... Now, we have a third, Zeus - Master of Olympus. Unsurprisingly, this one is set in ancient Greece. Surprisingly, it has changed considerably from its predecessor.
DECIET AND DECEPTION
If you have never played either Caesar or Pharaoh, when you first see Zeus you could be fooled into ... Read review
Advantages: Basic gameplay tweaked to perfection, other game elements expanded and improved, less bewildering for casual gamers, story based with more focussed objectives Disadvantages: Cutesy presentation, still essentially the same as previous games
...have a third, Zeus - Master of Olympus. Unsurprisingly, this one is set in ancient Greece. Surprisingly, it has changed considerably from its predecessor.
DECIET AND DECEPTION
If you have never played either Caesar or Pharaoh, when you first see Zeus you could be fooled into thinking that it is a completely different game from what it actually is. Browsing the blurb on the box, you can see plenty of descriptions of gods, ... ...- which is, after all, the heart of the game. the opening FMV (which incidentally is excellent) depicts a scene from Greek mythology in which Zeus creates mount Olympus. In fact, the first time you realise what the game is is when you are dumped into an isometric cityscape. This facade does show you, however, that the focus of the game has shifted.
Impressions obviously realised that they could reach a larger audience by removing many ... more
Impressions struck gold with the first game in their 'City Builder' series, Caesar III, an intricate and detailed game in which you constructed and managed a city from scratch in ancient Rome. Although hugely playable, it mainly appealed to hard-core strategy enthusiasts due to the amount of micro-management and dull manipulation of figures. The sequel, Pharaoh, streamlined the game somewhat and removed many of the irritations of the first, although it received something of a lukewarm reception, being hailed as 'Caesar in Egypt', since the gameplay was essentially the same as the first game. Now, we have a third, Zeus - Master of Olympus. Unsurprisingly, this one is set in ancient Greece. Surprisingly, it has changed considerably from its predecessor.
DECIET AND DECEPTION
If you have never played either Caesar or Pharaoh, when you first see Zeus you could be fooled into thinking that it is a completely different game from what it actually is. Browsing the blurb on the box, you can see plenty of descriptions of gods, monsters and heroes, but very little information about building cities - which is, after all, the heart of the game. the opening FMV (which incidentally is excellent) depicts a scene from Greek mythology in which Zeus creates mount Olympus. In fact, the first time you realise what the game is is when you are dumped into an isometric cityscape. This facade does show you, however, that the focus of the game has shifted.
Impressions obviously realised that they could reach a larger audience by removing many of the more tedious gameplay elements, which they have done. The basis of the game is still the same - attracting people to your cities and then building industries to provide them with more resources, which in turn makes them upgrade their homes which in turn improves their capacity, increasing the number of people coming to your city. Creating a complex city infrastructure, made of various industries linking together sounds like a difficult task, requiring fine balancing and management. Well, it isn't as bad as it was in previous games, although it is still necessary to consult a few statistics. On the whole, though, you just need to put up the right buildings, and things will sort themselves out. This may sound simplistic, and it is. But, various other areas of the gameplay have been extended considerably, which more than compensates for this.
MY GOD!
The game is now much more story-focused. There are various campaigns in which you build and develop a single city over a series of separate missions and follow a plot line. Each mission begins with a briefing, describing the current situation around Greece, and giving you your objectives. The stories involve not only other cities and leaders, but also the gods, monsters and heroes. Gods were in previous Impressions games before, of course, but how they behave in Zeus is quite different. Worshipping a specific god involves building a sanctuary, a huge project requiring a lot of time and resources. Once complete, that god actually appears on your streets, providing various services such as protection from invasions or increased food production. Similarly, monsters (Cyclops, Medusa etc) can appear in your city, wreaking havoc. The only way to rid yourself of these is to attract a hero to your city (Jason, Hercules etc). These heroes will only appear if your city is up to certain standards (having a certain number of soldiers, wine stock and so on). This interaction with the mythological world is very interesting, and very accurate, with all the correct gods present and correct. It provides a nice change from simple dull city building.
Other areas of the game have also been enhanced, particularly interaction with the rest of the world. In addition to standard trading, you can also give gifts, attempt raids or even try to capture a city (more on this later). Captured cities pay regular tribute in the form of goods. You can also construct colonies in other parts of Greece to try and spread your influence. This is not as exciting as it sounds, since you can only build colonies when the story dictates. Diplomacy is still sadly lacking, although by fulfilling favours for other leaders you can improve your reputation.
CHARGE!
Combat has always been the low point of previous games, and it is still not fantastic. Getting soldiers is much easier, however. You can call your citizens to arms at any time to defend your city. Moving them around is simple enough, but telling them to attack is tough. You just have to tell them to move near the enemy and hope they attack. Attackers also seem to be able to ravage your city with alarming ease, and once they start it is tough to stop them, as they tend to run away. Luckily, there is an auto-defend option, so you don't need to muck about in this kind of thing.
If you want to invade another city, you need real soldiers. These are obtained by attracting the very highest class of citizens to your city and providing them with various luxuries. Actually initiating the invasion is much better than defending against one. You simply send the soldiers you want, and the victor is calculated on probabilities. If you ask me, all the combat should be done this way, or else the whole combat system re-designed, as it is too fiddly as it is.
THIS WAS A NICKELODEON PRODUCTION
As I have mentioned, the gameplay has been simplified in order to make the game more mainstream. For the same reason (I am guessing) the graphics have been changed from the dull and functional to the colourful and cartoonish. All of the gods, monsters and heroes and very much caricatured, looking like characters from comics or cartoons. In fact, the graphics verge on the (gulp) cute! This put me off at first, but you soon realise that all this is merely superficial. And in all honesty, the graphics are an improvement on those in pharaoh.
Sound and music match the graphics. All the pre-mission briefings are narrated in a rather over-the-top dramatic tone. When you click a citizen to find out what they think of the city, they too adopt a similar tone. Sound effects are of the loud and punchy variety, with dramatic music accompanying. I turn this off!
PHARAOH 1.5
Although Zeus has taken steps to change and provide more variety for all gamers, the core gameplay is basically the same as the previous two games. If you didn't like those two, you probably won't like this one. Although, if it was the complexity that put you off, Zeus may be worth a try. For hard-core strategy players, there are enough gameplay tweaks in place to make this a worthy purchase. If for some reason you have never played an Impressions City Builder, you should certainly give this one a try. I personally enjoyed playing Zeus, even though I played pharaoh to death. Then again, I know other people who feel the opposite. It might not be worth paying £35 for, but I have seen it in some places for £20. If you see it at this price, you should certainly snap it up.
Zeus is a fascinating game, in which you build various cities throughout ancient Greece. You also have to fight off gods and monsters with the help of heros, gods and monsters. The game is about city building. You start out with nothing but a few thousand drachma. By building homes, amenities and a flourishing industry, not to mention cultural venues and temples, people will flood to your new city, pay taxes and fight wars for you. Each city will ... ...gets mundane. It will also have different enemies. Sometimes it will be the odd God trying to wipe out your fledgling city, occasionally it will be another city trying to make you a vassal state. There are also other cities (Greek, Egyptian, Phoenecian etc) to trade with and/or fight with and conquer.
I've played Caesar 3 before. Is this different?
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The same emphasis on city building is still there, ...
MartinWilloughby 01.08.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Master of Olympus Zeus (PC)
Advantages: Highly playable and addictive Disadvantages: Still has bugs after all this time
Think of all the things that annoyed you about Caesar and Pharoah.
Can't think of anything? How about always needing a house within walking distance of your industries to make them work. How about suddenly have half your housing evolve and losing your workforce. Bizarres that need to be far away enough not to be detrimental to the housing but close enough to actually service the area. Walkers being dumb. The list goes on and on...
Zeus is different. ... ...should have been with a little more planning.
If you have never played Pharoah or Caesar then shame on you! Zeus is what people call a God Sim. You design where industries go and which ones they are. You place housing, gather resources and try to satisfy goals set by the mission you are on. It's similar to Sim City with a more indepth and personal feel. If you like people telling you what a good job you are doing, then this is the game for you.
...
Traxia 10.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Master of Olympus Zeus (PC)
Advantages: Good gameplay; entertained for hours Disadvantages: Not developed for Mac =(
...it came up to playing Master of Olympus, I was so thrilled and excited about this game I don't think my friends saw me for awhile.
As the game title gives you pretty much most of the hint, this strategy game is based in ancient greece, where the glorious Zeus once ruled. However, as much as this suggests, lots of historical backgrounds and legends are mentioned during those times, it doesn't affect your gameplay at all; it merely sets a scene for ... ...the same time (my english teacher actually gave me a higher recommendation on my essay because I mentioned the word 'coffers', and guess where I learnt that word from?)
In fact, most of Zeus's gameplay is almost exactly the same as Caesar or Pharoah, but only with a different culture, foods produced and Gods to worship. As you begin the game, you will first notice that there are some differences in the way that Zeus is played compared to previous ...
daftks 16.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Master of Olympus Zeus (PC)
Advantages: organise a town, strategic game Disadvantages: can waste a lot of time playing, Single player only, cannot see battles
...bought this game called "Zeus: Master of Olympus" about a year and a half ago because i love strategy games and needed an update to theme park and theme hospital.
I bought this game as it looked different to games i had previously seen, with this game you can create your own greek myths. When you begin a game there are different episodes within this game, and to get onto the next episode you have to fulfill the requests of Zeus, this requires skill ... ...the amount of Athletes competing in the city.
You start the game by building your own Greek city, building house for your workers, with this you have to build them sanitary and food facilities and also a place to work.
You have to judge how many houses to build in comparison to how many places of work there are going. So it's like a balancing act between unemployment and lack of workers.
In this game you can control the tax rates, and decide how ...
heather_cromp 04.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Master of Olympus Zeus (PC)
Advantages: Great graphics and gameplay. A good challenge! Disadvantages: Takes up a lot of hard disk space and needs a good processor.
A brief Intro...
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Master of Olypus- Zeus is a great game of skill and tactical thinking. In this game you must build up cities to complete mission objectives, whilst keeping the gods happy. This game will bring you deep into the art of Greek mythology where incredible stories are told. Of course your main goal is to become the 'Master of Olympus' i.e. you have to be able to please all the gods (a very mighty task!). So on we go...
... ...Campaign and Skirmish...
Campaign
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In this mode you must complete missions stated by either Julius Cesar or the Gods, and in most you willl have to accomplish certain tasks in order to invite a HERO, to come to your city and destroy a certain monster relating to Greek mythology. This monster will reek havok on your city and its by employing this Hero that you shall be able to accomplish your tasks!
Skirmish
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Well this is self-explanitory ...
Sebworld 20.02.2001 (07.06.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Master of Olympus Zeus (PC)
