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The Settlers: Heritage of Kings
'the settling family returns for the fifth time'
 Developer: Blue Byte
Publisher: Ubisoft
Category: : RTS
Platform: PC CD-Rom
Might look like: Settlers 4 on 3D steriods
Date posted: 29 August 2005
Official website: here
Written By: Jurgen
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Settle your Settler
The Settlers. How long has it been? Already a few years right? Almost every RTS game will know the game "The Settlers". It's a Real Time Strategy game about colonisation and getting the management right. You still have to build houses, buildings for work and weapons. Besides that, your Settlers need to be educated. Without education they can't do a thing.
I always had massive fun when playing 'Settlers 3' and '4'. While it definitely can't beat any 'Warcraft' or even 'Starcraft' game, it was still good fun.
Now in 2005, Ubisoft brings the latest Settlers instalment from developer "BlueByte", "The Settlers: Heritage of Kings". We find out if this 5th Settlers game is well ... worth your money! After all, after 4 successful games, it can only be better. Right?
Picking up the basics
Ok honestly, I played previous versions of the game a lot. I wasn't hooked on the game but I didn't had much games back in that teenage time of mine. The Settlers was and still is one of my favourite RTS games. Collecting wood and get resources from your mining people. Basically most ideas are still here in this latest instalment of The Settlers but BlueByte still reworked the whole game.
One of the things that is most reworked is the so called 'cuteness' of your characters. There isn't any cuteness anymore. Your characters have obviously grown and are now tall strong men and women. I believe that games should grow with its time but on the other hand, I definitely adored the cuteness of the Settlers characters like for example in Settlers 3. Now it's all gone and I must live with it. Oh boy.
The other big thing that BlueByte totally changed is the graphics. Indeed, The Settlers have gone true 3D. Now you do need a fancy 'medium' videocard while in other versions you basically didn't need an 3D card at all. It seems The Settlers are also moving to the 3D age. More on the graphics later on in the review.
  
Pure RTS gameplay
This fifth instalment of The Settlers, "Heritage of Kings" is a true world-building RTS (real time strategy) game. It's played in real-time which means even if you don't do a thing while playing, other things can and will happen.
After picking a solo game, the player can either choose between the well known campaign mode or go through one of the available extra maps.
I do recommend that you play first the campaign mode since the first level will teach you everything about the game. Basically a tutorial. The Settlers 5 still uses the same gameplay from all other versions. It's still about gathering wood, iron, etc by your workers and build buildings to get then new specific workers and soldiers.
Even building universities for discovering new technologies is a definitely-do-thing while playing. As soon as you have build new facilities, new worksmen will join your crew and you'll be able to 'buy' new villagers. Beware, there's still a population limit! It's a good strategic idea and it has always been used in every Settler game. Nothing new here.
One thing that is new, is the addition of so called 'heroes'. After winning some levels, more heroes will join you and support you all the way. You can't 'buy' them so don't let them battle it out alone against your enemy. Upgrade and give them better weaponry is the key to success. Of course you'll need extra soldiers to win against your enemy and it's a good idea to upgrade them at your best, watching your income and taxes of course. The more buildings you build, the more you can upgrade and the better material/weapons they will make.
Last but not least, BlueByte has added dynamic weather models to the game. Really this is a serious impact on the way you play your strategy game. The weather is dynamic and various from clear weather (with a few clouds) to rain, snow etc. When raining, the visibily is much less and its hard to see what's on the horizon. Even rivers and small lakes freeze over, which makes it then possible for your workers to walk over them. Areas which were inaccessible can now be reached, thanks to the weather. A great innovation towards gameplay!
  
Graphics and SoundFX
Graphically ‘The Settlers: Heritage of Kings’ is beautiful rendered in 3D. Every texture is rich in detail and even your characters, buildings etc are full of details. When zooming into your workers or buildings I didn't see any blocks. Good work on that one BlueByte! You still get the same view as always, top down view by default, you can also zoom and pan around.
One thing I find always amusing are the animation loops for various buildings. Every building has a different animation and its lovely to watch that.
Another thing developer BlueByte added is "weather dynamics". As described earlier in the review, the adaptation of the weather models are great and are truely an innovation in the Settlers universe.
All of the environment elements are animated greatly. Trees sway, water is rippling in the lakes, rivers and the weather changes all the time. Great!
Regarding sound and effects, the animation sounds for every building are back again and its nice to hear them. After a time it may sound repetitive and too much is well too much.
They included music as well, but only one track! It does change on various occasions, such when a battle breaks out but we hoped to have more variety in music. Effects are nicely done but that's about it really.
Voice dialogue is included in "The Settlers: Heritage of Kings" and are basically not on par with its other effects. It may come irritating after a while, hearing the same phrases over and over again and you'll turn off the voices in no time. Only the main narrator shines throught the whole 'voice' area of the game. A fine example on how a game should sound when going through it.
Conclusion
Overall, "The Settlers: Heritage of Kings" is a nice decent RTS (real time strategy) game. It doesn't add a lot more to the strategic genre of the Settlers but I did like the weather models a lot!
Graphics are splendid with everything is well animated. Music and soundeffects could be better since only one music track is only one and some soundeffects can become very repetitive after a while.
The game also features a 'normal' multiplayer mode for those online gamers. It works good and you'll have plenty of fun playing it out against other people.
If you have ever played a Settler game before, then you'll be amused a lot by this one. If you never have heard about The Settlers, play the demo first and if you're still interested in wanting more ... then "The Settlers: Heritage of Kings" is a game for your collection.
-Jurgen
Ratings
Manual:
/ % |
Graphics:
87% |
Music & Sfx:
78% |
GamePlay:
85% |
|
This game scores
on our 5-point Rating System
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