Anno 1404 and Grand Ages: Rome

[TehMac]

I decided to make one thread about these two games, because both are city builders, but both have a significant amount of RTS style combat involved, and I'm hoping both turn out to be very good.

Anno 1404
From the developers of the Anno series, last project was Anno 1701

The main premise is to raise a medieval city, build it up, and then sail across the sea and search for the Orient, wherein you build another city that's more oriental in style, and you harness the technology there to use for your own city. Not much else has been released on the game, but the developers said they're also working on a revamped combat system.

Here's some gameplay footage

Here's the trailer.

Grand Ages: Rome was formerly known as Imperium Romanum II, which is a sequal to Imperium Romanum and Glory of the Roman Empire.

The developer this time around has promised a more indepth campaing, they have revamped their graphics engine, and promised standard RTS squad control as well as more combat in general.

There's a link to some new screenshots

You can see the graphics look really nice in some areas...and other areas not so much.

But it's a step in the right direction, and I'm hoping these are beta shots that'll get fixed, but I doubt it.

Grand Ages: Rome is due in Feb '09, while Anno 1404 is due in March '09.



I say pontifex might be interested because of this thread.

 

[TehMac]

Any comments?

 

[acheron]

Never tried the Anno games, but have heard good things. Should I pick up 1701 or just wait until next year and get 1404?

Both those games look cool though.

 

[TehMac]

I'm waiting til 1404. 1404 overall looks better and sounds like they're doing serious revamping.

 

[Bateluer]

I never played any of the Anno games either. I do have Imperium Romanum and I enjoyed that a lot. I wish I had more time to play it, but I can say the same about most games I own.

 

[IEC]

Interesting. I like this kind of game. Marked for after finals

 

[TheVrolok]

Looks cool, marked for later.

 

[Canai]

Anno 1701 is an awesome game, at least once it's patched haha. Looking forward to the new one!

 

[TehMac]

I hope they really do improve the combat in Anno 1404. City Builders need to become empire builders, and compete with games like Total War if they want to stay viable, imo. I mean, it's hard to argue with numbers, and the fact that Caesar 4 was a failure is a testament to this: The same formula that worked 10 years ago is no longer successful in the market today.