The game also departs from the previous model in the scenarios. It comes with seven separate campaigns, each consisting of five to eight missions. The individual missions are laid out in sequence; once you accomplish the goals of the first, you move on to the next one. The big difference is that Zeus doesn't ask you to rebuild your city from scratch each time. Why didn't anyone think of this sooner? The city you start with in each mission is the city you left behind in the previous mission.
There's much more of a sense of evolution and progression as a result and you'll really feel like you've accomplished something by the time the campaign is over. And once you're done with that, you can try out Zeus' incredible sandbox modes. These are open-ended, free play scenarios, one each focusing on military or economic development and a third devoted to unrestricted play.
But that doesn't mean that you'll have free reign. You've still got to maintain the proper city balance if you want to see your city grow. And you'll still have to contend with the wrath of gods, monsters and rival cities. There just aren't any objectives here unless "having a good time" is an objective. Speaking of godly, monsterly wrath, Zeus takes the mythological dimensions of Pharaoh and Cleopatra to whole new levels.
You can build sanctuaries to each of the twelve Olympians. Each one will provide you with some essential service. Dionysus improves the functioning of your wineries, Hades makes your mints more productive, and Ares takes the field against your enemies. You can also recruit heroes to accomplish specific tasks, such as recovering lost items or battling rampaging monsters. And the way that consequence is built into the system is great.
If you get Odysseus to kill the Cyclops, Poseidon will grow angry and wreck your fisheries. The only hope for you is to build a shrine to Zeus. Nobody messes with you when Zeus is on your side.
About the only unsatisfying thing about this game is the weak combat interface. You can't really control the movement of your armies that well. You just set rally points and hope that the enemy runs by your waiting armies. You can move the rally points around to meet particular enemy incursions but it takes a while for your troops to reposition themselves.
It kind of stinks, but to be totally honest, war plays a minor role in the game so it's not an unbearable limitation. There is an option to let the computer handle all the military action for you, but it doesn't seem to be any more capable than you are. Why bother? You'll be rewarded in different ways by different gods. Ares, for instance, will fight alongside your army if he likes you and, if not, he'll send a huge dragon to make unpleasant things happen to your city and its citizens.
Hades will help boost your silver production, but will also send a Cerberus if you get on the wrong side of him. And a Cerberus is bad news The trouble is you can only build temples for four of the gods in your city, so you need to play diplomatically.
The other gods will send creatures such as Scylla, a minotaur or a medusa, but there's another way to fight back. Once you've built a hall of heroes, you'll be able to summon them to defend your city. Each of the six heroes can defeat two of the nasties, but they'll only put in an appearance provided you've completed certain tasks.
Impressions is aiming for more simplified gameplay in Zeus than in its earlier release Pharaoh. Showing 1 - 9 of 9 comments. Ceasar, Pharaoh 2 games I still play from time to time. My CD versions work fine on Win 7 64 bit. I ment more actual games as my pc has win 10 so many old games dont work fine. But I will take a look! Children of the Nile is a 3D update of Pharoah that may work. Also Caesar 4. And Banished is kinda similar game style.
Fristi61 View Profile View Posts. Probably the game most similar to Zeus is a very fine game known as Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom by the same devs with the same engine, released in , a few years after Zeus.
It is in my opinion the best of the 2D series of historical city builders by Impressions Caesar III-Pharaoh-Zeus-Emperor and perhaps the best historical city builder overall but sadly the only one not on steam.
0コメント