You need to have a fair amount of patience to play Zeus. It can take a while
to get your city to the point where it has a sustainable and thriving economy.
This will necessarily involve some 'watch and wait' type gameplay where you will
have to keep an eye on things to make sure no disasters befall your city, but
will not be able to do too much building while waiting for your economy to start
humming. While this does hold an appeal to the builder player types out there, a
lot of gamers will find all the waiting unbearable.
Another downside to this is that mistakes made early on in your city's
development can come back to haunt you. The size and terrain of the game map
restricts your city's size and layout, so if you don't plan carefully early on,
you may find it impossible to some critical production centers later in the
game.
Also, if you don't properly plan your economy, you can find yourself quite a
ways into a game before you realize that your economy is no longer sustainable
and that you are headed for certain financial doom. This often necessitates
playing the scenario again from scratch, losing what could be a large time
investment up until that point.
The game's monsters, heroes, and gods are a nice touch. While history purists
may complain that their presence distracts from the historical nature of the
game, they do add excitement and flair to the game. It may not be the world the
Greeks actually lived in, but instead is the world as they imagined it. It
should be pointed out, though, that those looking to Zeus to learn more about
Greek mythology will probably not get as thorough a lesson as they might have
hoped for. Zeus should be thought of as more of a Cliff Notes version of Greek
mythology - you get some of the basics, but not much depth.
Those looking for an ancient world military simulation should probably pass
on Zeus. While there is combat in the game, it is along the lines of a 'click to
go here and fight' free for all than a study in ancient Greek military tactics.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 82%.
If you loved Caesar and Pharaoh, you'll probably really like Zeus. You'll
probably enjoy the game also if you enjoy the challenge of building a city and
an economy to run it, provided you have the patience to wait for your efforts to
bear fruit. Those with shorter attention spans or who prefer more action in
their games are probably better off passing on Zeus.
System Requirements: 166 MHz Pentium CPU, 32 MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM,
450 MB Hard Drive Space, 2MB Video Card, Mouse.
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