Gaming Anno 2205 Review

I've been playing it since it was released, and while I like it, I feel there was more to do in previous games. Probably down to the increased amount of resources, the need to manually handle more complex trading and the pirates.

I suspect the way I've played Anno in the past, semi microing the trades, and keeping an eye on resources numbers probably isn't the way most people played it.

A lot of people rejoiced with the fact 2205 added resource income rates, and while it nice to know exactly how much I'm getting, I always enjoyed tweaking production to try and keep it balanced. I never knew the rates off the top of my head or used a reference/spreadsheet to give me the answer which is what most people seemed to do.

The trades are a similar story. I liked the fact that if I added a stop onto a route there might be delays getting items from one place to another. The ability to pick up one resource, filling up a cargo ship to max slots, then swapping it for another item at the next stop. Or if the pirate of the day decided to come and steal my loot, I'd need to send in the fleet, or lose a ship and have people possibly get annoyed.

Disasters also helped. Deciding to go and make a cup of tea only to come back and find that not only did someone get sick, they decided that it was their morale duty to 'share the love'. Or that someone decided their BBQ needed to be the size of the city, burning down your entire island - thanks Modd! And sure, these were easy to solve later on in the game, except then a tornado turns up. Or a tidal wave if you had deep ocean and were silly enough to put the generator near your base.

Anno 2205 is pretty, and it's definitely better on the creativity side of things IMO. I've spent more time trying to maximise resource spacing ( which arguably is a core attribute of the Anno series, though something I've never done much of it the past) and trying to make my city prettier than in any previous Anno game. And while the latter is because it's easier due to less restrictive placements, the former is because I'm not doing what I'd normally be doing. The problem is, if I want a more 'creative' game, sandbox Cities Skylines or even SimCity is what I'd be playing.

tl;dr the game is good, but lacking which will probably be made up for in the DLCs. Big shame about no multiplayer. I'd probably give it a 6/10 on the bit-tech gaming scale.

Edit: I also miss soctetable items and research - though of some sort seems to be coming in the Space Station DLC.

Edit Edit: Also that epilepsy screen, Jesus. Do i really need to spend that long looking at it?

 

The ability to move buildings is an awesome addition. Might not be very realistic but it's a good feature for a game with such large maps and where re-designing your city and product infrastructure can be necessary.
I really wish they had not tied in the rare sources like iridium and graphene to those mostly crappy side quests. You do however get a fairly steady dripfeed of those resources as your corporation level increases by hitting the various milestones. So the side missions are not as important as you think but the endless pestering is annoying.
The combat is terrible, it was never great in 2070 but now it's much worse, at-least however it is optional and on separate maps!

Overall I do like the game though, despite several flaws and I do think that for the better, they have removed the worse of the needless micromanagement in the trade routs.

I think it's a shame the reviewer was not better able to compare it to Anno 2070, as that's what many of the long term fans will be doing. Still though, a fair score I think

 

I for one find it a shame they did away with most of the logistics and supply chain management. Actually I always thought that was the point of the Anno games and what sets them appart:

Anno games never were only about city building, thus comparing them only to Cities: Skylines or Sim City is unfair. Neither were they a full blown strategy game like Starcraft. City building always has been a welcome bonus, but the core point has always been about the logistics of fulfilling the ever increasing demands of your population. This included building factories and protecting trade routes. Micromanaging trade routes was the whole point. Admittedly the UI could have been improved somewhat.

Managing supply of goods from the moon would have been fun and challenging! Instead the goods are readily available as soon as they are mined. Bluebyte sure took the easy approach here.

 

^+1 Fully agree. Another reason why the game has become more sandbox though. I think they should have made the option to have a cost associated with the move - not that I'd play with the cost enabled.

I know if you raise the arc in one of the temperate zones, it's a graphene generator. I suspect the other zones have similar things for the other resources, petrochemical for arctic, and the yellow one for the moon. Iridium you probably still have to quest for. Or if you really want, the companion app, which I hate the idea of, wish they'd all stop doing it.

Two things I liked Well, the combat was bad don't get me wrong, but I liked it as a roaming mini disaster.

 

That's not entirely true, you do have to set up a moon trade route(s), and pay for the goods to be transported. But there is no actual delay, a time to transport if you will, for the resource to get to their destination. It's effectively demand management, rather that logistics fulfillment.

I am at corporate level 40 now, building androids for my investor class and the chains are actually quite varied, with routers setup to get all sorts of goods to different locations to support it. The game is more city builder than 2070, with as you have pointed out, less onus on managing the logistics of the physical resources. I think this will be a bit of a mar-mite issue for long time fans. Given how much I liked 2070 and was worried about it 2205 being over simplified, I find myself pleasantly surprised that I like the change they have made.

Ahh I didn't know that! Risk of ignoring so many of the side missions I guess :S

I confess, I have only tried 2 combat missions so they may well add more to the threat part of the story line. I'm glad it's there for people who like it.

Also agree on an option to add cost to building relocation as a toggle option.

 

This. The logistics of industrial space transportation and all problems associated such as time delay, risk of accidents, costs vs safety etc sound really appealing to me personally. Someone new to the series or less interested in trade might be put off.

What is the challenge of Anno 2205 if you don't mind me asking? There are no military threats or natural disasters anymore and it seems to be really difficult to screw up your supply chain management to the point that you cannot easily salvage your game anymore by just setting up new teleportation routes.

 

I meant in 2070 in 2205, it's just extra fluff. Nice for a break from the rest of the game but doesn't add anything.

 

Anno 2205 is by far better than 2070 & 1404.
New gameplay style more or less, no need for the damn marketplace, each zone plays different and you expand it differently.
eg Arctic you need to stick the house buildings next to factories. In tropical area you are free for all no more marketplace to limit your expansion, only consumption.

I really like it more than all the others before it. On top. Pre-ordered it from Nuuven for £25.

The only thing I haven't found is how to take part on the voting system an NPC is telling me all the time.
I have no clue where the world meeting is!!!

 

It's underneath the world market place, the woman on the right in this picture

Edit:

See that's exactly what I thought, until I realised that shields on the moon act like heat in the arctic, and both of those act like the Marketplace/Community Centre, they all create an area to have working buildings. Only the temperate zone is different by not having buildings that give a 'buildable zone'.

 

Yeah, that's one thing that would be nice, if the shuttles had a risk of crashing into your islands. I still don't miss having to manually set the trade routes and volumes of goods personally.

Natural disasters would be nice but it worked ok in 2070 because the whole game was about the ecological consequences of technology etc.

The challenge is very much economic now, having the right number of people to support the massive cost of a moon base and arctic tech. Increasing the machinery for goods, increases cost, put's strain on power and other resources etc. I have 1.5 million in the bank but only an hour income of plus 10-15k. A single metro more will half that income rate but I needed a new metro once my population exploded. 55k and counting now. A single fusion power plant is 800k. It's definitely more about scaling output to demand now, rather that physically transporting the actual goods.

ohh lol! well yes, again i'm glad the option was there in 2070 and able to be turned on or off.

 

No worries. I really do think that difference will either make people really enjoy it or really hate it with very little middle ground. Personally I am really enjoying it. Who knows how it will hold up on repeat plays though.

 

Spam houses in temperate. I'm currently sitting on +130k-150k income with 130k population.

 

Doesn't matter how good the game is, a constant internet connection for a single-player game will lose them my custom. I suspect this is true for others. It'd be interesting to know whether studies they've done/commissioned show a net increase in sales despite this, ie that preventing piracy (if only for a few extra weeks) outweighs the loss of custom from people like me.

 

If the constant internet connection prevented piracy for a few weeks i could understand it but a quick Google search seems to show a constant internet connection didn't cause any delay in how long it took them, although from reading BT's review it seems they would get a partly crippled game.

 

For those interested F11 turns ON Day-Night circle

 

Any one else with the physical CE edition missing their pre order bonus code for the Command ship and corporate emblem, which was the replacement for beta access?

It's advertised on amazon as coming with the game but when I contacted them, after some digging, they say it's ubisoft who issue the codes.

 

Do you have a link to what the Bonus Command Ship and Emblem look like? I tried searching for it but I couldn't find anything specific as to what they looked like.

 

This is the Command Ship, sorry i can't find the Corporation Emblem.