5punk

So the next Anno game is out soonish and I've been keeping an eye on it as I know few people on here have enjoyed the last one.

There's also a 1gig demo out now if like me, you're interested in trying it:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11 ... ts-a-demo/

I'm downloading it now!

A demo :OOOOOOOO

Oh yes.

Edit: Apparently there's co-op in the full game. Is there co-op in the demo? Plzsayyes.

I've had my eye on this. I'll check out the demo in the unlikely event I get bored.

I played the first level of the demo...and I'm not blown away.

I was really looking forward to this one as I love the series, but this won't be a day one buy for me.

Partly that's because the release date is 17.11.11 - smack bang between Skyrim and Batman - both of which I'll be owning, plus it's £35 - a fair price for a new game certainly, but more than I've paid for their previous titles, and too much for a game I know I won't have time for right away.

Also the demo - the slow scrolling with the arrow keys was a bit annoying, plus the lack of an intro-to-the-new-style-interface tutorial replaced with a big list of 'data log' text entries to click and read through. Pop-ups telling you stuff that disappear after five seconds leaving you to click widly on unfamiliar screen elements trying to find them again leads to frustration.

The placement of roads is ugly and clumsy - while it does helpfully highlight connections to buildings in green, it's step back from the last title (where only end-of-chain buildings had to be connected to the road network) and a step in the wrong direction in that roads can be placed on "half-squares" meaning they end up jaggedy messy and space-wasting.

Having played it a bit more, I'm rather warming to it.

The next mission does help you to learn the new buildings and as you build them, you start to recognise the old buildings underneath the futuristic reskin. Goods Depot=Marketplace, etc.

The decision to make it so everything in a production chain has to linked by road again, like with Anno 1701 isn't one I was expecting, but it does make more sense (except that they have flying cars). The Goods Depots still seem to function like the old Marketplaces where they don't actually have to be attached to a massive road network and all goods inside them are available from any other Depot.

The animations of things are pretty cool, and I was wrong about the half-block road building - I was just zoomed out too far which made placing roads trickier than it should have been.

I still don't like the way new buildings are introduced to you by saying "there's now an entry in the datalog about them" instead of just telling you about them there and then, but at least you have the choice to read/re-read about them when you want to.

I still don't think it's a day one buy for me, particularly if it's only available from the Ubi Store as is currently the case, but I can well see myself grabbing it if/when it pops up on Steam in a month or two's time. I'm finding myself replaying even the few levels in the demo to "get that perfect layout" - which is a really good sign. Unlike previous titles your towns are persistent between Missions so it's kind of handy to get them right, or go back and optimise them once you know what you'll be asked to build next.

It does feel a little like a reskin, with a new campaign - but there quite a few other new things in there that you can't explore in the demo, like politics and factions (Eco vs.Industry). Even as a reskin, I'd be happy though as the previous games were great to start with.

..and that's the demo over. Two pretty basic campaign missions, no multiplayer or other internet-connected things. Not an awful lot for a gig of download, should that be a currency which agues you.

Thanks for the review, FJ. I loved 1701, so if it' s that with hover-cars and space ships, I'm there.

towns are persistent between Missions

That just sold it to me. I missed out on the previous title so this won't feel so much like a reskin. Persistence will make a massive difference though - I always think that rebuilding from scratch every mission is both unrealistic and quickly gets repetitive.

friznit wrote:

towns are persistent between Missions

That just sold it to me. I missed out on the previous title so this won't feel so much like a reskin. Persistence will make a massive difference though - I always think that rebuilding from scratch every mission is both unrealistic and quickly gets repetitive.

In the older ones you didn't have to build from scratch as such, but your personalised town was replaced with a default one with all the correct buildings you'd been told to construct. On one hand that approach was quite educational, as you could learn more efficient ways of doing stuff, but as you became more advanced and did things like oversupplying things like hemp for later use in boat-building it was a bit frustrating.

Multiplay have money off code for everyone who attended i44, there is no way of checking if you did, so here it is:

Insomnia_5

5 quid off

Okay, sold.

http://savygamer.co.uk/2011/12/20/anno-2070-pc-17-99/

£17.99 from play, or £19.99 for the awesome collector's edition from Ubi-shop.

Yaa... oh. It's Ubi. Never mind.

Grimmie wrote:or £19.99 for the awesome collector's edition from Ubi-shop.

Unless you want it digitally, when for some peculiar reason the regular version jumps up to £26.24. Why the fuck does the non-physical version cost over a fiver more than the physical version, from the same shop?

Money grabbing cupcakes?

I grabbed it through suspicious methods as I'd never played an Anno game before and I have to admit it's quite enjoyable.
I mean, I don't know what the hell I'm doing half the time, and can't decide whether to build eco-friendly or industrial, but overall it's an interesting concept to me and I've been looking for a new RTS. B-)

Semi tempted to get this so I can try the coop game. I'm interested to see how that plays out in a city builder.

Mostly through trade-routes and sea-battles, if the other Anno games are anything to go by. I've ordered the collector's edition from the Ubi shop.

Still £35/40 on Steam. Thought there was supposed to be a sale on. I'd totally grab it for £20 if I saw it in a shop, but would prefer a digtal version, really.