"Not better nor worse, just...different"

I've never been a real big fan of real-time strategy. Sure, Sim City and derivatives were like that, and it sort of made sense. I kind of liked Age of Empires but found it to be a Civilization requiring quick reflexes. I never really liked Command & Conquer or Starcraft or Warcraft after the first few plays, though I did play then at least halfway through.

Anyway, I bought 1602 for two reasons: 1) It was a European game, and I find that European games tend to have superior design and more creative input, if less user-friendly and terrible, terrible manuals. And 2) it seemed just enough like every scenario wouldn't degenerate into a arms race free-for-all like certain other games tend to do. And, an added bonus of 3) it's cheap. Thank goodness for exchange rates!

That said, it pretty much lived up to expectations. It is essentially a trading game. Combat isn't absent but it's certainly less of an emphasis--only a handful of scenarios require the active conquering of other players, though it's an option in almost all of them. Those who enjoy combat probably won't like this game.

The game itself, though, is fun! You trade a rather large amount of goods with other players; you get to set up an entire chain of production goods (sheep to cloth, gold to jewelry, ore to iron to swords to infantrymen), multiple ways to meet demand (Food can be cattle, deer, grain, or fish, each with pros and cons) and ''free traders'' who represent off-board and on-board trading amongst players. All the while you must satisfy demand from your picky citizens, whose demands just keep going up and up and up...

It certainly has flaws--but they're pretty lame compared to the problems some games like this tend to have. It can be irritating sometimes to have a little bit of mountain cut off three quarters of an island, and there's no way to bulldoze or move it. And the instructions just plain suck.

And the only gripe I really have are the Pirates. Not that they're not cool--they are--but by the time you're alerted that you're being attacked, it seems like the battle's almost over and there's nothing you can do about it. And they attack way too often and are way too powerful. You can buy them off (protection money) but it may not last long, if at all. It's just irritating rather than difficult.

All in all, it's a pretty good game. If you dislike combat, you should probably stay away. But if you like any of the other mainstream real-time strategy games, you most likely will get a kick out of playing a few rounds of this.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/20/01, Updated 09/20/01