Ever wished The Sims took place 600 years ago in Germany? The Guild 2 hopes to make your dreams come true in this ambitious sequel to 2002's Europa 1400: The Guild.

It's hard to categorize a game like The Guild 2 into one genre. Its part life management, part economic simulation, part real-time strategy, and even has a few RPG elements mixed in for good measure. Your goal is to take one man or woman and climb the economic and social ladder of German society, turning your one original character into a dynasty by marrying, and having children and grandchildren. You start off by customizing your characters appearance, from hair style to clothing to Zodiac sign. In addition, you choose from one of four character classes that determine the type of businesses you can build and what kind of abilities your character can gain.



Once the game begins, well, you are pretty much on your own. There are literally dozens and dozens of things you can do. As examples, you can buy other businesses, run for office, use your charms to woo the members of the opposite sex in an attempt to marry them and add to your family. This is all seems pretty basic at first, but this quickly changes once you start to see the level of detail when each of these actions occurs. For example, if you wish to run for office, you go to the local town hall and apply for the position.

If the position is currently filled, you must convince the town's leaders that a change is required. They schedule a meeting for later in the day. To pass the time, you can attempt to bribe the town officials in an attempt to get them to see things your way. Instead of bribery, you might instead choose to threaten them. When the meeting occurs, your character is actually there, and you can see and hear the town leaders argue the pros and cons of leaving things the way they are, or agreeing with you that a change must be made.