You gotta forgive this game for what it attempts. It is extremely ambitious, and goes where other city builders leav off
The good --
This economy is based on two classes -- the free industrialists, and their slave labor force. It is highly realistic.
Their are multiple dependencies in this game
1. Keep your people working
2. Keep your free people happy
3. Don't overwork your slaves
4. Protect your town from marauders
The graphics are nothing to shout about, but they are adequate. Once you reach a decent sized city, you'll have the look that makes you think Rome. It is convincing enough, but not very pretty. Still, It gets a strong 6 in this department.
The maps are inredibly huge! Mostly, this is because you're in tough terrain. I mean TOUGH! There are mountains that prevent one large urban sprawl. This is no cakewalk! You gotta work! You need to plan right from the get-go, and put this game on pause just to find out where the hell you're gonna build to get maximum resource output, AND in what order to build it! The facts
What People Need (for happiness)
Altars
Wheat porridge
Bread
Meat (butchered)
cloth (which needs flax farms)
water
Temples
What You Need
warehouses
prefects (and I mean NEED)
wood
stone
wheat farms
bakeries
pig farms
butchers
an army (Barracks and weaponsmiths)
gold can be mined or traded for
Here's the meat and potatoes --
Your slaves work great. Your free people are spoiled brats. You can't keep 'em happy, no matter how hard you try. Forget it! It can't be done. So, you need prefects. Prefects are both police (not very good at this) and fire departments (absolutely necessary and very good at this). You see, your spoiled brats like to rebel a lot, and their only recourse is to burn! They'll burn your town because they don't get what they want. They'll burn your bakeries because they want bread!! So, you, Ceasar, must spank the brats into submission. It is, sadly, your duty to oppress, because there's no way that even Zeus could supply these brats with their wants!
That is the jist of this game. You must control your people! There is no way you can provide for all their needs, and they start burning at the drop of a hat. So, you don't give them what they want! Instead, you spank 'em until you can make 'em reasonably happy. But that's a long way off in most cases. They it all immediately! Now. "Or I'll burn your town!"
The most excellent part of this game --
See the above paragraph! This is some pretty good game theory here! More facts
You can buy slaves with gold. Wow. Not very a very exciting concept, but it's traditional game theory, and it's easily understood and recognizable. But there's another very outstanding way. Your army can sack an enemy village, or be sent to capture slaves! If you don't wanna mine gold, you don't need to (as long as there's an enemy on the map).
Tha'ts some damn good game theory! And it's historically accurate.
Designer misjudgements 1. We are all not mensa members
2. You are not either, because your maps are too hard, and you didn't include a map editor/mission maker. DOH!
3. People want too much too soon. There is no way to keep them happy. I wanna play God, not Caesar. Let me make a perfect city, for Dionnysus' sake!
Perfomance
Get the demo and see for yourself. But I'll say that It runs well on my A7N8, 512Mb, GeForce FX5900XT 128. If you have a mediocre system like mine, you'll be impressed. The Bad... the oh my god... Bad!
This game will make your head spin! It is extremely demanding, and takes a ton of concentration. It HURTS! You are either gonna be terribly frustrated, or very taxed at best. When you stand up after a while, you'll feel like you drank two Jolt Colas. In a word -- tedious! If you're lucky, you'll be fascinated by it too. It is, for the brainiac types, highly addictive. For those with less tolerance for tedius stuff, you'll probably hate it. I'm somewhere in between, so I both like it and hate it. In short, it's just too hard, but it's very intriguing. Figuring out where you're gonna build on these complicated maps is one thing, and indeed it's a big thing, for minerals don't abound, but they're there. Then, add to that, you gotta make it happen, and fit different swized buildings into these tight spaces. This is tedious. Did I mention tedious? Oh... so... tedious. Or did I already say that? Tedious, I mean.
Lastly, and my biggest complaint, is rather personal. I don't find it entertaining to rely on slaves. The very concept hurts my sensibilities. But then, this is SOMETHING DIFFERENT for computer games. This game duplicates the game theory of ancient times. When was the lastt time you saw any game with fresh (although ancient) game theory?
Game theory -- The mechanics of conflict and competion to get the upper hand, esp. appliable in financial systems, governing systems, military maneuvers, and personal affairs. Get this game if you can handle the stress. It's recreated a very acccurate and not so pretty picture of what the Roman Empire was like when it was rising to power. The game theory in GotRE is very ambitious.... perhaps a little too.
My rating: I dunno. 10 for it's ambition. A solid 8 for it's exectuion. It could be a LOT less stressful (easier maps). 5 for it's graphics. 7 for it's interface, 4 for sound (ugh), and 7 for niceities like "are you sure" and allowing customization of building commands. For the game theory, mixed feelings - 10 for it's educational value, 5 for it's tediousness. Overall -- jeez! My brain already hurts so you do the math!