The story behind Ubisoft's latest release is well developed and can provide the extra motivation needed in the early stages, just to see how it unfolds. Particularly impressive is the way Anno 1404 succeeds in generating the impression that most of the events recreated in the narrative are real, or at least inspired by real life affairs. In fact everything is pure fiction, but thanks to a solid plot and well delivered cut scenes, players will easily be immersed into the atmosphere of the early 15th century.
Basically you are a regular landlord who's got a small island into commission, trying to make life as good as it gets for your citizens, as well as generating high revenue. You'll be under the ever watchful eye of Lord Richard Northbrough, cousin of the ill Emperor, who's going to provide you with both the counseling and tools to get started. Some trivial quests are available in the beginning, with more demanding tasks presented to you as your small village grows into a city. Lord Richard is kind enough o assist you each step of the way, but despite his good intentions, his brief instructions are not explicit enough to compensate for the lack of an appropriate tutorial.
As quests start to pile up and more challenging errands are ahead of you, things get even more explosive when Guy Forcas steps in. Sent in by cardinal Lucius to raise up an army for the upcoming crusade, this annoying character will add extra pressure on your schedule, demanding assistance in gathering resources and troops. You'll quickly find yourself mixed up in the high stakes game of diplomacy intrigue, travelling to the Orient and back home to rescue the Emperor and shatter Lucius's dreams of absolute power. It may not look like the best storyline for a strategy game, but the narrative is well written and compelling enough to keep players wired.
The backbone of Anno 1404 is the perpetual struggle to build a flourishing city starting from scrap, dealing with an increasingly high number of challenges dictated by progress itself. Careful planning prevents a late game collapse, but for beginners it's almost impossible to get a clear image about how the city should look like in the latter stages. Frankly it takes double digit hours just to get a better glimpse of the big picture, which is not necessarily a bad thing, since Anno 1404 has huge replayability.
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Building houses and satisfying the basic needs for their inhabitants may not sound like a gargantuan task, but finding the right pattern to erect those buildings will have a big impact on the long run. As your peasants turn into citizens and then patricians, having access to food, water and basic facilities is not going to be enough and certain upgrades are needed to keep them happy. Since every building requires a rather large construction site, finding a way to construct all structures on the rocky islands is nothing short of an art.
Add to this challenge, issues like soil fertility, or resources that are unavailable on certain islands and the importance of trade becomes obvious. Sooner of later the prosperous city will be unable to sustain the ever growing needs of its aristocratic citizens and imports are going to play a major role. During the campaign I was tempted to deal with all the trade related aspects myself, in order to make sure that everything works silky smooth. Lets just say that simply sailing between the warehouse and a friendly port to sell and buy goods quickly grew into a chore, leaving me with virtually no time whatsoever to build vital structures and complete quests.
Deciding which goods should be traded and to what extent is by no means an easy assignment, but this is one of the most important issues in Anno 1404 and should be treated accordingly. The inhabitants of your city are constantly evolving and so are their needs, so you'll be frequently forced o make adjustments with you commerce scheme. In order to make sure that the warehouse is never empty and all the citizens' demands are addressed, certain good must be imported and some exports diminished for a determined period of time.
New
buildings will become available for every milestone, such as reaching a certain
number of citizens or patricians as well as important upgrades. While some of
these are rather optional and will not have a serious impact on your
performance, those related to trading and commerce are crucial and must be
considered a priority. Markets in particular are very important, so building
enough of them and upgrading them as much as possible will generate enough
number of carts to make sure than production doesn't come to a screeching halt.
Likewise upgrading your warehouse and building stone roads will speed up
commerce, while bigger trade ships with high capacity will maximize profit.
In the absence of a comprehensive manual and a multiplayer mode, the campaign serves both as a tutorial and some sort of end-game experience, with all the possible challenges available at some point. Still those dedicated fans who manage to cruise through the lengthy campaign set and are still starving for more, can put their skills to test again in the " Continuous Play" mode, highly customizable and virtually boundless. Just like the name suggests, you'll build a city on a predefined map, and expand it without restrictions for as long as you want. For most of us this endeavor will eventually end in bankruptcy, but the elite players will expand their city to such a degree that it really runs by itself.
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Conclusion:
Anno 1404 is not the regular summer game, revolving around a shallow story and trying to compensate the lack of substance through mindless fun and exhilarating quests. In fact it is nothing like this, and simply spending the required time to complete the extensive campaign is quite a challenging experience. Ubisoft made no compromises with their latest release, and while this is a very good looking title with a friendly interface, it will remain inaccessible to a certain degree for most gamers unfamiliar with this genre.
Gameplay: 82
Anno 1404 takes city building to a whole new level, providing all the conceivable challenges without turning into a tedious activity even after playing it for a while. Micromanagement is crucial but a clear vision about how your city should look like is equally important, so spending many hours to complete the campaign is definitely worth the effort. Some issued could have been better explained so you won't be kept on guessing about what to do next, and combat is really undersized, but overall the gameplay is adequate.
Graphics: 86
You don't even need to build a single house to realize that this is a beautiful game, because just taking a look at the water is fascinating. The environment is gorgeous, both on see and inland while structures are nicely crafted, combining into a delightful visual display. Characters are detailed and zooming in to witness the busy lives of your citizens is a wonderful experience, that can easily distract you from the more pressing matters.
Sounds: 81
Voice acting is particularly impressive and each character involved in the narrative sounds exactly how you'd expect him to, supporting you all the way or complaining about your lack of celerity. Since you can only hear what the inhabitants discuss when zooming in, there will be plenty of time to enjoy the soothing music while expanding your city.
Hardware: 79
Loading times could have been a bit shorter I guess, but otherwise the game runs smoothly on nowadays computer and decreasing details will greatly improve performance without having a big impact, visually. I've had my share of game crashes but these moments were rare, given the extensive campaign and there is also an autosave option to limit the effects.