Settlers III
Published By: SouthPeak

Reviewed by Guest Reviewer John Hansen
8/5/99

First Impressions:

I did not know what to expect, especially since I did not play Settlers I & II. Settlers III (S3) is not the SimCity your father used to play! I had a chance years ago to play SimCity and S3 far surpasses it with regard to play action and graphics. S3 is a real-time strategic simulation that includes combat, tactics, prosperity and growth. You have the opportunity to start a civilization of either the Roman, Asian or Egyptian races. You must build a flourishing economy with over 30 different trades that include stone cutters, soldiers, miners, hunters, fishermen, farmers and tree cutters. Each occupation assists the others and complements each other. For instance a woodcutter chops down a tree but the wood must be carried to the sawmill by a carrier to be cut and carried from the sawmill to a new building under construction by the builders. You must determine the right mix of occupations to insure things get done in a correct time frame. Once you have things going well you can expand your colony and occupy other lands. This is where your army comes into play and you must conquer enemy territory. You also have the ability to trade if you do not want to take them over. I played in single player mode but if you want you can ! play in multi-user mode over the internet on Blue Bytes Settler's III servers. You can wage team war, chat with players from all over the world, play full tournaments and team up with over 10 players.

Graphics:

I installed S3 on a Windows NT 4.0 box with a Pentium II, 233mhz processor and 128mb ram. I did not have a 3D video card but rather a 2 year old Matrox Millennium. The installation program installed DirectX 6 for me and everything worked as advertised, something of a surprise as Windows NT always chokes with games accessing the video card. You have to opportunity to run the game in 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768 resolution. During play you can switch between these resolutions for greater detail or a larger overview of your colony. The graphics were quick and responsive but then again this is not a fast action game and the video does not need to be too fast since all you are doing is watching carriers carry lumber from the sawmill to a building site.

Sound:

Other than the opening presentation where a narrator speaks there is just some simple background music which does not add much. Most of the time I simply turned off the sound as it got old rather quick.

Gameplay:

You can start out with a simply game in single player mode without any enemies progress to a higher level where you can play the computer all the way up to multi-user over the internet with up to 10 players per side. I did not get beyond the single player with enemies but that was because I was a cautious player wanting to slowly increase my skills. This is not a fast paced 'shootem-up' but as advertised a strategy game which takes time and patience.

Enjoyment:

Basically it was very enjoyable and kept my attention even when I was not directly playing because I was wondering how the characters were doing creating buildings, mining the mines and planting the fields while I had it in the background. I did not run into any bugs. I went to the online portion and it automatically connected to Blue Bytes website and updated the game to the latest version without a problem. Very nice.

Overall Impression:

Good solid strategy game that teaches you economics.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

Fairly neutral as there were no women in the game at all.

"One interesting tidbit: BlueByte is making an add-on pack for Settlers III called 'Quest for the Amazons'. This add-on will add new maps, a new level editor, and a new race of female warriors." - Atari

Cheats, Hints & URLs:

In the market for a great cheat book? We highly recommend Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Usually ships within 24 hours.