As leader of one of these races, your goal is to build a strong and profitable empire. Seven races - Mayan, Norman, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Greek, and Viking - exist in each game. Seven-player TCP/IP, LAN, serial, and modem play are supported, with spawning for up to four players from a single CD. Number of players, random events, world size, wealth, race, victory conditions, and other factors contribute to SK's strong replayability. A plethora of settings can be tweaked to make each game different. The way most people will probably play, however, is to generate a new world. Scenarios offer specific challenges, usually with set goals and start-up units or even with complete kingdoms already built. It is a complex world where the final goals (which are flexible) can be achieved in multiple ways.Īfter the intricate tutorial introduces all the game concepts, there are several ways into Seven Kingdoms.
It is won by planning, trade, deceit, intrigue, diplomacy, racial harmony (yes, really), solid leadership, exploration, prayer (yes, really), bribery, industry, and taxation.
Seven Kingdoms is not a game that is won by fighting. The images of little men running around fighting don't inspire us with the notion that there is something new and different here. The graphics are decent, but we've seen better this season. It is one of the best strategy games of the year and deserves more attention than it is liable to get.Ī glance at the box of Seven Kingdoms will show you why it's likely to be passed over in favor of more glitzy fare. Seven Kingdoms delivers on the promises made by Age of Empires by creating a real-time meld of Civilization-type empire building and WarCraft-style combat, with enough unique twists to make it more than a mere hybrid. Designer Chan may be the next Sid Meier (Civilization, Gettysburg!) or Will Wright (SimCity), with ideas that make a nod to the past, yet have their own quirky individuality. Was he a one-shot wonder or the next design whiz?Īn hour with Seven Kingdoms answered the question. Chan is the programming wonk who brought us the dry - yet strangely compelling - Capitalism. Interactive Magic had already earned our indifference with War Inc., but the "Designed by Trevor Chan" line on the box made me curious. It almost passed by unnoticed, thrown in the pile with a couple dozen similar games. Seven Kingdoms is quite a surprising find amid the rubble of real-time strategy games.
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