"King Tut was great. YOU can be greater!"

I have always found the ancient Egyptian civilization fascinating from the day I first saw King Tutankhamun's golden burial mask. Even today, with all the information we have about this part of the world, we learn new things all the time.

Tilted Windmill brings us a nice game involving ancient Egypt. It is similar to the Sim City franchise but instead of just building various structures and making sure you collect enough taxes, you have to listen to your people at the same time. And the people have needs and if you wish to progress, you must meet these needs and wait for them to be distributed.

Let's break it down:

*Graphics*

The game is very visually well done. With a good graphics card, the attention to detail is very noticeable right from the beginning. Graphics are in full 3D and you can rotate and tilt the camera the same way. Zooming in, you can tell individuals from each other, lock the camera on a building and rotate around it, and even lock onto people and follow them around at ground level. Even on it's lowest settings, the graphics are good. My favorites are the rippling waters of the Nile and the animals that move about the terrain, especially the cats. Buildings, when you move in close, are covered in white limestone and decorated in hieroglyphics. If they are important enough, that is. People are very well depicted. The royal princess will walk with a snooty swagger followed humbly by her servants as she shops. As you progress and provide linen for clothing, people will don various outfits and headgear depending on their station in the community. Many picture Egypt as an endless desert and while there are a lot of desert areas, there are beautifully drawn trees, flowers, and grasses that line the banks of the Nile.

*Sound*

There's no need for a fancy sound card here but it certainly will not hurt. The game requires Direct X version 9.0b or better to run so even on-board sound systems will sound good. The music is hauntingly mysterious and easy to hum to (if you enjoy that kind of thing) and the voices are excellent. The odd thing is that though these are Egyptians, people sound like they have Russian accents with burly sounding tones. Despite that, they do say some humorous things. "I was up before Ra this morning" (Ra is the Sun god so essentially, he was up before dawn.) "You know, crazy Imothep has a two-for-one sale going on." The animals all sounds like themselves but my favorite is when you are close enough to certain buildings to hear what's going on. You can hear scribes writing down figures, nobles pouring wine into goblets at the parties they sometimes throw, and the clink of gems as a jeweler assembles golden necklaces.

*Game play*

First of all, let me warn you that this is time consuming game. For serious simulation game fans, this is a fun game to play. Though you are the Pharaoh, you do not control him. Rather, you control the decisions he would make (the Pharaoh himself, that is, you, are hauled around in a covered chair by two servants viewing the land until you build a Court of Law that he or his sons attend.) There is also no instructing individuals to certain places. Instead, they fulfill the role for the building they occupy. While some buildings, like shops or overseer's homes, do have commands you can give them as far as the items they produce or the resources for them to harvest, the people get about it when they are ready. So if a peasant moves into a barracks to become a soldier, he will first get his bread, weapons, and whatever other basic needs he must have first before assuming his duties.

As I said before, people have needs and before they will do anything to progress into more advanced buildings, these needs MUST be met. They need bread to eat, mats for their homes, and pottery for storage. Your people start at the very bottom as plain villagers in straw huts but by building farms, villagers move in and become farmers. Then, with food available, people will want linen for clothes so you need to create a linen shop. The catch here is that a simple villager will not move into a shop. One of your farmers or perhaps one of his children will move into the shop. Then a villager will move into the empty farmhouse. Eventually, you'll need a noble to oversee your farms (farmers can become lazy) so you will need to build a noble household. Again, farmers or shopkeepers (or their children) fill these higher level positions. Then you need brick makers to create bricks from the clay along the Nile to make more buildings, bricklayers to actually carry and build, and on and on. You can control the speed of the game but it is always going to be a matter of the people promoting themselves. Having a building made doesn't mean you have the right person to occupy it. And most importantly, your people like to have things like resources and raw materials close by. No one wants to traverse the length of the Nile for a floor mat so building placement is very important. And while not necessary, dirt paths and roads are always appreciated.

Another nice touch is that farms do not automatically give you food. It must be planted, grown, and harvested. This is all at the will of the Nile which renews the banks with fresh soil each year. Brick makers will not just churn out bricks. First, they, or their families, must harvest the clay from the Nile and harvesting anything takes time. Then it takes time to make the bricks. It is all done in a very real fashion that is different from most simulation games I have played. If you don't have a lot of patience (and a day or two to kill) this game is not for you.

Unlike other simulation games, accumulating wealth and keeping it are not as important in this game. While you do collect taxes in the form of bread which you use to pay your government employees, keeping the people happy and building your legacy are foremost. Before your Pharaoh dies, his tomb needs to be made. Any old tomb will not suffice. Pharaoh's need a pyramid! And that in of itself takes a long time to complete...providing you have access to the limestone to make it. This is all just the tip of the iceberg. There are scribes which keep your nobles honest about their taxes, city guard to keep raiders and crime in your cities low, armies to train, etc.

The game does have a few minor flaws that don't distract from the game but are noticeable none-the-less. It's not frequent but the people can and will do some odd things. For example, a brick maker gathering clay can sometimes wander into the water of the Nile that are well above their head and STAY there without drowning to gather clay (the Nile will flood and recede as time passes.) If you follow people which the game says are heading to particular buildings, such as "going home," they might walk completely past home, then turn around and go into the target building. So far, on only one occasion have I seen an individual get stuck and stay there. Sometimes, if you spin the camera too fast, people who were walking will have to adjust their path and will stop in mid-step while the game re-orients them around buildings. Plus, if people complain and protest around your palace for lack of some need not being met (something I have never heard of happening in ancient Egypt with placards to boot) the people are not that quick to register that the need is being met if you fix it. Some call this an error. It's actually based on the time factor of making the items and then distributing them. And finally, though very minor, if you send out your armies to crush raider encampments, you do not witness the battles. If your troops win, they just return home victorious. If not, then they don't.

*Overall*

Having only completed the tutorials (which are time consuming on their own) and two campaigns, I know already I like this game. This is not something you can sit down and win in a few hours. You will need a few days for this one. But if you like micromanagement and realistic style simulation, you'll enjoy "Children of the Nile."

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/21/04