Rating: 
Summary: Be Prepared To Lose Sleep!
Review: I bought this game and the Cleopatra Expansion Pack not long after playing Caesar III. The graphics are by far the first thing that grabs your attention. Eveything from the buildings, to the monuments is breathtaking. The most amazing thing is watching the people that populate your towns interact with everything. From workers tending the farms, to facing incoming enemies, you could sit and watch for hours. Of course you can't. You have a kingdom to run. Build new homes, setup new roads, construct monuments, install new trade routes, build temples for gods, keep an eye on farming and food supply, watch for potentional problems from other kingdoms....did I leave anything out? All and all this is a very cool game. You can jump right in to this game and after mastering the control panel you should be all set to rule. There is a lot of trial and error in this game. It will take a lot of tries before you can really master everything and win the larger campaigns. Lucky thing Sierra provided a nice big reference manual to help you out! The main key to victory is being fast. You have to think several years ahead in the game and be one step ahead of your people's needs before you'll be running for cover. The only problem beyond the lack of sleep you're sure to have, and the amount of time that will fly by are really small. You have to continually check with your advisers, but it would help if some pop up menu would come up and remind you about setting up festivals or sending out requested goods. Also if you are working on a large mission, you can easily forget what buildings you have up or what you have in your storage yards. If there was a counter or a quicker referance system that could tell you what you have, the game might be a little smoother. Still this is a great game to play, and anyone who enjoys Egypt and wants to rule an empire should grab a copy today.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Game, Good History Lesson
Review: "Pharaoh" is a city-building game that takes the player from pre-dynastic times (3500 -4000BC) through the Old, Middle, Intermediate Periods to the end of the New Kingdom (ca 400 BC). Each period is made up of several missions that involve your "dynasty" in building a historical Ancient Egyptian city/settlement. To do this you must house, feed, and employ enough workers to achieve your goals, which involve population level, culture, wealth, military success, and of course monuments. In addition, you also must contend with the harsh environment and appease the gods. One of the best aspects of the game is there is NO time limit. Players can build as fast or slowly as they like. The overall effect of the game is a reasonable ancient history lesson. One sees the,literally, life-or-death importance of the annual Nile flood (in fact, failure of the floods may be behind the Pharaoh's loss of power and the rise of the Nomarchs in the Intermediate Period), and the extent that trade both inside Egypt and with "Asiatics" dominated city life. What most people associate with ancient Egypt: tombs and temples are also important here. Monument building takes enormous resources to complete as it did historically. Some things have been compressed or simplified for game play. For instance, the game uses "debens" as currency though there's no evidence, yet, that the ancient Egyptians used coins (not until the Hellenistic period well after the game period). But, as a convenient way to show the movement of goods and services, and to track wealth, it works well. Also, Egyptian religion was extremely complicated by modern standards, with gods changing and merging over time. The game reduces this to four basic gods, with differing powers. Again, a reasonable simplification that demonstrates how the Egyptians related to their religion. (As another reviewer said, monument building for the larger Pyramid Complexes and Temples can take literally decades of game-time. To speed this up, select the "Pyramid Speed Up" option. When this is "on" the gods will assist your monument project, provided they are pleased with your devotion.) Highly recommended as a simulation of ancient Egypt and a great game.
Rating: 
Summary: First PC game Purchase
Review: If you are a control, micro manage freak, you will love this game. I did! The pre and post set interludes will keep you at the PC for hours. For my first game purchase, I well got my money's worth. The scenerios can get a bit repeating for initially setting up your new "turf" and if you succeed too quickly in some, the game will punish you. The game may also have historic accuracy for you "Egyptologists" out there.
Rating: 
Summary: SimCity in Ancient Egypt
Review: Pharaoh is a city building game (like SimCity), but set in Egypt, during the pre-dynastic period. You start by building a settlement, addressing basic needs and continue onward. Unlike SimCity, there are various goals to hit such as population goals. As the game progresses, it gets harder. Unfortunately, I found myself building and managing the population, but having to check the deities almost constantly. Unless you hold regular festivals, constantly build shrines, the gods will grow angry and exact revenge on your civilization. I found it to be more tedious than fun.
Rating:
Summary: Next day .........
Review: ......... will be a horrible day,if you beginn to start playing in the evening. It is so hard to end that game and shot down the computer ! But ... there will be next day and you can continue your game.... and have the same problem to find an end!
I love that game ... and hate next day because there was not sleep enough!
Rating:
Summary: Nightgaming
Review: I didn't think i could sit for this long without noticing it!
Rating:
Summary: Great historical strategy game
Review: I don't know what made me love this game more -- my interest in ancient Egypt or my love for a great strategy/simulation game. Whichever it is, this game is great! You play your way through various campaignes with various missions through ancient Egypt's history. Master the art of the trade, control huge industires (such as papyrus making, pottery making, beer brewing, and so much more), fight wars, and build huge, lasting monuments -- pyramids, mastabas, obilisks, and sphynxes. When you begin your "Family History" (the ongoing campaigne), you get a message to help you get started; like how to build houses, feed your people, etc. If you don't know how to play, it tells you exactly what to do. If you've played before, you just click and start the game. Trading is great. There's nothing better than making tons of money exporting goods! The warfare portion of the game is somewhat lacking, though. You mine bronze, make weapons, train soldiers. But the battles aren't even close to as good as in Age of Empires or WarCraft. Right-clicking on your townspeople makes them give you their opinion of the city; this helps you know what to change. You can also chose to do non-campaign-connected missions, which you choose from the list. So, if you liked Caeser, love ancient Egypt, or are just hungry for a good strategy game, get Pharaoh. Also get Cleopatra, the Pharaoh expansion with more missions and buildings, but I recommend the Great Empires II Collection, so you get many great city-building games in one inexpensive package.
Rating:
Summary: Not JUST your usual 'city-building' game...
Review: Pharoah/Cleopatra, as well as the other 'classical' city-builders in the Impression series (Zeus/Caesar,etc), is one of the most fun ever. Even though the Culture and Prosperity ratings don't have too much quantitative connection (other than the filters) to the 'Industries'...who cares?
As an 'amateur' Egyptologist for almost two-score years, I love the way this game parallels the 'history' of Egypt, while using the creative freedom enough to adapt the game to make it effective, and fun....
I recommend this game (as well as the other 'classical' games) to history students and folks who wanna be acquainted with classical history and have fun!
Rating:
Summary: BEST GAME EVER
Review: You will love this game if you like Ceaser 3 or Zeus! This is the best game ever to me and all my friends so have fun! Please email me.
Rating:
Summary: It's not working
Review: oh man, got this game for [money], after i install it, ever thing runs but no sound. i want to the game site then found out it dose not work with windows 2000 or XP. :(
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