I am a huge fan of building/simulation games. I had played Caesar II at someone else's house and almost bought it for myself when I realized that Caesar III was coming out. I decided to wait.
I finally bought myself a copy of this game and sat down to play. My first impression was WOW! The graphics in this game are stunning. The movies are crisp and smooth and truly a pleasure to watch. This one is definitely eye candy overload. The online tutorial is pretty good, but lacks some of the basics. I was three cities into the game before I realized some of my early mistakes.
In order to play this game well, I highly recommend reading the 200 page book that comes with the game. I am not a big fan of instruction manuals and usually don't bother, but this game is so intricate and micro-management is so intense, the manual is almost a necessity to understand some of the nuances of the game. Fortunately, it is well written, easy to follow, and almost delightful to read.
The game allows a lot of freedom of choice in your city layout. Each landscape contains certain raw materials and conditions appropriate for certain crops. Based on those, you chose which industries you want to indulge in and whether you want to create just enough for your own city, or set up a successful import/export trade.
This game offers the element of fighting, but frankly that's not my bag. Actually, when you get right down to it, I don't have a clue about fighting. As you progress in the game toward the end, it becomes necessary to house, train, and manage troops, but I haven't gotten to that point yet and may quit when I do. I personally wish the makers had put in a way to turn that feature off if you don't desire it.
Another feature I wish had been incorporated (that Maxis wisely included) is the option to turn off disasters. Sometimes the disasters in this game get really frustrating. They are too true to life and occasionally impossible to recover from. A nice option, in the event of a total wipe out is the option to replay the map.
In addition to natural disasters, which are bad enough, you have internal problems in your city to deal with. Buildings collapse or catch fire all too frequently. With a large city, you can spend time just going from fire to fire rebuilding what fell down without time for new growth and development. And then there are the gods...these guys need a hobby. You have five of them to appease and they ARE a persnickity lot. You have to build temples to them (an equal number for everyone), host festivals in their honor, and still they may ruin your crops, sink your ships, or attack your city. Fortunately, there IS the option to turn their effects off. You still have to build the temples and hold the festivals or the people will be disgruntled, but at least you won't have Venus casting a black cloud over the mood of your people.
Aside from the "career" track where you attempt to rise in rank from Citizen to Caesar, there is a City Builders Mode that just allows you to build. I haven't tried that too much yet, but I may if I get too frustrated with the "career" track. On that note, the career track offers two choices in tracks. There is the peaceful track, where you work mostly on building and managing a booming city; then there is the dangerous track where you operate in more hazardous locations and are forced to defend your city on a regular basis.
Overall, the game play is nice, the micro management is intense, and the graphics are awesome. The game has a few too many built-in frustrations for my taste, but it is still a great game. It has been out long enough now that I got it on the bargain table and therefore am not too put out by these frustrations.
It is a good game for its genre. The enhancements over Caesar II are tremendous. Compared to the Sim games, this one has more of a win/lose tactic and therefore makes it more of a game than a toy. Unlike most of the Sim games, you CAN lose this game and lose it quickly and frequently. In addition to supporting your own city, you also have to supply Caesar with produce from time to time. Failure to do so can cause Roman soldiers to come and take your city back from you.
Check out my other items ! ********** CAESAR III game for the PC Brand new, factory sealed! Windows 95/98/Me/XP/Vista compatible Fun and educational! ...More at eBay
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