The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary is a re-imagination of Blue Byte’s classic strategy/city management game, The Settlers II. Now available in Europe and various other countries, the U.S. won’t be seeing this game till Q2 2007. Still, it’ll be worth the wait when you lay your eyes on the visuals and the easy approachable gameplay. An updated demo was released recently, which includes four tutorial maps and a single player free play map. Note that the demo is limited to 90 minutes of play time.
Creating your settlement begins with selecting the ‘show building’ button, which outlines all the different areas you can place your buildings. Buildings come in three sizes and they will be laid accordingly on the land based on their size, so huge buildings won’t dwarf the little ones. After connecting a road (a relatively painless process, just connect two flags to your HQ), you can see the adorable trademarked ‘Settlers" NPCs set out to create said building. The animations and the overall city life of the game are very striking. For example, when you select a place to build something, you’ll see a little NPC dig out the foundation, or when you create a Woodsman Hut, you’ll see the little NPC — complete with a little green hat — set out to fell some trees and then drag the logs back. Buildings have their own animations, too. Saw Mills will run their saws to grind up logs while Mines will have their pulley dragging up lifts and the accompanied black smoke will billow out of the shaft.
In the tutorial, you learn the basics of the game. After learning about building placements, you’re taught about mining and smelting. Coal is required to be smelted with Iron to create weapons and other materials. You first have to send out geologists to scope out the land for the valuable resources. After yelling out a little ‘yippee!’ they’ll flag where the resources are on the map, and then you can create Iron or Coal mines nearby to unearth them. These buildings are complete with little NPCs with mining helmets. Next is to create an Iron (or other mineral) Smelting building, which smelts the two resources together. Last is the Smithy, which uses the Iron to create weapons.
THen, you learn a bit about the militaristic gameplay. You can construct a barracks, a catapult, a lookout tower and other various buildings. To take over enemy buildings and expand your territory, you click on whatever building you want to take over and send your troops out. It appears that the combat is done on the individual to group scale, not large army scaled combat. When you open the military menu, it’s comprised of bars that control a few things, like the number of defenders that’ll repel an enemy attack or the number of attackers you’ll use from your barracks.
Lastly, you learn about seafaring and creating ships. You’ll need a Shipyard to build ships, and a Harbor to use ships. Shipyards require specific materials to create ships, including stone, wood planks and a master ship builder. Once you create a ship, you can set a course using a compass and a general direction for the ship to travel. When your ship discovers a new area, you can create a harbor so other ships can dock in and create a new settlement.
In total, there will be a story-based campaign with 10 maps, 10 free play maps, 8 multiplayer maps (up to 6 players, maps also playable in single player), 3 different tribes (Romans, Nubians, Chinese), 31 buildings, 25 professions, 5 military units per tribe and 31 goods to produce. Keep your eyes open for The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary — especially if you loved it back in the day.
