Caesar 3

Ah I still remember putting hours of leisure time into this game back when I was 4-6 years old. Back when I could barely understand what exactly was happening in the game, I still had immense fun with it. That was 8 years ago, now back to the review. The game had interesting graphics at the time and had a subtle but worthwhile soundtrack that I never grew bored of. Albeit the learning curve of this game was in the range of difficulty medium easy-medium. The gameplay itself was addicting because you got to watch your city grow from a tiny town to a bustling trade city-state. Its a must buy if your into city-building simulations.

This game is still fresh and feels good to play. You don't have the impression of outdated options. The graphics are simple, but not unattractive. I still enjoy building a gigantic city and doing trade with my neighbors. The campaign is awesome and brings you step by step into how to build a city and suddenly throws you into a real nice challenge. The challenge rise smoothly and the game is just plain awesome.

I played this game when I was around 8 years old and bought it instantly when I saw it on here. I haven't got properly into a game for a while now but managed to spend a total of 7 hours on this over 2 days. I only stopped because I realised I hadn't done the essay I'd planned to do the day before. So much fun. Great graphics style if not a bit basic now. So much fun.

A truly wonderful manager sim where you play as a newly appointed provincial governor that will be given several different tasks by the emperor himself as you progress in the ranks. You will have to make sure that the people who come to your city have access to food, work, security and entertainment among things. Another important aspect is to establish a trade route with any of the neighbouring cities in the province. It is also important that you keep the gods happy as they can quite easily get jealous if only one of the Roman gods are worshipped in the city, they will punish you with things like making a certain amount of food in your storage just disappear, fires break out and more. This is a true gem when it comes to manager simulators and is a must play, even if you haven't played any of the earlier Caesar games.

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.