It's Rome: Total War, the 1990's version. Simple and to the point.
ROMAN DOMINION IN 10 HOURS FLAT
Centurion is a game of Roman domination. As a budding military commander in the Roman Empire, your task would be, very simply, to control all of the known world. You do this by waging war on any and all neighbours. But where Rome: Total War goes into intricate details, micromanagement, and complex political systems, Centurion keeps it simple, and adds in a lot of fun extra elements in just the right quantity to keep it from getting repetitive.
About half of the game takes place on the world map, showing the various territories for domination. There are not too many territories, perhaps 30 or 40 in all, and you would have to conquer all of them. This is done by moving your armies into a neighbouring territory. You'll be given a description of the native people and their leader (different for each territory!), their courage and strength, as well as their general attitude towards you. You usually have one chance of diplomacy with them, which is done through a simple multiple-choice dialog. While you might be able to get an alliance out of the negotiations, more often it fails miserably, putting you into combat mode.
ME AN' MY COHORTS, THAT'S WHO!
In combat, you'll see an isometric view of the battlefield, with your troops and the enemy troops arrayed at opposite points on the map. Each "cohort" (a group of warriors) is represented as a separate unit, and you can use a multiple-choice display to arrange them in all manners of pre-set formations, like "Wedge" or "Line", etc. Once you're fine with your setup, you can choose one of the pre-set tactics for your army based on the formation you've chosen, so for instance a Wedge formation can do a "Cannae Tactic" whereby your middle troops retreat while your flanks advance, to create a sort of trap down the center. The selected tactic is not a cage however, as you can pause the battle at any time and give new marching orders to individual units. That means battles are often quite fluid despite those pre-set tactics.
Whenever two units meet, they will begin to fight until one or the other is destroyed (or routs). The idea is naturally to get your best units to meet the easiest prey at the best time, and eventually to get several units attacking one enemy cohort from several sides to expedite its collapse.
During the battle, one of your units is the general, who has a "command radius" around him. You'll want to keep the general close to your troops because you can only issue orders to troops within the radius. Also, the general inspires his troops, augmenting their battle prowess. But should the General die, this will demoralize all your troops and may cause capitulation. Naturally, this is what you'll want to do to your enemy's general if you can. Each army you create has a different general with different stats for his "command radius" and his "command ability". The generals you'll receive have names, and some are actual historic Roman commanders. Likewise, enemy generals will be named after their historic leaders too.
Enemy army composition can vary widely depending on the local population. Some natives only have horsemen, while others rely on phalanx, or cunning combinations of both. Elephants will also appear as you near the endgame. Again, each enemy nation will display a different range of tactics and abilities in combat, and there are many different nations in the game. On harder difficulty settings, the AI is quite adept at flanking and surprising you, and some armies (like the Greeks or Egyptians) are inherently more powerful than others.
EMPIRES DON'T COME CHEAP
The strategic game is not overly complex, but does offer a lot of options, some of which are quite fun. In essence, as you advance your armies you'll have the option to levy a tax from the local population. Naturally, if you set it too high for too long, the locals will revolt and you will have to subdue them again. Set it too low, and you may not have enough money to raise the armies you need. Your empire will constantly come under assault from neighbouring territories, or even across the sea, so you'll need combat readiness in each of your border areas. That costs money, of course.
To counter the effects of high taxation, you can choose to pay money to throw various types of games and entertainment for your people. Most interestingly, if Rome itself is ever discontent, you will have to throw the most extravagant games of all - Gladiatorial fights and Chariot races. These are not just choices on a menu, in fact you'll be participating in the event!
THROW IN SOME ACTION!
The Gladiatorial fights are rather basic one-on-one fights from a "side perspective" (think of Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter). They're very simple, with your only options being to attack and defend, crouch and stand, and move back and forth. Aside from the health meter for each combatant, you'll also see an "approval" meter that shows how much the crowd is pleased by the current performance. If you let the battle rage for too long with one side constantly defending, this meter will go down (a boring fight). Your task would be not necessarily to win but to try and maximize public approval by fighting quickly and ruthlessly.
At the start of the fight you get to choose to contestants on either side, from a range of slaves, skilled gladiators, and even wild animals (panthers and leopards). Each combatant has a certain skill level, which will determine how well he fights. There's of course an incentive to choose a weaker combatant under player control - any blow landed by a weak combatant on a strong combatant will generate more public approval, so the weaker your fighter the better your chances of improving Rome's attitude. As a bonus, combat ends with the befitting "thumbs up thumbs down" choice, where you get to choose whether your gladiator should kill or spare his enemy. Your choice will also affect the approval of the audience, so you'll want to pay close attention to whether or not your opponent has generated a lot of approval from the crowd during the fight (in which case you'll do better to let him live).
Chariot fights are another action-oriented part of the game. You'll get to choose a chariot based on several simple stats (like speed or turning rate) and race it around the track against 3 other chariots. The goal of course is to reach the finish line first, without having your chariot disintegrate on the way. This is difficult because any collision between two chariots can be fatal (watch those overtakes!), and because you have to maintain a certain low speed and good turning rate to make those tight turns at the end of the stadium. You can also choose which type of chariots will participate in the race (light, medium, heavy) which affects the nature of the race itself (the heavy chariots are more durable to collisions, but harder to turn).
Yet another action minigame is the somewhat obscure naval combat. You will train not only armies but also boats of various types and sizes. These will be sent into the mediterranean to subdue encroaching naval barbarians. The fights take place in top-down view, with both ships trying to maneuver in and out of each other's arrow range. An on-board catapult is a powerful weapon that you can fire, but only straight ahead (making it hard to aim). Finally, at close range you can shoot Greek Fire at the other ship, in the hope of burning it into the water, or ram the enemy ship and hope your men can kill theirs better. The controls for naval fights are a bit quirky, so even a superior force is not guaranteed victory, but on the whole it's a fun break from land combat.
SEE YOU ALL IN 476!
As you gain territories, your standing in the Roman empire will increase, allowing you to command more armies simultaneously, and allowing individual armies to become larger than before. Eventually, you will have armies outfitted with infantry, horsemen, and even elephants. By this time you will be fighting equally powerful opponents, such as the great Egyptian nation and eventually Carthage. Knowing when to pull your armies back for reequipment, and when to bleed the locals dry for tax money, will ensure that your advance is fluid and rapid. Once you've taken all of the territories on the map, the game will end triumphantly.
The length of the game, on average, can take just several hours, which makes this game much more suitable for those who don't plan to spend days surveying their options and scheming elaborate strategies like in later, more complex games such as Rome: Total War. The idea in Centurion is to give you a fun environment for Roman Domination, not bog you down in pointless details. I believe that they managed to achieve this goal quite well, and their presentation was so sleek that the game continues to be interesting even now that we have Rome: Total War.
In other words, I heartily recommend Centurion to anyone who found Total War to be too long or too complex, and also to anyone with interest in the Roman Empire. It's fluid, it's simple, and most of all it's a load of fun!