First, this is a 2003 game. Considering that, great tutorials, which are really needed, as there's lots of buttons to push. Quite a bit of depth, and plenty of cheats, which is a must for me. On sale, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute. Oh, and no bugs I found anyway.

Its such a great game, very few games today can be compared to Anno 1503. Its incredibly fun making settlements and then going out to discover new resources for your people.

got this game back in 1503(joke) xD back in 2003. always loved the style of this 2D game.

and for those who say there is no multiplayer, you can download and activate it. just read on the internet how to do it. yes there was some troubles with multiplayer back then too.. sadly.. but except from that its a really great game.. worth the try

If you were to sum up my child hood on the computer, this would be aout 75% of it

I love the part that you can just look at the main market and just watch the mass hoards of people there. Or the massive amounts of buildings crammed together. Love it

If you've played Sim City 3000 or any other city builder game, this game is a lot like that. In the game you have to build a city, yes, but you also have to supply your populace with goods. Unlike most city-building games, employment is not a problem. All you have to do is make sure your settlers are supplied with a steady stream of goods they can consume (and pay you heftily for). Done properly, you should be able to turn a profit by the time you need to start expanding.

It's a challenging game, in that you need to balance your budget AND make sure you have enough of the right building materials. Unlike city builders like Caesar III and Sim City, you need to have money, but you also need tools, bricks, and wood to build buildings. Wood is easy enough to get. The problem with getting bricks and tools, however, is that these require different steps. Bricks must, for example, be made by stonemasons. Tools must have iron and wood to be made. And iron ore must be mined from an iron mine, then refined into usable iron.

If you do a little planning before hand, you can keep your city from having to wait for a merchant to come along and sell you tools - which can take forever and be quite expensive.

This being the Renaissance, does it have a military side that you don't get in, say, Sim City? Indeed it does. You can build city walls, surely, as well as fortresses from which you can train at least four different types of troops - pikemen, swordsmen, archers, and musketeers come to mind at the moment, but I also believe you can build siege engineers, cannons, and cavalry. It's definitely not the heart of gameplay in Anno 1503, but you can conquer your enemies. More likely, however, you will be trading with them, or sending your ships after them to turn their ports into rubble. But island invasion usually isn't the order of the day.

All in all, a good city and economic sim, with an option for war if you so choose. Sadly no multiplayer (unlike Anno 1602, its predecessor). But it's still quite capable in singleplayer. Even the campaign's not too bad. Check it out. For a 2D-isometric game, the price is about right.

A good game. With plenty to do, not easy to complete either. However after a while I find myself becoming bored with the lack of extra items you get when your city becomes larger. Even with the add ons there was just not enough to keep me coming back to play more frequently.

The music also can be a tad annoying.

But all this aside it's a game I have played for a long time (previous versions) so they must be doing something right!

all the Anno games is worth spending time on but my fav. will allways be 1503 gold. almost every single pc in the world can run the game and almost any strategy player will enjoy this game.

WATCH OUT!

ive ben running the game on 4 different kind of sysems

and heres how it goes

Windows xp = no prob. runs like a dream.

Windows vista = same as windows xp but have this thing with opening without turning the graphics on with naturally colours.

windows 7 = NO WAY! somehow you cant open a map when you play the game on this system.

Linux ubuntu = runs like a dream. few probs installing but else just was windows xp.

At on $6.99, this is one of the best deals I have every come across on Gamersgate. 1503 is game focused on building cities in a new world by managing your production, military, trade, and diplomacy. For an old game, its graphics are very good, and I even prefer them to 1701 and 1404's graphics. I have spent many hours with this game, and every moment was worth it. The gold edition adds many new scenarios, and some features, and is worth purchasing. 4 Stars.

an oldy but a goody , graphics are a bit rough but is a great deal at 6.99, lots of city building and micro-economy management, comes with many scenarios i'm yet to try, again a great deal .

I too have the original Version of the Game and am pleased with the updated Gold Edition I just bought for $6.99 (0n Special here).

One important thing I found out is that when I uninstalled the old Game it left Bits and pieces behind under Windows XP Home, leading to a bad install at first, none of the new 12 scenarios or 3 Endless missions were showing up in the Menu. I uninstalled the new one then searched for Anno 1503 to find the Bits and Pieces and then deleted them. Next install worked perfectly.

On the original one I could not get past the first level of the Campaign no matter how I tried. It was Version 1.0 and it seems like a common problem for it. This one has solved that problem nicely. I even managed to take across 8 Meduim Traders, fully laden with 2,400 ton of stuff on board, including Ship Cannons, Bows, Crossbows, Swords and Armour. I also managed to get the 4 Swordsmen, 4 Archers, Scout AND a Catapult with two Crewmen. (Details are in Tips and Tricks, just above under Game Documents)

I have been a big Fan of 1602AD for many years and can honestly say that I am now rapted in this one. Only things I am disappointed in is no Map Editor or Multi-Play, so I can only give it a 4 star rating, which disappoints me, but I certainly would recommend that if you haven't tried it, at $6.99 it is a real Steal and well worthwhile as a Present to someone if you are not into Games yourself. My children Love it.

This game which includes the base set of "A New World" and the expansion set of "Treasures, Monsters, and Pirates" runs great under Windows 7.

I have always loved strategy games that involves building and expanding in unknown directions. This gold edition pack accomplishes that very successfully. The game loads very smoothly after the intro movie and you can start off with a very good series of in-game tutorials.

I have always felt that the PDF manual provided by Sunflowers is rather skimpy - that's because there are a lot of building types to explore; last count was 148 different types of buildings and ornamental decorations. Adding to this is the fact that the game maps can get quite huge.

Gameplay wise, Anno 1503 rewards the player who is creative and persevering. There is a 13 mission campaign, 12 scenarios and a variety of endless missions (there are 9) in the base set. The add-on brings you another 12 scenarios and 3 endless missions with some handy new additions like a stats screen (I own the original CD and was pleased by the addition provided in the expansion). The AI is average to me, but then I have not played on harder settings yet - so can't really comment there yet.

Technical wise, the graphics is quite dated but acceptable. The game allows for resolutions of 800x600 (for netbook play - haven't tried that yet) and a maximum of 1280x 1024. The classical style background music can get quite monotonous after a while, but thankfully it can be turned off. Although no editor is provided in this iteration of the game, I can imagine myself still playing the game using the endless game mode and selecting an AI level or situation that I desire.

I highly recommend you get Anno 1503, especially when it's on sale! It should keep you occupied for a real long time.

Anno 1503 has some nice new features to it, the graphics are updated from Anno 1602, many more new buildings, a variety of natives from Mongols to Africans and some new military units. Downside: No map editor, No multiplayer, Ai military is too weak.

The upsides outweighs the downsides.

4 Stars!

much more of an Age of Empires style game, not so much as it was in 1602 but i cant complain its a great game either way!!! enjoy, and you wont regret this game for only 15$