Settlers: Rise of an Empire

by Ubisoft

Product Features

• Diplomacy is key - Build up your small town, maintain trade relations, and make claims on land and villages
• Use wise planning to for mining operations, resource gathering & food production - plus the occupations of the various settlers
• Plan a road system for transporting goods effectively - and to help your people prosper
• Upgrade buildings, hire entertainer and organize fairs - all to improve the economy & match up male & female settlers
• Build walls to keep out enemies, and defend against invasion with military actions

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000Q56VHK
• Item Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,292 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

The Settlers: Rise of an Empire PC

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drastic improvements over the previous, back to the settlers we know, September 30, 2007

By 

M. Su "More Dessert" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (DVD-ROM)

If you've played Settlers 1 or Settlers 2, this would be very familiar for you.

1. Focused on building your econ & city planning.
2. Military is very small part, can only build swordsmen and archers. + some siege.
3. Graphics - it's good enough for game like this.
4. Music - very good actually, many different songs.
5. Multiple Generals for you to choose from, each with their own passive ability and special power. Actually makes a significant impact on the gameplay. This really increases the reply value.
6. Length - Haven't finish or gone very far yet. About mid game. Games like this there is plenty of replay value in it even after you finish the campaign.

Some issues:

1. Slow - there is no time adjusting or speed increase, so some parts does feel a bit slow. Nice to have a EGM or some magazine handy while playing.
2. Walling - Very difficult to wall correctly with the 3D terrain.
3. Very long saves, takes well over 1 minute for a save, at first thought my computer froze cause it took so long.
4. Military - Even though this is more of a sim game than RTS, the warfare could of been a little more deeper. Maybe an addition of Cavalry Unit or Kights to spice things up a bit.

Overall, it's an enjoyable game. Nothing major new, if you liked Settler 1 or 2, this one gives you more of it with minor improvements on the overall gameplay.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must have if you love all things Medieval, November 5, 2007

By 

Thayland (Newalla, OK USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (DVD-ROM)

I have to say that to me this is a very similar game to Stronghold 2. I patched the game and then it auto-patched when I restarted it before I started playing out of the box. After hours of play, I've had one hard lock-up where I had to reboot. I save often so it didnt impact me. It seems to be much more stable now that the patches are out compared to other reviews here. I'm playing with the default video options which to me are just fine. The graphic artwork is absolutely fantastic. The water looks like realy fluid water and the animations is high quality.

This is a "make-your-people-happy" game. Dont get this game expecting to have the depth of military combat that Stronghold 2 does, but I'm quite happy I purchased it since I love the Medieval time period. This is another way to observe the mechanics of medieval society.

The only real combat strategy for your swordsmen and archers and siege engines (that's all you get), is to mass on the enemy and win by numbers. This game has MUCH potential.

My hope is an expansion with mounted cavalry (archers, swordsmen and lancemen) and add pikemen and crossbowmen to the footsoldiers... then add the ability to control your troops with formations, etc... along with a few new resources you could gather, like a fish/eel farm, cobbler's hut, and alchemist hut for starters, you could even add clockmaker's and toymaker's huts for kicks and what about a ship builder? You have docks that are built into some scenarios, so why not make a dock available to build? I don't like how you get a candlemaker, carpenter and blacksmith only after you have upped your knight to the highest level. Those professions were always some of the first and most vital needed up front.

I have to say though, ulitmately, after I hooked up my 5.1 surround options in game and upped the quality of sound, I was taken just a bit deeper into game play. Very nice.

Things to actually improve in game: 1. Military aspect is lacking greatly both in variety and control. This is the number one problem with this game in my oppinion. And they need the ability to build fires closeby so they can produce torches, instead of having to run all the way back to base to get more...building fires was easily done and it's frustrating that you can't.
2. if your fishing hut is built too close to the water, sometimes, only one fisherman can get to the fish at a time. If you upgrade the fishing hut you can have up to 3 fishermen working the same resource. Also, when it's winter and the water freezes over the fishermen can't fish. In real life they could actually cut a hole in the ice but I've found when the narrator announces, "A fisherman can't find any fish." it's usually spring time and the water is thawing out, so the timing is off on that. Long winters are a drag in the northern scenarios. 3. when you touch the edge of your screen to move around, it's a bit choppy so map movement needs some work.

I feel confident that patches and expansions will do justice to this game. It can only get better from here.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong city-building sim, but lacks anything resembling a challenge., June 9, 2008

By 

Z. A. Recht (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (DVD-ROM)

Alright. Let's see here.

This was hyped to me as "Like Stronghold 2, except with more focus on city life than combat."

That was a pretty fair comparison. In Settlers, your main object of any mission is to build up a city infrastructure and promote your knight to new ranks in order to gain access to better buildings.

It's a beautiful game to play. When you really get a city rolling, you'll be entertained merely by zooming in and watching your settlers go about their business. The cities themselves feel alive and are nicely detailed. You really will feel as if you're lording over a medieval settlement.

Resources are scattered around the maps, which are divided into regions. You can't build in a region unless you've claimed it by setting up an outpost. Through this system you can slowly expand the territory you control and gain new trade partners or plots of land. In some maps expansion is a necessity, just to gain the space you need for the farms to feed and clothe your settlers.

I should remark again on the prettiness of the game. The seasons cycle, the peasants talk in the streets and hold festivals when you promote your knight, and mutter when there's not enough food or they're cold.

It's definitely a fun simulation game to play, but there aren't many deep details to delve into. It's fairly superficial. This won't bother you much, though. You'll be having too much fun watching the settlers go about their lives.

Now a few negatives.

I mentioned before that the focus wasn't on combat. Well, I just mentioned it a second time--it really needs to be discussed. For starters, there is a grand total of two basic military units: swordsmen and archers. That's it. There are also spies, mercenaries, and siege equipment, but you'll almost never use them. It's pretty much those two lonesome unit types. You'll never build a large army, either. Four squads--two archers and two swordsmen--are enough to completely dominate most enemies in the campaign. There are a couple of occasions (mission-specific) where you will have to build a single battering ram and only use it once--then you can leave it to rot if you want.

The only other real negative is the difficulty.

Namely, there ISN'T any. Difficulty, that is.

You can beat this game blindfolded and with the speakers muted. It's really that easy. You'd almost have to try harder to lose the levels than to win. For most of them, it's just a matter of time before you achieve victory--in 75% of missions, there's nothing to challenge you. Nothing at all. No enemies will attack you. No natural disasters will damage your town. The very biggest threat in the entire game is wolves, who will occasionally attack a lone settler.

Despite the flaws, this is a very fun game. If you can find it with a cheap price tag, it's worth picking up. You will spend several hours building up cities and enjoy every moment of it.

Eventually, though, you'll eject the disk--because you will have built every building, promoted your knight to the top of the tree, and have not a single challenge to overcome.

2115|R37PD5E1A3HVU2;2115|R2RHSB9DA89WZ1;2115|R3NDV24EQK28S5;