The Palace Builder Game Review

The Palace Builder is a building simulation game set in the romantic upper class world of French aristocracy. You will design and manage the construction of the most beautiful structures in the kingdom. Will your work attract the attention of the Queen, or will a secret destroy your chances for fame and fortune?

Young Gabrielle has always been fascinated by architecture and the construction of beautiful buildings and landscapes. Unfortunately, when her father tried to apprentice her to a master architect, the master refused because she was a girl. Not one to give up, Gabrielle's father devised a plan to dress her up as a boy and managed to get the master architect to accept "Gabriel" as his new apprentice.

Now that Gabrielle is able to learn from a master, she has to quickly learn everything she can, and show just how good an architect she can be. And that's where you come in; your task is to help her design and build the best palaces as she slowly works her way towards more complicated designs and bigger commissions from the cream of the French aristocracy. And who knows... maybe she will get to design and build a palace for the Queen some day. That is if her cover doesn't get blown and her deception gets revealed first!

The Palace Builder is a "town" builder similar to the Build-A-Lot series, but with many unique things going for it. In normal town-building games, each map has a grid that you need to build houses on. In The Palace Builder, each plot of land you get is an open area where you can design and build your dream palace any which way you want.

The worker and resource management for The Palace Builder is slightly more complicated as well. There are gardeners who are used to build and maintain gardens, drafters to draw up plans for buildings, builders to construct the buildings, and sculptors to create appealing decorations and ornaments. There are also 4 different types of resources that you need to keep an eye on.

At each level, you have a plot of land to build on, and a set of objectives you need to complete. These objectives include building a set number of certain buildings, and also how much appeal your entire palace plot generates. Appeal is how beautiful the place is and how much the neighbors like it, and is earned when you complete buildings and decorations. Generally the more expensive and long the construction is, the more appeal the structure generates. Achieving enough appeal each level allows Gabrielle to complete a section of her own palace as well.

When you start the game, you only have access to the most basic of structures including a chateau, stables, gardens and fountains. As you progress, you will gain access to a whole variety of structures with which to decorate your plot and increase its appeal. You have to be careful though; many of the structures have multiple stages of construction, each with different resource and worker requirements.

The graphics in The Palace Builder are not fantastic; it feels slightly dated with its 2 dimensional art compared to other contemporary games which boast stunning 3D visuals. However, it does add a few touches that make it enjoyable. While you are planning and constructing your palaces, you will get animations of the French aristocracy enjoying the results of your work. The ladies will be quietly strolling around or having a picnic, while the men will be dueling each other with their swords all around your gardens and statues.

Overall, this game is a step in the right direction for town-building simulation games. In other town-building games, you are either allowed to construct buildings only in specific plots, or need to demolish roads to change the landscape, or are restricted in building placement due to efficiency issues. The freeform design and construction in The Palace Builder is a nice change that will appeal to gamers who like to create aesthetically pleasing works of art!

Rating: 4.0/5.0

You can read more about The Palace Builder at http://www.game-tycoon.com/the-palace-builder.html

Steven maintains Game Tycoon at http://www.game-tycoon.com - a website devoted to strategy, simulation and time management games. You can read game reviews, download games and play them online.

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