A new refresh of the original Settlers II. I played it for over 120 hours and here are my thoughts about it!
I noticed the new graphics, they changed the buildings a little. You can zoom in very close and still gives a nice look although it's not recommended to play like this way. Not easy to handle it. So I played the normal zoom which I used when I had the original game. I started with the compaign, I never managed to get very far. But now I'm older, smarter (hopefully) and with full eager I started. The first thing I noticed is that there was less story going on. Also the location of the portal appeared on the map and even arrows appeared. This looked too easy for me. The first 5 missions I played with my eyes closed. The others gave me a small challenge until I found the way to beat the AI. I also couldn't find a difficult settings for the campaign. Though it took me a long time to finish the campaign, since you can't just rush to the portal. For those who don't like to play long missions then this isn't a game for you.
Next is single player. There are a few different maps you can play. Ranging from 2 to 8 players. Since the AI isn't that good, you will easily overcome them and get bored with it. One thing that could be added is a random map generator. But I heard this will be in the expansion pack, coming out (maybe soon).
Then comes multiplayer. You can enjoy it with some friends to play on of those maps but there is no ranking system or something similar like that. I also didn't noticed many people playing it online.
The game itself works at a special way. You make paths to your buildings so the goods can be transported between your capital and the building. In between you can put up flags to make roads to different location and buildings. Between each two flags you get a person to carry the goods. Later on you can have 3 or more roads coming to one flag, which makes it a busy point. Later on you can make donkey's to speed up the transport.
There is a good economic in the game. Wood and stone for buildings which can create farms, mines, food buildings (needed for the mines). It all ends up to sword, shield and beer to create soldiers. Those you need to fight your enemy. It can take a while to get used of the game and what all the buildings do. But the first missions gives you a easy way to get familiar with the buildings. Some may say the sound will be dull or will get on your nerves but personally I liked the sound. You could tell when you were fighting, with the battle sound coming up. Also you receive a icon when the time comes. I played it for a long time and I never got bored of it.
Good points: A good campaign that takes some time. It's a nice memory of the original game with a good refresh in it.
Bad points: The AI isn't that difficult. No random map generator. Multiplayer is not that extending. The story line has been cut a little.