Imperium Romanum Gold Edition is the highly successful city building strategy game from Kalypso Media, combining the original full version of Imperium Romanum with the Imperium Romanum Emperor Expansion pack. Developed by Haemimont Games who really specialise in the subject of ancient Rome, it’s only natural that their games have been evolving and developing along the way allowing the best elements to surface.
The games’ timeline stretches from a foundling Roman republic to the peak of the Roman Empire depending ,of course, on your building and management abilities. As with all new city building games the first questions are going to be about the new features and the interface.
I don’t think I have come across quite such an elaborate yet easy to use interface in any previous strategy games. Framing the screen, the panels are arranged unobtrusively around the main game window. In the top left hand corner you have your main menu as well as warnings and progress indicators, along the bottom of the screen your inventory is displayed, the “tablets” on screen provide challenges.
The game is presented in full 3D where you can scroll, rotate and zoom. Meaning you can view your city from eye or birds-eye level
Right click your mouse anywhere on your screen and a “wheel” will appear indicating build menu. This is a particularly nice feature as when you hover over any of the category another sub menu appears around it .One click of the mouse and a shadow style building will appear to be sited and spinning the circular menu rotates the building. Construction has never been so easy! There is a wealth of building types to choose from along with wooden and stone villas there’s also alters and temples to be built as well as entertainment venues such as the colliseum and fortifications such as Hadrians wall. Sourcing the materials can be cumbersome as the nearest mine can be quite a distance away but the houses do upgrade themselves when appropriate.
The forum, as in any Roman town/ city is the heart and everything radiates outward from it.
Managing your people is a huge factor, neglect them and the unemployed will start riots and torch buildings etc. Allocate your settlers good jobs and the neighborhood flourishes however, if a household becomes poor its members may turn to crime. One feature is the use of currency providing a real time economy so trading becomes an essential element in development and survival.
As we know from history the Roman Empire was also a mighty military force and, although this element of the game has been tweaked, I feel it was probably the weakest part of the game.
There are fortifications and military units – infantry, archers and cavalry. Deploying your army is a one click operation as is the attack command. Unfortunatley it’s all too easy and you’re not met with too much resistance. I think the concept for military action is already there , it all seems to have been thought out well such as the different divisions, keeping the army supplied, the different formations in battle etc. It was just the battles weren’t a big enough challenge.
Back to the main menu and there are four main sections to choose from – tutorial, scenarios, history and Rome.
Tutorials are self explanatory but the controls etc are so easy to use I jumped right in. Scenarios gives you a free run so to speak with no particular tasks to complete but offers a “what if ?” question of a society deprived of resources or under attack. Create your own and watch the outcome.
History is very specific getting you to complete all tasks within the timeline to unlock the next mission
Rome is an established city but you have to continue its success by trading etc throughout the empire
All in all, I’ve been playing Imperium Romanum Gold Edition for a couple of weeks now and barely feel as though I have scratched the surface. The interface while containing some impressive features is pretty easy to pick up and a beginner to the genre would have no difficulty getting into the game. The replay value is immense with plenty of missions and the scenario mode. Graphics are top notch with detailed environments and showing such things as grass bending in the wind and water effects really bringing the scenes to life. You will also not be confined to Rome and will visit campaigns Britain, Germany and Africa. Although this is not a genre I would normally dabble in I was very impressed and would recommend not only to seasoned city builders but also beginners.
