Grand Ages: Rome

75

Grand Rome

Grand Ages: Rome is a spiritual successor to the great city building series like Caesar and Pharaoh. In Grand Ages: Rome we construct huge roman cities and manage its daily routines. Graphically it is a great looking game both aesthetically and how accurately it depicts a roman city.

Although the management and the city building mechanics are not as complex or deep as you might have seen in other city building games like SIMCITY, but in my view Grand Ages: Rome tries to keep things simple deliberately by removing the more deeper aspects like connecting the city and loads of micromanagement in the favor of more accessible gameplay. This results in a more fluid and east to 'pick and play' gaming experience. The BATTLE system of the game is not as proficient as a regular RTS game and this is the case with almost all city building games. So if you are looking for an enjoyable city building experience, Grand Ages: Rome is an appropriate choice.

86

Absolutely Fine

I spent a couple of days considering whether to buy this or not. Online reviews had criticized it, but mainly for the similarity to previous games in the series. Obviously, this doesn't really count if you've not played any of the series.

In the end I purchased Grand Ages: Rome to have a nice relaxing Sunday morning game. And I'm glad I did!

I was a big fan of Caesar 3 back in the day, and if you know that game then know that GA:R is a bit simpler, with a lot of resource management automated. However, in being simpler, it is more accessible, and it's certainly quite pretty.

Grand Ages Rome is a great game for just kicking back and building cities. It does what it set out to do and it does it well.

94

Grand Fun

This may have one of the most enjoyable & varied campaigns in a city-builder game I've seen in a long time. There is a pleasant variation in the missions, and you can pick and choose your path through it. I would say that structures all have a unique purpose, there isn't much redundancy. There's a smartly balanced level of depth and management, as the game gives you clues as to how to get your structures working well together. This could have been done badly, but you still have a good amount of control and many forced situations. I even enjoyed the army units quite a bit, while it's not as in depth as some strategy games, they still have character and some purpose.

I would say that for all this game does, it balances it all quite well without getting overwhelming or being generic, and above all, remaining fun. It does a few things I especially like. There are some missions that tend to finish quickly, but it gives the option to keep playing that mission. I find this very nice, as you usually have a huge territory to build upon. That's where some real secondary value comes into it, trying to keep your city pumping along the more you reach out into the territory, it also doesn't tend to lock you from using particular units or structures. There is also a reward system for doing unique things, such as finishing a number of buildings in quick succession, the game will then reward with faster construction during the mission. There are a lot of nice little touches to this game that make me see a good deal of replay potential, I highly recommend it.

90

Very good mix of strategy and sim.

Ever wondered how it's like to build Rome? They say that Rome wasn't built in a day - but now you have opportunity to do this! You have plenty of historical buildings and units to choose from, to created your perfect city and army. I have to warn you - fighting is not the strongest part of this game - it's rather simple and symbolic (even though you can give direct orders to your army) - in most cases, biggest army is the winner. Better part of the game is simulation of city life - yuo have to think about transportation of water and goods to your citizens, and many many other details. But once you're finished, it's very pleasant to watch how the city prospers (also because of the good graphics!) Don't forget to buy the expansions!