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Children of the Nile is a good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: December 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I heard that people were having trouble understanding the recently released game Children of the Nile, so i got it to see what all the fuss was about. Immediately, I noticed the immense complexity of this game, with its almost esoteric understandings of how a real city is maintained: the wide selection of buildings and societies to construct, the connection between economy and the seasons, and the self-sustaining animated people that roam around your city shouting out their likes and gripes about how you're running the place, all make this game seem almost real. Although this makes the game seem frustrating and overwhelming, it can be easily digested by just simplifying it all in your head. I.E.: Don't try building the pyramid as soon as you control a stable civilization, carefully plan ahead: Do I have enough supplies to build it? Do I have enough workers to build it? Will I have enough supplies after the construction is complete? Etc.
I enjoyed this game very much, with no real difficulties in the tutorials and the first campaign. It's true, this is a hard game, but it wouldn't be much if it were easy. It has all the real life components in running a city, which separates itself from other games such as Age of Empires and Commanding Conquerors, which are so concentrated on fighting and destroying other cities that they leave out the key ingredients to a good real time game: the actual city. No doubt most of the readers have played one of the SimCity games. Just apply the skills from that game to this new awesome version of those games set in ancient Egypt. I don't think it can get much simpler.

Maximum system requirements are recommended!!!!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: December 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just got this game so I haven't actually played it much. BUT I wanted to report that it was quite difficult to even get it to play on my P3 system (xp w/ 256ram) & I have read that others have the same problem. It seems that the minimum system requirements are really too low to play the game at it's best. So, if you don't have a P4 2.0 ghz with at least 512 mb of Ram, you may have to tweak your computer a bit (close out all running programs & maximize your performance, minimize appearance) as well as the computer game (drop the music & lower graphic quality), otherwise the game may not run at all or work well.
As it is right now, I am finally able to use the program & I am quite satisfied with the reduced graphics but I am honestly not very interested in those aspects of this game. I am an Impressions fan, interested in the depth of the city-building concepts rather than graphics/3d,etc. So, if you are hoping for awesome graphics & music you will have to have the maximum requirements for this game.
It does appear to be a very fun game, it seems to be quite different from the Impressions city building games though. At first glance it reminds me a lot of the Tropico or Sim series' rather than Pharoah, Caesar & Emperor.

Fun game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: December 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Game speed is slow its not the computers its just how the game is. If you would build more brick buildings, and bakeries everything runs fine.... i dont like the fact that the maps are smaller then in pharoh and in ceaser. The fact that the game is like "sims" is true. You do not control what they do you have to have respect in the game, if you dont then they dont do things for you. I Like the game alot and i think that if you like ancient egypt then get it. But if you do not like ancient egypt i would not recommend it to you. Awesome graphics on a scale of 1-10 i would give it a 9 and interface is a 7 ( kinda of difficult to figure out the game at first) speed 4 ( slower then other games becuase the "sims" have to have respect for you. Overall i would say a 8.

Expansive and Time-consuming

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

i decided to go out and buy Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile because I am a big fan of Pharaoh and Cleopatra. I believed it might have some resemblance to these older games, but it really does not. This game is very time-consuming and very slow. The graphics are excellent and it is really interesting to follow characters around. THere are so many new things to do. You have to build certain buildings to build pyramids and they take a lot of time to build. Also, prestige is very important and how to keep your people happy is different from Pharaoh. Overall, I really enjoy the game but it takes a lot of time. I encourage everyone to try it because it is fun and even educational.

Hmm, not so much...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: June 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Like all of the others, the game is very slow, even at its top speed, but that's not what turns me off to it. It's incredibly frustrating: you need priests and other graduates in your city to perform tasks the plebians cannot, and you can only entice them to come if you have enough prestige, which is about as easy to gain as gold from a silver mine.

Therefore, you have a city of angry people no matter what they are upset about (ie. can't worship a god when there are about 50 plus open temples... or get proper healthcare when there is a like amount of open hospitals and apothecaries as the temples), and seeing as how none of them will ever be happy, what little prestige you happened to have falls, and the few educated move out of your city; hindering your game play even further.

Seeing as how I lost my Pharaoh CD, it was the only reason I bought Immortal Cities, and ever since I have been trying to find Pharaoh again. The only plus to Immortal Cities, is the fact that you do not use money as you do in Pharaoh; it gives a more accurate portrayal by using food as the currency. That, as far as I can tell (aside from the zoom and lovely water grafics) is its only redeeming quality.

I'm getting Pharaoh back, sorry.

Best fun since I started playing games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I hadn't really tried city building games much before this came out (I never seemed to get on with SimCity and gave up), but this is my favourite game after the Stronghold series. I love watching the city develop over time and, although I like a good battle now and again (which is why I like Stronghold), it's nice not to have combat as the main purpose of the game. At last someone has realised that no all of us want to spend all our gaming time bashing someone's brains out!
I enjoyed playing this so much I actually purchased a gold edition of Pharaoh, but boy do I wish I hadn't! I've gotten so frustrated with it that I've taken it off my machine. If you play Children of the Nile you should never want to go back to ramdon (irritating) walkers and roadblocks.
I've had no problems running the game on an Acer Aspire computer that's two and a half years old and I found the manual and tutorial gave me a good grounding to get on with the game. I do agree that the scenario editor is formidable; I suppose it's because of the 3D side of things, but I've looked at it once or twice and couldn't make head nor tail of it. As for moans that women only shop, well quite a few of them actually work as well (common craftshops, entertainers, farmers and servants).
I have had a few people occasionally getting stuck, mostly incoming traders, but that's a minor problem. I just wish the scenario editor was easier to get along with because I want more, more, MORE!
Thank goodness, Tilted Mill are tackling Caesar next. With this package it should be a winner.

Good Sim

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've played many sim programs, and Children of the Nile is a good example of a well designed and implemented sim game.
There are many different goals involved in the campaigns, each requiring a different approach to your civilization building to attain them. Scenario goals can involve prestige, trade, politics, religion, conquest, etc... either alone or in some combination. COTN does not run itself, it's a hands on, micro management type of sim where the player has to constantly evaluate and adjust all aspects of the game to keep everything on an even keel.

I disabled some of the "gee-whiz" graphics (my vid/sound card is just 256MB) and got good gameplay speed, without sacrificing the visuals... even running at max game speed.

The AI and logic behind the game is excellent. As you try different strategies, you can see the results... good or bad. The more you play, the more successful you are at controlling the game and meeting the goals.
I reccommend COTN highly, for a good test of strategy development, plenty of "civ" managemnt, and... hours of fun.

I should have listened. . .

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Believe the other reviews. This game is slow, both in gameplay and processing speed. It's mostly hurry-up and wait, and there's not too much to occupy your time while accumulating bricks. Take my advice and go get Pharaoh or Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. They're a bit older, but they're a whole lot more fun.

An awesome game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game about a year ago [ironically, I got it through a school "book week" thing]. The first time I played it, I played the first tutorial, and then the second, and so on. I quickly learned how to play. I would reccomend that this game be played by ages 12 and up [even though the "E" rating is appropriate for ages 6 and up] because the game is fairly hard. The way you place homes and facilities greatly affects the way people act. For instance, you should place Brick Makers near a plentiful supply of clay, Brick Layers halfway between the work site and the Brick Makers, etc. Overall I give this game a good review.

I love it lots

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Holy #@%& this game is cool! I love how it is cool, interesting, fun, challenging, informative, and really awesome. It is very different from Pharaoh in that in Pharaoh, the people are mindless drones, you have a solid mission, and it is not as detailed as CotN. In CotN, you can do what ever you want, your people are intelligent, you can make a more realistic city, and you die. My only complaints would be there is now instruction manual on the Editor (where you create scenarios), you never fight battles in your city, and the World Map is not as detailed. Otherwise, this is a totally great game.

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