You're excited about a Settlers game?" The Gamer staffer who made this preconception-addled statement shall remain nameless, but it's a sign of just how far Blue Byte's venerable strategy-management series has fallen in the eyes of gamingdom. Settlers hasn't really been Settlers for a while now.
Blue Byte know it. When producer Benedikt Grindel visited us with the latest build of Rise of an Empire, he admitted that the trad-RTS approach of the last game wasn't what Settlers was about. This one, apparently, is.
As I watched maids cheerfully sweeping the fronts of their houses, incidental wildlife darting about the landscape (wild ferrets! What other game has wild ferrets?) and a lake gradually freezing over before my very eyes as winter kicked in, I felt a little wave of joy.
Though a dramatically different game to those first outings, this was certainly Settlers. This town, this world was about as alive as any game-place can be.
Stripped down without being simplistic, cute as a super-deformed button while still enormously detailed and utterly, utterly gorgeous, this may be a surprise success. Crucially, it's about creation rather than conquest.
Though there is gentle combat, this is much more Theme Park than Total War. It's about building and nurturing a city that truly bustles, sitting back and watching it go about its business, and thinking "I made that. Go me."
Hunt all the zebras, and the local lions will be out of a food source. So, naturally, they'll follow their noses to another - such as, your city full of suddenly terrified, defenceless townsfolk.
This can even be used as a weapon: quietly decimate the herbivore population near an enemy settlement, and the starving pride might just invade that instead. Expect the angry-cat-sneak-attack to be a favourite nasty tactic in multiplayer.
Meanwhile, that seasonally-frozen lake I mentioned will cut off fishing supplies for a while. You'll know there's a food shortage without having to glance at a single stat, because there's no stock outside the front of the shops, and your populace will be visibly grumbling about it.
On the other hand, the ice-covered water also becomes a temporary thoroughfare, over which your food-gatherers can travel to reach new areas or just to shortcut. While they do so, the unhappy souls back at home can be briefly cheered up by having your hero character perform an impromptu silly song in the town square. Clever, in a totally charming way.
I'm a bit worried about getting your hopes up here, because we have been so terribly wronged by this series in the past. But honestly, I am excited. Yeah - about a Settlers game.
I can't quite make myself get excited about a Settlers game. I played the first game back on my Amiga back in, errr, 1993 or 1994. It was cool to make a guy cut lumber, see that lumber get made into boards, then used for building more houses. Me and my brother would split screen our 13 inch TV and play multiplayer for days on end until we had decimated all the AI opponents. Then the royal rumble would happen, and there'd be burning structures until one side had won.
If they can create the feelings experienced such a bout, they may be onto something. If not, they're wasting their time.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
