Game review: The Settlers - iPhone / iPod Touch

Fans of real-time strategy games will be giddy with excitement that such a classic in-depth PC franchise has been squeezed down to fit onto Apple’s mobile devices so they can get their fix of resource management and empire building on the go.

On the other side of the divide, players not previously wowed by strategy games are unlikely to be converted by this, as The Settlers is a hardcore and at times inaccessible experience to beginners.

Newcomers to the RTS genre who are brave enough to take on this challenge may find themselves getting overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the game. There is nothing gentle or simplistic about The Settlers.

What it does, it does very well. The Settlers is one of the deepest, most polished and fully featured strategy games in the App Store.

It won’t be to everyone’s liking – but novices who persevere with it will find it provides a very rewarding payoff after you battle through the initial bombardment of options, processes and tasks. Taming this complicated beast will eventually lead to some very rich and compelling play.

The Settlers, from Gameloft, is a mission-based game featuring 21 campaigns covering four factions - Romans, Vikings, Mayans and Dark Tribe.

You must create colonies, scope for minerals, build mines, harvest raw materials, assemble a workforce and manufacture tools, vehicles and weapons.

You need to meet the basic needs of your settlers, such as providing food for your workers.

A prosperous economy must be established with sources of income to keep your communities flourishing.

You must also gather a strong army ready to defend your territory or conquer others. Combat becomes a necessary part of the game, although it’s nothing like on the same tactical level as say Command & Conquer.

Despite the Romans, Vikings and Mayans not exactly being renowned for their diplomacy, the emphasis here isn’t on using brute force to crush enemies but rather on strategic planning and managing the smooth flow of resources to help your settlements thrive.

It’s more of a city building game than a war game.

Your role in the game is that of a supervisor, commanding your people from on high. Your have limited control of your settlers on the ground. Instead you must ensure everything is running properly to keep your realm safe and happy.

Once you’ve gone through the game’s exhaustive 35-page help section to get a feel for what’s in store, the first three levels are supposed to be tutorials. They don’t really teach the basics of the game though, because there aren’t any basics. Instead, these early stages will open your eyes to just how steep the learning curve is with The Settlers.

You’re given an introduction to the intricate sequences which must be followed to generate resources. There are multiple steps for even the simplest tasks such as building a tool or producing food.

Concentration is required because if one link in the chain fails then the whole process will stall.

The game doesn’t do a great job of informing you when something has gone wrong, requiring some detective work.

As I said at the outset, some people will love the style of play and the meticulous attention to detail needed to succeed.

Other people will hate the experience and be overpowered by having so many things to take care of.

With controls and graphics The Settlers does the best it can to be an enjoyable game.

The screen contains many icons, some displaying details about your empire and others accessing different functions such as constructing buildings and managing your people.

Many of the actions are hidden away until you tap on an icon to access its menu and sub-menus.

The game does a good job of keeping the screen relatively uncluttered, although with so much information to display some things can be quite hard to see.

I’m not convinced a game this complex works on such a small screen, no matter how user-friendly the interface might be. However, The Settlers does as good a job of presentation as any strategy game has managed yet on the iPhone/iPod.

The game boasts impressive visuals, with very refined graphics including nicely detailed buildings. The environments are vivid and attractive. Once you get your settlement up and running it looks like a proper bustling community.

As strategy games go, there isn’t anything major which The Settlers can be faulted on. It has pretty much everything a dedicated fan of RTS games could want.

The 21 missions should provide many hours of play whether you’re used to this type of game or just getting stuck into it.

With dozens of building types, professions, soldiers and materials there are vast possibilities as you uncover the game’s full potential.

The one area where it does fall down slightly is the lack of additional game modes.

Quick skirmishes between the different forces would be ideal for quick on-the-move sessions.

The biggest omission though is a free play mode.

I’d love the chance to be able to play around with my population and develop a successful state at my own pace.

Overall, The Settlers comes heartily recommended if you’re seeking a deep, complex and involved strategy game.

If this doesn’t sound like you then you might be better off setting up your gaming settlement elsewhere.

Verdict: 8 out of 10 – The Settlers swims against the tide in the sea of casual, throwaway games flooding the iPhone/iPod Touch market. This is a quality, multifaceted and challenging game which won’t suit everyone’s portable gaming tastes but it’s a must-have for strategy fans.