Pharaoh

Published by Vivendi UIP
Designed by Impressions Games
Platform: PC CD/ROM
Price £9.99 Released: Out Now

System requirements
Windows 95/98/98SE/ME
Pentium 133 or better
32MB of RAM
1MB graphics/video card

From the designers who created the Caesar series comes Pharaoh. At first glance it appears to be Caesar 3 in Egyptian clothing but to claim this, is really showing ignorance as the game has some very original aspects to it. The big difference in this game is that most of your food is obtained from the Nile's floodplains and as the game simulates the flooding of the Nile your main source of food is seasonal. As you can imagine it is quite a challenge having to prepare for months of the year when there is no food to harvest.

The second major difference with Pharaoh is the construction of monuments. Mastaba tombs, pyramids (in all their various forms) the Sphinx and obelisks are all here to be built and unlike any other building they have to be constructed which takes a very long time. As a result of the monument building some missions take ages to complete which might put some people off. Otherwise the game is just as excellent as Caesar 3 and if you liked Caesar 3 then you will see Pharaoh as an essential purchase. The graphics are beautiful, the text feedback is again perfect and the atmosphere is spot on. Again there is no subtitles on the introduction but it doesn't affect the game as all the missions have text instructions to inform you of everything you need to know. Impressions have mastered the 'city building' game almost to perfection and Pharaoh only serves to take them that little bit closer to it.

Click the thumbnails to see the big picture.

Recommendation: Highly Recommended. Absolutely superb.
Suitability for deaf gamers: Perfect, Just as good as Caesar 3.