Zeus: Master of Olympus

The Good
The graphics were very good, and being able to rotate the world view came in handy. The tutorials are excellent, each one building upon the last. The gameplay is reasonably open-ended (for those who enjoy combat, there are plenty of other cities to conquer. For those that prefer diplomacy, you can bribe and sweet talk your way into friendly relationships with other cities; even fighting is optional, as you can simply bribe enemy armies to leave you in peace). The people's voiced opinions of you can be quite entertaining. Building the temples (gathering the marble, bronze, sculpture etc) is good The game tells you in advance how hard or easy certain adventures are Adventures can take a long time to complete, giving far more time to enjoy the game You can reschedule labor if you're short on people but need certain industries well-staffed (Example: tell everyone to work on the farms producing food, then tell them to get to the granaries and unload that food and get it sent around to the houses). The monuments you get for different things (conquering, winning the Olympic games etc) are good

The Bad
When you conquer a city, it pays you an annual tribute. It would have been much better if you could have selected the kind of tribute you wanted (I often end up having extra fleece or olives dumped on me when I've got too much as it is!)

The Bottom Line
Although not normally a fan of city building games, I was surprised at how much I loved this one. Simple, easy, open-ended enough (Sandbox mode is available right from the start) and even a little bit educational. If you like city building games, you'll love this one. If you don't, try it anyway; you may be as surprised as I was.

The Good
Impressions fixed what I found to be the most annoying aspects of the earlier Impressions game Caesar II (and I would presume, Caesar III). In Caesar II, the land value of your houses could suddenly drop for no apparent reason. In Zeus, land value can still drop; however, land value does not play as large a role in Zeus as in Caesar II. In Zeus, distribution of goods and access to culture are the most important factors in housing levels. Goods can be produced in your own city, or imported from another city. Also, access to water, culture, and other services is more understandable in Zeus. In Caesar II, each house had to be within a certain distance from a well or fountain if it was to have water. In Zeus, fountains send out "water bearers" to deliver water to your citizens. You can see them walk and it is much easier to tell if a building has water access.

The Bad
Back to the water bearers. There is a disadvantage to them. They are not very smart, and unless you give them only a few choices (or better yet no choices) as to where to go, they may not go to the places that need water the most. Also, Zeus is not a very realistic game. Greece was not as Zeus portrays it, and this will be clear if you play it for a time and then think about it. However, I should point out that SimCity is for the most part, the only realistic game that I have played. For example, the game Civilization is unrealistic because the government does not build factories and banks or research everything.

The Bottom Line
Zeus is a city building game where you must manage all aspects of your city (you are the sole employer). You must make sure that your citizens have enough food, fleece, olive oil, water, culture, and jobs. You build and then you must manage, manage, manage.