Pharaoh

DEVELOPER : Impressions
PUBLISHER : Sierra

Ratings

Graphics 8.0 – Not much of a change from Caesar III, but captures the feel nonetheless.

Audio 9.0 – Fantastic music and sound.  A treat for the ears.

Interface 9.0 – Any interface that makes this much complexity manageable deserves praise.

Gameplay 9.0 – Utterly addictive.  This is what strategy is all about.

Replayability 9.0 – Play the campaign or use the “sandbox” mode to build all you want.  Play the way you want to!

Multiplay N/A

Learning Curve 7.0 – Can be a bit overly complicated.  Luckily the tutorial and manual are great.

Manual 10.0 – Strategy gamers love huge, well-written manuals, and Pharaoh provides one, as well as a quality color chart of all the buildings.

Pros –  You get to build ancient Egypt.  ‘Nuff said.

Cons – The religion aspect does not fit as well as everything else. 

Overall: 9.0

Sierra’s Caesar III was the crowning achievement of the trilogy, and was praised for it’s challenging gameplay and creative touches.  That is why I was looking forward to Pharaoh, the new addition to the Impressions City Building Series.  It promised to keep the fantastic gameplay of Caesar and bring with it a new sense of wonder, mystery, and rare beauty that is ancient Egypt.  Now that it has been released, I am pleased to say that it is everything I hoped for.

 Players have the job of building ancient Egypt brick by brick.  There is the option to play as a dynasty through the main Egyptian periods, each with progressively harder missions, or there is a “sandbox” mode in which you can build to your heart’s content.  The process of building a successful city is a long one, with a complex system of structures that must work together.  This complexity only adds to the game’s addictive quality.  To illustrate this, I’ll take you through the process of having the highest level of housing:

 First you have to make sure it is connected to a road…easy enough.  Next, a market must be built nearby, but not too close, because no one likes to live right next to a bustling shopping center.  Then the market must be supplied with food, such as grain or fruit, provided by farms, or meat, provided by hunters from hunting lodges.  Don’t forget to build a granary to store it, though.  Next they must have some entertainment, so build a square for performers trained by a juggling school.  Also, no one likes a bare home, so build some clay pits that can send clay to pottery makers.  So your people do not get stupid, build a school or library, but don’t forget to have some workers cut down reeds that can be turned into papyrus.  Military structures, training camps, and walls will help you protect your citizens from wild animals and foreign invaders.  You might also want to have a tax collector nearby, some medical facilities, a fire building, a steady water supply, a temple to appease the gods….whew!  You get the idea.

 But don’t worry, the complexity is made pretty manageable by a fantastic interface.  All of the most important information is available on the main city screen, such as your funds, city’s population, city map, and a set of icons for accessing all of the building options.  A helpful overlay feature, which lets you assess everything from properly taxed areas to sections with a high rate of crime, is vital to making sure your city functions.  Even with the change in setting, fans of the Caesar series will undoubtedly feel right at home.  There are, however, a few changes that add a whole new twist to gameplay, and these make Pharaoh feel quite authentic. 

 The Nile River plays a vital part in a player’s strategy.  The river floods annually and replenishes the soil, but during this period you cannot farm.  Therefore you either have to store enough food to keep your citizen’s fed, import some from other cities, or obtain food from hunting.  A bad flood will leave parts of your farms with dry soil, and you’ll feel the effects as hungry citizens pack up and move.  The second and most substantial addition is the inclusion of monuments.  Make sure you have plenty of workers and bricks, as well as a lot of free time, because these take quite a while to build.  But the satisfaction received by their completion makes it well worth it.  Players will watch with determination as workers lug tons of bricks to the work site and the monument gets built piece by piece.  The monuments range from a Mustaba, a holy burial place, to the Great Pyramids themselves.  Often times a mission requires you to complete one or more of these, and eventually your own remains may rest in one, thereby immortalizing you.  I love this game! 

The graphics are still quite nice, with detailed and distinct buildings, dozens of different workers running around your city, and animations that are smooth and blend seamlessly with their surroundings, thus capturing the beauty and grandeur of ancient Egypt.  They have not, however, changed much from Caesar III, but this is not a complaint.  The sounds are equally good, and the music is spectacular, with an Egyptian flavor that never gets old.  It must also be noted that the manual is fantastic.  It is immense, and is vital in getting the most out of the game.

The only complaints I have with the game are minor.  The complexity can be a bit much at times, even with a good interface.  Pleasing the gods can be an unwelcome chore as well, as their complaints are not only annoying, but a bit “fictional” and out of place.  Also, the battles in the game are, like Caesar III, quite simplistic.  It is still fun, however, and the naval warfare is a welcome addition.

Sierra has created a wonderful addition to any strategy gamer’s library, and a game that does justice to the subject matter.  Fans of the Caesar series should not miss out, and anyone interested in a complex and challenging test of strategy will be utterly addicted.  The pyramids have been around for thousands of years, roughly the same amount of time Pharaoh will be on my hard drive. 

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Reviewed by Anthony Micari