The Settlers: Fourth Edition: Fourth Time?s the Charm? Seems So.
Company: Ubisoft Entertainment
I would have written this preview earlier, but I?ve found myself being inexorably pulled back to The Settlers: Fourth Edition every time I went to write a preview. It?s addictive, and I can only imagine that the final product will be even more so. In The Settlers IV, you take control of one of three tribes -- the Vikings, the Romans, or the Mayans. The graphical style is very cute in a non-Japanese super-deformed sort of way. They definitely must be seen to be fully understood. The graphics are nicely scalable, allowing you to zoom out to get the whole picture and then zoom in to see the particulars with a flick of your mouse wheel. It?s a nice feature, especially in a 2D game like The Settlers IV.
The actual game consists of the same two major parts of any real-time strategy game: the economics and the combat. However, unlike any other strategy game I?ve ever played, the economics in TS4 are amazingly complex. Instead of your usual gold/metal/gas/mana/wood collection, which are magically turned into ?resources? that can be used any and everywhere, Settlers 4 has you collecting resources in realistic ways. A stonecutter works on jutting outcrops, woodcutters chop down the light forest around your settlements, and almost any other natural resource must be mined. Before you can mine, of course, you have to have the land surveyed. Mined coal is used to light fires which can be used to smelt metal and bake bread -- which also needs wheat, which needs water to grow. The supply and demand lines are complex, taking quite a while to get use to.
Another thing that takes getting use to is the fact that you don?t control most of your population. Workers and builders are unselectable, instead doing work once you have something that needs to be done. This is a Good Thing -- with so much ?little stuff,? The Settlers IV would degenerate into pointless micromanagement without some automation. When you tell them to build a building, first some people come and level the land. Next, other workers cart lumber and stone from various locations to the building spot... no magical relocation here! Finally the builders show up and the building goes up in a more-traditional ?grow from the bottom? method. It?s quite cool to watch.
Of course, there are units that need to be selectable -- ones that extend your borders, ones that discover deposits of ores, and of course your army. Don?t expect quite the level of complexity here that you see in most RTS games -- The Settlers IV is, first and foremost, an economy sim. The preview seemed quite solid, although the tutorials were not quite polished and the engine seemed to chug a little even on my monster machine. The final version of The Settlers: Fourth Edition is definitely going to be something to watch for, as both ?sim? fans and RTS gurus will find something to like in its tale of culture clash and a little dark tribe.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
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