Review

This is the first of probably four colonial era European trading sims that I'm going to try. What's that, you say, you didn't even know there *were* four colonial era European trading simulation games? Oh yes, it's quite a healthy little niche genre. And quite the rage in Germany, apparently. American gamers seem to prefer their games like their movies: loud, shallow, and obnoxiously marketed. Games like 1602 barely register on the radar, and represent a rare turning of the tables, where we have to wait several months (or more) after the European release before we see it stateside. As a matter of fact, in the case of 1602, I think it took nearly 3 years after its initial release before the game saw its American debut.

Anyhow, I'll be brief, since I didn't pour a bunch of time into 1602. Not because I didn't like it, mind you, quite the opposite. I didn't stick with it long mainly because it was pretty evident that this is a nice game, and I strongly suspect that its sequel, 1503 A.D., is more of the same, only better. Furthermore, 1602 is a tad wanting in the robustness category, crashing occasionally and seemingly unable to properly sync network games. Again, the promise of an improved sequel lured me past 1602 without much ado.

Nevertheless, I said it's a pretty good game, and I'll elaborate slightly. It's very easy to see how you're doing in the game at a glance. The economic summary is a convenient barometer for your situation, as is the iconic representation of your citizens current wants and needs. These help keep the game world front and center, without slogging through a bunch of menus. I really like the ability to cycle between three different zoom levels. An analog zoom would be preferable, but just being able to get both a cloud's eye view and a close-up really boosted the immersion for me. Establishing production chains is the modus operandi for this game, and will feel very comfortable if you've played some of the other economic sims out there (like Settlers, Zeus, etc..). Buildings exhibit floating icons to communicate their status, and again this helps keep you in the game without spewing pop-up windows or menus constantly. Trade routes can be fairly complex, and reasonably easy to manage on a small to medium scale. My strongest complaint, however, is with the fact that when a particular trade route needs attention for some reason, all you get is a nebulous message that one of your trade routes needs attention. The only way to address the problem is to track down each of your ships, wherever the hell they may at the time, and check on them to see if they're the cause of the alarm. This is just bad. The game knows which ship has a problem, since it knew to tell you in the first place - it should give you the means to directly address the issue. In fact, I think the trade route management could use a totally different approach, something along the lines of a summary screen where you can cycle through your ships, and see their routes plotted out on an overhead map, with the ability to drag waypoints around and mess with commodity trading.

Too many games seemed scared to death to take the player out of an isometric or 3D view, even when the game is absolutely screaming for it. This might sound hypocritical given that I just applauded the game for using icons in the isometric view to show me building status. However, the difference is that the icons are an effective means of communicating information to the player *without* changing the view, while the trade route management becomes woefully inadequate *because* it doesn't take the player out of the isometric view. Don't sacrifice immersion for no good reason, but also definitely don't sacrifice playability for the sake of immersion. This must be a really hard pill to swallow as a designer, because I see so many games stubbornly make the wrong tradeoff.

It is worth noting that the game does appear to be a bit shallow in the strategy department. It isn't something that you're going to mull over in the off hours, furrowing your brow as you ponder new ploys and tactics. It plays more like checkers than chess. The early game is pretty degenerate, a failing common to nearly every real-time "strategy" game I've played. However, I firmly believe that this game intentionally appeals to the easy-going, aesthetic-minded gamer who enjoys watching a simulation, steering its course gently and affecting its machinations with a subtle hand.

Apparently, there's also some combat that can occur. I didn't get into the late game to see it, and to be honest, the thought of it seems pretty superfluous. But who knows, maybe it integrates pretty well when you get to it. In summary though, if managing a commodity-based, production-chain driven economy in colonial times has any appeal for you, or you wonder whether it might, 1602 A.D. is a solid candidate. And it's downright cheap, too; I picked up my copy (and a few with it to give to friends) for $5 a pop.