Europa 1400: The Guild

The Guild is one of those games that appears to be frighteningly complex the first time you take a look at it. The game takes place in the middle ages and your seemingly daunting task is to create a successful and prosperous dynasty to rival those in the town you currently inhabit, thus rising up the ranks to become the local bigwig so you can start ordering people about and taking all their money. Sounds good, but the amount of statistical data on offer from the outset is enough to scare any casual gamer away before they even get started.

To offset this there is an extensive tutorial that takes you through every stage of the game, but you'll soon discover that buying, selling and trading is pretty much a piece of cake and while you'll enjoy it first time round, it's doubtful you'll want to replay it with a different approach. The 3D town and building graphics are pleasant eye candy and the 2D map for navigation is also a good idea. In fact, it's all pretty solid, it's just not very exciting in the long run.