Once again another Anno lives up to it's predecessors of the series. There is wonderful detail given to buildings, vegetation, animation and colour. The cities that you see or build are bustling with life and sound. A lot of time can be taken up by just watching the “folk” go about their business as it is so interesting.

The user interface is very easy to use. There are also quite a number of slots available where a player can put icons from within the interface of commonly used items, eg ships, buildings etc so they are readily available. The empty slots are hidden initially until an icon is dragged to the middle of the game screen. The filled slot then sits near the bottom of the screen.

Setting up Trade is a lot easier now than it was with 1701, just a couple of mouse clicks is all that is needed.

Gameplay is fun with a challenge thrown in that will keep you from getting complacent. There are heaps of buildings and other goodies that are unlocked as play progress's. The large number of produce available has a chain line where keeping up supply can be demanding but also very rewarding.

The only downside is that the manual included with the game is very thin on game play information, but there is lots of help available on the official forum.

If you enjoy building cities with an economy base and like a good solid game with excellent gameplay, I highly recommend Anno 1404.

This game combines all of my favorite old school city builders into one awesome new modern game.

The 2 games I would say are the most similar are Caeser 3/Pharoh and Settlers 2. Settlers 2 is also created by bluebyte who are one of the teams who worked on this game.

The graphics are excellent and I have not encountered any bugs. The storyline is gripping an allows for repeted playing through the use of achievements which allow you to unlock new things for your avatar and in game objects.

The only reason I stopped playing was because Overlord 2 arrived, but I have no doubt that I will return to this game in the near future.