Fans of strategy simulation games can rejoice at the news that the popular Anno series — which first arrived on PC back in 1998 and has continued as a successful franchise to the present day — has landed on iPad.
Called Anno: Build an Empire, the games starts with you colonizing an uninhabited island, which you harvest for resources, before building your way up to a fully-fledged, bonafide civilization — featuring various colonized islands under your control.
This isn’t the first time there’s been an Anno game on iOS, since the previously released Dawn of Discovery – Harbor technically counts as a spinoff (or, more accurately, a spinoff of a spinoff.) It is, however, the first time we’ve seen an official installment of Anno proper arrive on the iPad.
Is it any good?
Unfortunately unless you live in Canada you’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out, since today’s release is a Canada-only soft launch, although presumably a wide release isn’t too far away. As a massive fan of the Anno series, I’m looking forward to playing it, although having seen what in-app purchases have done to classic franchises like RollerCoaster Tycoon I’m proceeding with caution.
For those in Canada the game can be downloaded here.
Source: Touch Arcade
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
