This is amazing! I already wrote a couple of reviews stating how much I dislike Caesar III mechanics, yet this game using those is amazing! And again, I am not driven by nostalgia, as this is a game I discovered not so long ago. The graphics are really beautiful: I learned a lot about Ancient China, and the cities are really fun to build! Even with walker machanics, they are done on a way, and with so many tools to control those walkers that actually you can build cities as you want to and the engine will adapt to your way instead of doing the opposite! This game seriously rocks, and even if ti was quite old when I discovered it, I still spend hours and hours playing it!
I am a sucker for ancient Roman history: It started when I was 5 years old and still strong today: I tried all of the Caesar series so I can compare.... Caesar 2 my favourite so far: offering the perfect balance. Caesar 1 was the most realistic, but suffered from really ugly graphics and dreadful interface which seriously hindered playability. Caesar 3 was just a plain Roman tetris clone where your enemies where the stupid mechanics, but offered cute graphics... and Caesar 2's interface! C2 stands in the middle, closer to the original: A really wonderful interface, cutsey graphics, and quite realistic. Actually the province level (killed in Caesar 3) is much better than the original, and let you control production of natural resources to be processed into goods, and control the trade much better! It also started with the walker mechanics (when you are forced to place 2-3 markets next to a house to ensure that house has access to it, you'll understand, plus only markets and factories have that problem), but it is not as horrible as in Caesar 3. And maps are WAY bigger than Caesar 4, so you have the perfect balance between realism, building freedom and enjoyment as a game. Many other mechanics are a bit hidden, like unemployment, unrest, etc, but make a lot of sense: A very different culture, or lazyness into "Romanizing" trival towns can cause riots, pe, so is not only unemployment and taxes, like modern games.... This game looks simple at a first glance, but o boy, it turns out to be deep and complete! I miss many of Caesar 1 and 2 features into 3 and 4, to the point I don't play the last two at all anymore as they where amazing at the time but aged like milk! This one should not disappoint you if you love realistic strategy games and history.
I can't believe my luck! Caesar 1 and Caesar 2 where added to GOG.COM! If you are a sucker for historical accuracy, by far Caesar 1 is the closest you are ever going to get to realistic Roman city building so far! (well, if you are so picky you should go for the C64 original version who still uses "slaves" instead of "plebs", but otherwise is quite identical). Forget about walker mechanics and think closer to a realistic way, where you provide services and trade (ok, still has limitations, as buildings work on an "area of effect" basis, and being one square too far will mean that house can't access a market or bathhouse ). If we speak of mechanics Caesar 1 is superior to 2 and waaaay superior to 3, still it has its flaws which make me prefer Caesar 2, pe: What are those flaws comparing to C2? Well, to start an absolute dreadful interface: One of the worst I ever use on a strategy game!, the second one is that the province level pales in comparison with C2... Still, the city level is far superior. The music is as awesome as C2, and the graphics... well, they are quite bad, but they have their charm. I really recommend giving this game a try, and openly wish a reboot of this game with better interface. If you have patience and love realistic simulation, please spend some time getting used to the interface, and I promise you won't regret it! I started with C2 and played the original game less than a year ago. The hours it hooked me can't be counted, so I am not talking from a nostalgic point of view!. If you are a sucker for Roman history, you'll be amazed about the love and care put into this title: It is a bit like watching HBO'S Rome: Lots of artistic licenses (like saying Christians got killed before the supposed age Christ was born, but putting lots of other realistic details)... This game CAN make you feel like you are building a REAL Roman city... If you can have a blind eye with ugly graphics and horrible interface!
Caesar IV solves the main problem of Caesar III (stupid walker mechanics) and lets you be much more creative.... to a certain extent. This is the first game where I had problems finishing the tutorial: Finding it hard. Was it because of its complex mechanics and challenging gameplay? Well, no.... It is because buildings are huge, maps tiny (and let's say 60% of maps by average have obstacles that won't allow you to build on it). To make it worse they didn't implement Caesar's II and I province mechanics, so your tiny, mostly useless map will have to deal with services, housing, industry, military and storage. Caesar III was not a strategy game, it was a puzzle game where you had to try maximizing your stupid walkers. Caesar IV is another puzzle, but more of the tetris type, where you have to sweat and fight for every inch of the map so you can fit that last building you desperately need.... most of the times after bulldozng an important area of your city on the process
People tend to compare this title with "Pharaoh", a game using Caesar's III engine. To be fair, the only thing in common would be the historical setting! This game has more to do with Caesar 1 or 2, but much improved: You are not dealing with a puzzle game here, where you need to constantly fit as much as a pre designed pattern possible to negate the effect of stupid walkers, you'll have on your hands a true strategy/city building game! Every citizen would travel any distance to get his goods. Gone are ridiculous concept like the "market lady" needing to knock each door to offer its goods, or devolving homes because they don't know how to access the service next door... The citizens can go up or down on the social ladder depending on their hard work, or your skills as a city planner (buildings have an unlimited area of effect, but you want to make them easy to access and not overcrowded). Realistic mechanics according to the time period and civilization are in place too! A "prestige" mechanic will make you seek it constantly, realistic trading and lack of money (replaced by a barter system which was what ancient Egyptians used during bronze age). Still not convinced? Let me list you some extra characteristics: All buildings need to be "built" (no instant "spawning", you'll see the worker putting all the bits and bobs ) Huge maps: This is not like Caesar IV where you'll struggle to finish the tutorial because of lack of room to place that necessary building, you have all the room you want to build! It works smoothly on a 2006 non gaming laptop, so chances are that your computer will be able to run it and take a nap at the same time. No effort!
They tend to say that second parts ain't good... this is an exception! If you loved the original Simon the Sorcerer, you'll be delighted by the second part: The humour is a little bit mature, so it is the character. In some ways, the game grew with it. The music and dialogues are amazing, so are the animations. The game is really fun and you will remember it for life: I always keep Simon 1 and 2 installed on my computer! Note that if you use Linux, you shall install Scummvm, as the playonlinux script won't work!
Alone in the Dark is plain, just amazing. Full of references to H.P Lovercraft, and a perfect ambience will captive a lot of people, and will offer a lot of playability. The puzzles are great, and you can find enough hints on what to do spattered in books, so exploring is encouraged, good to look at the amazingly drawn (for 1992) scenarios. Alone In The Dark 2 is less spectacular, however. There the saga stopped being scary and creepy, to enfatize more on an action game. The scenarios are still beautiful, but not very spectacular. Alone In The Dark 3 is much more enjoyable, but is very different to Alone In the Dark 1. Returns to the puzzles, but abandons the scary ambience for a quite lame "zombie cowboy" one. However, fun, long gameplay and really beautiful scenarios and buildings save the title
