2019-07-01_PC_Gamer

at this point that both sides of Anno’s
city-construction are wonderful to
watch in motion.
The game has a slightly painterly
aesthetic that complements the detail
of its models and animations
beautifully. Your fields of wheat and
sugarcane are abuzz with workers,
while carriages pulled by horses
transport resources to the next stage
of production.
These details evolve with your
city, too. Clothing fashions change as
your city becomes more advanced,
while your horse-drawn carriages
will increasingly give way to railroads
and even bicycles. Such intimate
detail does mean Anno 1800 is quite
performance heavy. Viewing larger
cities from certain angles will likely
cause a significant dip in framerate
on low-to-medium spec machines.

BEER BARON
As your production chains expand
and the desires of your people grow,
the strategic side of Anno 1800 begins
to show its teeth. At one point I
discovered my starting island couldn’t
produce beer, as the soil wasn’t fertile
for growing hops. My people quietly
informed me of this by staging a
massive riot that obliterated my
production and almost cost me my
game. Needless to say, I promptly
colonised a nearby island and set up a
second settlement dedicated almost
entirely to the
production of beer,
then organised a
trade route to ferry
this vitally important
resource on to
the mainland.
The way all Anno’s
systems interlock is
impressive. If you’re
struggling to create a resource
yourself, then you can purchase it via
your trading post. Yet doing this puts
you at the behest of other players (or
the AI if you’re playing singleplayer).
At the same time, you can sell surplus
produce from your settlements for
profit. But even a burgeoning
economy isn’t a guarantee of success.
You still need to be able to either
create or acquire the right resources
to push your city deeper into the
technological age.
In its later stages Anno becomes a
blend of industrial-scale plate-
spinning with some broad-strokes
RTS thrown in. As competition for
resources becomes fiercer, you may
need to wrest control of islands from

your opponents. This can be done

either through military force,

deploying fleets of gunboats and

frigates to lay siege to their ports. Or

you can purchase shares in the island

you desire, ultimately taking control

in one fell financial swoop.

For the most part, I think Anno’s

core systems are elegantly balanced.

At times it can make

you feel stretched,

especially if multiple

random events like

fires happen at once.

Even when I had to

pause a new project to

upgrade a bunch of

houses or relocate a

low-level farm,

however, I never felt bogged down in

micromanagement.

That said, I do want to highlight

one curious idiosyncrasy. Given the

game’s core theme of a shift from an

agrarian to an urbanised society, it’s

surprising that employment is not

more of a consideration. In fact, Anno

1800 ’s attitude to employment is the

polar opposite of the period it is

based on. Each household earns a set

income regardless of whether the

people who live there have a job in

the city or not. This effectively

encourages you to have a large

surplus of unemployed citizens, as

each new house you build brings in

that much more coin. As long as you

can meet their needs, it’s perfectly

fine to have hundreds of people

sitting around doing nothing.

CASH FLOW

I’m not sure whether this counts as a

flaw per-se, as there’s more than

enough complexity to grapple with

ensuring all your different citizens

are sufficiently catered for. It’s just

odd given how the game is otherwise

very conscious of the changing times

it represents. A harder problem is

that Anno 1800 doesn’t provide

enough tools to track your in-game

finances. Your income and expenses

are constantly fluctuating, and those

ever-shifting numbers can make it

hard to gauge how well your colony

is actually doing. Normally I’d sooner

eat my own keyboard than look at a

graph in a videogame, but I think

Anno 1800 would benefit from a

bell-curve or two.

By far Anno 1800’s biggest issue,

however, is the appalling and

incessant yammering of its AI

players. Anno 1800’s story campaign

features a cast of characters that are

fully written and voiced. I really wish

it didn’t. The acting is hammier than

a Doctor Who Christmas special,

particularly that of your in-game

nemesis Edvard Goode, who would

twirl his moustache right off his face

if he actually sported one.

Worse yet is the writing of the AI

barks, which are often totally inane

and uttered every time they interact

with you, whether it’s an automated

trade or simply a slight decline in

diplomatic relations. One AI

character declares “I can finally get

rid of that pent-up gas!” literally

every five minutes. This may seem

like a minor problem, but it’s

incredibly distracting from what is

otherwise a gentle yet utterly

absorbing game, like an episode of

Better Call Saul being interrupted by

the appearance of Keith Lemon.

Script carbuncles aside, Anno 1800

is a rich and sumptuous city-builder,

easily the grandest and deepest Anno

to date. Its early game is a

wonderfully relaxing experience,

while the later stages will have you

scratching your mutton-chops and

happily stretching your braces in

equalmeasure.

84

Despite an annoying

story mode, Anno

1800 is the biggest

and best entry in the

series to date.

VERDICT

For the most

part Anno’s

core systems

are elegantly

balanced

SOCIAL STR ATA

A breakdown of worker classes

FARMERS

The foundation

of your settlement.

They mostly enjoy

fish and pubs.

JONGELEROS

The New World

equivalent of

farmers. Subsist on

plantains and rum.

WORKERS

The men and

women who

support your heavy

industries.

ARTISANS

Foppish craftsmen,

these enlightened

ladies and gents

thrive on culture.

OBEROS

Oberos occupy the

middle ground

between workers

and artisans.

ENGINEERS

Engineers are the

technological

marvels of Anno’s

late-game.

Anno 1800

REVIEW