The Settlers: Rise of an Empire Critic Reviews

As far as city-building and resource management games go, The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is one of the best around.

The paradoxical bottom line: The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is a diversified and motivating game, not because of it's innovations, but in spite of them.

Ultimately not a bad game, just "too casual". Definitely enjoyable for many, especially younger players, gamers with lives or those who actually prefer the simplicity. For a hardcore reviewer like me, the gameplay is unfortunately just too simple, repetitive and unchallenging.

In terms of fulfilling what "Settlers" has always promised - building a city - it's true to its word. It just needs a bit more vim and vigour to it.

It's not really doing anything groundbreaking.

Gorgeous to look at and charming to play. But we don't all want cute.

The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is the most fulfilling game in the series, adding easy-to-play charisma to the usual Middle Ages economics and trimming much of the micromanagement that made playing past releases in the series as much fun as doing your homework.

Still, the different aspects of gameplay flow together smoothly and the campaign at least throws enough varied challenges to make it moderately entertaining.

The game has some interface issues, unsatisfying military options, and an overall lack of variety in the cities you build. As impressive as the cities look, they all start to feel the same after a while.

Despite being the best game in the series because of some lovely visuals and good gameplay enhancements, The Settlers: Rise of an Empire still manages to screw enough things up to be aggravating.

A lightweight, yet fun, title which should appeal to those who are new to the Strategy genre, or those that want a more relaxing experience. Its only major drawback is that its more of a sidestep than a revolution of the series.

It's the same old game with prettier graphics and a half-decent story. Settlers-heads will love it, but best wait for it to appear on budget.

It's lighthearted, haunting, soothing, and frenetic. It's too bad that this game is plagued by poor mechanics. The production values are there, but they just can't seem to rise above the glitches.

It does demand a fairly hefty system to run smoothly, especially if you want to pull the camera back and take in a broader view. Once you get a chance to take in that view, it’s undeniably satisfying.

An enjoyable, quality release that will absorb hours of your time, but there’s no escaping the feeling that Blue Byte appears to be running short of ideas.

There's simply too little to do. As a result, there's not much of a challenge to be had--at least any intentional challenge that is.

Unfortunately, the creators of Rise of an Empire have managed to make a Settlers game so narrow in scope and so lacking in player control that it's only slightly more interactive than dropping fish flakes in with the Neon Tetras.

Blue Byte needs to ask itself some hard questions about just where it strayed from the path of success. Until it's willing to confront those questions, its flagship series will continue foundering on the shoals of obscurity.

It's a small improvement over the last Settlers, and therefore a game that many devotees will be rooting for, but there's no getting away from the fact that judged against its peers, or even its own ancestors, this is an average offering in terms of depth, challenge and longevity, and blighted by fussy technical snags to boot.