You can't substitute cotton candy for the meat and potatoes of strategy and a good plotline. That's the motto behind Cleopatra, an expansion pack for Pharaoh, Sierra's mission-based game of ancient city and dynasty building. As ruler, you must keep your citizens happy, fat, and culturally developed, all the while protecting Egypt from attackers. Upset your deities, and you'll suffer new curses from the gods that include locusts, hail, and rivers of blood. Unfortunately, Cleopatra doesn't clean up some of the irritating bugs that plagued Pharaoh.
Workers still wander about aimlessly, and there are unexplained production stoppages.
Also, the new giant scorpion attacks seem only to irritate and slow down the already lengthy missions. There's a lot of combat in Cleopatra, but, as in Pharaoh, leading your troops to battle is mostly a boring mouse-clicking exercise. Forgiving Pharaohs will likely find themselves wrapped up in Cleopatra's 15 very hard missions spread over four campaigns. But with more polish it could've been an expansion pack for the ages. Arcade mode is the quickest way in and out of this tedious gaming experience, but the full Olympic mode shouldn't be glossed over.