Overall - 3.4			3 - Balance
Playability - 3			4 - Map Design
Creativity - 4			3 - Story/Instructions

Alpinus is a challenge. There’s no other way to describe it. In fact, I would have scored it higher, except that I’m not sure that you can win it. Funds granted by Caesar are enough to get you going, and there are plenty of trading and building options, but the buildable space is so limited that it’s hard to get any cohesive town going.

On top of that, add in eight or nine (I lost count) native tribes, very little straight shoreline for fishing or docks, an occasional enemy attack (not too strong), a winding road pattern, and relatively few requests from Caesar, and achieving the victory conditions (especially Favor) becomes nearly impossible.

It clearly took the author quite a bit of time and a good amount of planning to create the map. This is the main reason why the Creativity and Map Design categories get a "4" rating. Nevertheless, no beginner should try this level. It would probably only result in considerable frustration on the player’s part. However, if you found all of the scenarios included with the game to be far too easy – this may be the test you’re looking for.