Customer Reviews

1602 A.D.

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a Gamer (Mainly Strategy) now for approx 18 months and have bought all the top rating Strategy games that have been distributed including Age of Empires, Railroad Tycoon, Homeworld,Caesar111, Pharaoh, Alpha Centauri,HOMM. now they are all in the drawer, I have been playing 1602ad (Demo Version) because as yet we cant get the full version here in Australia, every night and have become so addicted to it that I have been e mailing all over the World to try and get the full version.

Never has a game captivated me so much, its Empire building and easy interesting progress of your City through development and trade always want me to try a new way and direction. One is not distracted by other players attacking you but to some regard you are left alone to better your own City. I now have reached the stage where the darn game shuts down after saying one should buy the full version and you have reached the level of under standing. I give this game 5 stars and recommend it most heartily. Perhaps when you have tried it you lucky Americans you can give me a email,, Good hunting, Grumpy Gramps

As an interesting alternative to the traditional building games like Caesar III and Age of Empires, 1602AD is easy to learn and play, with little of the complexity of the other, advanced games. You begin with a number of islands on the map, and with your flotilla of boats, you explore them, learning what each is good at producing. You settle on one, creating hunting lodges, tobacco plantations, sugar cane, chapels, and homes.

Just as in the Caesar III style of games, there are steps to take to create products. You take tobacco from the farm and turn it into cigars. Sugar cane goes to the distillery and becomes alcohol, and the tavern buys it. You can also establish trade routes. An island low in tobacco can ship that in, and send off the stones it is mining.

Homes develop in size as their needs are met. Quarry stone for more advanced buildings, and build your technology for more interesting options. Build up your sheep farm and send wool to the weaver for more content (and well dressed) inhabitants.

There's combat too - pirates lurk in the seas, and nearby settlements compete with you for land. You can invade their territory, or try to outmerchant them. You can even multi-play to take on your friends in high seas adventure.

While this is definitely fun for beginners, it leaves something to be desired for advanced players. I would recommend this to a family that wishes to play together, and for gamers new to strategy, who want to learn at a gentle pace how to manage resources and grow a city.

Just so people don't get the wrong idea, the real-time strategy battles usually don't occur until a VERY long time into the game. This leaves the player with MORE than enough time to colonize various islands, build up your citizenry, make money, and progress in structures and technologies. For some, this is wholly enjoyable, but those looking to swashbuckle and shoot-em-up minutes after the game starts might be a bit miffed.

The colony-building portion of the game (and really the main portion of the gameplay) is very enjoyable. Detailed, yet not overwhelming (though at first, you might be a little harried) it strives to provide a complete picture of starting and maintaining a thriving colony. Your citizens must eat, so you must provide them with food (hunters, fishermen, cattle farms). They need clothes, so you must provide those also (sheep farms, weavers, textile trade). And the citizens will have demands (churches, taverns, alcohol), so ignore those at your own risk. Trade is vital, or you'll run out of essential building blocks for empire-building (especially tools!) and hopefully your island will produce some vital product that you can sell for an exorbitant amount.

It isn't as fast-paced, or intense as SimCity or Civilization, but there's so much to do that you'll actually have your hands full managing it all. No sitting back and watching here. And once you finally do grasp the multitude of activities in the game, then you'll find out how fun and rewarding it can be.

This game combines unique trading techniques with the usual gathering of resources and building a thriving empire. The neat part of this game is the fact that it is an easy going game. Players can focus mainly on expanding their colony and trade, which I think are the most fun parts of the game. Much later in the game players can attack a neighboring colony if necessary. Other players will be forced to expand their colony as well. This is a nice change, as most strategy games are focused solely on destroying the opponent from the get go. There are many more things this game has to offer including multiplayer (up to 4 players). I look forward to trying this feature, if I can find some other players out there. I would recommend this as a good purchase. The single player scenarios will provide players with hours of fun and practice, then players can try their hand at the multiplayer side where the possibilities are almost endless!

I just recently purchased this game, based mostly on the reviews written. So far I find it a very enjoyable experience, although it does take a little bit of time to get organized. As a beginning player it's best to start with the tutorial simulation. Although this will only give you a basic feel for the gameplay it is neccessary. The bottom line here is that you're just going to have to jump in and play before you understand the complexities of the game.

A couple of hints that I've found out. Don't settle the first island you come to. Take a look around and find which island has the best potential to provide, not only for your settlers, but also for the trading goods you'll need to succeed. Also, be aggressive in building up your settlement. In some games it's sometimes best to build in a more methodical manner. Not so here. The quickler your settlement grows the better.

I've rated this only 4 stars because I've barely looked at the different scenarios provided by the game. If they're as good as the basic game I have no doubt that I would rate this a 5 star game in the future.

I would recommend this game for anyone who enjoys a game that requires strategy and forethought. This is NOT a game for the "shoot-em-up/slash-em-down" player. If you've enjoyed SimCity and the Civilizations games I'm sure you'll enjoy this as well.

Happy Gaming!

We got this game in the German version (it's a European produced game.) It's a huge hit in Germany, where there are contests for figuring out puzzles in game scenarios.

This is a sort of Civilization set in the olden times, 1602 of course, when galleons discovered new worlds and set out to create trade routes and garner wealth for aristocratic settlers. The game starts by settling an island (you are in a race with the computer, who tries to beat you to a choice bit of land. Some of the islands are lousy--too many volcanoes, for one thing, or lacking essential resources.)

You need to build up from wood-cutting plantations, to cotton and grain, up to the ability to mine, forge metals and eventually build some handy cannons and muskets to take out the pesky pirates. Did I mention pirates? Well, as you are shipping from island to island, running your important trade routes, these nasty guys pop up and take your stuff, not to mention try to sink your ship. Eventually, it's payback time and you'll deal with them.

Meanwhile, it's all you can do to keep the locals happy (tip; don't forget to build a hospital. It's demoralizing to see a once-happy island decimated by the Plague.) Then the locals want more, more, more. Schools, churches, universities, even a palace and cathedral. And they like their booze and tabaccy, not to mention regular meals. If you starve the people, they won't forgive you. And you can lose.

This game has nice graphics, and is pleasing as either a single-player or multi-player game. It appeals to women as well as men because the military aspects are secondary to building and developing a new land. The only criticism is that the military function is boring. You clear your enemy islands the same way every game and it gets old. The play is straightforward and with a minimum of help from the manual, it's easy to get engrossed in game right away. You can adjust the speed to single for detail work or jump up to double speed for the boring bits. There are demos available online to download, including the new 1503 A.D., a new game, which has more complicated graphics, and enhanced "everything" --something to work up to when you get bored with 1602. 1602 AD is one of our favorite games of all times.

When i got this game off the internet one day i was stunned by how addictive it was. I was drawn in by its really fun city building and colonizing aspects. I have played civilization, command and conquer, and starcraft and this is comparible to all those. In the beginnig you start out with a ship and colonize an island. THen you must become self-sufficient and supply materials for your settlers. You have to get wood, food, and all sorts of other demands. I think the two best things about this game are 1:You dont have to fight all the time and that is only an aspect of the game 2:There is a way to get materials rather than making them yourself. THat is trading. This game has an extensive trading aspect that is not too hard to manage.

I hope even after reading reviews that degraded this game you still want to buy it, because you should.

This game is really built on a neat idea, but there are just some things that are really wrong with it. First of all, the tutorial doesn't go over everything needed to survive in the game. The tutorial does not explain how building a marketplace expands territory, or how you can further expand your kingdom with a second warehouse. Second of all, the rivaling nations progress WAY too quickly than is possible for you, the human player. These nations pick the best islands to colonize without taking any time to see if they really are the best. They also have construction layouts less than a second after colonizing. This makes it harder to keep up with international trade. Finally, this game has too many things to keep up with. I sometimes feel like it was a mistake to let my colony develop, as I later have innumerable tasks to keep up with, like building a military, expanding teritory, mining, farming, as well as pleasing my citizens. Perhaps a sequel or patch could really help me out with this game.

1602 has been, for me, quite alot of relaxing fun. I sometime enjoy just setting up an easy going game that requires a few tweaks a watching what developes. There are senarios that will tax your strategic prowess, but not to the extent of some of the newer games. If you want 3D action go somewhere else, this has good graphics, but is on par with the Civ3 graphics or Railroad Tycoon II. you are able to zoom in and whatch most of the action, but small controls on most of the proceedings. This is not a shootem up. The reason for the five stars is, no two games are exactly alike, hence no two outcomes are alike. This hit the spot for me. Most games, beginning to end on some of the bigger senarios, took several hours. Hope this helps and enjoy your game.

Sunflower games based in Germany is coming out with "Anno 1503" or "1503 AD" sometime in February. If there were no other such "god games" yet created, 1602 AD would have swept the US as it already did Europe. I think this game appeals to people with more mature tastes and an eye for illustrative richness. It's an easy game to learn and play with a decently addictive engine. "1503 AD" will have a completely different engine based on the now older "1602 AD" and will try to out do its original success.