The Settlers 4 First Look

At last, after one long year of suspense, we'll finally get to play the Settlers 4 (real soon now we hope). Blue Byte certainly kept its promise when it comes to improvements as it did with Settlers 3. Now BB has a somewhat different task at hand: To develop a spanking new resource-managing strategic simulation that must wing its way through a tough and competitive world of games that use high-quality 3D engines. Particularly inventive gameplay cannot be expected here, although the game will, officially, bring loads of other new game features. For instance, we're gonna see improved graphics, user interface, and a new range of tactical possibilities. The story will be spiced up with the sudden arrival of Morbus the instigator and the settling of his Dark Tribe. Morbus is banished from his own world to the most despised and appalling place in the known Universe - Earth!

(Why is everybody bitchin' about this little green planet? I rather like it here, screw Mars, Jupiter, and Europa!) Nonetheless, this Morbus guy is apparently a bad-ass villain who intends to destroy our beloved small Settlers world.

OK that's all fine, but I think that they could have added something beside the DARK TRIBE idea, enhancing the concept of a nice background story while playing this immensely appealing game. Having a unique selection of races and tribes seems very attention grabbing, allowing you to explore all sorts of cultures, customs, and different ways of settling life. Responding to this concept, the player will cross the threshold of the civilization of his own choice and plunge into hours and hours of exciting gameplay.

Anyway, the official info on the innovative stuff, that's supposed to beat S3, is something on the lines of enriching the single-gameplay, meaning, you can use a more creative and imaginative way to defeat the enemy while letting your society to thrive at the same time. So, you have new and easy tutorials, which may prepare you for handling more serious things, like putting a stop to the expansion of the Dark Tribe Empire. Morbus really has an exceptional way of conquering the soil of his enemies; his tribe will continuously annoy you with sucking out the life out your pour edible plants, as his domain overtakes your once fertile land; you can counter this by letting your gardener work on a defiled territory, thus making it useable once again. New battleships will also appear, and the harbors have been stretched out with the a new navigation system. You will initially have more options for strategic maneuvers, so even if you are weaker than your foe you can defeat the bugger with your natural tactical abilities. To help you reach your ultimate goal the user interface has radically changed, for the better, of course. And in multiplayer mode you can find fresh options like Cooperative Settings, allowing the players to unite their forces and as a result overcome their mutual enemy, and Competitive Settings - where players enjoy the thrills of competing against each other on a specified map. Multiplayer mode offers support for up to 8 players over Internet or LAN, as well as Voice Chat feature during the game.

The original graphics, animations, and the almost spellbinding humor of the characters will be more enjoyable thanks to the new zooming camera method.

The lack of intense 3D environment will be compensated with all of the game fundamentals; the birth of your nation, its flourishing, maintaining its existence, and finally triumphing over your rivals. BB chose to set the Mayas as an ancient civilization, and they decided to stick with the splendid, but mostly hackneyed Romans. Last but not least - enter Vikings; giving us a truly interesting selection of races. Morbus and his Dark tribe are, however, the only race that is specifically a computer-played opponent and it represents the ultimate foe. Sticking to the plot, Morbus intends to reign by adapting the rich and fruitful land to his ways, and giving a lot of trouble to all other players. I must say I agree with the guys at BB that it is better to focus on the originality of the game scenario and the more traditional 2D environment, because it gives you more space for enhancing the practical aspects of the game itself, like the user interface and optional stuff regarding strategy and tactics. This way, players will thoroughly take pleasure in relaxed and user-friendly gameplay, as opposed to loosing their patience with 3D blast-shoot-em-up RTSs that are published unfinished and full of bugs. This time the system requirements are a bit higher, although still very low when compared to other games nowadays.