New Software To Be Reviewed Review

Another in a long line of city builders.

And if there is one thing I have experience in, it is city builders.

And you can get way better ones than this one for the same price - or a little more. Either way, this one's good, but not good enough to buy.

Allow me to explain.

Your objective in this game, of course, is to build a Roman city. The economy of it is very simple - to build things, you need stone and wood, which you can buy with tax money.

You need to build at least one house to generate money.

To build, simply choose a blueprint that you can afford (needs wood, stone, and workers), click on a square you want to build it on, and wait for it to appear.

Workers, you ask? Certain numbers of workers are needed to build certain buildings. You can buy more with your tax money. The more workers you assign to a job, the faster it's built.

Workers also clear demolished wreckage, clear cut forests (which clears a square for building, and gives you wood) and mine stone (which clears the square and gives you stone) - for a fee.

That's about all there is to it. The gameplay is very simple. I figured out the strategy behind it before the 1-hour trial expired. If you're sharp, you can probably figure it out even faster.

The only sound you'll hear is some clickings and simple interface sounds, nothing special. No ruckus going on in the market square or worshipping in the temple. And no speech from the Emperor or your tutor.

The music is OK, but it doesn't really fit with the game. I was thinking something more robust, booming, and regal, like a fanfare. The music here is more like music from SimCity than from a Roman themed city builder.

The buildings have no terribly amazing details, but they look very nice. Nothing on the screen is an eyesore. The interface handles OK, although I would be happier if they organised their building buttons a little better.

There IS a sandbox mode, but I didn't get to explore it much, as I was more interested in the game. But, it looked interesting.

Would I recommend it? For $9, it seems like a steal.

But when you consider all of the other games like it that you can buy for around the same price for three times the quality (like Caesar 3, SimCity 3000, and Pharaoh), it just doesn't seem worth it.

If you can't cope with the complexity of those games, then I suppose this game would be worth it. It is a good time killer, and I imagine the sandbox editor allows you to make your own scenarios.

But for the person who wants a true challenge, you are better off trying a hand at Caesar 3 for only two bucks more - or even 5 bucks less.