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Holiday Guide

Caesar 3

I really don’t know what is it about this time period that fascinates me so much but I really like ancient history. Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar and the list of great leaders and generals goes on for centuries. While the military achievements of these leaders are indeed impressive, the logistics of setting up a kingdom stretching the length and breath of the Roman Empire is astonishing. Think of it, no radio for communications, no bulldozers or diesel powered cranes, no modern water treatment or sewage facilities; yet, impressive cities and monuments were built that still awe us today! Caesar 3 lets you build and run a Roman city or even the empire itself. Take a dose of Sim City and a dose of Age of Empires and you have some idea of what Caesar 3 is like. It is really a city construction set, set in ancient Rome. The governor (you) has to setup trade routes, industries, markets, temples to appease the gods, arrange festivals, stamp out crime, protect the city from barbarians or worse, monitor food production, entertain the masses, and the list goes on and on. This is definitely a thinking person’s game. It’s almost impossible to jump right in and play. Each city has its particular strengths and weaknesses, which must be exploited or minimized, and even in the best of situations a poorly designed city will fail. Caesar 3 can be played as a city building exercise or in a campaign mode in which the player is given increasingly more difficult assignments by Caesar that may eventually lead to replacing the old man himself! As a city planning game, Caesar 3 is excellent but as a fighting game, it does not have the depth found in the Great Battles Series or even the Age of Empires. However it is miles ahead of that found in previous versions of Caesar. If your bent is real-time combat, Caesar 3 won’t be satisfying, but as a city building management game with some combat elements, Caesar 3 is highly recommended.

Rage of Mages

What a wonderful holiday title RoM makes for anyone new to the real-time strategy genre. It provides enough challenge to make it fun without overburdening anyone. RoM is a pleasant mix of real-time strategy/role-playing lite. It uses the strategy element from WarCraft 2, taking away any pesky resource gathering/city build-up and replaces it with a more RPG scope ala Diablo. The weapons, armor and spells are a blast to equip/use. The maps are small enough, so they can be beat long before boredom sets in, adding to the addiction of ‘just one more quest before you shut it off’ syndrome. The game is stable and ready to go right from the box. The interface and gameplay are intuitive. The graphics, though dated, are still pleasing to the eye. Though I cannot see anyone being wowed by this title, I can not see anyone being disappointed by it either.

And Now for Something Different

Even the most avid of strategy gamers, sometimes wants something a little different. There is nothing like a first person action shooter to get the blood boiling and Sierra’s new Half-Life is just the ticket. This action game requires a little more thought and strategy than most and really immerses the player into the game world. I’ve jumped out of my seat, nervously investigated dark and gloomy corridors, frightfully descended/climbed cliffs (I hate heights), and run from the tell tale "clink" of an incoming grenade. I’ve had a "blast" playing this one and I don’t even care for action games! If flight simulators are in your sights you can’t go wrong with ANY of the new WWII fighter releases: Jane’s WWII Fighters, European Air War by Microprose, and Microsoft’s Combat Flight Simulator. EAW gets high marks for drawing the player into the world of a WWII combat fighter; while, WWII Fighters has enough eye-candy to keep you coming back for more. If a space flight simulator is more to your liking, Independence War comes to mind. This game isn’t the typical space combat game, but actually models the Newtonian physics of space flight. It’s certainly NOT intuitive, but it is a challenge. For someone interested in role playing games, I would recommend Might and Magic VI, just be ready to spend a life-time to finish it. (I’m still not done!) For the golfer out there, you simply cannot beat Links LS ’99.