Pharaoh

"Who knew a Hippo could be so dangerous?"

Much like the good old Caesar Series by Sierra, Pharaoh is very much like its Roman relatives with the same basic game play and a lot more detail(like killer hippos).

Story - Your relatives have been living by this big old river for a few thousand years just going about there business, eking out a simple life and pretty much just doing there own thing. But a leader has emerged from your village with a pretty big vision. Build a thriving civilization, unite two kingdoms and live forever (or what ever comes closes to it). Perhaps it was the Egyptian beer. Perhaps it was the Malaria, Or Perhaps it was just pure boredom. Anyway you support this leader guy and that maybe joining the kingdoms together for a new nation would work. So you volunteer your services to help the new leader build his cities, construct his monuments and even fight his battles. Perhaps on the way you'll get to immortalize yourself in a pyramid that only took 2 hours to build, provided one of the gods doesn't burn you warehouses down.

Gameplay - Veterans of Caesar III will recognize the controls and graphics. Seems the good folks at Sierra used the Caesar III engine and changed a few things around and spit out Pharaoh. Not to say this is a bad thing. They improved on Caesar III engine in every way possible. But for those unfamiliar with Caesar III, I will go over the basic gameplay. When you first start the game the first few cities are the training ground for the rest of the game. Yep, put houses down, a water source and a food source. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? But there are so many things to learn. Later on you have to contend on your houses catching fire, falling down, being destroyed by an angry god or have a Libyan blow it up. Not so simple any more is it? Not to worry Pharaoh eases you into everything step by step. It's not even till the Old Kingdom part where things get hair pulling complicated. And that is the biggest change from the Caesar Series. More of everything.

By far the biggest change is monument construction. In Caesar III all that you had to worry about was importing some Marble and puff, your great temple was complete. In Pharaoh, you have to have different types of stone, luxuries and even workers to build a monument. All that takes time, money and a lot of patients. Building a Pyramid complex can nearly take 2 hours to build simply because of the complexity. The complexity is a double edge sword. Its fun trying to set up a good trade route but the wait can nearly be a chore with the huge projects that can only import a necessary product (which your only allowed a limited supply per game year) from another city. It soon becomes a game of patients.

Audio/Video - The music in the game sounds like it comes right out of an ancient culture. You have drumbeats and harps and what even sounds like singers. I sometimes confuse some of the music from an RPG (Chrono Cross). The only real video is the intro to each epoch when you start different time eras (That and the game intro). Video is very much like it was for Caesar III. It there, it looks nice but it isn't mind blowing.

One more time? - Some of the levels are fun. But I doubt you would ever want to play a new full game once you beat it, simply because building monuments takes up a lot of time and makes the game not as fun unless you start cheating. With that said there are still some various career paths to follow and you won't be able to complete them all the first time though. But once you're done I doubt you'll be hoping back to play a whole new game for quite some time. There is also a mission editor if you just want to build or fight from the get go.

Buy or Burn? - If your into building games like Simcity, Caesar series, or even Age of Empires, then I would recommend buying this also. If you just like RTS (Real Time Strategies) then you might like this to. If you just want to blow things up or anything else, there are better games that do that then Pharaoh.

Final Tally:
Story: 8 (much like any building game. You build for the glory of your country)
Gameplay: 7 (Lots of new things to do , but it can almost be a chore to build monuments)
A/V : 8 (Great music, average graphics)
Replay? 7 (The editor is nice, lots of different missions, takes a while to complete)
Buy? Yes, if you like building games. No, for anyone else.
Final Score: 8
GameFaqs Score: 8

Final Thoughts: Pharaoh has lots of stuff for the veterans of Caesar III but I almost think they went to far with the amount of things you are now required to preform. When the game first came out there were a few missions that couldnt even be completed unless you cheated (it's what the official site recommended). This game is a bargain now that it is so old. Its a good game. A must have for a builder or a history buff.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/02, Updated 08/18/02