1701 A.D.

E3 2006 First Look Preview

Anno 1701 is the newest in the popular PC game series where players build up a community from just a few natives to a civilization of aristocrats. 1701 features some amazing graphics, deep gameplay, and a brand new civilization to build.

In Anno 1701, you begin the game with a ship and islands to discover. As you sail around and land on these islands you might find various tribes and natives to the area. Building up relationships with these natives is how you begin. You don’t want to limit yourself to one island, though, since different islands will offer different resources and different tribes with their own skills.

As your towns grow, you’ll see buildings change, the populations clothes will increase in quality, and more business and interaction will take place. Buildings evolve from small shacks to extravagant kingdoms. You can click on each house to see the various inhabitants of your community, and in this info you can check on their needs. You can change how much they are taxed or see if they need access to any more resources, and their profile picture will change depending on their mood.

Like in the real world, you will also need to worry about natural disasters like volcanoes and tornadoes. Those aren’t the only disasters to threaten your peaceful community; if you aren’t doing a very good job running the show, citizens can begin to protest and even become violent. Keeping everyone happy is very important in 1701. One thing that can cheer them up is the town events, like parades and performers.

Sunflowers really wanted to make Anno 1701 easy for new players, but deep enough that it is still difficult for the veterans. Thanks to the interface and open-ended gameplay, players can get by without using all the features, but seasoned players can get into the politics and really experience everything the game has to offer.

Anno 1701 is looking gorgeous – everything in the game is beautiful. The lighting and shadows bring everything to life, and the water looked so good it was making me thirsty. Each piece of the environment was so full of detail, including trees, houses, and the people. The game looks so good a screenshot mode has been included. This allows the player to position the camera wherever they like to capture breathtaking landscapes or to show the scope of their impressive cities. These screenshots can be saved and sent as postcards to other 1701 players.

Multiplayer is also in the works, where players can fight over land or work out trades and compromises. Because of the openness of the gameplay, players can win by any means necessary, whether that means stomping out the opposition or slowly bumping them out through financial supremacy.

Anno 1701 is looking great and it looks like it will appeal to fans of the series as well as newcomers. Right now it is set to come out this October.

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