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- CivCity: Rome
CivCity: Rome
- August 10, 2006 15:55 PM PST
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For PC gamers of all stripes have wiled away countless hours with the Civilization series, constructing vast empires and waging war on a global scale. CivCity: Rome, a city building off-shoot inspired by the Civilization 'verse, gives weary despots a chance to trade in global conflict for something a little bit closer to home. But does it offer the same thrills as its bigger cousin?
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Protip: Low unemployment levels make for happy (and fully clothed) citizens
CivCity: Rome presents would-be rulers with two gameplay options. The first is a campaign mode which gradually schools you on the game's inner workings then graduates you to full blown missions. The other mode offers a series of contained scenarios with an overall objective that must be met. A map editor is also included for would-be city planners who want to get their hands truly dirty. If it all sounds familiar, that's because it is, and there is little to distinguish this game from others of its ilk.
If You Build It
Once you pick your poison, you'll spend a healthy portion of your time trying to keep your developing city healthy while striving towards your main mission objectives. As the leader of the city, you have the ability to control everything from the citizens' rations to the construction of new buildings and farms. The game quickly becomes a delicate balancing act of not only keeping your people fed and happy but also of keeping the lines of production open. Every action you take directly affects the happiness of your city and that in turn affects the production level of your workforce, resulting in a lot of fine tuning as you try to keep things running like clockwork.
Idle Hands
Protip: Make sure to build multiple fire and security towers
Aside from assigning your workers jobs, you'll also have to provide them with goods and services to keep them content. In time, your citizens' needs will become more sophisticated and range far beyond mere sustenance and shelter. They'll require things like religion and entertainment to keep them occupied and one of the game's many challenges lies in finding the space to erect these critical buildings. Careful planning is necessary to ensure that specialists like butchers and carpenters are located where the average citizen can easily access their services.
You will also have to concern yourself with other civic necessities such as building roads, establishing trade routes and researching new techs to keep the wheels of progress churning. The game's interface can prove to be an impediment to successful city management, however, as you'll most likely end up wading through a sea of information laden screens than in the actual game; it's an unfortunate and unavoidable fact of life as there really is no other way of gauging your progress. There are also a seemingly infinite amount of things that can go wrong and there are times you when you can actually see a crisis coming but, due of the complexity of the interface, are unable to effectively plan for it.
It becomes especially maddening when you're trying to navigate a heavily developed city where one errant mouse click can banish an otherwise productive structure to the ether. Missions can also degenerate into protracted waiting games as you sit and watch the objective indicators creep towards the finish line. It's enough to give even the most patient civic leader a headache.
It Pays To Be Civilized
Though CivCity: Rome shares certain qualities with the namesake series that gave it life, it fails to live up to the lofty standards that come with the Civilization name. Fans of city building games might enjoy this one but fans expecting another dose of Civ goodness should probably look elsewhere.
Protip: Open space is at a premium so plan and build accordingly
