The developers of this game could have done a better job than this...
Praetorians is a real-time strategy which tries to depict and reenact famous battles and campaigns of the Romans of the Republic at that time. The basic premise of the game is that players(human and AI) capture settlements which in turn allows them to chunk out more armies which then enables them to capture other settlements. The goal then is to annihilate the opponents before they can do the same to you. Choosing the right combination of units is vital to your survival in the game since each unit takes a specific amount of time to train. You can choose between 3 factions. Romans, Barbarians and the Egyptians. It's a comparatively small number of factions compared to other games out there. However it compensates the lack of other factions with the variety of troops that you can recruit. Some units are simply tenacious and difficult to bring down such as the Legionaries of Rome, and some are simply deadly if left unchecked like the Nubian archers of Egypt. Well, the strategy part of the game may look brilliant. Battles are another matter.
The battles look rather sloppy because of the cheesy, lackluster animations. As the opposing units clash, you can see them sway their weapons in a monotonous fashion(much like sweeping with a broom back and forth). It's also excruciating that when a single soldier of that unit comes in contact with the enemy unit, the game won't allow you to disengage, much like a fight-to-death situation. If you zoom in on the units, you'll see that they look like paper cutouts which were miraculously animated. This game doesn't allow the player to rotate the map which can also be a pain to others. This is due to the fact that the developers put more emphasis on the terrain and it forces the player to use the terrain to his advantage. Historical accuracy can't even begin to redeem this game. One perfect example is the "When all hell breaks loose" part of the campaign where it shows a cinematic sequence reenacting the Battle of Carrhae. Unless you weren't listening in your history class, you'll know that the Roman army led by Crassus were slaughtered by Parthians, not Egyptians as what the game depicts. Which also means that chariots(which were by the way, amazing) were not in the scene.
Overall, I could safely say(others might object) that Rome:Total War did a far better job than Praetorians. Yes you can still add this game to your collection but come on, the developers of this game could have done a more superior job. Pity to the Romans used in the making of this game.