I've been disappointed with Sim games on the DS lately. First we had Theme Park, which is a port of the 14 year-old SNES game with absolutely nothing new added in. Second, we had Sim City DS, which valiantly attempts to win the DS Sim category with it's classic game play, but stumbles at the finish line with it's awkward stylus controls, horrifically tacked-on mini games, and inability to have multiple game saves (or being able to change your advisor once the game starts).
Now we have Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery. Luckily, this one doesn't fall into the traps the previously mentioned games did.
This is the first time I've played a game in the Anno series, and playing this one has certainly peaked my interest in the other three games.
It leads you in gently at first, with an incredibly well thought out (read: long!) tutorial that spans two missions and covers just about everything in the game.
Your first port of call (ahem, sorry about the pun) is to learn how to use the Stylus. They really needn't have bothered with the tutorial on this part, as Anno's control system has obviously been designed with the DS in mind. Everything in the game is controlled entirely by the stylus. The top screen shows information about your current resources, recent messages, and objectives, and you can drag the map around on the bottom screen to get to certain points, or even slide the map by "flinging" the map in your desired direction.
The interface is clutter free and dead simple to use. In less than five minutes you'll be able to hit a needle in a haystack on the map with the greatest of ease. It's a joy to behold, and moves so smoothly and elegantly it almost makes you want to cry with it's grace... okay maybe not cry, but it certainly feels a lot better than swearing in frustration when you're trying to build a road and the map shoots off randomly to some unknown location, costing you valuable money (I'm looking at you, Sim City DS).
Once that simple task is over, the game holds you gently by the hand like a loving parent, through it's more complex tasks, such as dealing with your citizens needs and wants, micro-managing stock, and general government-y stuff such as fiddling with tax rates and keeping neighboring governors happy by trading. The tutorial is really clever on this section, as it only really gives you an underlying guideline of what to do, and lets you run your settlement the way you see fit, commenting and giving suggestions on the way.
Article comments