Zeus
From Impressions Games and Sierra Studios

View the ad: Page 1 and Page 2

Sierra’s Impressions division has always had a tough time breaking into the mainstream, even though the company’s strategy games have always been relatively solid (sub for Lords of Magic).  Continuing with the trend of telling ancient tales through the prism of a strategy game, Zeus follows in the legacy of last year’s Pharaoh.   This ad plays up the whole mythological aspect of the game and the logo of Zeus commanding a lightning bolt is memorable.

In an interesting twist, the team behind this ad opted to use an artistic re-creation of what a game screen might look like, instead of plastering a huge screenshot across two pages.  The result is a softer look to the ad which sets it apart, but at the same time doesn’t give the player much of an idea of what the actual game looks like.

Couple this with only an indirect reference to the game’s genre (“Control the fate of Ancient Greece as you build temples” is as close as it gets to saying this is a real-time strategy title) and what you have is an inspired but somewhat flawed piece of advertising.

Grade: B