ic-games Review - Gates of Troy - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Gates of Troy - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Gates of Troy

Information
Reviewer: Andrew St.Denis
Developer: Slitherine
Publisher: Slitherine
Reviewed: PC
Genre: Turn-based Strategy
UK Release: 15th Jul 2004
Article Date: 14th Aug 2004
Difficulty: Easy
Retail Price:
Price Comparison:
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Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 83%

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Pros

Improved AI

Good interfacing with Spartan - (If installed)

Good value for money

Cons

Little Graphical updates

Same repetative music

Screenshots

2 of 9

After the film release of Troy, it’s hardly surprising that Slitherine released Gates of Troy, a standalone expansion for their turn-based strategy Spartan. Set in the time just before that of Spartan, Gates of Troy allows you to build your Greek city state from the small beginnings to eventually standing before the great city of Troy, and hopefully taking it. So dust off those blueprints for a large wooden horse and put in for a large delivery from the local building suppliers, it’s time for Gates of Troy!

For those of you that already have played Spartan then there isn’t really an awful lot to tell you about that you don’t already know, but there are extras though, so stick around for a while, for everyone else, those that enjoy strategic gaming that really taxes you, you’ll probably enjoy this title. The Spartan review can be found here on IC-Games.

There are several new units available in Gates of Troy, along with new ethnic groups (including Hittites and Thracians) and for the first time Heroes to lead your armies. These heroes will be recognisable to anyone who has either seen ‘Troy’ or knows his/her Greek history; Achilles, Leonidas and Paris just to name three. The bonuses from having these leaders for your armies offer a moral and performance boost as well as being a fierce fighting unit. Other improvements are to the AI along with diplomacy and improvements to the ‘auto resolution’ of battles.

Campaigns run very much to a similar scheme as Spartan, indeed if you already have the game installed the missions are included in the scenario/campaign selector for Gates of Troy. One scenario included in ‘GoT’ is Thermopolae (408BC), the scene of the stand of 300 Spartan warriors against the Persian armies. The grand campaigns though are the real meat for the strategist though, choosing any of the ‘civilised’ nations on the map to control. Depending on which nation is chosen sets the victory conditions; this gives almost infinite gameplay for Gates of Troy.

Graphics are not exactly state of the art, but turn-based strategy games have never really broken records in this department. The battles, if you choose to control your troops are impressive, especially if large numbers are involved. You really get the idea of how these massive armies of the time must have looked during the pitched battles. A choice of 2D or 3D graphics also means those with low spec PC’s are not left out of the strategy market, although the best graphics will of course be with the full 3D.

Sounds are again nothing exceptional, but work quite well. Effects within the city screen give sounds relevant to the work going on there, while unit movement and battles sounds make the sounds expected.

Overall anyone who has enjoyed Spartan will find Gates of Troy to their liking too, and any newcomer can at least try one before having to splash out on two titles. While anyone with Spartan gets to replay those scenarios with the updated ‘GoT’ AI updates along with all the extras. Spartan took the turn-based strategy genre to the next level, well with Gates of Troy Slitherine have just reinforced that position.

Currently Gates of Troy is only available from the official Gates of Troy website. You can find the order page here

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