1602 A.D.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome game
Review: I think this game is great because it's so much fun! You get to build your own town, protect it, put out fires, have it dig for gold, wage war on neiboring kingdoms (i.e. the computer), settle new islands and start all over again! I definetly recommend you get this game!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT GAME
Review: I'm giving this game such a good rating because I have played 1503 A.D. This game is sooo much better. My favorite thing in the game was the map and mission creator. Don't buy 1503 A.D but buy 1602 A.D.

Rating:
Summary: Playing experiences
Review: I've played this game a lot when i was in Europe and I had a lot of fun with it - the Random game gets boring quite fast but that's why Anno 1602 has its campaigns! All in all you can have hours and hours of great fun with this game - and when u find out the cheats even a few more *g*!

Rating:
Summary: Fun Game
Review: If you love to play city building games this is the game for you.

Rating:
Summary: Great game, but slow.
Review: Just so people don't get the wrong idea, the real-time strategy battles usually don't occur until a VERY long time into the game. This leaves the player with MORE than enough time to colonize various islands, build up your citizenry, make money, and progress in structures and technologies. For some, this is wholly enjoyable, but those looking to swashbuckle and shoot-em-up minutes after the game starts might be a bit miffed.

The colony-building portion of the game (and really the main portion of the gameplay) is very enjoyable. Detailed, yet not overwhelming (though at first, you might be a little harried) it strives to provide a complete picture of starting and maintaining a thriving colony. Your citizens must eat, so you must provide them with food (hunters, fishermen, cattle farms). They need clothes, so you must provide those also (sheep farms, weavers, textile trade). And the citizens will have demands (churches, taverns, alcohol), so ignore those at your own risk. Trade is vital, or you'll run out of essential building blocks for empire-building (especially tools!) and hopefully your island will produce some vital product that you can sell for an exorbitant amount.

It isn't as fast-paced, or intense as SimCity or Civilization, but there's so much to do that you'll actually have your hands full managing it all. No sitting back and watching here. And once you finally do grasp the multitude of activities in the game, then you'll find out how fun and rewarding it can be.

Rating:
Summary: Blossoming Talent
Review: Sunflower games based in Germany is coming out with "Anno 1503" or "1503 AD" sometime in February. If there were no other such "god games" yet created, 1602 AD would have swept the US as it already did Europe. I think this game appeals to people with more mature tastes and an eye for illustrative richness. It's an easy game to learn and play with a decently addictive engine. "1503 AD" will have a completely different engine based on the now older "1602 AD" and will try to out do its original success.

Rating:
Summary: 1602 is pretty standard fare.
Review: The past months have been rather dry for me as far as sims and strategy games go. So I decided to replay my good ol' 1602 A.D. to try and get a fix.

Right off the bat, the graphics and music are kinda blaring and obnoxious. Visually, 1602 looks like a late Super Nintendo game. You won't like many of the songs, either, which feature many "classical" renderings that sound as if they were played on a toy piano.

But, wait! Some games of this genre tend to have some substance beneath the surface despite those cosmetic flaws, right?

Well, in this case--not really.

1602 really shines in immersing you in the environment in that you'll be thinking like a colonist--thoughts like, "Ooh, I'm bored."

The game's menus are consistently weak and elusive. I found myself clicking numerous times, as well, trying to get a button to work. Did I mention it had bad graphics? Eep, this game's not good.

Issues I had with certain elements of game design curtailed my enjoyment, as well. A player has to place his or her buildings within certain distance of each other to function. For instance, a marketplace allows you to extend your range of area to build in. Buildings cannot be placed outside the range of function.

Well, that's all well and good, but the marketplace's range of function is too small, and the places that really need to use the full range of function to work well (like woodcutter's, who, to maximize their productivity require woods in every bit of their range of function)--are too large.

So you end up with this crazy hodgepodge of limited space. On top of this, it always seems like your fellow colonists are wasting time with little question marks over their heads--which is really annoying if you see they have work to be done.

Trade is an interesting item in 1602. And while it's admirable the developers decided to incorporate trade so heavily into the game--you can't survive in later levels without establishing trade relations with at least some of your neighbors--it's simply not intuitive. I didn't know where to click, and when I found out, menus were clunky.

History buffs may find its good sense of historical depth interesting, and hardcore gamers might make some use of it--but others should make like colonists back in the day and play with some sticks and leaves.

Rating:
Summary: Cutting edge CD-ROM gaming.
Review: The year is 1602 as a small band of courageous explorers have decided to set sail seeking a new life and fortune in far off lands. As their leader it is your mission to explore never before seen coasts, establish new settlements, use diplomacy, trade, and sometimes battle to ensure the survival of a new colony. 1602 A.d. is a superb interactive CD-ROM game that is part empire builder and part real time strategy. Players will discover more than 700 unique islands with varying landscapes; over 90 building types, and select from 30 unique trades. Single player mode offers a choice of seven campaigns, continuous play, and more than forty scenarios with pre-set missions. Five tutorial games guarantee a quick and easy entry into game play with real time land and sea battles. Splendidly lavish 3D animation, a dynamic artificial intelligence which automatically adjusts to the player's skill level, cinematic transitions between scenarios all combine for a superbly engaging gamer experience. Multilayer mode allows up to four people per network or two players via modem and includes more than thirty unique multiplayer scenarios. s is enhanced with a map editor allowing players to create their own new world to build and rule. 1602 A.D. represents the cutting edge of CD-ROM gaming.

Rating:
Summary: 1602 ad personal views
Review: This game combines unique trading techniques with the usual gathering of resources and building a thriving empire. The neat part of this game is the fact that it is an easy going game. Players can focus mainly on expanding their colony and trade, which I think are the most fun parts of the game. Much later in the game players can attack a neighboring colony if necessary. Other players will be forced to expand their colony as well. This is a nice change, as most strategy games are focused solely on destroying the opponent from the get go. There are many more things this game has to offer including multiplayer (up to 4 players). I look forward to trying this feature, if I can find some other players out there. I would recommend this as a good purchase. The single player scenarios will provide players with hours of fun and practice, then players can try their hand at the multiplayer side where the possibilities are almost endless!

Rating:
Summary: A really cool idea for a game, just a few glitches.
Review: This game is really built on a neat idea, but there are just some things that are really wrong with it. First of all, the tutorial doesn't go over everything needed to survive in the game. The tutorial does not explain how building a marketplace expands territory, or how you can further expand your kingdom with a second warehouse. Second of all, the rivaling nations progress WAY too quickly than is possible for you, the human player. These nations pick the best islands to colonize without taking any time to see if they really are the best. They also have construction layouts less than a second after colonizing. This makes it harder to keep up with international trade. Finally, this game has too many things to keep up with. I sometimes feel like it was a mistake to let my colony develop, as I later have innumerable tasks to keep up with, like building a military, expanding teritory, mining, farming, as well as pleasing my citizens. Perhaps a sequel or patch could really help me out with this game.