The Settlers 3 Ultimate Collection

Developer: Blue Byte
Publisher: Blue Byte

 

System Requirements Pentium 133 Mhz, 32 MB RAM

Recommended Pentium II 300MHz, 64+ MB RAM, 17 inch monitor

Ratings
Code Issues Graphics: 8.0 - While the game was released a while ago, the wonderful architecture and animation really draws you in. Audio: 8.5 - Pleasing tunes, and sounds for every action your settlers perform. Well done. Interface: 8.0 - Considering how many resources and there are, the game is surprisingly simple to play.	Play Issues Solo Play: 8.0 - Some may find it too slow, since the combat only comes after you've spent a while building up your infrastructure. But it has charm and can be a quite relaxing game. Replayability: 9.5 - If you like the game, endless. Random missions, four campaigns, single missions, multiplayer…its all there! Mulitplayer: 8.0 - While the slow nature of the game may turn some off to multiplayer, Blue Byte's dedicated server is reliable and usually always has games to join. Learning Curve: 7.0 - Not as long as one would think. But you still have to learn how all of the different buildings come together. It will take you a bit of time to figure out just how everything "works".
Other/Notes Documentation - 8: Complete and helpful, but the fact that its on the CD is a real pain. Pros: Pleasant graphics and sound, tons of scenarios; a rewarding game. Cons: Slower pace will turn many off. Combat could be more detailed. Overall: 8 I've always loved this series, so what can I say? This is the best Settlers experience yet! Get it at www.bluebyte.com

You know that frustrated feeling? The one you get when you have a favorite movie no one else likes, or you read a fabulous book no one else has even heard of? This is similar to my experience with Settlers 2, a game that experienced nothing short of obscurity here in the US. The Germans discovered the charm of this series long ago, beginning with the now outdated Serf City. Perhaps it's the gentle nature of the games, or the way their music and sound effects lull you into playing for hours to build up your civilization--I don't know. At least The Settlers 3 was widely available in game stores. But now that it is rather hard to find, Blue Byte is giving players another chance to enjoy it with their re-release, available online, entitled The Settlers 3: Ultimate Collection.

Its not a sequel, its not an expansion, its simply a bundle of everything Settlers 3 related. Not only does it come with the original game, but also the Quest of the Amazons expansion and a CD packed with extra missions and other tidbits. By now newcomers are probably scratching their head asking themselves what in the heck the game's all about. It goes something like this…

The gods have pitted three civilizations against each other-Egyptians, Romans, and Chinese. The story is told by some-let's just call them awkward-cartoons that are missing a few frames of animation. They run choppy and they're meant to make you laugh by dishing out some really cheap jokes. They can be funny, however, in that "omnipotent deities bored to death with their power so they want to play with humans" sort of way. But the god of gods soon intervenes in their mischief and pits them against each other in a no holds barred battle for survival. You can choose to play either of these three civilizations, and while each of the three campaigns have you doing the same general thing--building an economic infrastructure to support a military-- each civilization has a distinct look which keeps things fresh. This is most apparent in the building architecture, which is overall extremely well done. You'll never have to click on a building to discover its function because of the nice amount of detail.

You can then play a fourth campaign in which you can take control of the Amazons. You think your girlfriend or wife can be cranky, wait till you meet this pack of buxom warriors. All of the campaigns, however, aren't dynamic, but are instead a string of scenarios that follows a pretty vague plot. I must make special mention of the mission briefings, however, which really prepare you to reach your goals and feature excellent voice acting. The quality of the narrators is quite surprising after viewing the mediocre cartoon cut-scenes.

Each mission starts you off with some resources but wants you to turn the surrounding land into a vehicle for victory. The basic settler units are the ones that are in charge of building roads, structures, and taking up trades to do a variety of tasks. There are also spy units for a bit of espionage and even prospectors, who will check the land for the valuable resources you need. Since you'll eventually want to pick a fight, your economy will have to be able to support your troops. Don't expect this game to have an accurate representation of combat. There are only a few different types of troops for each race. There is some strategy involved in your army's composition, however, in that you can't have just swordsman or samurai or you'll be shredded up by enemy archers-pretty simple stuff. But while combat is fun, the real meat and potatoes of the game is getting to the point where you can concentrate on pumping out troops. There are a variety of resources that must be harvested, mined, and built. You'll chop down and even replant trees for lumber, gather stone, mine gold, coal, and iron--and that's just your basic infrastructure. You'll have to then use these resources to build more complex structures such as grain and pig farms, mills to obtain flour, and bakeries, slaughterhouses and fishing huts to provide food for miners. Furthermore, you must then build ships for transport and combat, barracks to train soldiers and weapon-smiths to make some death-dealing tools for your troops. You can even build temples for divine favor or to reign down some punishment on your enemies. Furthermore, when a settler unit needs to pick up a trade, he will need the necessary tools. Need a new fisherman? You'll have to have a fishing pole in your warehouse. I'm still leaving out many of the buildings players can construct, but to describe them all here would be too much- I think you have an idea of the variety.

Luckily this game doesn't bog you down in a confusing interface. This is because the game is mostly visual. Strategy games that require you to keep up with this amount of resources generally have you wading through lists and charts to keep an eye on things. While The Settlers 3 does provide you with all of these, it is entirely possible to simply look at your budding city and decide what needs to be built or straightened out. If you find that you're weapon-smith isn't building that sword you need, check that he's getting the necessary resources. Take a look at the coal mine and you may see no buckets of coal in front. Perhaps the miner needs some more food. Therefore you may want to build an additional fishing hut or perhaps build the bakery a bit closer to the mine in order to decrease the time your bread is in transit. You'll eventually have to use the menus to do things like choose what buildings to construct and how many soldiers to queue in your barracks. To navigate through these options there is a menu on the left of the screen that also has a helpful mini-map. There are literally dozens of easily navigable screens that will tell you everything from how many of each building and unit type you have to the importance which your settlers place on each resource. You can then change this around to have them concentrate on gathering a particular resource before anything else. I never had any difficulty performing a task, but there is one small complaint I have. When you have messages, such as when your prospector discovers gold, you have to click on an icon to access them, thereby causing you to sometimes not even see them. It would have been easier if they scrolled across the top of the screen, or something to that effect.

But to add to the already great interface, there here have been many improvements since The Settlers 2, most notably the elimination of road building. In The Settlers 2 players were required to build the roads that settlers or donkeys would carry goods across. Now, even that is automated, with the roads springing up on the most used routes, which are eventually upgraded to provide for faster transport. Also, in The Settlers 2 you had no direct control over where your troops would attack the enemy. Now you can control them like in a real-time strategy game, directing what enemy guard towers and troops you want to attack. You have to also remember that this is a re-release, so almost all of the bugs and little complaints players had on its initial release have been fixed or smoothed out. All in all the easy interface adds to the charm of the game, which brings me to my next point, graphics.

Since Serf City this series has always been about "cuteness". The settlers and even the soldiers have a certain charm that is hard to deny. Fishermen will walk to the shore and when they get a catch, fall on their behind while pulling it out of the water. Foresters will plant trees by simply digging a small hole and throwing down a seed with an audible "plop". While the game is already aging, the graphics never seem "outdated" per se because they fit the mood so well. Also, everything is wonderfully animated, with trees swaying side to side in the wind and smoke rising out of the baker's oven. Even at the game's slowest points there are dozens of things to keep your eyes occupied. Similarly, the sound and music is great. Birds and other nature sounds accompany the music that is sometimes relaxing but never dull. Other games should take note of the fact that it's the little details that can really add to a game, and The Settlers 3 has these in spades. So is it worth purchasing if you already own The Settlers 3? Well, if you want the Amazon expansion pack, definitely. If you already own both of these I'd hold off and buy Settlers IV when that is released. The mission CD is nice, but with so many missions in the original, a mission editor, and a fabulous random mission generator, it really isn't necessary.

Despite the game's quality and charm, and the sheer value of this package, you'll either love it or hate it because of the same thing-the pacing. Play the demo, and if you enjoy it you'll go bananas over this package. If the slower pace doesn't quite interest you, I'd say go for a more typical RTS game. But one thing can't be denied, this is a game the designers have obviously put a lot of time and effort into, and they can only be commended for that.

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Reviewed by Anthony Micari