Zeus: Master of Olympus

Master of Olympus - Zeus
Developer(s)	Impressions Games
Publisher(s)	Sierra Entertainment
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	2000
Genre(s)	City-building
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 3+ ESRB: Everyone
Media	1 CD-ROM
System requirements	300 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, 500 MB available hard disk space, Windows 95
Input methods	Keyboard, mouse

Zeus: Master of Olympus (also Master of Olympus - Zeus) is the fifth full title of the City Building Series developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Entertainment.

Like previous titles, Zeus focuses on the building and development of a city in ancient times, this time the Ancient Greece. It features some changes to the Caesar III engine, most notably the new housing blocks, now dividing "common" and "elite" housing from the start, and more detailed walkers.

Game organisms

For a detailed overview of city building mechanics, see Series concepts and mechanics

As with other games in the series, the player must build a city on an empty plot of land of variable size and resources. The percentage objectives were replaced by direct goals, such as treasury size, production rate, a monster slaying or conquering other cities.

Food resources in this game are urchins, fish, pork, cheese, carrots, onions and wheat. Raw materials include wood (for triremes and monument building), bronze (armor and sculptures), marble (monument building), grapes (wine), olives (olive oil) and fleece (which can be directly sold to citizens). For the first time, it became possible to coin currency — if a silver mine is available, the player can construct a mint which will produce a limited amount of drachmas yearly. Another new feature is the means by which goods are distributed. An agora is built on a road, and goods stands are placed on top of it. After the stand owner collects goods from a nearby granary or storehouse, a peddler will start roaming around roads distributing available goods. Other services must be provided to members of the city, such as culture, health care, and maintenance. Culture is attained by building colleges to train philosophers, gymnasiums for athletes and drama schools for actors, which in turn go (respectively) to podiums, stadiums and theatres to entertain the city. Every four years the Olympic Games are held, with the chances of winnings increased by number of facilities and the potential aid of Apollo. Health care is given by infirmaries, and buildings are kept in good order by maintenance offices.

Religion plays a larger part in Zeus than in previous games, as gods and their monsters can protect or attack the player's city. Heroes can be summoned to slay monsters after a residence for them is built, which all require certain things, such as a certain treasury size, or specific sanctuaries. If the player builds a temple any of the Twelve Olympians (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes and Dionysus, in order of importance and strength - Hestia is not included, and Hera and Atlas were featured only in the expansion) they can be seen wandering the city occasionally blessing buildings.

Certain temples come with additional resources; the Arbor of Athena provides a grove of olive trees, the Garden of Demeter includes some arable land for farming, and the Gates of Hades create silver mines. The sanctuaries of Zeus and Apollo give the player access to oracular advice. If the city is invaded by foreign powers, Athena herself, Poseidon's Kraken, Hades's Cerberus, and Ares and his pet dragon will defend the city. Artemis and Ares grant two units of soldiers for the player to use as he sees fit — Amazons and Sparti respectively. If a player has a sanctuary to a higher-ranking god, the god will defeat invading gods of lesser power. The exception is Aphrodite, who can bring to heel Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysus.

If not pleased, the gods will send their monsters to the city including the Cyclops (sent by Zeus), the Kraken (sent by Poseidon), the Calydonian Boar (sent by Artemis), Medusa (sent by Demeter), a Maenad (sent by Dionysus), the Hydra (sent by Athena), Scylla (sent by Apollo), Ares' Dragon, Talos (sent by Hephaestus), the spirit of Hector (sent by Aphrodite), and the Minotaur (sent by Hermes). The Poseidon expansion pack includes the Chimera (sent by Atlas), the Sphinx, four Harpies, and Echidna (she works for no one). Of course some of the monsters will just go wild.

Heroes like Hercules (he will deal with Cerberus and Hydra), Perseus (he will deal with Medusa and the Kraken), Theseus (he will deal with the Minotaur and the Calydonian Boar), Achilles (he will deal with Hector's spirit and the Maenads), Odysseus (he will deal with the Cyclops and Scylla), and Jason (he will deal with Talos and Ares' Dragon) can be called in to fight the monsters when the required item obtaining is fulfilled for the hall of that hero. The Poseidon Expansion Pack also features Bellerophon (he will deal with Chimera and Echidna) and Atalanta (she will deal with the Sphinx and the Harpies).

Housing has also been improved with elite and regular housing. The regular housing will provide the city "rabble", which are soldiers who can only defend the city; they cannot be sent abroad. Elite housing provide either hoplites or horsemen, depending on the houses' evolution, which can be sent abroad or defend locally.

Reception

Zeus: Master of Olympus received generally favorable reviews with a rating of 87 on Metacritic.^[1] IGN reviewer Stephen Butts stated that he "had to tear [himself] away from [the game] to write the review."^[3]

Expansion

As with Pharaoh, an expansion pack was released, named Master of Atlantis - Poseidon. Some aspects of the game were modified to fit an Atlantean theme, such as athletes being replaced by astronomers, but it left the working mechanics of most of the game unchanged. New features included a hippodrome, two new sanctuaries — the Orchard of Hera and the Pillar of Atlas, and the new mineral orichalc. An adventure editor was also included, but it had already been freely available on Impressions' website.

References

• There is a mention of Monty Python and the Holy Grail during the Troy campaign. The narrator first suggests building a giant rabbit, but then realizes that it has already been done.
  There is a second Monty Python reference that is spoken by the timber-fellers when the city has a high unemployment rate. In a sing-song voice they will say "A lot of people are out of work, but I'm a lumberjack so I'm okay!"
• There is a reference to John Shaft, where a city guard named "Shaftocles" says "Shut your mouth." Other city guards are named after famous fictional cops/detectives, including Starsky, Hutch, Kojak, Robocop, and Dirty Harry.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Zeus: Master of Olympus (pc: 2000): Review". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/zeusmasterofolympus?q=zeus%20master%20olympus. Retrieved on 2009-06-06. 
2. ^ nach0king (2000-12-21). "Zeus : Master of Olympus Review". Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_zeus. Retrieved on 2009-06-06. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Butts, Stephen (2000-11-03). "Zeus: Master of Olympus Review". IGN. http://pc.ign.com/articles/164/164515p1.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-06. 

External links

• Game information, Sierra.com
• Zeus Heaven
• Eurogamer review