of land.  However, the real joy comes in zooming in and  out on what you have created.  When you're up close, you see your people --  the citizens of your city -- going about their business.  You'll hear the  ambient noise of your city -- the sirens, buses, electricity and voices.  You have to admire the quality of the programming.
Then, you zoom out  and -- at your farthest point -- you're a mile up, and all you see are your  biggest buildings and you hear nothing but wind.  You look back to admire  your entire city -- your creation -- and you're moved by the beauty of the  thing you have made.
I really enjoy this game.  I will play it for many  days to come.  However, I reserve my 5 Star rating for Caesar III, which  not only matches SimCity 3000 in detail, but also provides an opportunity  for battle that SimCity 3000 does not.
603591
I reviewed this game at the same time Civ3 was out (which I have not played.)  I find CivCTP to be just as addicting as any of the earlier versions.  I have to agree with other reviewers that some of the gameplay is slow, but this was not a serious complaint from me.  I appreciated how many object attributes can be seen through a 'right click'.  City Management seems easier if you know how to set up the screen views.
At the time of review, the product was deeply discounted, making this a very good value.  If you get the value (jewel) version, the manual will be very minimal (with no or minimal strategies explained.)  However, the game was pretty much easy to learn without a manual, esp. if you are already familiar with Civ, and strategies can also be gained through simple trial and error, so I did not find any need to seek the full manual or a strategy guide.
41442
[Edit]Two things you need to know about Sim City 4:

1) update it from files easily found on the Internet.
2) Get the Sim City "Rush Hour" expansion pack. Don't even consider not getting the expansion pack. It completes the game, and makes it all worthwhile.

This is an incredibly good game, and it runs incredibly well on a modest Mac. The horror stories come from those who did not update it or buy Rush Hour. Mine never quits or crashes. Sim City 3 still has a certain charm, but this is a far better game. There are commands you can learn from the keyboard that enable things you can't do with the mouse. The manuals (when you combine them both) give you all you need to know.

and now, for my original review below: [/edit]

SimCity 4 has already kept me entertained for a month! I've pulled 36 hour and 48 hour days just to play this game! It's that engrossing. This is, in my opinion, the best version yet, and I've spent more time than I care to admit on all of them. I still have favorite cities saved from every version of Sim City, though I don't enjoy the early one as much anymore. This new version finally gets most things right. Now the correlations between budgets, taxes, zoning, population, land value, and so forth all seem to make much more sense than in previous versions, as if someone finally got serious and decided just how much things REALLY should cost, and how much a school or park really should affect the desirability of a plot of land. You no longer need dozens of water pumps or half-a-dozen power plants to keep things going, and roads are much easier to place; unlevel terrain is more of a problem for water pipes, though. It was harder at first to get a city off the ground, but now that I've learned the tricks, I can have a thriving city in an hour or two. Still, I'll be up all night trying to develop each new city. There is always something to do, something you wish you'd done earlier, and you never get the time to just explore the city as you may wish, for there is always an emergency to tend to. Sometimes I just ignore all that and enjoy my city.

People complain about the lack of support for BAT files for Macintosh, but if you go to the user forums, you can find ways to make them work--maybe not perfectly, but mostly. Sure, we don't get to build our own, but at least we get to see what others have built. I'm more interested in the city itself.

Region play has made SC4 more interesting by an order of magnitude. Now those neighbor deals are part of the strategy, and you're controlling both ends of the deal! You can build bustling regions this way. There are cheats built into the game, and you can easily locate them online, but honestly you do not need them to stay afloat. I used them for the first few cities as I learned the ropes; now I don't need them at all. In fact, it's more fun without them. Don't worry about the horror stories or the disappointments. Aspyr did a grand job of porting this to the Mac. Long time Mac users know that we're not ever going to see all the games and features that PC users get. It's just the economics of scale. I'm thrilled with the fact that I get to play this on my Mac at all, and I don't have to go beg time from my son to use his PC. After all, SC4 keeps me so busy that he'd never get his PC back! Rather than looking at the lack of the building/architecture tools as a deficit, look at SC4 as a bonus. It really is a bonus on a Mac, and we really do get to use almost everything the PC users get. Yeah, it's the old "glass half full" or "glass half-empty" thing, but I promise you this glass is plenty full, and you'll have a hard time drinking it all in.

No question; this is the best version yet, and it's worth every penny for both SC4 and Rush Hour expansion pack. Support development for the Mac! Sim City is one of our old classics, and SC4 upholds the tradition of raising the bar and keeping it fun.

Shooshie
3398778
While I haven't had much time to mess around with the Alexander expansion, I have to say that there are few, if any, video games that have sucked me in as much as Rome Total War and the Barbarian Invasion expansion. While I obviously love Medieval 2 Total War as much as the next guy (when I get to borrow my ex's super laptop anyway :), there's something amazing -- especially for a history buff -- about the diversity, challenge, and overall feel of the RTW games, never mind the various mods available which pretty much keep it from becoming obsolete.

Generally, I am the type of gamer who avoids flavor of the month games, but who REALLY gets into 2-3 great games a year (typically console games, e.g. I'm way too into Fallout 3 right now, as I was codependent with Assassin's Creed a year ago), and I kind of laughed at my good friend who recommended this game to me a few years ago (yes, yes...I know: I'm totally with it...). It just seemed like too much time and trouble. After borrowing it from him in August of 2006, I think he finally got it back in late 2007, right after I bought my own copy. :)

I've played various custom battles and campaigns with various factions with all kinds of difficulties and I NEVER get sick of it. I'm a fledgling writer who studies ancient, medieval, and modern history (both eastern and western), along with general military history and theory, pretty seriously, so conquering the world with Parthia or Rome never gets old--EVER!

The sheer quality of the Total War games, let alone the constant barrage of and variety of mods, make them worth every penny. I HATED RTS games prior to experiencing this series: now I LOVE 'EM. I can't think of a better compliment than that.
223181
Having played this game several times now, I felt I should put up a review.

In this game, you're ostensibly trying to claim and develop land (in accordance with the Homestead Act of 1862, which basically says that if you actually use an unclaimed plot of land for 5 years, you get to keep it).  The game is much more interesting than the theme might make it sound.

Every turn there's an auction... sort of.  Everyone will win something.  Up for auction are the rights to build various types of buildings (farms, factories, banks, etc).  There are several permits available at the same time, and there is always one less building permit than the number of players, so at least one person per turn will have to pass each turn-  but there is a passing bonus that gets better the more times you pass, so even this is a fine option.

Once you win an auction, you choose a building from the available types (indicated by the permit) and build it using some of the resources (wood, steel, food, cattle, gold, etc.) you've gathered so far.  Different buildings have different costs.  When everyone has done that, a new set of permits becomes available,  and the buildings you've built so far generate their benefits (usually more resources with which to buy further buildings).

there are 10 rounds of auctions in the game.  In the 4th round, some new, more advanced buildings become available-  while some of the older ones cease to be valid to build.  This happens again in the 9th round, as even more advanced buildings become available, like railroad stations.  Once the game is over, you tally up points (some buildings will have provided points during the game, and you also earn points just for having cattle, gold, and copper), and the player with the most, wins.

Here's the thing:  I generally don't enjoy auction games.  However, in this game you'll always win something,  so it's less about "have vs. have not", and more about judging how much various things are worth to you... and how much you can push the other players' prices up in the meantime.

There's interesting interaction in the auctions, and lots of options in the various buildings you can choose.  The resources are all represented by cool little wooden bits (centimeter-high cows and men in cowboy hats, planks of wood, gold coins, etc.) and the game plays very fast once everyone has the basic idea down.

Lots of strategic depth and interesting decisions, with a simple ruleset and a short playtime, make this one of my favorite game purchases this year.
4974969
Opened the game today and am thoroughly impressed with both the added gameplay elements as well as the game materials themselves.  The board is massive and simply tremendous in it's detail and styling.  The units are significantly more specialized than in previous versions with nearly all pieces representing historically accurate military units.  Control markers etc. are on a nice thickness of card stock with a plastic laminate on the back for strength.

Looking forward to many enjoyable "battles"...
4952822
Very fun game! It's a bit of Civilization with fantasy elements. The graphics are good, the game play is familiar yet fresh, and there's actually a bit of narrative story, which doesn't usually happen in Civ-likes. Definitely worth your time if you're a Civ fan.
959179
This game is a brilliant introduction to worker-placement games.  The narrative behind this game is wonderful as well.  Take a civilization and "progress" it.
2164808
Full disclosure: I am a friend of the creator of this game.  He gave me a prototype to try a year ago.  But don't let this steer you away from considering this easy-to-learn, satisfying game made from quality materials.

The first you notice is that the set is not made of plastic, from an offshore manufacturing plant.  It's made in the USA.  The board is handsome and has a quality heft.  My wife and I display it in our living room. The play pieces are even more interesting.  The earthy tones and medieval player shapes remind you that this is not a little kid's game, though kids could master the moves quickly.  The next thing you notice is the set-up of player piecies:  it's not my-pieces-on-my-side, and the opponent's pieces on theirs, like conventional chess.  It's fascinating:  the king in the middle attempts to reach one of the four corners.  But it's not easy to do, and it's equally challenging to capture him, as it turns out that he's a little "slippery".

How is it for game-playing?  Anyone can do it, even a three-year old.  You learn quickly from moves that aren't successful, and take advantage of your improvement in the same game.  You can take an aggressive or defensive approach, and be successful with either (I like to be aggressive).  You also create your own strategy quickly.  It can be a bit addicting since it's so straight-forward and engaging.

This is the only game in my home that has not been relegated to the shelf in the closet.  It looks great on the coffee table, and is fun to play on a whim.

Do yourself a favor:  remember this as a gift idea for when you don't know what to give someone for a birthday, Christmas, or graduation.  It's not too big to carry around.  The recipient will notice the artistic quality of the board and pieces.  They will quickly see how engaging the play is.  Since the board is so nice, I would be inclined to buy it for people over the age of 12 or so.

Drawbacks?  1. The name is awkward (Hnefatafl -- NEH-fuh TAH-ful).  2. I think the board would break if dropped (so I make sure to not drop it).
3402172
The pieces are handsome & smooth to the touch.  They offer the very opposite experience of electronic gaming & are utterly satisfying, with one deficit.  They're perfectly fair; I don't always win!  The bonus? An articulate & thorough set of rules for a game that's too often dismissed as a poor cousin to chess.
3058836
I haven't played this game for too long, but so far not too many complaints, and lots of improvement. The interface is far better, with shortcuts on the main screen to manager money and stuff. The great part is that armies don't have home cities anymore, so you don't have to worry about which army is where. There are all different types of economies, religions, government, etc. that you can pick from, and mix and match according to your preference.

The reality is that this game still takes a long time to play, at least in normal gameplay. No complaint; its what makes this game so addictive and absorbing.

Really nothing amazing or new about city management, workers, units, etc. The experience point system for units works well, and is pretty easy to manage.

My only complaint is that the workers are stupid, and in the WW2 beyond the sword scenario i can't declare war against germany and they won't invade.  but in general, the beyond the sword scnenarios are fun.

If you liked other Civs, this one is an evolutionary improvement; but if you like FPS, this probably isn't the game for you.
1834274
This is a great city building game much like the old Pharaoh.  The map is in 3D and the pops are much more realistic looking.  It ran fine on a Pentium 4 about four years ago so it should run great on any newer computer.  If you enjoyed Pharaoh or Caesar III, you'll definitely enjoy this game.
4697042
Admittedly, this is the 1st Civilization game I've played so I can't say how it stacks up against the others but it's certainly not the 1st game of it's type that I've ever played. I got it a while back while looking for XCom. It came in a 3-pack bundle with Civ IV (haven't played that one yet) and XCom (uninstalled this tripe after about a week) for ~$20.

Anywho, it's a great game, tons of fun and very easy to pick up and play which is something that can't be said for most games of this type.

The graphics are excellent although when moving the camera around the map is SOMETIMES slow to render on my machine with high settings. IDK why because my machine is plenty powerful enough to run this game on high. I guess it's just one of those things. Not really a big deal but I have to look at large chunks of grey areas on the map for a few seconds before things start to show up properly.

Some of the annoyances are:

*AI opponents can act pretty irrationally. A good for instance would be when you're building your empire, minding your own business with your one small city when long about turn 10 or so Augustus Cesar appears on your screen denouncing you to the world for no apparent reason.

*AI picks random religions that they never would have picked in the real world. For example, I have had Gandhi pick Christianity (an atrocious choice for Gandhi) and Catherine the Great pick Buddhism (Catherine the Great was Russian Orthodox). This happens even when they're the first players to get a choice.

*Spies seems pretty much totally useless and as easy to detect as a spider in a birthday cake while the enemie's spies are devastatingly effective and seemingly totally immune to detection no matter how many measures you take to combat their presence.

*The game chooses the unit it wants you to manage next and the camera automatically goes to that unit, interrupting whatever you were doing or wanted to do after you finished managing the previous unit. Even if you have multiple units in the same spot that have turns left, it will bounce wildy around the map, auto-choosing whatever random unit it wants you to manage. As best I can remember I found where to turn this off in the settings but also as best I can remember, it didn't work very well.

*A lot of times after managing several units the A Unit Needs Orders button will still show, making you think there's something left to do before you end the turn but when you click on that button to see what it is it quickly changes to End Turn and ends the turn. This wouldn't be so bad if you weren't wanting to do something else before you ended the turn, say, change a city's settings or just look over and assess some things and sometimes it can be important that you do this before a turn ends.

*Occasional crashes but only occasional. Nevertheless, save after every turn because sometimes a crash can really set you back.

*For some reason, on my last game I was destined to take the time victory at 2050 but when advancing the game to my winning turn the game would lock up when clicking the End Turn button, making my victory inevitable but unattainable and no amount of going back and restarting from a previous save fixed it. I eventually gave up and started a new game, assuming that Ceasar and Gandhi had their spies rig the software so I couldn't win the game. Ceasar, especially, is a real crybaby!

For the record, All of these (other than that last thing) are very minor. They don't detract from the game's immersion or playability to any degree and there's lot of mods that fix most of these issues. They're just there, that's all.

Everything else about the game is great and I recommend it to anyone that likes this kind of stuff or even to those that don't if their reason for not liking them is their disproportionate complexity in comparison to other types of games.
377985
Civilization V is a great game to introduce someone to the Civilization series. I had never really played this series before but after playing this game I am definitely a fan. The amount of customization is impressive and there's so much detail in every aspect of the game. I can easily see playing this for a long time to come. It's one of those games where you look up at the clock and wonder how it's all of a sudden 2am.

I'm told Civ IV had religion as a gameplay mechanic and I'm bummed this one doesn't have it but it looks like Gods and Kings makes up for that so I guess it's not too big of a deal. I also have no problem with Steam. I know it gets a lot of hate, but I like the fact that I can get Steam codes and then download and play games on both my PC and Mac. Steam's great if you know what you're doing and don't have the wrong set of expectations for it. Hell, Mac App Store downloads don't have the sort of community, friend list sort of implementation that Steam does and in todays' wired in world that's a great thing to have.

Relax and enjoy this great game.