Civilizations and combat

Your worshippers are a small handful of Greeks, who you save from a genocidal slaughter at the hands of the Aztecs at the game’s start. And it is their desire for revenge on the Aztecs that propels the story forward through the whole game – an interesting motivation for a game that is supposed to revolve around moral agency. As you grow the small group you rescued into a powerful civilization, you also come across the Norsemen and Japanese on your way to revenge.

For the good among us, you can incorporate the people you come across into your own by way of impressing them with your cities’ technology and splendor. Fans of chaos can engage in combat by raising armies to overwhelm the other cultures.

Combat

Unfortunately, combat using your armies isn’t very satisfying and you have very little control over them or their tactics. Click on a platoon of archers and then click where you want them to go and who you want them to attack. You aren’t provided with the ability to modify their formations or anything else for that matter. And there really isn’t a need. In most levels the enemy sent just a few units at me at a time while I was able to attack them from behind my walls and build up a city that encouraged desertions from their side.

When combat was fun, it was because I was slinging fireballs, shooting lightning bolts or erecting shield walls along side my creature. Their jumping, throwing, and kicking attacks were devastating and they were nearly impervious to most infantry attacks. Also at later stages of the game you can cause earthquakes, hurricanes and even volcanoes to wreak havoc on your enemies. When the attacks of your infantry and archers wasn’t satisfying, having a gigantic volcano rise up in the middle of their village always was.