As a Settlers fan I must admit to being biased,although I initially kept comparing this to earlier releases, as I slowly worked through the single player campaign,I become more absorbed.
Gone are the cluttered graphics of Settlers IV, and the annoying path building, instead you are presented with really nice graphics, you can zoom right in on characters, and watch them going about there business,the sawmill, foundry , blacksmith, etc.all with the usual attention to detail.
No one does the economy dependent game better than BlueByte. What I really like, it is not a usual race against time to build your economy and defences before you get attacked, you can sit back build a city to be proud of, and when you are ready go and destroy the enemy.
Great game vast improvement over previous releases