Anno 1503: The New World

It is difficult to work in the University of the "Anno town " as the king is very inpatient and always wants to be informed of new discoveries. Just half a year ago the Great Professor himself was a great part  involved in the finding of a better arrow head that makes the archers even more deadly. But it is war and the enemies have sticks which let out steam and fire small metal balls in the allied ranks of men. Many brave warriors and some battles were lost to the invention of this new weapon. But the Great Professor was on the merge of getting their own "steam stick" up and working. When it is finished the bravery of our soldiers will not be withstood for very long.

The second game in the "Anno" series is "Anno 1503: The New World " in which we are again starting only with a ship and some resources to carve ourselves out a life from the uninhabited island formation. The second game stands out by adding even more resources and make it even more complex than the former game.


This added complexity or should we say new content brings us a truly great technology tree with really comprehensible technologies which also give the player a feeling of progress after he orders their invention. As it changes real assets of the games, for example adding muskets (or other war material) or upgrading ordinary assets.

But this added new content has also its down side or better expressed the down sides are far more than its positive sides. To start with, the added new resources and connected chain productions are to much, as they take pleasure and easiness out and there by interrupt the play flow. The added realism gained by these new resources (be it salt, hemp for the ropes, the merchant huts to sell your resources to the settler, the potato farm) is only a small comfort for the former explained down sides.

Another asset I greatly missed in the game is that the map is different in every start. A game asset I highly praised in the first game and has only upsides for the player, is not included in the second one where the map only changes if you play in a different difficulty setting. The fact that still good and many cutscenes (like in Anno 1602) were used in the game is definitely an upside of the game cause it gives the game more character and atmosphere.

The general design of the menus and also the graphics are not as good as in the former game, a point that caused some letdown, as in this aspect the high standards of Anno 1602 could not bee matched.

To sum it up Anno 1503 has to much little flaws and disadvantageous gamedesign details, that it is in my opinion one if not the worst "Anno" ever made. Which still does not say allot as the Anno standard is so high and the game on its own without the comparison to other Annos would be great.