User Reviews (1 - 11 of 18)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Hundreds of hours of gaming enjoyment

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 22
Date: May 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The City Building Series starts, oddly, with Caesar 3. Caesar and Caesar 2 are sufficiently different that knowing how to play either of those games will not give you a clue as to how to play Caesar 3, Pharaoh, Zeus, or Emperor. The same holds true in reverse.

The best way to view these games, IMHO, is this:

Caesar 3 is the progenitor of the City Building Series proper. It featured the introduction of basic concepts such as labor walkers, warehouses, foreign trade, sea trade, and so on.

Notably, when compared to the rest of the series, it lacked roadblocks. Given that roadblocks were put in the subsequent games due primarily to fan demand, their absence in C3 is easily understood and forgiven (particularly since you can, with only a minor amount of effort, make city gates confer the exact same benefit to your city as roadblocks provide to the other games). And since it's still possible to build functioning housing blocks without either gates or roadblocks, the lack of them isn't a problem, and is more of a challenge to your designing skills.

Pharoah and Cleopatra took the basic C3 engine and added a vatload of complexity. It was still the same basic engine, but with many more features: Monument construction, seasonal farming, industries requiring more than one type of raw material, and riverborne combat with boats, to name just a few. The numbers were also adjusted to make the game more challenging than C3: each level of housing holds less people than housing of comparable level in C3. Thus, keeping your industries filled with employees became much more of a challenge.

Pharaoh (and Cleopatra) is considered by many die-hard fans of the entire series to be the most challenging of the 4 games.

With Zeus, the game engine was given a major revamp. Gone were the labor walkers, who needed to pass by occupied housing in order to acquire employees for a given industry. Instead, any industry on the map would find employees as long as it was connected via road to any occupied housing.

Also gone were the forts. If your city was invaded, your citizens poured out of their houses to defend the town from invasion -- with a concommitant effect on your industry. (When all your employees are out fighting the bad guys, there aren't many left to make olive oil.)

Elite housing was made in a new way. In C3 and Pharaoh, if you wanted elite, high-tax housing, you had to grow it from small tents and shacks. In Zeus, you were given elite housing plots, which you could simply plop down anywhere you wanted (assuming they would fit, and you could support them, and the desirability of the area was sufficient).

Zeus also introduced the episodic format of the series (something that I, personally, consider a bit of a step backwards). Instead of starting at the dawn of time and going through the game city by city until the final mission, you are given a series of episodes. Each episode may have you developing multiple cities, and returning to one or more of them at various points of the game. You might start off building Athens for a few missions, then switch to building a colony city (which will provide goods to Athens when you're done), and then switch back to Athens (which will be exactly as you left it).

There were many other adjustments made to the basic City Building game engine that made it almost (but not quite) a new game. However, you could still see the skeleton of the C3 game engine underneath the hood.

Tiltle includes...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 18
Date: October 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I haven't bought this set and these reviews haven't been really helpful, so i did a little research. As suspected this title inculdes Caeser III, Pharoah, Cleopatra (expansion to Pharoah), Zeus, and Poseidon (expansion to Zeus). I've played all these titles seperatly and I absolutely love the series. This set is a FAR better deal than buying the titles individually. This is a real bargain if you ask me ;-)

a must buy!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: August 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

All of these games in this package are fantastic! I have played them for hours, and I still like them. Ome of the great things about these games are the ancient city themes about them. knowing that you are building a city like ancient cities long ago is really exciting and fun. The historical are what really make the games interesting for me. The graphics and the art are really colorful and detailed in all of the games. The fact that you can get all of the city- building games by Sierra in one neat and convenient package is a great deal. This is a must have for any avid strategy game fan!

Best strategic games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: September 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Hi guys, I found these games really really good. They keep you busy. Need to think and plan in every aspect of the game. It eats away all your leasure time. Good for mental exercise !

game man 212

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: August 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

first, this is the first review i have ever wrote.next, This game is great and i have only got the trial versions! i'm going to get it soon. last, I think it's a exelent choice for any gamer!!!

The Best!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: December 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This will be the best game collection that you ever purchase! There is something for everyone, all ages and skill levels. This game pack is the reason I play computer games!

Best Collection Ever!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: August 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Was going to purchase Great Empires but saw this and had to have it!!!
All your favorite city building games in one incredibly cheap package!!!
Best city building games a must have. All In One Package!!!!!!
Can't wait for Emperor: ris eof the middle kingdom!!!!!

This Package Was Great!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love this package of games. If you like civilization you'll l love this game. It has most of the same features but with a more user friendly interface that makes it easy to figure out what to do, so you're not spending so much time trying to figure out how to play and more time accually playing. I found it to be quite addicting and I would loose track of time while playing these games.

The best collection ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: August 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is a must have for anyone who ever wanted to run their own country! I found it to be easy to play, fun and historically accurate. Overall, it is a great collection for a great price.

Age Of Mythology

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: June 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I think it doesn't have anough campaings.But the game is still good.

Review Page: 1 2 Next 

Actions