As the title states, this game is truly a masterpiece. There has been a slew of "city-builders" released at around the same time (essentially same games with different themes ie Zeus, Pharaoh, Emperor) but Ceasar III really stands out. It's polished, the systems make sense and function as expected, in all my time with this game I've barely had any issues, and none of them bigger then minor annoyances. If you're a fan of city-building and games that are more about managing the economy as opposed to fighting. Although there are times when you'll have to get your hands bloody in this game as well, but when you're given a choice of provinces there's usually a peaceful one to pick. At this point (2013) Ceasar IV may be a better option. It's got a 3D engine so it's capable of much more realistic looking environments, though the game does lose some visual charm, CIV is not as colorful as this game.
This game, while never really making it big, did manage to collect a loyal fan-base. Largely because DR really stood out, there were a number of mechanics that were not seen in similar titles of that period. Something as basic as playing the campaign and having the ability to play each mission from either side without interrupting the flow or re-starting the campaign quickly drew in the people who were exposed to it. The ability to set your unit's behavior is still largely unmatched, add on top of that the ability to set up patrol routes for your units, something I have not seen any game do before, gave the player the tools to really manage their bases. With a decent patrol route set up and a few units following it you will never be surprised by an attack. The resources system was also very interesting, it allowed the player to either wait a little longer and get the full payout or if one needs funds immediately that could also be done but the amount would be much lower. One mechanic I found really great in situations where a large force is needed is that building multiples of the same unit production facility would actually speed up the production at all facilities of that type, it makes sense from a realistic view because obviously having more experience at something will improve the speed. I could go on and on about Dark Reign for a bit, it was the *only* PC game I bought until well into 2000s.
Dark Reign 2 is a decent RTS game, but for a number of reasons (some well deserved) it never became a popular title. Personally, after playing the masterpiece that was Dark Reign, this second installment is poor in almost every aspect. The attempt to go for hi-tech graphics largely misfired because while the engine may be advanced the actual graphics are not very good. Whereas the first game actually looked good, the scenery was pleasing to the eye the second game is a lot more barren and jaggedy. I also felt that the first game was truly ground-breaking, a lot of the mechanics that they used are today considered the norm for RTS games, for example being able to set your unit's behavior, not just aggressive/neutral/defensive but also set the point when your units flee to heal up, or even if they flee at all. The ability to set patrol routes for your units was another thing I haven't seen in any previous games. But I think the biggest reason DR2 didn't really take off is that it was released around the time when RTS was going really strong as a genre. With titles like C&C, Warcraft, Starcraft, along with a slew of other RTS and TBS games there simply was no fan-base to really make DR2 a lasting franchise. All in all this is not a game I would recommend to anybody but big fans of the original Dark Reign, and then only because it carries the same name. When Dark Reign did a lot of new and original things, Dark Reign 2 just follows the general formula set by earlier RTS titles.
