Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Impressive First-Person View.
Surprisingly — did you realize it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while temporarily abandon managing my empire, leave it in a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would work prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (possibly an unexpected bug — this option tends to be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I wandered the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to witness my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that not only could I look upon farming fields, but also enter them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers have the budget for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
