The Settlers II (10th Anniversary) received relatively little attention in the gaming press outside Germany, with mixed reviews. Whilst the graphics and sound effects were generally praised, and the designers were lauded for retaining so much of the original game's mechanics, some critics felt it was too reverential to the original, and, as a result, seemed dated. Other criticisms included a lack of mission variety and repetitive gameplay, with several critics opining that it should have been a budget title rather than a full-price release. Gameplay The Settlers II (10th Anniversary) is a city-building game, with real-time strategy elements, controlled via a point and click interface. The gameplay and game mechanics are nearly identical to the original Settlers II, and the primary goal on each map is to build a settlement with a functioning economy, producing sufficient military units so as to conquer rival territories, ultimately gaining control of either the entire map, or a certain predetermined section of it. To achieve this end, the player must engage in economic micromanagement, construct buildings, and generate resources. Game modes The game can be played in one of two modes; single-player or multiplayer. In single-player mode, the player can play either campaign missions or individual non-campaign games ("Freeplay"). In Campaign mode, the player must complete a series of missions, the goal of each of which is to defeat the computer controlled opponent or opponents by gaining possession of the territory in which the mission objective is located. In the original release of the game, there were ten missions, with the player limited to controlling the Romans. The Wikinger expansion added a new campaign of twelve missions, with the player able to control the three races from the original game (Romans, Nubians, and Chinese), plus the newly added Vikings. In Freeplay and multiplayer modes, which can be played via a LAN or online, the player chooses a map on which to play, and then refines the game in various ways, such as selecting the number of players (from two to six) and the difficulty level of computer controlled races, choosing which race to control, selecting the victory conditions, refining the amount of raw materials available to each player at the start of the game, selecting whether to turn fog of war on or off, and choosing whether each player begins from a predetermined position on the map or is instead placed randomly. As