Settle down

If managing and expanding a kingdom sounds like a good time, perhaps you haven’t thought it all the way through. Governing an empire, as the real-time strategy game The Settlers 7: Path to a Kingdom is eager to point out, is all about micromanaging. Wage wars on too many fronts, and you’re toast. Don’t research enough technology, you’re toast. Don’t cut down enough trees…well, you get the point.

Learning how to do all of these things is almost as difficult as doing them. In fact, nearly the entire single-player campaign serves as a tutorial. After you’ve spent hours of trudging through the game, Settlers is still introducing new objects and features. Sure, series’ veterans will have much less trouble becoming acquainted with the controls, pacing, and overall structure of Settlers, but those picking up the series for the first time will struggle through seemingly easy tasks. That’s because Settlers isn’t incredibly accommodating when it comes to helping players achieve their goals. For instance, if you pause a task in the building queue because you don’t have enough resources to build it, construction on the next items will never start. Little frustrations like these arise without any explanation.

Zoom in on the busy streets to watch your citizens hustle from one spot to the next.

Adding to the problem, the campaign doesn’t include an easily accessible help system, so if you forget how to do something (and you will), you’ll have to pull up a separate site or consult the hardcopy manual. In short, saying Settlers 7 has a long learning curve is like saying Godzilla would be an unpleasant neighbor.

Once you get the hang of the controls and juggling the tasks, you’ll promptly be thrown into a roller coaster of emotions. Settlers is constantly challenging, frustrating, and, against all odds, fun, thanks to the generally quick pace. Bouncing from one camp to the next, constantly dashing from one duty to another, and finally defeating your rivals is rewarding on many levels. Still, at certain times the gameplay slows down to a crawl as constructors walk from one end of the map and back--a fast-forward feature would have been a hugely beneficial addition for those moments.

Settlers’ distinct visual style makes viewing the cartoony world enjoyable from both a bird’s-eye view and a fully zoomed-in street view. The cut-scenes are equally impressive and stylized, but unfortunately they often stutter and sometimes even cut short an important character’s dialogue.

Online multiplayer adds yet another layer of depth with matches often lasting well over an hour. Players can fight alongside or against their friends and can also appoint computer players as allies or enemies for full-scale war with up to six players. Connection hiccups are usually resolved through a quick reconnection, which is lucky because Ubisoft’s always-online antipiracy software is finicky and bothersome, requiring players to be online at all times to play the game. At certain times, the game even logged out because of a malfunction in the antipiracy software--how lame is that?

Unless manic multitasking is your idea of fun, Settlers won’t settle into your gaming rotation.

The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom (North American Edition)
COMPANY: TransGaming
CONTACT: www.gametreeonline.com
PRICE: $49.95 ($59.95 Gold Edition includes downloadable content)
REQUIREMENTS: Intel Core Duo processor, Mac OS 10.6.3 or later, 2GB RAM, Nvidia or ATI video card with 256MB VRAM, 8GB disk space, internet connection
Fast-paced task juggling is fun. Great artistic style. Tons of ways to achieve victory. ESRB rating: Everyone.
Incredibly difficult learning curve. Glitchy cut-scenes. Micromanaging isn’t always fun. Persistent online connection required by Ubisoft’s DRM scheme.