Merchant Prince II is a 2001 turn-based strategy game of economic, political, and military conquest. The game is developed by Holistic Design and published by Take-Two Interactive under TalonSoft label.[1] It is the sequel to the 1994 video game Merchant Prince.[a]
| Merchant Prince II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Holistic Design |
| Publisher(s) | TalonSoft |
| Director(s) | Andrew Greenberg |
| Producer(s) | Ashton Fletcher |
| Programmer(s) | Ken Lightner Edward Glamkowski |
| Artist(s) | Mike Snyder |
| Series | Merchant Prince |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 57/100[3] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   [4] |
| Computer Games Magazine |  [2] |
| Computer Gaming World | [5] |
| EP Daily | 6.5/10[6] |
| GameSpot | 5.2/10[7] |
| GameSpy | 75%[8] |
| GameZone | 7/10[9] |
| IGN | 7.3/10[10] |
| Next Generation | [11] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 50%[12] |
Merchant Prince II received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[3] So little was added to gameplay that it was properly a rerelease rather than a sequel, and the changes to the graphics were considered uglier, with a zoomed-in and less user-friendly interface. ("End turn", for instance, was represented by an unlabeled wine glass.)[13] It was largely panned by critics[8][5] and even the positive review by IGN called it a "cheap reissue" and pardoned it only because of the difficulty of finding the original DOS games.[10] Computer Gaming World opened its review, "Merchant Prince 2 is the kind of title that gives strategy gaming a bad name," and concluded with, "Mainstream consumers pulled in by the fascinating topic are—once again—going to feel ripped off, confused, dumb, and jaded toward turn-based strategy games."[5] Kent Conrad found the implementation of the research tree "half-baked" and ended his review with "There is a good game hiding inside of Merchant Prince II, and that game is Machiavelli: The Prince. Get that instead."[14] Kevin Rice of NextGen, however, said of the game, "It's virtually the same game it was eight years ago, designed to run under Windows instead of DOS, but in the end it's still an entertaining, unique turn-based strategy."[11]
Notes
edit- ^ Computer Games Magazine mistakenly claimed that the original Merchant Prince was released in "1995".[2]
References
edit- ^ Walker, Trey (February 1, 2001). "Take-Two announces Merchant Prince II". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on June 22, 2001. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
- ^ a b Cobb, Jim (May 30, 2001). "Merchant Prince II". Computer Games Magazine. theGlobe.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2001. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
- ^ a b "Merchant Prince II". Metacritic. Fandom. Archived from the original on January 25, 2024. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
- ^ Smith, Ted. "Merchant Prince II - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 17, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ a b c Jones, George (September 2001). "Merchant Prince 2" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 206. Ziff Davis. p. 97. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 29, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
- ^ Walker, Mark H. (May 30, 2001). "Merchant Prince II". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions Ltd. Archived from the original on March 4, 2003. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
- ^ Geryk, Bruce (May 10, 2001). "Merchant Prince II Review". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on May 23, 2001. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Abner, William (May 19, 2001). "Merchant Prince II". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 17, 2005. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ Da bomb mom (June 6, 2001). "Merchant Prince II - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on June 17, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
- ^ a b Butts, Steve (May 7, 2001). "Merchant Prince II". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
- ^ a b Rice, Kevin (September 2001). "Merchant Prince II". NextGen. No. 81. Imagine Media. p. 88. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
- ^ "Merchant Prince II". PC Gamer. Vol. 8, no. 9. Imagine Media. September 2001.
- ^ Horowitz, Josh (August 11, 2001). "Merchant Prince 2". The Adrenaline Vault. NewWorld.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2003.
- ^ Conrad, Kent (June 25, 2002). "Merchant Prince II". Exploded Goat. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015.