Immortal Cities: Children Of The Nile review:1 stars (3D isnt always better) - This game is supposed to be the improved version of Pharaoah, which was a terriffic game IMHO, but was a flat, two dimensional plane game. I hate how theyre taking these games (like Roller Coaster Tycoon) and making them three dimensional when the three dimensionality only makes it more difficult to maneuver across the terrain.For this game, I couldnt play it that long because the game designers went for realism over function in creating the buildings with the result that every building looks the same, so you forget what is what, not to mention that everything looks bland overall.2 stars (Great concept - poor execution) - Children of the Nile is a completely new genre of citybuilder game where each character is controlled by an AI and for this alone the developers deserve much credit. The premise holds much promise, unfortunately that promise is unrealized in this game.Other reviews have mentioned the high system requirements and this will be an issue if your system is not at the higher end of the recommendations.The citybuilding aspect of the game itself is very nice and well conceived. The economy is well thought out and sufficiently intricate and can be interesting and fun. The towns that can be built offer great variety due to terrain and resource availability differences among the scenarios. Growth of the city, however, eventually depends on interaction with the rest of the world...Where the game fails in my opinion is on what they call the World Level. This is where all interaction with the rest of the world occurs. It seems to be an afterthought tacked on rather than something that was planned from the inception. Every World Level interaction requires the player to save up certain amounts of specified goods to send out expeditions to these sites. Unhappily, the same sites appear in scenario after scenario (only the amounts of goods required to explore them ever seems to change). Saving up these goods can often be difficult and time consuming with little else to occupy the player while you wait. This is what for me makes the game tedious and dull. It also negatively impacts replayability as so many scenarios seem so similar already that once all have been played there seemed little interest to me in playing them again (although I did in order to be fair). There is no diplomacy available and trade is far too limited with the same goods available from the same places over and over.The bottom line is that in this game you spend a lot of time watching and little time doing and as a result the game does not engage my attention. The tutorials and manual, while barely adequate, do not really give a new player sufficient information to really play the game. In fact, some suggestions and recommendations made there do not work well at all in practice leading me to believe that the game does not in all respects play as conceived by the developers.One reviewer has mentioned that there is a scenario editor whereby fans can create scenarios adding to those limited ones that come prepackaged with the game. A quick look at the games website reveals that most of these fan-created scenarios have been developed by expert players whose primary focus seems to be making a difficult, long, and often boring game even more so. The editor itself is dauntingly difficult to use and I wouldnt expect average players wishing to develop scenarios just for fun to be persistent enough to bother.I would guess that most citybuilder fans already have this game. If you are a new player wanting to try your hand at citybuilders, I would recommend trying any of the old Impressions games - Pharaoh, Cleopatra, Zeus, and Poseidon - all of which are easier to figure out and more entertaining to play.4 stars (Enjoyable and stimulating!) - Ive played numerous simulation and strategy games, but none have impressed me as much as Children of the Nile. The graphics is in 3D with excellent detail and you have complete control over the camera views. Zoom down and watch your children move from place to place carrying wares, soldiers running to the training grounds or watching the children dance in the streets.I had a very hard time walking away from the game once I got started and the more I played, the more experienced I became at managing the senarios.There are a few minor flaws, such as clipping, or some annoying stuck children, but the technical support has been awesome! They were very receptive to the customer and quickly provided fixes after the game was released.If you loved Pharaoh and Cleopatra, youll LOVE this game.