Even things such as tools being extremely limited until the second “tier” are the same across the series. Gameplay, from 1404 to 1602 to 1503, more or less remains the same. Playing through the various games as part of this review, I simply have to familiarise myself with how the interface changed with each entry. The various iterations of Anno, despite superficial improvements to graphics and the occasional addition of a few features, simply aren’t all that different from each other. The elephant in the room, however, is something a bit more fundamental.
Being less familiar with the rest of the games, I can only comment upon 1404. It seems reasonable to expect some improvement given the not inconsiderable price-tag attached to this collection. These are small things, but they make me wonder if all the little bugs and quirks of the other Annos have also been left untouched. It’s doubly worrying when I find that the slight stutter that happens in the original 1404 when I first order a ship anywhere after loading up also remains in the History Collection version. Furthermore, old quirks remain - being best acquainted with the peculiarities of 1404, I find it disconcerting that the game’s infamously long loading times don’t appear to have been looked at. Likewise, extra resolution allows for extra zoom levels in some of the earlier games, which is always nice.īeyond that however, there is, unfortunately, rather little to get excited about this is a “new” release working on modern machines, with various creature comforts I rather think should be a basic expectation upon which other things are built on top of. As a fan of the style, 1503’s isometric graphics hold up rather well. I can well imagine my younger self playing it to death – like I eventually would when I finally encountered Anno 1404.
Anno 1602 guide series#
Performance on my machine - whose some components are nearing their ten-year anniversary - is smooth as silk, and being introduced to some of the older games in the series has been a pleasure (I am rather sad to have missed out upon Anno 1503 the first time around). Let’s be fair – the games have indeed been improved. The problem is that having multiplayer, taking advantage of some new hardware, and running on modern operating system just isn’t quite enough to justify a relaunch. All told, there’s more than a decade of hybrid city-builder/exploration/colonisation adventures on offer. There’s a lot of games in this pack: in order of release we have Anno 1602, Anno 1503, Anno 1701 and Anno 1404. However, it’s good to have all these games actually available, working and for sale, which hasn’t always been the case. Improved multiplayer is on offer – although as I’m using an embargoed review copy, I can’t test that part. The problem is, that’s… all there is to it, more or less. The games included aren’t receiving the sort of major overhaul that Age of Empires II seems to receive annually - all that the Anno history pack aims to do is to allow the older games of the Anno series to run on modern machines. I should make clear, right from the outset, what the History Collection is not. Sadly, the games within the Anno History Collection don’t quite get close enough. You run the risk of reminding people why they bought all those newer games in the first place, as the old games have to stand up and offer their own special bit of magic.
Bringing old games up to the modern age is a fraught business.
0 kommentar(er)
