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Cleopatra Rating: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 best By Mark H. Walker (8/8/2000)
The good: Intricate missions; good scenario editor; new buildings, technologies, and enemies.
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Impressions' city-building series has become one of the most successful brandings in the industry. With more than two million copies in gamers' hands, it's obvious that the rank and file can't get enough of ancient city construction. We'll have to wait till the release of Zeus later this year to get a completely new iteration, but in the meantime Impressions hopes to satisfy the masses with its Cleopatra add-on pack. An obvious next step to Pharaoh, the game continues the legacy of quality and mind-bending strategy--even if it is at times a bit too mind-bending.
Despite their difficulty, the scenarios are solid. In one you'll build tombs for dead Egyptian guys, and in the next you'll guard those tombs from robbers. You'll fight at Mark Anthony's side and build the Great Library of Alexandria. The missions are fun and varied enough to stay fresh, yet you'll have to rebuild a city in each--and that gets a tad old.
Additionally, Impressions furnishes new buildings to work toward; industries that provide the means to construct--and beautify--them; and natural disasters that will tear them--and your civilization--back down. The new structures include the Alexandria Lighthouse (and aforementioned library) and the Colossi of Ramses II, and you'll need to use folks such as the nouveau Tomb Artisans to pretty them up. Unfortunately, disasters such as frogs and hail can ruin both your and your people's day. Hail kills anyone caught in the open and frogs work pretty much like disease--that is, when the frogs move in, the people move out. And if the disasters don't get you, the bad guys will. At one time or another you'll fight Macedonians, Hittites, and Romans. And when you're done with them (really before you even see them) you'll have to handle giant scorpions (kind of like in Fallout).
The graphics are identical to those in the original, and that's not a bad thing. Pharaoh is a pretty game, and Cleopatra continues the tradition. A bustling Egyptian city is a sight to behold. Little people trundle to and fro, the Nile ebbs and flows, and houses bloom into larger dwellings. It's fascinating to watch. The buildings in Cleopatra are new, yet they are beautifully rendered in the same palette and detail as the ones in Pharaoh. Building is still a somewhat tedious process, but the more you understand the game, the quicker it goes.
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