river. In the final levels, the player is servant to the Emperor of China, and oversees the construction of the Imperial capital Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing) and fortifying its defense to foil the invading Mongols and their leader, Genghis Khan. Foodstuffs, technologies, and religions evolve over the centuries, closely matching the actual history of Chinese culture. Because players serve several dynasties and Emperors throughout the game, they will not always be building the same city. Often, they will be sent to build up a new city, or be sent back to a previous city to accomplish a new goal. In some cases, a city may be revisited after centuries have passed, having changed dramatically or fallen into ruins during the intervening years. Players may play the campaigns in any order they choose, though the difficulty level ramps up parallel to the chronology. Often the objectives involve producing a set amount of a commodity, conquering other cities, achieving a certain population level, or building a monument. Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Despite the positive reviews many were critical of the lack of originality and reported little difference between the game and previous Impression games. In February 2017 the game was re-released on GOG.com. References External links 2002 video games City-building games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Jeff van Dyck Video games set in antiquity Video games set in the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) Video games set in the Mongol Empire Video games set in the Song dynasty Video games with isometric graphics Windows games Windows-only games Impressions Games games Multiplayer and single-player video games Sierra Entertainment games