Zeus: Master of Olympus
There has been a run of city-building games recently, from Caesar in Rome, to Pharoh in Egypt, to the various expansion packs. It was sort of inevitable that their attention would move on to Greece, one of our founding civiliations.
Zeus follows in its predecessors footsteps, making it relatively simple to pick up on the basic idea. You plant your crops, build your industries, set up trade and shops and tax collectors. Add in some basic services - home maintenance, water, infirmaries.
They've got, of course, Greek-themed things to build. The theater is a big draw, as are the gymnasiums and schools of philosophy. It's religion, though, where this game differs from the others. Instead of trying to balance your way through keeping all the gods happy, in most missions you are working towards bringing in a hero, or pleasing a certain god. And these gods are very personal!
The first mission, for example, involves a hydra. You don't build up warriors to kill it - you biuld a temple to the hero Hercules, and once you make the town alluring enough, he appears and roams around, spouting heroisms. He goes and kills the Hydra for you, and all is well.
The game has a series of tutorials for those who haven't played this type of sim before, but for those experienced in the others, diving into the first "beginner" mission isn't a walk in the park. Unlike some other games where the first missions boringly walk you through the same old crop maintenance, this starts you full bore into the game, with a very wide selection of buildings you can use and things to do. It gets more challenging from there.
There are also various open play options, if you just want to create your own military adventure or build a city that stretches from coast to coast. In all, the game is not a huge change from its predecessors, but it's still quite fun!
Buy Zeus from Amazon.Com
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