Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom

"A game that could be better"

Emperor RoMK Is a City Builder Game From The same makers of Pharaoh, Master of Olympus and Caesar. All of them Being City Construction Games. But this one is a little bit different...The game is in China but the structure is almost the same as the older ones. You control a city.. Create an Army.. A stable Trade Network and so on...

Originality 6: These City building games are getting a bit ''out-of-date'' as I say, that the winning formula is expired. People like one or two city building games with just one Culture, but, if you count all these games you will have more than seven! Please do something better and more original next time Sierra.

History 7: The history of China is the base of the game's Storyline.. And some real occasions happen during the campaigns ( Building the Great Wall for example ). It is not bad at all but there could be added more action for example: various animated cut scenes.

Gameplay 10: This is the best in the game. It is easy to learn yet a little bit hard to dominate. Fun to make but hard to maintain. And the tutorials make the learning curve a LOT more short. As it is addicting you can make Days in front of the screen just to make to perfect city.

Sound 7: The sound is very appropriate to the game ( China Bronze to Steel Age). But, after some hours of gamming you already sing the songs well because they so quite few and almost the same.

Graphics 9: After one hour of construction you will surely pass another hour contemplating the beauty of the graphics.
The animations of your laborers. Or one fierce battle. The graphics are very smooth and quite colorful. Wonderful work in this aspect.

Game duration LONG
Trip to the shelf? Probably in 2 months:
This may seem confusing but you will want to make the perfect city and complete all the campaigns but, this will happen soon before two months and by that time you will get tired of it.

Overall: Emperor: RoTMK as all it takes to be a great game but, it simply gets out of the ELITE because it is not original ( more like a sequel) and we are tired of sequels aren't we? Yes we are. The game also lacks in duration and it is missing something between missions: CUT SCENES. That is very bad since the introduction movie has great quality graphics and they could be used in more parts of the game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/03