So to kick off this brand new type of post I have chosen two
games that are very dear to me personally. Master of Olympus Zeus and Pharaoh, both were published by Sierra and developed by Impressions Games / Activision.
They may be retro but the charming visual design and style still looks nice
even to this date. These games are really great for learning about ancient
history and will be a great conversation starter for you and your kids.
Master of Olympus Zeus:
This game is very obviously about ancient Greece, so how
good is it for leaning about this part of history? You play as a ruler that has to build and run
cities, this involves tasks ranging from making sure your people are fed and
watered, to honouring the Gods and Goddesses with massive temples and even
building a mighty military. The way the game is structured teaches useful skills
in and of itself, like management and tactics but it is the history that is my
main focus here. Master of Olympus is
actually reasonably Historically accurate (Given our current knowledge of the
time period) it also weaves in the more mythical side of ancient Greece in an
interesting and engaging way. Some of
the missions are based on recorded events and exploits of Greek heroes detailed
in the Homeric Epics. Every inch of the game is steeped in the time period it
is set in, from the comical names of the people running around the city, to the
often funny quotes they say.
I think this game would be a great way in for anyone wanting
to learn about ancient Greece in a fun and engaging way, its accuracies will
delight and its inaccuracies will be a great talking point (especially if you
get your kids to research on their own and compare and contrast what they find)
it is an entertaining game with some funny jokes and references dotted
throughout and boasts interesting, intuitive mechanics. It also has a nice
variety of difficulty settings so you can play an easy game or go for more of a
challenge. Fair warning though I have
found this game to be often utterly absorbing, it is so easy to spend hours
building fantastic cities, immersed in the splendour of ancient Greece.
I think despite its age it does hold up really well and has
a reasonable price tag on GoG.com. (which I tend to use for their easy and no
fuss downloads as well as pretty decent pricing.) The graphics as I mentioned
are dated but still very pretty due to style.
This game will teach people (especially kids) a lot about ancient Greece
passively while they are having fun but its true wealth for learning is in the
detail and this game is packed with little details that are ripe for further
research and conversation. This really
is an old gem of a game and if you engage with your kids using it you both will
end up learning a lot!
Also worth noting is this games expansion pack Poseidon,
this focuses on the God of the sea and Atlantis and while it deviates from fact
and history it delves into myth and rumour. It is a very fun expansion and is a
great way to learn about the myths of Atlantis.
Not quite as useful for teaching History but still great fun! It also
adds a level and campaign editor which itself can passively teach a whole load
of useful skills like math and design.
Pharaoh:
Although it came out a year earlier than Zeus this game is
by no means dwarfed by its younger sibling. This game is all about ancient Egypt
and again is surprisingly accurate in terms of its historical content. The controls are largely the same and equally
intuitive and although a little different from Zeus it proves fairly easy to
switch between the two once you have learned them.
Once again the real gems of this game are in the details,
the little jokes and references, accurate names for buildings , every inch of
this game even down to the music really make you feel like you are running a
city in ancient Egypt just like its younger sibling makes you feel like you are
running a city in ancient Greece. Again
the passive management and tactical skills alone make it a valid game to suggest
your kids try, from building military, to trading, to making alliances with
other cities these two games are both, in my opinion, well in the top spot for
best city building games out there.
The one and only critique I have for this game is due to the
slight lack of Deity coverage. The ancient Egyptians were big on their Gods and
only four of the major Gods and Goddesses are covered in great detail, though
the others do get nods in some of the bigger temples. In the light of education however this can be
completely used to a parent or teachers advantage by getting kids to research
on their own and compare and contrast.
This game also has an expansion 'Cleopatra' dedicated to the
female pharaoh, moving the games times setting forward. This expansion stays pretty historically accurate
and adds new and interesting features like mountain based tomb complexes. They like Zeus + Poseidon come bundled on
GoG.com for a pretty reasonable price.
I chose to cover both of these games because they are made
by the same developers merely a year apart and both focus on periods of history
I really love. They both use the same
mechanics and play style and are two gems when it comes to city building
games. I would highly recommend buying
both and have personally spent many hours playing each, immersed in ancient
Greece and Egypt alike.
Games can be
really great aids to learning and if you engage with your kids on these games
you will both get a lot out of them, these make learning fun and enjoyable and
should spark interest in what are two amazing periods in history!
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