Published by Sierra On-line http://www.sierra-online.co.uk I am a fan of the ancient world already so I am probably biased, but this game is good, really good! You will need a PC with a minimum spec of a 133Mhz Chip, 32 megabytes of RAM, 4-speed CD-Rom, Windows 95/98, and 300 megabytes of hard disk space. It’s a strategy game, but the player is taken to a closer level than in for example, Civilization ® . Instead of a map showing a whole country/world at a time, this shows individual buildings and people, which means you can actually see if things are (or are failing to) work. The game follows a line of rulers as you rise through the ranks to Pharaoh. The game is divided into two parts, family history and custom missions. The first part is a continuous story, the second are odd missions that you can do when you are bored with the first half. These don’t fit into the story anywhere. Family History This section is divided into periods, the pre-Dynastic period, the Archaic period and the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. It starts simple, you must build houses and provide food and water for your inhabitants. You then rise through the ranks and the sizes of settlement. At every stage you are shown the list of things you have to do before you can pass that "mission". These are joined by objectives, smaller steps to help you complete the mission. These things can range from filling a granary, to getting a certain number of people into the city, to building a pyramid! Custom Missions These are, as I said before, completely separate from the main game, they are graded in difficulty and you can choose whether or not to do them. They range from defending a city under assault for a number of years to building the great pyramids or populating a blank map - this just goes on and on and….. There are 5 gods in this game that can complicate your life, so it is advisable to keep them happy: Osiris - Lord of the dead, oversees agriculture and the Nile floods, if you upset him your farmers will hate you! (His wrath destroys your farms or stops the floods altogether.) Ra - Falcon headed god of the Egyptian nation. He can make other people like you, or dislike you according to how happy he is. He can also influence trade. Ptah - The divine craftsman. If he is happy, goods can be produced quicker and resources last longer; when he is not happy your workers are slower and less efficient. Avoid enraging him, your storage yards may disappear. Seth - Patron/Protector of soldiers and Lord of destruction. His blessings are useful, he will make enemy soldiers drop dead. If however you decide to upset him he will use your buildings as stress balls! Bast - Lady of the Home and Hearth. When pleased, she can keep your people happy, making them satisfied with less. She can even help to appease the other gods. Should she get angry owners of rich houses duck! Hints Build farms on meadow (yellow grass) before floodplain, the yields are higher and more reliable. Don’t set up all your industries at once, do mining first (if you have it) and then an export industry. This will give your immigrants time to arrive and the money to provide for them. Don’t worry if your people are always complaining that they are hungry. They will do this a lot. Check with the population advisor, they have the figures and will tell you if you are producing enough food. If you have something big to build, say a pyramid, get all the resources and then walk away. If you leave the game running and then check it about every half hour (to clear up any crises) by the time you come back to it your people will have done all the boring building work. If there are hyenas present, fence them in with statues or walls, otherwise they have a nasty habit of eating people. Overall Rating: 9/10 The graphics and sounds are good, the toolbar is easy to use and the help pop-ups can be set to full, some or off. Although this is just another strategy city game it’s a good one. The history setting makes it much more interesting and the bigger buildings/monuments are quite impressive when they’re finished. And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and carve a sphinx… [What an excellent review of a very simple/complex game, as anyone who has had the time to delve into it will attest to. I had had a go at Caesar and found the game not to my style, eventually Kris Constable nagged me into having a go at Pharaoh and I was immediately impressed and can support Jenni’s grading. I have it plodding away on my laptop while working on this machine, sort out the odd crisis when called upon to do so and really enjoy the activity and amazing graphics it has. Very educational and all of my New Kingdom 15mm guys have been named from characters found in Pharaoh. Plus have you spotted the new magazine out - ‘The Glory of Ancient Egypt’? Starts at 99p and gradually rises in price as editions go on. Will keep you informed. Thanks for this Jenni and any more tips will be gratefully accepted. From Humble Noble Scribe Kenn]. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #134 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com