I've waited a long time for another City Builder to come out in 3rd dimension... but never have I been so disappointed.
User Rating: 5.8 | Caesar IV PC
I've been playing this game since I first got it, as I'm a great believer with the "don't knock it until you try it" policy. Before I begin, I must say that I've also been playing 'Company of Heroes' just before I got this game, and I was impressed by the way everything looked so real even when you zoomed in on the people. Now, I've been waiting for Caesar IV for a long time, and I see all of these 'beautiful' pictures of the city, but I was NOT impressed with the graphics engine of the game really. Sure it runs smooth for the most part, but after waiting this long for a game of this magnitude, I was surprised that Sierra had not thought outside the box with their ideas, and with their graphics. If you read any of my other reviews, you'll see that I'm a fair judge with reviews, and even sometimes I may give a game a higher score just because they had an excellent idea with replayability value. Sadly, Caesar IV does not. Here's my beef with Caesar IV. As already stated, I was not impressed with the graphics at all. Here's why: The year is 2006. Most people have decent computers now, and can handle this game, and if not, games now days are VERY leanient with being able to turn down graphics on the settings options. I was expecting a VERY realistic-looking game, but when you actually play the game, you have basic 'blobs' for people, and the buildings do look sort of cartoonish. My question is "WHY?!" The same company that makes "FEAR" has great technology and skill... so I can't understand WHY everything looks like a cartoon, and doesn't have a real feel at all. Minus the water and rocks, even the trees and landscape doesn't have a real feel to it. I was also wondering why you can't terriform the terrain; the Romans did it all the time in the capital city... why can't we? So, for me, graphics is a big deal. If you can get a game like 'Company of Heroes' to look that good with a map that size... why in the WORLD can't we see a realistic looking city-builder like that? It's 2006 people! LOL So, let's think positive: What did I like about the game? I liked the structural feel of the game, with the different classifications of citizens. Although I DO have a beef with that too (sorry). In CivCity, citizens have the OPTION to do well and expand into better environments... and you could follow the citizen's progress (they would actually move to a different area of your city too)... I liked that. But I DO like how Caesar IV separates it in such a way that these three class types have a specific strategical role in how your city functions with labour and taxation. I also liked the camera movements. I had to invert them, but they were smooth, and worked well in the game. What I'm a HUGE fan of in the Caesar series is this: Buildings around housing have a positive or negative effect on the desireability of the land. This is a good feature because this is how people really think in real life, and it really WOULD effect how a house would or would not expand. The military feature is also disappointing, and another area where (I'm sorry but) I have to say, "It's 2006 people!" Like before, if they have the technology to make FEAR, they can make units look and feel better and more realistic. Battles, I'm sorry to say, seem to have NO strategy involved at all... which is not like real life... and actually WOULD effect the city in real life.. both financially, and physically. For example, if persay, I have been good at using my terrain to defend, shouldn't that give me an upper hand? NOPE.. not really. It's just this: units are given a hit point system, and they're very similar to each other, so that you have to have equal forces to theirs to quash them... BOOO. Business and raw materials also do NOT have a realistic feel to them. Clay pits and mines are little squares and are easy-to-find eye sores that somehow are already dug out for you and ready to go. This disappoints me because the builder has no choice where to build a clay pit, and it looks rediculous to have a newly-starting city with a clay pit already dug. Ok.. 'nough said. If you like a game from 2003, this is for you, and you'll have fun with it.. as it's built around fun, and obviously not for looks or realsim. I like to design my city, but I don't think it does it's job to really get you INTO the Roman era. They crashed and burned on graphics, and they crashed and burned on realism. I do think that the 'pre-order video' does though... and in my opinion, it was worth my money, just because of that movie LOL.
