Tuesday 15 January, 2008

SUMMARY:

Caesar III is a strategy game that is set in the time of the Roman Empire that focuses on city building. The game provides a realistic experience of city building in the Roman era- such as the ability of the player to build certain special Roman buildings like the baths. The goal of the game is for the player to build up the city and attain certain goals to meet the requirements of the mission before moving on to harder missions. The game also provides a few scenarios that are independent of the campaign.

GAMEPLAY:

Well given that Caesar III is a really old title I wasn't expecting too much from it. However the campaign however proved to be surprisingly engaging due to its format and small tidbits. The campaign is made up of a string of missions- you start out with a few easy ones (tutorials) that show you the basics of city building. After a few easy missions the player gets to choose between two missions. I really liked how the game forces the player to choose between the two missions as some missions are more suited to players who love to focus on city building and others are more conflict centered.

Another thing that made this game fun was that the designers had added in "interactive citizens." In game play, the player can right click on the citizens of the city to find out what they are currently thinking. Sometimes the citizens will say funny lines in response to the current situation in the city. For example if citizens are rioting they will yell anti-government slogans.

Game play was also interesting with the addition of the Emperor and the Roman gods. The player has to maintain good relations with the Emperor and does so by sending him goods whenever he demands it. The player can choose not to obey him but this will lead to a loss of the Emperor's trust which may eventually lead to him recalling you. The player also has to please the five Roman gods by building temples to them. If the gods are pleased they will bless the city with special bonuses- if they are angry they will strike the city with disease and make your citizens moody. Thus the player is constantly forced to find a balance between earning money and spending money to please the Emperor and the gods.

This game did have a few problems though. There was no real storyline- although you do rise in rank and progress on to harder cities it still felt like that each city was a separate mission. I also found that the game play gets dull after a few missions- since the player starts out each mission having to build an entire new city from scratch, the player is forced to repeat the same basic city building steps again (such as laying out roads, building housing).

Good first entry, thanks for labeling everything so clearly!
-Chelsea Collins(grader)