Product Reviews

The Roman Empire has provided video gaming with more than its fair share of material over the years, but few Roman-themed titles have been as entertaining and accomplished as this top-quality city-management offering.

The premise is simple: build and manage a Roman city. You must ensure that it meets the diverse requirements of your burgeoning population by constructing houses, farms, shops, trade routes, barracks and a wide variety of entertainment venues. You can either choose to build a city from scratch or manage Rome itself - a sprawling metropolis packed with disgruntled citizens, each with their

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own demands. Watching your AI-controlled subjects go about their daily business is a real pleasure. Citizens plough fields, workers carry raw materials to construction sites and baying masses enjoy the brutality of the Colosseum.

As well as managing your city, you're also responsible for its expansion and protection. After recruiting swordsmen, archers and cavalry units, you must sally out of the confines of your walls and try to wipe out nearby barbarian tribes before they can amass a force large enough to besiege your city. However, while the combat is a welcome distraction, its lack of tactical depth makes it feel lacklustre.

Imperium Romanum is so addictive that it'll suck up endless hours of your spare time, but it's educational, too, providing you with regular nuggets of historical information about the Roman Empire. If this sounds like your idea of hell, fear not. These passages can be skipped easily, allowing you to concentrate on managing your city.

While it is not without its faults, Imperium Romanum is still one of the best historical management games of recent years. It may not be a champion, but it'll certainly get a thumbs-up from any fan of the genre.