What lends itself to the classic Greek world, as well as the game, is the presence of the gods from Mount Olympus. While they played a part in previous games as in Pharaoh with Isis, Ra and the other gods, who would send messages through curses or blessings like turning the Nile River red with blood, or a hailstorm; in Zeus the gods actually walk the earth alongside the citizens of the city. There are gods with both good and bad intentions for the city, though each tower over the city when stalking through the region with the same awe-inspiring effect on the population.

The gods that do come down to spread their favor don't stick around quite long enough until you have built a sanctuary in their honor, but the evil gods lurk in an area and leave a path of destruction until you summon one of the good gods to help eradicate the evil ones. In most cases, it takes summoning a good god to combat the evil one, or the area can be written off as uninhabitable, and is often rich with resources required to complete the objectives.

The evil Maenad prances around crushing any poor soul in her path, and haunts an area rich in marble that is needed to build the monuments to call the gods. This makes it a difficult task to complete, and makes you wish that the favorable gods would pay more attention to the city when they do come down, like Athena who just pops down to earth to show herself and then returns presumably to Mount Olympus to leave any of the bad gods to their business.

Zeus captures the addiction and enjoyment of city building at its best. Many gamers over the years have discovered that it is amusing to play with people's lives, even in a virtual sense, which makes any edition of this series a welcome experience.

My expectations of this game have certainly been met, and anyone who has ever wanted to rule a civilization, or simply to experience life in ancient Greek times will certainly not be wrong in picking up this game.

Enid Burns
Contributing Editor