Time-consuming but rewarding (Pharaoh (PC))

Member Name: MBennett

Product:	Pharaoh (PC)
Date:	29/09/00 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good gameplay

Disadvantages: Exactly the same as Caesar 3

Pharaoh is a game that requires a large amount of your time, but it doesn’t waste it. Although building pyramids etc. takes a while, it can be very satisfying when you see your Grand Pyramid Complex rising from the dust to become the biggest object in your entire city. Building pyramids is only part of the game of course; otherwise, it wouldn’t last very long. (Well, actually, it would, but that’s only if you were to wait for it.)

There are several problems that can affect your city such as disease, poverty, enemies, lack of food and clean drinking water etc. These problems can be fixed by building appropriate buildings in the areas with problems; for example, if there was an area of your city, which was suffering from disease, you might build a physician’s office to prevent disease and to cure outbreaks. Of course, there are several problems with the game. These are really very minor, and some aren’t really problems in the true sense of the word.

First of all, there is an annoying system to place entertainment venues and festival squares. You have to place them over a crossroads. My usual tactic when building these is to cover a huge square area of land with road and demolish unnecessary sections as I go along. Unfortunately, this raises construction costs through the roof in areas that need several entertainment venues and in large cities. This can lead to huge debt problems if you are not careful.

Secondly, there is the opinion that the game is bad because it concentrates on the constructive elements a lot more than the destructive elements unlike other games, such as the Command and Conquer series. This is not really a ‘problem’ in my mind, as I, personally, would like to see more of these types of game available. I liked the Caesar series but never actually bought any of them, as I only discovered Caesar 3 a while ago, and I learnt that Pharaoh was coming out soon, and I decided to wait for
it. This leads us on to the next problem with the game, which is probably the worst one of them all. This is: This game IS Caesar 3.

If you have already bought Caesar 3 and you buy this game (especially after reading this!), you are one of the biggest fools and/or money-wasters in the world. The similarities are obvious; it is only necessary to read a Caesar 3 review to discover that these games are undeniably EXACTLY THE SAME as each other. It is such a pity that the designers chose merely to change the location the game is set in. If they had decided to update the game, then I am sure it would be covered a lot more on the Internet etc. than it already is. We can only hope, that if there is ever a Pharaoh 2, then it will actually be at least a tiny bit different from its predecessor. Having said that, Pharaoh is a great game, and I would recommend it to anyone who does not already own Caesar 3.

Summary: