Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Name: Autocracy
Item: Autocracy
Author: Retro Replay

Autocracy brings together four classic strategy and city-building titles in one ambitious compilation, offering a diverse gameplay experience that caters to both the tactician and the urban planner. Players can switch between empire-wide conquest in Call to Power II, civic development in SimCity 3000, resource management and expansion in The Settlers III, and the focused campaign of The Settlers III: Quest of the Amazons. This variety ensures that every session feels fresh, whether you’re forging diplomatic alliances or laying down roads, pipelines, and aqueducts in a sprawling metropolis.

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The controls and interfaces of each game remain faithful to their original designs, though modern compatibility patches smooth over most installation quirks inherent to a five-CD release. Call to Power II’s tech tree and planetary stages offer deep, turn-based choices, while SimCity 3000’s zoning system and advisor tips help newcomers build efficient cities. In The Settlers III, resource chains feel intuitive, and the Quest of the Amazons campaign adds a heroic narrative layer without overhauling the core mechanics.

Multiplayer options vary by title, with Call to Power II still supporting hotseat and networked play, and The Settlers III offering LAN skirmishes. SimCity 3000 remains strictly single-player, but its scenario editor is a playground for creative users to test city layouts under challenging conditions. Whether you’re hosting diplomatic negotiations or racing to an economic victory, Autocracy’s compilation structure makes switching contexts effortless, keeping players engaged across genres.

Graphics

Visually, Autocracy is a time capsule of late-1990s and early-2000s PC gaming. SimCity 3000’s isometric cityscapes retain their charm with colorful buildings and animated citizens traversing roads and trains. While pixelated by today’s standards, the clarity of its sprite-based art ensures that traffic flow, water lines, and power distribution remain easy to read, even when zoomed out to survey an entire urban sprawl.

Call to Power II presents planetary maps with hexagonal grids, displaying unit models and city icons that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Though the 3D models lack high-resolution textures, the game’s interface is crisp, and system messages pop up cleanly. The variety of climate zones and city styles—from futuristic domes to primitive settlements—adds visual diversity to the otherwise static strategic backdrop.

The Settlers III and its Quest of the Amazons expansion benefit from a more detailed engine, with fluid character animations and richly colored terrain. Trees sway, workers walk along pathways, and production buildings emit smoke, giving your expanding realm a living quality. The detailed water effects and lighting transitions between day and night are particularly impressive for their era, making resource gathering and base-building sessions visually rewarding despite inevitable nostalgia-triggered comparisons to modern titles.

Story

As a compilation, Autocracy’s narrative approach varies widely. SimCity 3000 offers no traditional story, instead challenging players to define their own urban mythos through city growth, disaster recovery, and civic milestones. This sandbox-style storytelling encourages creative world-building, where every highway loop or park district becomes a chapter in an evolving metropolis.

Call to Power II places you at the helm of a civilization on the brink of interstellar expansion. Its mid- to late-game story arcs revolve around alien incursions and global crises, lending a hopeful sci-fi flair to the otherwise abstract conquest mechanics. While the voiceovers and text briefings feel dated, they still provide a compelling drive to explore, negotiate, or dominate the solar system.

The Settlers III: Quest of the Amazons introduces a more focused narrative, casting you as the leader of a matriarchal tribe searching for a stolen artifact. This storyline unfolds through mission briefings and in-engine cutscenes, offering guided objectives that contrast with the open-ended campaigns of the base game. The mythic setting and unique hero units add a layer of storytelling that enriches the resource management core, giving players a sense of purpose beyond mere expansion.

Overall Experience

Autocracy’s greatest strength lies in its value proposition: four landmark strategy and city-building games packaged across five CDs. The non-standard box is sturdy and retro-charming, though users may need extra shelf space for the two-disc Settlers III set. Installation takes time, but the on-disc manuals and in-game tutorials help ease newcomers into complex systems without overwhelming them.

Performance is surprisingly robust on modern PCs when using community patches and widescreen fixes. All titles run smoothly, and save games are backward-compatible across patch versions. The compilation’s structure allows you to dip into quick city-building sessions or commit to marathon conquest campaigns, making Autocracy a versatile addition to any strategy fan’s library.

While some aspects—such as dated graphics or interface quirks—remind you that these games are products of their time, the depth of gameplay and sheer variety more than compensate. Whether you’re a seasoned strategist or an aspiring mayor, Autocracy offers hours of replayability. Its curated selection showcases the evolution of strategy gaming and provides a nostalgic yet still immensely satisfying experience for modern audiences.