Free download of pharaoh game

What begins as a couple of squalid homesteads soon grows into a vast, sprawling city as your life ticks by. It's certainly compulsive, although whether it's actually fun is a different matter, but the same argument can be levelled at many games.

There is definitely some satisfaction to be gleaned from overcoming problems, although this is inevitably tempered by feelings of self loathing at having wasted hours of your life doing so. If you consider your time spent on earth as a life sentence, then this is one way of getting through chunks of it.

That said, it's quite possible to leave the game running for a while and go about your business. Other tweaks from Caesar III include the introduction of roadblocks, which restrict fire officers and so forth to a certain area.

This prevents key workers from wandering around aimlessly while the city crumbles, which was one of the criticisms levelled at Caesar III. It does work in the short term, although once the city reaches a certain size it becomes largely impossible to keep track of things. A further criticism of the Caesar III engine was the jerky scrolling. Sadly, this is still the case and over the course of a six-hour session it genuinely starts to wreak havoc with your eyes, leaving you with the slightly disconcerting feeling that your head is caving in from the inside.

If you can take the physical debilitation and the grossly antisocial aspect, though, there is certainly value for money in Pharaoh. That said, if you've never played Caesar III, you might as well just try to get that cheap. Roman times somehow seem more fitting, probably because the Egyptians never quite got round to invading Britain. With the whole flooding and monument issue to consider, it could be argued that Pharaoh is the more advanced game, although it could just as viably be argued that it's a pain in the arse.

Pharaoh is definitely a commitment, and sometimes you think you might be better off having a quick blast of FIFA and then going down the boozer for a skinful and a fight. But it must have something going for it to keep you transfixed for more time than is healthy, and if you fancy staying in, this will ensure that you do.

Which is no bad thing because, as everyone knows, there are people out there who can hurt you. So, having exhausted the strategic possibilities of that era, developers Impressions now plan a prequel of sorts, in the shape of Pharaoh, set - as the title suggests - in Ancient Egypt.

Using an enhanced Caesar III engine, your basic goal remains unchanged: build and survive. The route to success couldn't be more different from Caesar III.

You see, the Egyptians and Romans had a completely opposing culture, a fact that's reflected in the diversity of gameplay between the two titles. The Romans were conquerors, whose main goal was expansion through military might, whereas the Egyptians were God-fearing builders and merchants, content with subsisting from the river Nile. It's not surprising, then, that the Nile plays a pivotal role in Pharaoh, forcing some difficult resource management decisions from the start.

Settling a community on the banks of the river provides a fertile arable farming environment which will supply two good harvests a year , but the benefits have to be weighed against the unpredictable and devastating floods which destroy crops and leave people starving. On the other hand, cultivating land away from the Nile has its own drawbacks because the soil is acidic and the irrigation system perfected by the Romans remains years away from fruition.

So unless you risk building by the river, water will need to be carried to and from your chosen settlement, and you'll have to spend valuable time perfecting your fishing and hunting skills to make up the deficiency in the food supply.

That first quandary aside you'll soon find plenty of time for the Egyptians' favourite pastime - building. Bearing in mind that no-one knows how the Egyptians constructed their buildings, Impressions have taken a bit of artistic licence in allowing you to build temples, shrines and obelisks from the ground up, stone by solitary stone it's a massive 'hands-on' improvement over the 'select this building and drop it there' simplicity of the Caesar titles. Seasoned gamers will relish the long-term challenge of building pyramids and Sphinxes, but they'll be handicapped by the lack of a willing workforce for such backbreaking work, meaning that heavy-handed persuasion may be required to coerce bricklayers and stonemasons.

Time spent constructing these aesthetically pleasing monuments isn't wasted, though. Throw up a temple to the God Of War and you'll be supplied with troops to protect your borders they'll happily build defensive walls and guard towers to protect your citizens ; bestow a temple or two on the Sun God and the deity will ensure that the Nile holds its banks for another year meaning that crops are assured and more rime can be allocated to building work.

Given gentle encouragement, you'll soon find your society spreading along the banks of the Nile and becoming reasonably self-sufficient, allowing time to tackle any one of 30 available scenarios.

These 'task-specific' missions give you the opportunity to play on your strengths. SIERRA respects your privacy rights and recognizes the importance of protecting any information collected about you. Unless otherwise specified, these virtual goods shall be deemed an integral part of the Software. These virtual goods may also be licensed by using third party virtual currency, such as Facebook Credits or by using separate activation codes.

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How you develop a village's location of buildings is extremely important because individual commands cannot be given to each worker. Instead, the people roam the streets, randomly choosing which direction to go at each intersection.

For example, a bazaar should be placed near a granary so that it stays stocked with food. However, you will also want it near housing so that the people will be sure to receive food. No one wants to live near an industrial building though, and if you do place housing in an industrial area then the living conditions will be poor.

So how do you get the bazaar workers to go to the housing areas? Roadblocks are essential to guiding people to where they need to go. It is very possible that people will never get food if you cannot get a bazaar worker to walk past housing. Therefore, you need to place roadblocks strategically in order to keep some workers on particular paths while not isolating others.

One particular group you do not want to isolate is the firemen, since doing so may cause parts of your city to burn to the ground. One constant reminder that you are in ancient Egypt is religion. Gods need to be kept pleased so that benefits are received rather than punishment. To please the gods players will need to build temples, shrines, and hold festivals.