1701 A.D.

Great game at a great price. Easy to pick up for inexperienced gamers and complicated enough to please the hardcore RTS fan.

While not quite a work of staggering genius, and a bit laborious in parts, the brazenly intricate 1701 A.D. handily sails into position as the best empire-builder of 2006. [Feb. 2007, p.67]

Daisy-chaining raw resources to refined goods to end products hasn't been this gratifying in years.

The game moves at a leisurely pace, and anyone too intimidated by the demands of the scenarios or the continuous play mode can opt to try the simplified sandbox game.

Just when we thought "fun" in an RTS meant a term paper's worth of learning tech trees and tackling tough-graded assignments, 1701 A.D. comes along and reminds us to Keep It Simple, Stupid. Even without some overblown storyline drama, it's impossible to put this one's single-player campaign down.

If you can relax into the game, get past the learning curve and ignore being hit on by an ugly Scottish man, there's a mass of strategy here. [Dec 2006, p.110]

As is typical of city builders, combat is mainly a hands-off resource sink. An RTS this ain't. [Feb. 2007, p.62]