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Heritage of Kings: The Settlers

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5.1 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
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Based on 25 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Blue Byte

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: February 8, 2005

Summary

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]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Settlers IV

Also On The Web: Official Game Site

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...

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.

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Times Online

Although some of the voice acting creaks, the peasants who sound like Goon Show rejects are surprisingly entertaining.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Computer and Video Games

Settlers is far from awful, it's just mind-numbingly dull. Which is far, far worse.

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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.

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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.

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GameZone

Addictive and compelling are not words that would be used to describe the gameplay.

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Worth Playing

Passable, though there is not enough new to it to really recommend it, and its flaws stand out like a sore thumb.

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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.

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1UP

Once you've been through the process a few times, however, it gradually becomes a snooze fest.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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PC Format

It's not awful. Just empty. [March 2005, p.106]

Gamer.tv

If you want your strategy to lean toward "SimCity"-style social engineering, then look no further than Heritage of Kings.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Unfortunately, because there are fewer resources than in previous versions, this becomes repetitive all too quickly.

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PC Gamer

Heritage of Kings unceremoniously abandons the heritage of Settlers. [May 2005, p.62]

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]

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.

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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.

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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.

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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]

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.

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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]

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.

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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

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.

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Heritage of Kings: The Settlers

Game Info

Summary

Also On Metacritic

What The Critics Said

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