| Zeus: Master of Olympus | 
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| From: Vivendi Universal
Category: Video Games
List Price: $44.95
Buy New: $8.69
You Save: $36.26 (81%)
New (11) Used (4) from $6.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 4745
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Standard
Age: 5 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.9 x 1.9
MPN: 1-58189-478-3
Model: 71117
UPC: 020626711173
EAN: 0020626711173
ASIN: B00004TJ2N
Release Date: October 18, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: GUARANTEED BRAND NEW CD IN SLEEVE. CHECK MY RATINGS, I SHIP DAILY
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| Customer Reviews:
 So addictive! July 28, 2008
I'm really an action game guy at heart with a little RPG/MMORG and adventure game mixed in. But ever since I played Caesar 3, I've been hooked on this series of games (Caesar 3, Pharoahs, and now Zeus). It's a great game to play on a long airplane ride; it's a great "thinking man's game (or woman)".
Zeus is the most refined of the series and best overall although I didn't like the cartoon-y aspect of the artwork in this game. I really loved the Rome setting and the more matter-of-fact style of artwork in Caesar 3, but that's probably more a personal preference than anything.
I think the only tiny gripe I've had with this game and it's predecessors is that the levels still get kinda repetitive after awhile. But overall, it's one of my favorite games, and really offers some intellectual stimulation and puzzle solving.
Good game, but BEWARE June 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a fun game, especially if you like city building games. The interface is easy to understand, and the scenarios range from easy to challenging. You can even play in a "sandbox" or create a scenario. However, the new version I received was not the one advertised on this page. It was a UK version of the game that won't work with expansions made for US versions (such as Posidon).
My advice is to check this out w/ the seller before ordering to make sure you truely get what you order.
Sweet March 29, 2007
I had a friend who had this game a few years back , I found it on Amazon cheap and I had to get it. I got the game in 2 days! I still like playing it.
 The best of the ancient city-building games, high fun and excellent replayability March 1, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
From Caesar to Caesar II to Caesar III to Pharaoh and now to Zeus: Master of Olympus, so many changes have taken place, and yet the concept is always the same.
From the Romans to the Egyptians, we now hit the Greeks, with a strong mythological twist, and it's the absolute best game in the franchise!
It bears more resemblence to Pharaoh than it does to Caesar III, but it's significantly different in that buildings now take up more space (four spaces for a single house rather than one space for one house) but this only serves to make cities much more manageable without making them drastically smaller.
The maps are more vivid and easier to comprehend. The AI is strong and gathering resources is more fun than ever. Rather than building a farm for everything from food to fabric, and a place near precious resources for people to go out and get, you can do things like make cheese by building a goat herder and literally placing individual goats (a limit of 10 per hearding shack), or build a sheep herder and place individual sheep so that they can graze on the grass (in special areas only) and grow thick furs for wool and such. You can also build Olive Presses or Grape Presses and place row after row of olive trees or grape vines which grow over time to be picked.
Temples now are also far bigger (so big that they aren't placed automatically----you need to gather up marble and wood and precious objects before construction can begin, and specially trained artisans to craft the building) and now serve a purpose other than the God's punishment. Now they positively reinforce you. If you build their temple and get people to work there, they will serve you once in a while depending on their specialty (ie, Ares will give you six of his elite Sparti warriors to fight with your soldiers, and he will fight with you, Zeus provides an oracle and helps against invaders and monsters, Athena makes olive presses work faster and trees grow faster, Dionysus makes wine presses work faster, etc)
Heroes are also an available option, only springing up when they're needed for tasks (such as killing a Minotaur, or retrieving an object for a God) and you build a Hero's Hall. The Hall requires a certain amount of supplies in your warehouses to call upon a hero (like 1000 Drachmae, 32 tons of food, 64 bushels of grapes, etc). The hero you send on his task, and he/she will also fight alongside your soldiers.
The campaign game is exciting and lets you keep your primary city and build upon it rather than having to build a new city with each mission, and you have tasks to do rather than just "Get to this population and produce this much food". While you keep your primary city, you are also able to build new ones in the form of colonies.
Where the game really shines is its new political system. As Greece was never a unified nation, individual city-states constantly fought each other, and this is represented in the game in a great way. Hoplites don't need special training at a barracks where they stand around doing nothing and reducing surrounding areas' appeal, they are in fact noblemen from high-class housing who buy suits of armor and form up in companies when needed for war.
From the diplomacy page you can attempt to make alliances, attack and invade enemy cities, which become your client-kingdoms (forced allies) and from them you can ask for supplies of a certain commodity you do not have or simply want, or even request their military aid if you are under attack and have no army, or even request a military strike on an enemy so you aren't alone when invading. Attacking allies is not a good idea, and sometimes cities will randomly decide to go neutral with you, paving the way for expanded trade and allliance.
All in all, this is absolutely the best ancient city-building game out there in the same stem as the likes of Pharaoh, Caesar III, etc. I haven't yet played Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, but from the first mission, I can see it uses the same engine as this one with little changes save cosmetic changes.
Great game. Must buy
After 6 years and it's STILL my favorite! February 2, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've bought other "simulation" games and they all stink when comparing to Zeus. I also used the "Poseidon" expansion pack and it just makes it better. I truly hope that the makers of this game will do a 'Zeus 2' or something. I'd really love to see what they come up with.
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