Imperium Romanum

Rating Everyone Genre strategy Publisher SouthPeak Games External Links South Peak Games Website

Build, Reign, Defend. Those are the first words you will see when you pick up a copy of the new SouthPeak Games title Imperium Romanum. An interesting promise, or perhaps more accurately a boast, and one I am eager to test to the fullest.

Build. Well there certainly is no false advertising in this word, as Imperium Romanum is almost completely, to it's very core, a city builder. You start out with a basic Forum, which contains a generous amount of slaves in order to build your new city. Starting with a few simple houses and farms, your city will quickly begin to expand as you attempt to gather more resources in order to progress, and upkeep, your personal city. But don't think you can get away with just throwing buildings down left and right. Every building has a specific radius of effect to the buildings around it, and it is very important that you design your city so that you can provide your citizens with their required needs in order to make them happy. After all, a happy city is a city not trying to kill you in your sleep.

Several options are provided to the player for their construction needs; Production, Military, Food, Support, Basic, Public, Aesthetic, and Monuments. While each option is important to the overall success of your city, Aesthetic and Monuments are the deceptive kings of the construction must-haves. As your city prospers and more important families begin to rise, it is important that you can cater to their desires. A Lady doesn't want to stare at a Pig Farm all day, she wants to watch the gladiators duel at the Coliseum. As many of the Monuments can function as more powerful substitutions for the basic buildings, their placement becomes key to the welfare of your city.

Reign. This seems a strange choice of words, considering the facts of the game. I realize, in a conceptual form, this refers to the fact that you own the city your are creating, and have final word on how the city is designed. Make no mistake however, your choices are dictated completely by the will of the people and the surrounding environment, and players will quickly learn just how little power they truly have. As with life, construction of your city requires materials and, more importantly, money. While you start out with a basic supply, it is only through the diligence of your people that you are able to maintain a lasting monument to your ingenuity in the world.

And by the diligence of your people, I mean that literary. Players have absolutely no control over the lives of the people that live in their cities, short of building new houses and jobs for the people to occupy. This makes production and maintenance completely dependent on the moods of the people, and quickly becomes the driving force of the entire game. In this regards, Reign was clearly not the word to chose, as you are more accurately a slave to the demands of your citizens.

Defend. All cities built in the golden age of Rome, at least according to this version of Rome, are constantly in the presence of Barbarians. While not always hostile defending against their attacks becomes a major concern in the later stages of the game, as a single raiding force can wipe out half of your city, sparking a rebellion in the other half that leaves only a smoking pile of ash on the ground. Sadly, the combat aspect of Imperium Romanum is never truly realized, as the simplistic combat system fails to give you the feeling of commanding one of the greatest armies in history.

So, with one out of three, Imperium Romanum has failed to live up to their catchy sales pitch. Still, don't sell this game out just yet. Three different play styles are provided to the player, and each has it's own unique take on the gaming concept. Historical Mode sets you as the ruler of a Roman city. Missions are given to the player in correspondence to historical events, such as the formation of the Senate, and require the player to complete several objectives before being allowed to progress further up the time line. This is a brilliant way in order to provide factual information to the players, and I could see this as a potential tool set for Elementary schools (And the government says games are bad for children).

Scenario Mode gives the player a basic map in which to construct the city of their dreams, while providing a wide range of difficulty for each map. While certain maps will allow you to explore your creative side with little consequence, other maps will hit you with the most devastating of assaults from the moment you begin and never let you take a breath. Be prepared to watch your city burn more then once in this mode. Rome Mode is a blend of a single Scenario Mode with the mission objectives of Historical Mode. The player must maintain the city of Rome and attempt to build the great Monuments of Rome while keeping your people content.

Graphically, Imperium Romanum is a mixed bag. While the buildings and environmental are nicely designed and painstakingly textured, the citizens themselves seem to have been given less polish and often appear unimpressive next to their inanimate cousins. Still, many fine touches have been added to the game that, while not immediately apparent, or even important, are still nice to see in any title. One such effect, the pigs wallowing in the mud on the farm, while not important to the game in any way shape or form, shows a level of commitment to the feel of the game that I must, at the very least, applaud. Added to this is a simplified interface that provides more then adequate information without being more complex then a single mouse click. Bravo!

Imperium Romanum is a graphically impressive city builder that, while not bringing anything new to the genre, at least provides an educational experience that is usually lacking in many of today’s titles. While not nearly as tasking as trying to command the entire Afterlife (Fear my Paradise Dice puny Souls!) Imperium Romanum will still provide fans of the genre hours and hours of building fun.