Autumn Games Preview

Author: Ryan Garside
Published: 24th August 2006

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When in Rome... play Caesar IV

The Caesar series is one of the longest running game titles in the history of PC gaming. Starting out in 1993 it helped boost the popularity of the city building genre that had started a few years earlier with the original Sim City. Not only did Caesar offer a whole new environment and era to play in, it also brought a whole host of new features - military campaigns and historically accurate buildings to name but two. As the series progressed it gained in popularity; by Caesar III the game was funny, beautiful and highly addicive. I must admit to you now I loved playing it and thus, I was first in line to get my hands on the next version of the game.

So what happens in Caesar? Well, you build a Roman city from scratch in a variety of locations with different types of resources. You're given a choice of two types of task to complete at the start of every campaign mission. This allows you to choose between a military styled mission, or an economic styled mission. In previous versions of the game the military aspect wasn't that special, however the economic side worked brilliantly. As I played through this game I could tell that certainly hadn't changed.

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If you download the demo (which you can get here) you will be faced with the challenge of setting up a settlement by the river. Fortunately the demo gives you almost unlimited money and a massive supply of gold, iron, clay and timber (the major resources). This makes the demo kind of like a sandbox, where you can play around with all the features to your hearts content. The game feels very similar to its predecesors despite the fact that everything has gone 3D. I was able to jump right in and get going, for those new to the series though there is a helpful pop up system to guide you through the initial ins and outs.

Your first task is to get some people living in your new town, that's easy enough; with a few mouse clicks we have some low ranking homes adjacent to a nice straight Roman road. The people need things to do though, so you set them up to gather the raw materials I mentioned earlier, a granary and storage area later and you're collecting food, wood, iron and clay in abundance.

All these goods mean nothing without somewhere to buy them from, so next up is a market - and little Romans need water too so a moment later you have a reservoir and fountains to provide them with water. Your city starts to take shape and before you know it you have religious buildings, maintenance buildings, an arena, a hippodrome - the list goes on and on. The game sucks you in because you want to see it develop, your nurturing the city how you see fit; it feels personal and it feels good.

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The game has other complexities that make it even more engrossing. The trade system works particularly well, as does the advisor system. The former is fairly simple; various cities round the Empire want to give you resources whilst at the same time requiring resources they don't have. The later advisor system, works as a way of guiding you on prioritising what buildings and issues you should build and, well, address.

This can get quite frantic at times, especially as the city develops and the complex employment system hangs in the balance. Too many unemployed people and crime will rise, if crime rises your people get unhappy, if they are unhappy then they won't pay their taxes, which means no money, which means no building. The whole game is a process of balance , you do so much in one direction and then do so much in the other to try and keep things stable.

A big leap forward for the series is the graphics in the latest version, the little characters going about their daily lives look brilliant as do the buildings and scenery. One thing I'm not too keen on is the changing weather conditions. I found it difficult to play the game when it was misty, which I assume was the point - but it didn't make the game any more fun, more like frustrating.