First Impressions Review - ANNO 1800

Today I take a first look at the city management game ANNO 1800 from the UPLAY platform. This is more of a first impressions review taking in account my first 10 hours of game play primarily focused on the campaign mode.

Anno 1800
Platform: UPlay+
Buy: Here on UPLAY
My Game Time: 10 hours
Released: April 2019
Summary: A polished city management game with some interesting supply/demand strategy elements and an excellent soundtrack.

ANNO 1800 makes a strong initial impression as it opens up onto a great looking menu accompanied with strong music from the period. The game features a campaign, sandbox mode and multiplayer. I decided to focus on the main campaign for this first impression.

The campaign for this game is slow and methodical with occasional timed quests to place some meaningful stress on the player. As you progress the supply and demand of products gets more and more complex, to the point that a single break down in this supply can cause some serious issues. You must have enough farmers to cover your basic tasks, these citizens then get promoted and can take on more complex tasks such as mining, smelting and producing weapons. This is a clever take on strategy and shows that the challenge does not need to be rushed, everything happens at a deliberate pace. The game as a result is incredibly engrossing s you build and develop your production chains and ensure that they are protected from interruptions such as fire or lack of base resources. My first city quickly grew into an urban sprawl with the mechanics of industry constantly requiring new material and manpower to maintain.

The game is one of those that easily pulls you in and before you know it half the day is gone! The 10 hours I have spent with this so far have flown by, the game while slow paced, always gives you something to look at or do. Every place or item on the map is interesting and fun to look at, this makes the gamer feel immersed in the time period and environment. This is despite the game taking part in a largely fictional world using the historic backdrop to anchor it in our reality. I had to take part in missions where I took photo's of the bride, delivered cargo and destroyed mountains with dynamite! My only issue with the campaign is that it can be slightly confusion in its execution. Missions suddenly pop up and often characters will talk over each other for no apparent reason. In essence the campaign mode is a massive sandbox that nudges you in the right direction with a chain of events. You can also click around the map to find random quests that will reward you with money, this proved useful during times that my economy stalled.

The music in this game is rich and powerful with some great voice acting to back up the campaign. The sights and sounds of my settlement were extremely immersive. The score for the game suits the time period extremely well and I felt immersed when I zoomed into any detail on the map or in my city. Occasionally the voices from the characters can get a bit grating as they jump across the action. I also found some of the voice acting a little forced in how "British" they were but this was not a major issue. The main problem here is their timing, it can get rather confusing when the AI starts telling you something at the same time that 2 other AI characters decide they need to offload on you! Also the initial stages of the game can be a little off putting if you have never played an ANNO game before (I have played ANNO 1404) and the mechanics could do with some better explanations. An example of this would be when you need to distribute goods but do not realise that another warehouse is needed in the vicinity. Some improvement here would be welcome.

Immediately what I noticed about this game was the beautiful artwork and great graphics that permeate throughout. The absorbing atmosphere and the addictive nature of the game really did impress me. This is definitely one of the strongest aspects of the game, even the day and night cycle allows for some truly stunning visuals. The standard top down view does not do the game justice, it is only when you zoom and pan the camera that you can appreciate and create some breathtaking scenes. You can then adjust the day/night cycle at your discretion to see how your town changes. I really did think this was an innovative approach that id like to see adopted in future titles.

Looking into the future of my time with ANNO 1800: I can see that the game shifts from a production management system aimed at supply and demand to a more industrial setting with RTS elements thrown in. This late game shift keeps the player interested and combat becomes more important as you struggle to control islands occupied by other players. Combat and the ability to purchase the shares of an opponents island means that this approach is layered and has some depth to it. During my first 10 hours I noticed how well the game is balanced, one small break down in a system can be catastrophic to the economy of your town. It is essentially your job to keep this going while constantly expanding and improving your situation, all while enjoying some great visuals and music along the way.

ANNO 1800 made a great first impression in my initial 10 hours, time slips away easily as you enjoy this slower paced city builder. The historical setting is immersive although some context to reality would be more my preference. I would like to have seen nations especially of the era making an appearance and I found the abstract setting of the historical setting to be a tad disappointing. Overall though this game is well worthy playing and is a joy to wile away the hours to! I will definitely continue to see what the end game has to offer.

First Impression Review Score 4/5 with the thumbs up worth playing stamp of approval!

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Lrev