The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom Collector's Edition reviews

After the other Settlers this scores very low, pretty crappy game play and as covered the new DRM and updates are just stupid. The last one I will buy with this protection, as I made the mistake of buying Silent Hunter as well. DRM is way to painful and if these clowns wish to drive customers away they just did it for me.

If I could get into the game I may change my mind, but on arrival, a brand new just released game, required a 5GB update which I had to run all night using up my complete months broadband usage. The next day we require another 20 or maybe 200 mb update as well as a launch updater. Then it tells me that the game is not installed properly. I ignore this as I am not doing it all again. I finally manage to get into the play screen 24 hours after receiving the game only for them to tell me the server is not available and try again later. This game can not be played without a permanent internet connection. And if their server is down you can't play it at all. I do NOT like this system.

That was written on the 29th March and they said the Ubisoft site had been down 3 days. I am writing this at 9.30pm on the 4th April, 6 days later, and Ubisoft server is STILL down therefore I STILL CAN'T play this game.

Unlike the others here I was able to install the game, run the update very quickly and access the game immediately without issues. I received my copy a few days after release so the issues others may have run into were sorted by the time I went to play.

The graphics are great and fit the feel of the series perfectly. If you've got a good system I recommend bumping the settings up for some great visuals.

The start of the game is very easy to get into and if you've played the series before it will be familiar. The campaign is a nice introduction and the integration of the social features is very neat.

So far this game has been a treat, the Collector's Edition is fantastic too with extra in game content available and some awesome additions in the package.

I highly recommend the game for fans of the series and for those looking for some fun that won't tie you down. Being able to access saved games from any MAC/PC that has the game installed is super handy too.

So go get your settling on! A great new journey awaits!

Firstly it appears that early issues with online DRM have been solved. I have clocked up plenty of hours on the game in both campaign and skirmish modes and have not suffered any freezes or crashes. Its easily more reliable than its predecessor, once patched to the current version (but be warned you may be up for several hundred Mb worth of patching depending on the age of the CD release).

Gameplay is excellent. Settlers 7 has successfully resurrected the economic management from its earlier incarnations (Settlers 2–4). You build buildings, produce food, mine for gold, iron and coal, manufacture tools and weapons and build your army much as in earlier settlers games. Notably, storehouses and roads make a welcome return to the success of your economy – seen previously in S II.

Territories are held and conquered by outposts similar to S6 and combat is largely automatic – select your army (and you can have several) on the territory you that you believe needs annexing to your cause and it the rest is is automatic. However this doesn't seem to remove the satisfaction of nailing your opponents :). AI is good on the skirmish maps and there are many “personalities” to select from.

Dont think the game is just an update of earlier versions. There are plenty of new additions that add to the appeal of the game.

These include a decent science research tree, extended trading options and a point system that supplements the old divide and conquer approach to victory. Points are gained through economic, research, trading and from quests – allowing victory without having to crush your enemies completely (though this is still a viable strategy if desired). Gain enough points, hold them and the game is sealed. Its a new and welcome addition to the game.

Skirmish maps are tunable via a “map forge” system that allows a number of parameters to be varied and tuned to suit your playing style.

Some additional maps can be bought and downloaded on line (hopefully more will be added with time) extending the life of the game at modest cost.

Graphics are nice and do not seem unreasonably taxing on hardware. I ran 1920 × 1080 at the high quality settings smoothly and reliably on a 3Ghz core duo machine with a dated ATI 3870 card on even the largest maps.

An absolute must for the settlers fan and a very worthy RTS in its own right.

Loved the game, graphics were fantastic. Loads more free range maps than in previous editons. Liked the online component although didn't think you should have to be online to play it by yourself. As usual MightApe were fantastic with their customer service.

The limited edition was well worth it, just for the sound track which is quite epic! The game itself is easy to pick up and play as the campaign introduces layers of complexity as a rate that doesn't overwhelm the player.

An excellent game. It was harder to get into it than the other Settlers games, but once you got into it I started to love the complexity of it and how you can change the difficulty and set up the games in different ways, so you could go on forever never playing the game the same way each time. The graphics are great and the scenery is lovely. Some have complained about having to have a continuous internet connection, but I find it useful as saved games can be accessed on my desktop and on my laptop. I can start a game on my desktop and later on I can carry on playing the same game with my laptop in bed. I can see myself playing this game for ages to come. Can't wait for the holidays – lots of playing time.