Review: TFC2: The Fertile Crescent 2 - Collapse of The Bronze Age
Building a Home Amid the Collapse
TFC2: The Fertile Crescent 2 - Collapse of the Bronze Age takes a more streamlined approach to real-time strategy, using the collapse of the Bronze Age as the backdrop for a campaign about a family searching for a new place to live. The game feels quite similar to Age of Empires, particularly when it comes to resource management and building communities, but takes a more straightforward approach, with less complexity and a narrative that follows our journey across different regions. The idea works, although some design choices end up hurting the campaign's pacing and limiting the potential of its own mechanics.
MY IMPRESSIONS
Food is one of our biggest concerns when building our community. Villagers are trained automatically at the town center, and each new unit increases our food consumption. If we fail to keep up with this demand, we start facing starvation deaths and even revolts that can bring the entire match to an end. That's why we need to maintain a good food supply, whether by gathering fruit, hunting, or fishing. Wood is also essential for expanding our village, while bricks depend on clay deposits found in swampy areas. Metal completes the resources needed for different production chains and upgrades. The problem is that expansion requires a lot of attention, as increasing our population without ensuring enough food production can turn the growth of our community into a real headache.
The technology tree allows us to invest in specific improvements for our community, such as upgrading woodworking and increasing wood gathering speed. During exploration, we come across ancient temples that can be claimed, offering benefits such as a 5% increase in global farming. There are also settlements where we can build outposts to speed up the training of new villagers. The map also features animals with different behaviors. Some flee when attacked, while others can react in groups, making certain encounters more dangerous. The presence of ostriches and crocodiles also stands out, especially since the latter can attack our units and interfere with exploration. These small details help bring the environments to life and make the world around us play a role in our decisions.
The problem is that the campaign takes quite a while to get going. Mechanics are introduced gradually, and many of the early missions end up focusing on teaching us how to manage each resource. I understand the idea of following a family that needs to find a new home, but constantly migrating and rebuilding our community becomes a little frustrating. I would have preferred to follow the development of a single city throughout the entire journey, investing in its buildings, technologies, and population, rather than practically starting from scratch at every new stage. The campaign could get us into combat situations much sooner, with a wider variety of resources and technologies available from the beginning. Each mission presents a new challenge, but it lacks the sense of continuity that would make the growth of our community more interesting.
Outside the campaign, the skirmish mode offers a pretty interesting experience for those who prefer more freedom in their matches. We can set up battles against AI opponents or other players, choose from four maps, and change terrain characteristics, including plains, rivers, hills, and arid regions. We can also set the map size and use the traditional Wonder victory condition, which allows us to end the match without having to defeat our opponents. Multiplayer also offers cooperative matches, allowing a friend to join us in fighting against the AI or other players. The map editor further expands the possibilities for those who enjoy creating their own scenarios and experimenting with different configurations.
Despite these options, some limitations become frustrating during matches. Automatic unit production could be disabled by default, preventing us from constantly interrupting training whenever we want to manage our resources more carefully. It would also be interesting to have the option to cancel the construction of hero units. Walls are quite basic and offer few strategic possibilities, but the most noticeable problem is troop movement. Depending on which gates we close, ordering certain units to move around a structure can become quite a complicated task. In a strategy game, this kind of situation gets in the way of one of the most important aspects of the experience, which is being able to position our troops without constantly having to correct their movements.
Visually, TFC2 is quite polished. The pixel art fits the game's concept well, and the maps feature plenty of detail, from buildings to vegetation and animals scattered throughout the environment. The villages have their own personality despite the relatively simple presentation, and the different environments help make exploration feel less repetitive. Ostriches and crocodiles are interesting examples of how small elements can contribute to the game's identity, especially when they directly affect unit movement. The sound design also deserves recognition, with effects that bring to mind classic strategy games. The familiarity with Age of Empires is particularly noticeable in the sounds of buildings, villagers, and community activities, fitting TFC2's overall approach very well.
ACHIEVEMENTS
This might be one of the least creative achievement lists I've come across, especially considering how many mechanics TFC2 could use to encourage players to experiment with its systems. Most objectives boil down to completing the campaign acts, finishing the prologue, and winning matches against the AI on different difficulty levels. There are some achievements related to multiplayer and other modes, but there's very little that actually encourages us to explore the economy, develop specific strategies, or make use of the different resources available.
It's a missed opportunity, because the game has mechanics that could lead to much more interesting objectives. We could have achievements related to exploring temples, using outposts, managing food production, or even winning through the Wonder victory condition. It would also be interesting to encourage different ways of developing a community, using specific technologies or making better use of the resources found across the map. In the end, the list feels more like a sequence of objectives for completing the available modes than an incentive to get to know the game better. For an experience with so many management and strategy possibilities, I expected achievements that would actually require some creativity from the player.
TRAILER OFFICIAL
FINAL THOUGHTS
TFC2: The Fertile Crescent 2 - Collapse of the Bronze Age has an interesting concept, but the campaign takes too long to get going and suffers from repetitive migrations and the way its mechanics are introduced. Troop movement also needs some adjustments, while the achievements leave a lot to be desired, missing opportunities to encourage players to explore the game's systems.
On the other hand, the pixel art is very well done, the sound effects bring to mind classic strategy games, and food management introduces some interesting decisions when developing our community. Multiplayer, custom matches, and the map editor also help expand the possibilities, especially for those who prefer experimenting with different configurations.
TFC2 is practically a pocket-sized version of Age of Empires, with a simpler approach and a campaign that follows a family searching for a new home. I liked the idea, but I missed a more continuous progression and mechanics that were better utilized throughout the journey. The game has an interesting foundation, but it feels like it constantly settles for a shallow experience.
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