Settlers II - 10th Anniversary Edition

by Blue Byte Software

Product Details

• ASIN: B000S39A82
• Item Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,912 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

New up-to-date graphics to the popular 1996 classic!Product InformationThe Anniversary Edition of the Original Classic Game From 1996.  On the10th anniversary of The Settlers II revisit the 1996 classic enhancing yourexperience with 3D up-to-date graphics and new gameplay additions.The Settlers II is an economic simulation giving the player a variety ofstrategic choices. You have to build up a large and complex functioningsettlement and to defend it against attacks.  But it is not the onlyobjective: you have to make the economy run to ensure a smooth transport ofgoods by strategically placing roads and buildings.  The final goal is thedomination of the map.Product HighlightsWho are the Settlers?In several respects The Settlers are every employer's dream as they embodymany attributes that would make them very popular in the job market Flexible:  They can handle any tool given to them straight away. Hard Working:  They work tirelessly and don't need to take any breaks. Efficient:  They work as fast as you like and are extremely thorough at the same time. Undemanding:  Wage negotiations with Settlers are completely unnecessary.  Mine workers do demand pay in kind for their labor (bread fish ham) but all others work for free. Obedient:  Settlers always do exactly as they are told.This attribute can however prove to be one of the few (yet decisive)weaknesses of the Settlers: they do only what they are they are told todo.  They perform their tasks exactly as they are instructed so they needsomeone to manage their outstanding skills in purposeful manner and think forthem.Improved FeaturesNumerous enhancements and improvements have been made to the 10th Anniversary Edition bringing the game up to the state of the art.3D GraphicsThe game graphics have been updated using t

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Series is Back! Yes, on Vista and 7 too!, April 1, 2009

By 

Ratqueen "Carole" (USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Settlers II - 10th Anniversary Edition (CD-ROM)

As an avid strategy PC gamer, I've played The Settlers series from the original version 1, under DOS at the time. Both version 1 and 2 introduced very original gameplay in the real-time strategy genre, completely unique to the series. When subsequent versions came out, I was disappointed because they had lost what made it so unique, namely the way goods were being transported using relays along the road, and other original features such as the use of geologists and more. I also particularly loved the colorful and detailed, yet sligthly cartoonish graphics of version 2, which were absolutely gorgeous for the time.

I had been desperate to make this classic (meaning, the original version II) work on my new Vista computer (and now also 7), but it was no use... up until this new updated Anniversary edition came out!

I don't know what the other reviewer's system specs are, but this game works flawlessly on my computer (see my detailed system specs below). I have played this game for countless hours, both before and after updating my system to Vista SP1, and never experienced the slightest problem with it. It works great.

This updated version of The Settlers II is, in my opinion, the very best of the whole series. It features all the wonderfully unique gameplay of the original, the very intuitive interface, and it has gorgeous updated graphics and animations on top of that. There are also improvements over the original in the gameplay and presentation, such as day/night cycle (it's really pretty when the landscape is bathed in moonlight), and more. It comes with a map editor, which allows you to create your own scenarios for endless replay value.

So, to anyone who's nostalgic about what made the original Settlers such a great game in the first place but couldn't play it on Vista (or Windows 7), rejoice, because this one's a winner! :)

My system specs:
Windows Vista Home Edition (32 bit) with SP1 (game works with or without SP1)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3GHz
2GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

EDIT: Just adding that the game also works fine on my new Windows 7 64-bit system with an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphic card. Note that I ran the setup file for the game and its patch 9801 as admin, just in case.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Settle down to an old school classic, September 14, 2010

By 

Zuriel - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Settlers II - 10th Anniversary Edition (CD-ROM)

Having read the other (4) reviews, I knew it was 50/50 that this game would work. And after installing and attempting to run I was almost on side that it wouldn't work. However I was able to fix the issue and the game runs great now! Which I'm very excited about because it's exactly like the orginaly with better graphics and some newer buildings, but with all the good elements left in tact.

=================================================================================================================================
OK, if you who can't get it working: (I'm going to list all the possibilities to solve your issue as well as what I actually did)
Install the game while running as an administrator (I didn't have to do this)
After installation: restart your computer (you must do this, it should even prompt you)
Two icons should appear on your desktop after the restart(assuming you allowed shortcuts), the game itself and a map editor
Run the game by ejecting it from your drive and re-inserting (wait for auto-play to pop up) (I didn't have to do this)
I received an error while attempting to run the game that "SecuROM could not valid the CD in the alloted time period" and after several more attempts at running it the same error would occur.
To fix, I ran the map editor and while the editor was loading up I simply ran the game as well. SecuROM was able to validate the game and now doesn't check anymore and I'm able to play the game whenever I want.
Another way to allow SecuROM to validate is: go to your computer, click on your CD/DVD drive, right click, select properties, go under the hardware tab, select the hardware, click properties, go under the details tab, and select the appropriate property under the device description (pull down bar). I wish I would've wrote down which one it was. Fortunately if that error is flagged you can follow the link and the SecuROM website will have the device list name that you have to change it to.
--I'm running the game on Windows 7
=================================================================================================================================

Haha, So that was a long explaination just to get the game working and I haven't even talked about the game yet. But if you've played the old version and loved it, then it's worth going through those steps to get it working.

Gameplay: You start off with a main building and have to expand outward while gathering resources and materials to fund your expansion. The goal is to destroy your opponent's main building by pushing his boundaries back over him.
In the process you can construct a ton of other buildings that gather, or convert resources into usable goods. An example is a pig farm produces pigs which can be sent to the butcher, which send the meat off to feed the workers in the mines, but the pig farm itself needs grain and water to feed the pigs. As you can see everthing kind of correlates togethor. Settlers has a goods transportation system. Basically everything is transported along the roads and the spacing of flags along those roads determines how fast the goods will be transported along them.

Free Play: Play your own create maps, or the ones that come with the game. Choose your goal for the map: detroy all enemies; control 90% of the land; obtain 100 gold coins.

Campaign: Played through the campaign; surprisingly, it is not a tutorial of how to play, actually has a storyline, and a goal. Not a great storyline, but at least there is one. The maps are detailed and some are quite challenging. Enjoyed the campaign almost as much as creating my own maps and playing on them.

Tutorial: Once I figured out the campaign was not a tutorial, searched around and found this neat little option. This will teach you how to play.

The game has multiple difficulty levels for campaign and freeplay.
You can save whenever you need to.
Has an auto-save feature. And you can even set the time intervals for which it autosaves! (Thought that was awesome!)
Comes with a map editor so you can build and play on your own levels.
Freeplay can have up to 8 computer players (teamed with you, against you, free-for-all)
Over 30 different buildings
Able to zoom down to ground level and build, or just watch your settlers work.
Game comes with SecuROM, a DRM tool which requires you to type in an access code upon installing the game and requires the CD to be in when you play the game. Basically you can't install it on multiple computers, or let your little brother play at the same time as you. Don't worry, if you get another computer or have to re-install simply use the revoke tool on the computer which is was installed on originally.

Rating:
Graphics- 3 out of 5 (Game is for XP, so graphics aren't great, but the details are good)
Sound- 5 out of 5 (Good music, realistic building/working/gathering sounds, nice background noise: birds, crickets, etc)
Gameplay- 5 out of 5 (Kept everything like the original! LOVE it!)

Overall it's great. I docked a star for SecuROM. I don't think customers should have to struggle to install a game. And I don't think anything should limit the use of a product that SOMEONE PAID FOR. F you DRMs.

***
Don't like my review? Tell me why not by leaving a comment. That way I know what can be improved upon when writing reviews for you.
Like my review? Sweet! I'll keep on writing this way.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Updated - plays on my computer with Windows 7, October 28, 2009

By 

Bright - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Settlers II - 10th Anniversary Edition (CD-ROM)

Old Review - "Loved the game when I played the original. Just bought this and can't play it at all. Can't get it to play on a laptop at work or on the new netbook I purchased last month. Both run XP. It loaded on the laptop and starts, but has some fatal error before play starts and it crashes. On the netbook, it loaded originally, but won't start up at all. I noticed a note in the box that says DRM may prevent the disc from loading in a CD-R or DVD-R drive. Looked at some of the online posts to see if I could figure out the problem and got nothing. Not saying don't buy this, because it has obviously worked for some, but I struck out. Just know what you may be getting into."

New Review - I bought a computer last year with Windows 7 and the game loaded and played perfectly. It was beautiful.