This is the
year of the city-building games, seemingly. With Glory of the Roman Empire,
players get a chance to build cities all the day long, without having to worry
about fighting their neighbors. Long live Rome!
Glory of the
Roman Empire begins with an easy tutorial mission that introduces players to
the basic building and mission menus. The Campaign mission is much like most
in this genre; the campaigns are presented in linear fashion and are divided
into missions, which have to be completed before advancing. The beginning
tutorial missions focus on single tasks like building a certain number of
advanced houses, providing specific resources for the people, and meeting
their needs for culture. After this initial campaign, the next campaigns focus
on more complex requirements. These early missions are still pretty simple,
though.
The main
goal is to build a thriving city that meets the needs of the citizens and
satisfies certain goals as set forward in the scenario. Buildings like houses,
farms, mines, factories, clinics and religious edifices are all necessary to
satisfy the needs of the citizens. These all require specific resources to be
built, and also to be maintained. Most everything is automated; when a
building is chosen and set in a location, the workers immediately begin
building and once the unit is completed, workers are assigned and production
begins.
Each
resource building has a sphere of influence, but unlike some city-building
games, the citizens are responsible for visiting the resource buildings and
gathering their own requirements. There are no market workers, and the other
buildings for health and religion don’t have workers who patrol their area of
influence. Workers will spend their time traveling from their workplace to
their home to rest, and to various buildings for supplies.
The menus
are well designed and are simple to navigate and use. Right-clicking on the
screen brings up the building menu, and the main overview menu is on the left
of the screen for easy access. Clicking on any building or inhabitant brings
up a menu that details a basic inventory of their current tasks and personal
information. The information garnered through these menus is adequate, but
could be more informative. For example, it would be helpful to know how many
items each house had, or how many they needed.
The camera
viewpoint allows players to zoom in and around the city in a free-style method
with the mouse. The graphics are good, but there are a few instances where the
inhabitants walk through the shrubbery. The trees sway in the wind, the water
ripples and the children play with their toys while the old men stand around
and watch. When buildings are beings constructed, little clouds of dust form.
The workers are constantly walking around the town on their various errands,
the farms have pigs running around, or have workers busy working in the fields
as the harvest is growing.
All told,
this is an easy city-building game set in real-time, which will please most
casual gamers who aren’t looking for anything too challenging or
time-consuming. While fun, it’s too easy for most. As there is minimal cost
required for building, there’s no monetary incentive as players don’t really
have to watch their money; there are no time constraints and no ratings as
such for certain goals. Players won’t get fired. The pleasing graphics and
Roman theme are charming, and when combined with the easy building and
intuitive menus, provide a nice gaming experience for the non-demanding
player.
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Gameplay: 7.0
While fun to
play, there just isn’t enough challenge to provide the ultimate gaming
experience. This game will provide some hours of fun, but could become a
little boring.
Graphics: 8.0
Good graphic
detail and charming themes.
Sound: 6.0
The voices
weren’t all that wonderful, and the accents are hokey. The music is fairly
good, though.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Fairly easy to
play.
Concept: 6.0
It’s all been
done before.
Overall: 7.0
A pleasant game
that will entertain, but ultimately won’t provide much challenge. It’s nice to
have a streamlined, intuitive interface, but at the same time, part of the
attraction for city-building games is the management aspect. There’s just not
enough to do in Glory of the Roman Empire. Best for the casual gamer and
younger members of the family.
