Anno 1701 (DS)

Game Diary / August 27, 2007 / John / 1

This is exactly what you don’t want. Trust me. I had a bank holiday stretching ahead of me when I turned it on. Now I have a DS with a flat battery which I can’t charge because my missus’ current EBA addiction means hers lives on the charger (I do have a spare, but really! Two charging at once? It’s unheard of”). I’m really glad I don’t work for the guys who wrote the DS version of Settlers, because having this puppy in the charts beside them would really rub salt in the wound. Essentially, Anno 1701 is Settlers, but better than Settlers by a country mile. For the following reasons:

• It doesn’t crash all the time
• It’s beautifully designed
• It has an extremely thorough tutorial
• It has PERFECT stylus control with everything from landscape to menus being smooth and responsive
• It’s a long-game, but remains fast paced (and pretty frantic) throughout
• It’s eaten my whole day
• It fits in your pocket
• It has that undefinable Civilization thing
• You don’t micromanage workers – you make buildings and set policy
• It’s ACEBEST

You with me? Essentially, it’s Imperialistic murder and colonisation thinly disguised as a real time strategy game, but it has PIRATES! And INDIANS! In the SAME GAME! I really should crack open the other DS Lite box and nick the charger.

John