#THE SETTLERS 5 DOWNLOAD FULL VERSION SERIES#

Yes, the game is a lot about economic build up and challenge, but it takes for freaking ever to get a really viable base going in the single player campaign.

#THE SETTLERS 5 DOWNLOAD FULL VERSION SERIES#

The Settlers series has never been known for a ton of action packed moments or even particularly good gameplay and in this respect Heritage of Kings stays true to its roots. The gameplay that's supposed to outshine both the story and the visuals doesn't exactly help either. The sword men sound the same as the spearmen who sound the same as the archers who sound the same as the cannons. While they sometimes say some clever things when you click to much or select them, all of the military units have the same voice work. Unit acknowledgements are my real problem. They're trying to be fun, but just plain aren't. There's some good, if repetitive, music to listen to and some good ambient sounds, but the voice-overs are so boringly lifeless that it's really hard to give a crap about what anyone is saying. So instead we're left with art that looks like a crisper version of art we've seen a thousand times before. Details like real-time lighting and shadows can make art like this sing, even without style, but it was missing.

You can tell that these guys are proud of their achievement, especially the waterfalls, as there are a couple of moments in the game where they literally say 'Hey, stop and check out the waterfall, it's beautiful.' The problem isn't the quality of detail or execution, but little missing details and the generic nature of the art. All of the textures, whether they're on the buildings or character models are technically lovely as is the world in general. Animations are very decent, especially with the moving parts on the buildings (the cannon factory is my personal favorite), and add a good level of detail. The strange thing is, the graphic quality of the art is actually very good from a technical standpoint. Having lost the art style and personality of the cartoony charm, story and character should have been a bigger issue. They just kind of get lost in the midst of the game and environment (sometimes literally). For a game that lasts so bloody long, you would figure that these characters would have had the chance to develop some sort of individuality. It's almost easy to forget to use them (and hard to know they've been used in some cases) because there's no visual reward. Not even their special abilities are special looking. They have different voices and accents, but they're all just as mysteriously boring. All the other heroes act pretty much the same. He doesn't seem to have a personality at all.

But the story is told with so little detail, character, or panache that I just don't care. They'll help him take back his country one territory at a time, gathering folks grateful for his help and leadership, some of whom will actually hand their towns over to him. A mountain ranging dwarf that blows things up, a soldier friend from home that can whoop armies all by his lonesome, a misunderstood thief girl, a wise old uncle. So far so average, right? Well, along the way, he meets up with old friends that join forces with him. He's the son of a king that was whisked away to safety by his mother, the queen, only to find out because of an amulet that he was the 'rightful' heir to the throne. Take Dario (a name that inspires respect and awe in Medieval Times restaurants everywhere) the main character.

well, it's just there with no nutritional value. I don't know that I would even truly call it bad. The thing is, Heritage of Kings isn't a horrible game. I have a feeling I would forget about it immediately after writing the review if the music wasn't scratching through my head like a broken record. Sadly, the combat added does nothing to promote the genre, even going so far as to be reminiscent of so many cookie cutter RTSs that cluttered our lives 3-5 years ago. Not only did they change the style of the art, which was a mistake as far as I'm concerned, but also tried to 'Americanize' the game by making it more combat oriented. The games might not have been the best strategy series ever, but at least it had its style to set it apart from the crowd. That soft spot contained a certain charm and likeability sat in those cartoony bodies. There was a reason that I held some little soft spot in my otherwise steely heart for The Settlers games in the past.

The settlers 5 download full version