Trade empires, despite its name, has nothing to do with empires, and not that much to do with trade. It's a classic transport sim in the mould of railroad/transport tycoon, with the twist that it's located in various points throughout history up to about 1850, in many different regions of the planet. On the surface, it looks like a good game. It's developer, Frog City, has a strong track record, albeit in turn based strategy, and predecessors in the genre have proved that transport management can be fun. The historical setting means that there should be many, like me, who almost salivate at the potential this game could have. Sadly, it doesn't really live up to this and, for me at least, it was something of a disappointment.
You have two aims in the game- to make money through buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest, and providing a sufficient quantity of goods to certain markets to encourage people to move in, creating cities (or "demand centres" as the game calls them). Your score is based on how successful you are in these two areas.
You set up markets in areas producing food, metal ore and other raw materials, ship it to workshops to process it, then sell it, either in the cities, or at 'demand buildings'- palaces, universities, fortresses, etc.- to earn a profit. This can be done on a variety of modes of transport, from pack donkeys to canal boats, steam ships and railway engines, all with various advantages and disadvantages.
All this sounds interesting, if a little familiar to anyone who has played Railroad Tycoon, but it perhaps doesn't work as well as it could. There are a number of reasons for this.
- Some levels, particularly the early ones, have such basic commodities that you can set up about half a dozen trade routes before losing interest. This becomes less of a problem as more methods of transport and more advanced products become available, but it makes certain levels a real chore.
- The level design isn't brilliant either. Firstly, they are all very general. Unlike Railroad Tycoon 2, where you had a very clear objective and quite a tough schedule in achieving it, there is almost no direction to your actions here. The designers really missed a coup in not including special levels on specific commodities, for example the North American fur trade could have presented novel problems and been a nice challenge. Secondly, you usually start with practically a blank canvass, no existing roads or canals, no trade empire to turn around, just another build-up-a-demand-centre-supplied-with-X-foodstuffs-and-Y-consumer-goods. This gets tired after a while.
- The interface leaves quite a lot to be desired too. The way merchants use routes is pretty annoying- there is no way to advance their itinary, and the way to design trade routes makes altering a route's early stages a nightmare. The construction mode also means you have to switch between sub-menus more than should be necessary.
- The way technology is introduced is infuriating. You can have just set up a route across half the map at great expense to provide one product, only to find, half-way through the journey, that a new advance has meant that all demand for that product has evaporated instantly. While you strive to provide that, all your cities disappear because of high prices, and it may as well read "Game Over" in large letters.
In conclusion, trade empires is a flawed game. It has great potential, but ultimately small flaws combine to make it less fun to play. I'm not saying it is unenjoyable- if you enjoy this particular type of game it could well be worth it, particularly at the price this is fast approaching, if only for the modern-era levels (which, thankfully, you can access straight away). However, ultimately this game is an interesting modification on the excellent Railroad Tycoon, and with that now out on budget label, I recommend you try that before you purchase this. All in all, 3 stars.
