You may also be interested in my Anno 1503 FAQ/strategy guide. I currently have no plans to write about Anno 1701.Announcing itself as the 'Creation of a New World,' Anno 1602 is a real-time strategy game in the SimCity 2000 or Settlers II style. The action happens continually around you and every move or command you make takes place immediately, not further down the timeline. As the title suggests, this game is set in the early seventeenth century, at a time when there were plenty of empty islands available to colonize. The game plays like a slow-paced, peaceful strategy game, yet could be considered a trading and war simulation.

After finding a suitable island, building the docks and warehouses, and creating a town for your population and their animals, you have to trade with the goods that your (hopefully) contented workforce produces. This is where the fun really begins, because the other races around you are equally industrious, bloodthirsty, and intent on building up their own trade empires. You can either adopt a suave, diplomatic method of trading with them or be more aggressive and go for a warfare approach to doing business. Gameplay is made easier by the use of icons which explain themselves when the mouse is passed over them and the interface makes use of eye-pleasing graphics, especially when run at resolutions of 800圆00 or higher. There is a zoom utility to make things easier to examine in detail. If you've got the patience to play Anno 1602 (it can take weeks for the game to reveal all of its subtle tricks), you will be rewarded with a worthwhile and satisfying game. Sound: Stirring, especially when fighting.

Anno 1701 a.d. guide