Anno 1404 is a real-time strategy and city building game from Ubisoft, which sees you colonising countries in order to expand and develop, with a healty dose of economy, trade and building backed up with a smaller dose of naval warfare.  Anno 1404 can be played in three modes: continuous play, campaign and scenario mode.

The campaign includes eight chapters and initially sees you completing relatively simple tasks, ranging from providing goods to a lord to enable him to finish building the cathedral in his city to running errands for other characters, such as a Grand Vizier.  As you progress through the campaign each chapter becomes more and more complex, culminating in the final chapter: a race against time to build the imperial cathedral before your rival does.  Each chapter within the campaign can be played in easy, medium or hard mode and this effects the amount of money, ships and goods you will receive at the start of the chapter, as well as other elements such as how much of your construction costs will be refunded upon demolition of a building and so on.  The scenario options allow you to work towards specific goals in order to achieve a specific title, such as Diplomat or General.  These goals may include acquiring a certain amount of wealth, increasing the number of inhabitants in your cities and sinking ships.  There are several scenarios on offer and they, like the chapters of the campaign, range in difficulty from easy to hard.  Finally continuous play allows you to build away to your heart’s content, working towards an epic metropolis.

There are three specific elements that make Anno 1404 a particularly enjoyable title. The first is the gameplay, an excellent balance of building, trade, money-management and a small dash of warfare.  As someone who loves strategy games but finds the battle side a little wearing, I’m always thrilled to see a title that can remain entertaining for hours on end without resorting to you blasting cannons and sinking ships every two minutes.  True, there are battles in Anno 1404 but they are not the main focus of the game by any means.  Brains instead of brawn will get you through this game: forward thinking, careful planning of your city structure and anticipating problems before they arise are by and large much more important than amassing a huge army.  Don’t get too complacent, however, as you will be required to undertake some fighting, particularly in campaign mode.

The second element is the graphics.  An excellent attention to detail sees Anno 1404 sporting some truly impressive visuals where details such as the revellers massing round the tavern and nuns sweeping up in the alms house yard add an excellent touch of life to your ever growing city.  The sea in particular is extremely well done with the sun glinting off the waves and even glimpses of wispy clouds coming into view if you zoom far enough out.  Finally, the game really would not be what it is without the excellent voice acting and musical score.  The introductions to each chapter of the campaign are extremely well done and the dialogues of the wise Grand Vizier, wicked Cardinal and determined Lord Richard add real character to the game.  The music, however, is the real gem and provides a superb backdrop to key moments in the game, becoming dramatic as you proceed into battle and uplifting as it becomes clear that you have been victorious.

Anno 1404 is not without its downsides.  I found it very difficult at times to keep track of all my buildings and ended up building things twice by accident.  Additionally, the manual is not particularly clear on how to do certain things: I had great trouble boarding a ship on an early campaign before realising that I had equipped the wrong ship with the item I needed.  Nonetheless, these are relatively minor faults which can – to a degree – be overlooked in light of the many plus points of the title.

Given the range of difficulty levels available Anno 1404 should appeal to beginners and experts alike and the campaign alone provides many hours of gameplay, without even touching the scenarios.  It’s easy to get carried away whilst playing Anno 1404, which becomes all the more apparent when a message flashes up to suggest a break because you’ve been playing for two hours – and you’re sure it’s only 30 minutes!  Anno 1404 provides a superb mix of elements and the result is an excellent and entertaining strategy game.  The first expansion is due in 2010 and I sincerely hope they’ll stick to the formula that made this game so enjoyable.

**Review by Donna Haw**