GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Games

Playstation Reviews
PS3 | PS2 | PS One | PSP

Xbox Reviews
Xbox 360 | Xbox

Nintendo Reviews
Wii | DS | GBA | Cube | N64


PC | N-Gage | Dreamcast

How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Games In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

xx Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships
xx Alien Shooter - Revisited
xx Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded
xx Altitude
xx America's Army 3
75 And Yet It Moves
79 ArmA II
xx Armed Forces Corp.
xx Astro Tripper
75 BattleForge
74 Battlestations: Pacific
75 Bionic Commando
78 Blood Bowl
59 Blueberry Garden
xx Book of Unwritten Tales, The
90 Braid
xx Burnout Paradise: Big Surf Island
81 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
80 Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, The
76 Chronicles of Spellborn, The
67 Codename: Panzers - Cold War
73 Cogs
64 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising
70 Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
69 Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason
41 Damnation
66 Dark Sector
89 Dawn of Discovery
82 DCS: Black Shark
53 Death Track: Resurrection
xx Delta Force: Xtreme 2
76 Demigod
xx Drug Wars
71 Elven Legacy
89 EVE Online: Apocrypha
81 Fallout 3: Broken Steel
78 Fallout 3: Point Lookout
77 Fallout 3: The Pitt
50 Fenimore Fillmore's Revenge
xx Final Fantasy XI: A Crystalline Prophecy
65 Flock!
80 Free Realms
72 Fuel
78 Ghostbusters: The Video Game
54 Gobliiins 4
63 Godfather II, The
36 Grey's Anatomy
xx Hannah Montana: The Movie
xx Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
xx Helldorado
xx Hinterland: Orc Lords
xx Humans, The
xx Hunter, The
xx Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
72 Killing Floor
xx Larva Mortus
66 Last Remnant, The
20 Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
xx Light of Altair
75 Maw, The
79 Men of War
76 Mevo & the Grooveriders
xx Military History Commander: Europe at War
74 MLB Dugout Heroes
63 Monsters vs. Aliens
74 Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate
72 Officers
xx Operation 7
xx Orb and the Oracle, The
78 Overlord II
80 Path, The
88 Plants vs. Zombies
xx Pool Hall Pro
xx Pro Cycling Manager: Tour de France 2009
79 Prototype
xx Railworks
xx Raycatcher
70 Restaurant Empire 2
xx Righteous Kill 2: Revenge of the Poet Killer
73 Runes of Magic
xx Samantha Swift and the Golden Touch
72 SBK 09 Superbike World Championship
xx Scorpion: Disfigured
64 Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis
74 Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
77 Simon the Sorcerer 5: Who'd Even Want Contact?!
86 Sims 3, The
xx Smashing Toys
73 Spore Galactic Adventures
26 Stalin vs. Martians
xx Stateshift
68 Still Life 2
42 Stormrise
92 Street Fighter IV
71 Superstars V8 Racing
51 Terminator Salvation
xx Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943
xx Three Cards to Midnight
70 Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
61 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
xx Trine
31 Tunnel Rats
xx Up
61 Velvet Assassin
72 Virtua Tennis 2009
76 Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures Ep 1: Fright of the Bumblebees
73 Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures Ep 2: The Last Resort
75 Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures Ep 3: Muzzled!
62 Wanted: Weapons of Fate
xx Warrior Epic
58 Wheelman, The
xx Women's Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey
72 World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
xx WSC Real 09: World Snooker Championship
77 X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Uncaged Edition
xx Yosumin!
78 Zeno Clash

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums
Heritage of Kings: The Settlers pc Game Reviews
Heritage of Kings: The Settlers
Critic Score
Metascore: 58 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.1 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game

Heritage of Kings: The Settlers is a world-building strategy game with fully rendered 3D visuals and unavoidably addictive gameplay. Players can dive into a detailed medieval world offering a unique mix of RTS and simulation gameplay. A fully functioning community can be created, new advancements can be discovered, and enemy forces will be repelled! [Ubisoft]

PUBLISHER: Ubisoft
DEVELOPER: Blue Byte
GENRE(S): Real-Time Strategy
PLAYERS: 8
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE: February 8, 2005

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

84
GamingTrend
It is almost a management sim, like "Majesty" was...and it is almost a military sim, like "Starcraft" or "Age of Mythology." But it is unique in its design and only suffers from a few design flaws.
Read Full Review
80
Times Online
Although some of the voice acting creaks, the peasants who sound like Goon Show rejects are surprisingly entertaining.
Read Full Review
75
IC-Games
Heritage of Kings isn’t a bad game, although it doesn’t offer a whole lot more then other resource driven real time strategies that are available.
Read Full Review
75
Game Chronicles
A great game for an RTS newcomer, if there are any left out there. Also good for the city-builder game fan who wants to move into RTS type games at a leisurely pace.
Read Full Review
72
Gamer's Hell
If you felt "Warcraft III" had lost some appeal due to the shift from city building to more direct fighting, then The Settlers - Heritage of Kings is the game for you. It is a tad more oriented to the management side and has a couple more upgrading and research options than the Blizzard title, so you might enjoy the base building and upgrading.
Read Full Review
65
Computer and Video Games
Settlers is far from awful, it's just mind-numbingly dull. Which is far, far worse.
Read Full Review
65
IGN
The gameplay, which I had believed would be changing fairly significantly, hasn't really changed a bit. Armies are organized a tad bit differently, but combat is still elementary school strategy for dummies.
Read Full Review
65
3DAvenue
It's a bold move forward for the series, but it's ultimately a move into blandness that robs the series of much of its earlier charm.
Read Full Review
65
GameZone
Addictive and compelling are not words that would be used to describe the gameplay.
Read Full Review
65
Worth Playing
Passable, though there is not enough new to it to really recommend it, and its flaws stand out like a sore thumb.
Read Full Review
65
Armchair Empire
It is quite satisfying to power your way through the technology developments but having to do this over and over again, loses its entertainment value.
Read Full Review
65
1UP
Once you've been through the process a few times, however, it gradually becomes a snooze fest.
Read Full Review
64
GameSpot
This is a huge game, but not in a good way. There simply just isn't enough action or variety to keep your attention, and the complex economic structure feels just a tad bit too complex for its own good.
Read Full Review
63
Computer Games Online RO
The maps are very detailed, which will become evident when you will use the zoom function of the camera - too bad the ambient life is pretty scarce.
Read Full Review
63
Jolt Online Gaming UK
The graphics are good, but every other feature is just scooped up from a number of other strategy games, and spread thinly.
Read Full Review
61
WHAM! Gaming
The game is downright boring, and although it looks pretty, even gamers new to the series probably won’t find many redeeming qualities in it.
Read Full Review
60
PC Format
It's not awful. Just empty. [March 2005, p.106]
60
Gamer.tv
If you want your strategy to lean toward "SimCity"-style social engineering, then look no further than Heritage of Kings.
Read Full Review
60
Sydney Morning Herald
Unfortunately, because there are fewer resources than in previous versions, this becomes repetitive all too quickly.
Read Full Review
52
PC Gamer
Heritage of Kings unceremoniously abandons the heritage of Settlers. [May 2005, p.62]
50
Edge Magazine
While Heritage Of Kings has taken the series in a new direction without completely uprooting itself from the settlement-crafting past, it’s not been a successful evolution. Even the most lethargic and undemanding of gamers will quickly become bored of the gambolling wildlife and labouring peasants. [March 2005, p.87]
50
EuroGamer
By losing virtually everything that made the Settlers unique, Blue Byte has ended up with something that - somewhat predictably - that's the same as everything else, but not as good. From an original to the photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy.
Read Full Review
50
Yahoo! Games
Kings' city-building isn't deep enough for a well-functioning settlement to be its own reward, and the combat is confused and equally shallow.
Read Full Review
50
Detroit Free Press
Worst of all, we found that picking a particularly potent crew of heroes virtually ensures victories, stealing even the element of suspense.
Read Full Review
40
Computer Games Magazine
Only hardcore, completist fans of the franchise and those who play new games to relive old ones should appy here. [July 2005, p.59]
40
GameSpy
Think about building up the biggest, most elaborate base you can imagine in an Age of Empires game. Now imagine it takes four times as long as any other RTS game on the market. Then imagine that all this elaborate building leads up to a strategy portion that would have seemed primitive and simple back in 1997 when "Age of Empires" first came out.
Read Full Review
40
Pelaaja (Finland)
The new Settlers has abandoned everything that used to make a good Settlers-game. The new direction has made the game into mediocre and dated RTS with an unappealing storyline. [May 2005, p.88]
40
G4 TV
A solid disappointment. Fans of the series will find nothing to like here and real-time strategy gamers have plenty of better games to play.
Read Full Review
30
Computer Gaming World
Like David Hasselhoff's singing career, Settlers is popular in Germany and just sort of barely tolerated elsewhere. [June 2005, p.96]

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mirko P. gave it a2:
I didn't know what to expect from this game... It was my firs time with this title and the feeling after spent 6 hours of game playing is... miserable! Graphic ok, but the collection of resources and battle is boring in best hand... I have uninstalled it after seven, long, and painful hours.

Zeke G. gave it a1:
Unbelievable horrible. The pace is so slow I am comatose from trying to get enough resources. A big yawn. I can't believe real people designed such an utterly dull game.

Tom S. gave it an8:
I have been playing FPS and soccer games for a long long time. My 1st RTS or whatever type it is. I decided to learn the game to teach my child of 11. Well, we both have an amazing time playing it in single player. Will try a LAN game. I'm buying the expansion packs. Don't believe all the reviews. It's a fun game.

Th-W B gave it an8:
I do like the graphics and the music, but the building of a city costs a lot of time and the AI is dumb. I get stuck as a rule around level 7 or so but I reached the end without any difficulties. Each level is roughly 1.30 hours building and 1 hour slashing.

Chris H. gave it a0:
I recently reinstalled Settlers 2 Gold just for some nostalgia, and have since reinstalled settlers 3 and 4. all this after first playing Settlers 5, and i would much rather play any of the other 4 games then play this ever again. i have never liked the RTS genre, but i could sit down and play settlers 2 for hours on end, loosing all track of time. i really hope that blue byte decide to make another REAL settlers game for the true settlers fans, or else we will just have to replay 2 3 and 4 over, and over, and over again ;)

Jeff L. gave it a3:
Horrible bugs, no ai, heck it wont even install on my other computer. An unpolished game like this shouldn't have been released.

Philip W. gave it a0:
Not a settlers game, just another dodgy non-resource based wast of space.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this game in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use