This is the best game I've played on the DS! It involves strategy, a great story and everything works extremely well.
This game involves strategy and attention to detail, but it's not overwhelming. I think they've hit the mark brilliantly in the amount of things you need to manage to keep your people happy, grow your civilization and respond to new events that pop up.
I have just played the Story mode so far in the easy mode and find it has just the right pace. Everything works extremely well, it's easy to learn quickly, but it is challenging to keep on top of everything. I think it's really cool how once you build one village, you get in your ship and go start another one.
I'm also a history lover, and thus I enjoy the age of wooden ships and exploration. While this game is fiction, it does give you a sense of that period in history.
The only downside I can see is that you only get to save one file in Story mode, and one in Continuous mode. So, if I want to let my kids use the game in their DS, they have to start from the beginning and can not save or else they'll overwrite my game. So, if another person wants to play, they really have to buy a second copy of the game (which I think is actually kind of smart from a business perspective on the part of Ubisoft).