Caesar 3

As a kid I tried playing this game, but failed to understand what I needed to do to make cities work, as I wasnt that good at reading information and strategizing. Now, being older, I wanted to try again and see if I can fair better. Although I did fair better and managed to understand how much of the things work, it isnt a fun experience. There are some issues I have with this game. First off, is that you need to often follow specific buidling strategies to be effective. Either because you need to make sure maintenance is carried out properly or houses develop properly. Its important, because if you dont then your city collapses or you dont have a proper tax base. So possibilities for variation are limited and often come out inorganic or even somewhat illogical from a normal city perspective. If you are new to this game, trial and error will be a running theme and there will be a certain lerning curve. Next off, you will require to do some micromanagent in certain situations, but interface and controls are so outdated it becomes quite a chore. This also applies to gathering information. Also, some information you dont get, like how far people can live away from their work place. There are those that are quite fine with the design of the game and others get mods to solve technical or other issues. I can definitely see why people like it a lot. Even I wanted to like this "classic". But while trying to play the missions and learning how it all works I kept catching myself on the thought that Im not enjoying myself. I caution younger or newer audiences to this genre. Despite having a lot of charm, the game also has its significant flaws.

I had, until yesterday, never played this game. I had seen it beeing played, once, by a firend of mine last year, and I was quite intruiged by it. Let's take us back to yesterday. I was on a quest to get Duke Nukem 3D (and got it) and saw this game. As I liked the oldschool strategygames that were more about thinking then clicking the mouse fast, I though that I could at least try it out. And holy damn was it good. From then, until now, I have pretty much played constantly (it's now eavning, 7pm) and I have enjoyed every minute of it. The only thing I need to say to the other newcommers of this game is the following: READ THE MANUAL(it's included with the game)! There's sooo much vital information there that the game never tells you, and if you don't read it, you'll pretty much get you ass handed to you. Shortly speaking: I strongly recomend this game, eaven if it has no nostalgic value to you.

This is not your modern sandbox style city builder, Caesar demands perfection. So expect a challenge is all i'm saying :) Requires careful planning, listen to your citizens needs and they (you) will flourish! If you're good enough :P I'm struggling but really enjoying it. If these graphics look cool to you and you feel like playing something like this than I recommend 100% it's a really well made and challenging 90's game. 4/5 from me.

This one has aged very well, indeed. The graphics are low-res but the cartoony look still works very well. The little details that give you feedback--the granaries and warehouses filling up--work very well. There are of course some things that remind you you're playing a good Old game... the lack of zoom, and (in Vista at least) I can never get it to minimize to the desktop without crashing. But it's still enormously fun... The only bad thing I can say about it, is it makes me want to play Pharaoh, which (IMO) is just a bit more fun... So GOG better get Pharaoh soon!

Review of the Original CD Release City Building is a dying breed of game, but if anything could get people interested in it. It would be this game. Planning a city seems simple, until fire strikes. Failed to build a hospital? Plague strikes! If your roads are poorly designed some people will never see a market woman and starve. There is a lot at work here, but if you put in the time to design a city well, you will be rewarded with great success. One mistake people often make is to directly compare it to Sim City. While similar in concept they differ widely in actuality. Caesar puts you much closer to the people and dealing with individual issue than Sim City does. Overall, if you like a city builder game, then get it for sure. If you have never played a city builder, give it a go. There are very few city builders better than this one!