Caesar IV

I have been addicted to the Sierra city building series for as long as I can rememeber. I have spent hours and hours, weeks, days, months, building Roman, Egyptian and Greek cities, so, when Caesar IV was announced last year, I marked it in my calendar, and starting counting down the days.

The release day has come and gone, and I have slowly started playing the ‘new and improved’ Caesar.

The interface is the biggest source of pleasure, and the greatest pain in the arse. The new 3d feel is great, but the game is a little difficult to manoeuvre, especially the whole right-mouse-button-rotate-thing. Sometimes, it rotates a little, sometimes, it rotates far too much, and, sometimes, it does something completely different. The buttons seem to behave the same way, where sometimes, you can click all you want, and diddly happens.

 

Game play, on the other hand, is great. The game is far harder than its predecessor, and I haven’t been able to find any cheats, which means I have to actually build cities that generate their own money!! (and I am enjoying it too)

The gods are also a little sensitive, and actually want shrines where the citizens can worship, otherwise they destroy your buildings.

Invaders can also be bought off – just make sure the price you pay isn’t more than a rebuild would cost.

 

I am not entirely sure I would spend as much time on this game as I have on previous editions, but it is slowly growing on me.