The Settlers is also known as Serf City in the US and Die Siedlers in Germany, which also is it's original title. This appears to be just another strategy game at first, but once you dulge into the game, you will find that it's much more. It could even be called a communist propaganda game. I will explain why. In Settlers, you act as leader of a medieval kingdom/society. As you build more military buildings, your land expands. Every little worker you have gets what he needs from either the castle or from other buildings. Everybody does what they are supposed to, there are no upper class or residents per se, everybody does something for a living. Be it knight of your army or miner in your coal mines. As long as you manage to build the buildings needed, your land will prosper and keep expanding. But once your lumberjack runs out of trees to cut, you are in trouble, because then the sawmill will have no logs to make into boards. And then the builders will have nothing to build your new buildings of. Will you manage to suceed as a lord and master of a small medieval society? Will it grow and will you conquer your enemies? It's all down to your skills and abilities as a leader.

Okay, let's get started, shall we? This game was one of the first I really got hooked on in my childhood. I used to play it for hours and hours. I was about 10 when I first got my hands on it. It wasn't the battle and conquering of other kingdoms that fascinated me. No, it was the building of a kingdom that caught my attention. This game also has a wonderful soundtrack, which I still love. Once you start the game, you can choose to either play the campaign, which has 32 missions. There is also a tutorial and the ability to create a random map and play it alone or with a friend. For the two player mode, one needs to plug in another mouse and play in split-screen mode. I often did this with my cousin, and we usually kept a peace-treaty throughout the game, until all the other computer opponents were wiped out, then we used to battle it out and see who won. The games would take several hours, and we never really got to finish most times, because we had so vast kingdoms both of us.

Graphics are great for it's time. I love their attention to detail. You can actually see what each of the workers are doing. The graphics have a certain cartoonish feel about them and the landscape is built up of snowy mountains used for mining, lush forests that provide you with logs, and blue lakes in which you can aquire food from with a fisherman's hut. Rock formations are also spread around, so if you build a mason's hut, he will run around and get blocks of stone used tobuild the bigger buildings. Mining is also a way of aquiring stone, but also gold, coal and iron, used to create tools and weaponry. Without weapons and tools, your men will not be able to pick up a trade or become knights in your army, so bear that in mind.

Key in this game is getting a good start, because if you make a few errors to begin with, you will suffer later on. First, you will want to position your castle well. Find a good spot, and ask your geologist if the resources are sufficient. He will tell you wether you have enough gold, stone, iron and coal within the reach of the castle. If not, try to find another spot for it. Then you want to expand. Try to keep your best warriors at the edges of your territory, as they are most likely to be attacked by your enemies, or the ones that you will utilize when you attack. The attack sequence is hilariously animated, and when you capture your enemies military buildings, the other buildings they might have had in the nearby vincinity gets burned down. You should use this to your advantage, cutting their supply lines and production by taking out the military buildings which has the best location for this.

Every building has it's use, and you will have several of each of them. There is not one building that you will find useless in this game. Each building also needs to be connected to eachother through a complicated road system. In the beginning; click on the flag below the building, then on the road icon on the toolbar, then pick a route to the castle. Keep doing this, but build a road system that makes sense. It doesn't really make sense that the lumberjack is on one side of your kingdom and the sawmill on the other, now does it?

Sound is limited to music, but boy does the music make up for the lack of sound effects. The sound track is quite amazing, and though it might get a bit repetitive, it's great to listen too. Personally, I've fallen in love with it. I still miss some sound effects though.

If you want an addictive game that reeks of gameplay with a twist of humour, you should try out this great simulation of the ridiculous strifes in the medieval times. Will your society prosper and conquer the lands? There is only one way to find out..

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