Emmanuel Brown played a demo of Imperium Romanum. What is his take on this upcoming entry into the strategy genre?
07 February 2008 | By Emmanuel Brown
It takes a lot to stand out in the strategy genre on the PC these days, and with so many titles offering identikit resource generation and micro-management control, there really can be little to distinguish one title from another. The Roman setting in particular stands out as being the strategic equivalent of WWII for the shooter market, with seemingly every development company having attempted to capture the glory and atmosphere of one of the most savagely beautiful periods in our annotated history at some point or another. The problem is, not many of them have actually gotten it right just yet, and the setting deserves at least one classic game before we may be able to move on.
Imperium Romanum is the latest in a long line to take on this challenge, and judging from the preview code that we played this week, it may well have a chance to at least live up to the best offerings of the scenario thus far. We live in hope.
First things first then, Imperium is a strategy game pure and simple, along the lines of The Settlers or Anno 1701 but with historical accuracy pumping through its veins. Indeed the attention to detail is something to be celebrated here, with a whole mode set aside for people that wish to relive classic moments in Roman history, and a nice annotated timeline interface for those not so familiar with the period. There is a distinct lack of historical text or explanation at this stage however, and I can only hope that side of things will be fleshed out closer to release.
In practice the city-building plays out as most games that have come before it. Resources need to be managed, with wood, grain, cloth, iron, weaponry and housing of paramount importance to your city. Buildings are well defined and a simple info-panel shows you exactly which elements each unit is depending on to function. Keep the supplies of resources flowing, and your city will expand and prosper, allowing you access to luxury items and upgrades. Quality of life plays a part here, so laying out buildings takes on an almost SimCity-like vibe, with houses needing strategic placement in order to ensure maximum value for the residents.
So far, so standard then, but one of the nice things about Imperium is the streamlining of micro-management to a level in which it simply fails to exist for the most part. Residents simply get on with what they should be doing. Build a weaponsmith for example, and the residents will begin to stock it with wood and iron automatically, lending the game a nice flow and a lack of frustration. Information panels are clearly laid out, with a wealth of statistics and graphs on offer for those that wish to get truly involved with the experience. Units don't take too long to build, and the whole game tends to fly by at an engaging pace for this type of experience.
Compounding all of this is one of the most simplistic, yet truly elegant control interfaces yet to be developed for this type of genre. Right-clicking on the ground opens up a radial menu with a choice of building categories. Clicking on one of the menu items zooms in and opens up a further radial menu with all of the various choices to be made. Clicking in the centre of the wheel takes you back up one level to the previous selection. It sounds like an obvious system, and that's the very beauty of the concept. No more unwieldy menus or tiny icons, placing buildings and units is a simple and painless task, and as that's what you'll be doing for the most part of this game, the effort expended here is most appreciated.
The only downside at this stage sees to come with a traditional bugbear in this type of experience, the combat interface. City defences are interestingly developed, with walls and siege weapons playing a large part, but the troop movement and command options are simplistic in the extreme, and whilst we're not looking for a Total War type of experience, it would have been nice to have some further options here. Graphically the sense of scale works well, but city streets and buildings also seem strangely spaced apart at times.
We could go on for a while about all of the features, but it's probably best to save the majority of them for review; suffice to say that Imperium is fairly graphically accomplished at this stage, has a good atmosphere and some interesting game modes. With the attention to detail and the obvious love of the time period, this is the type of product that with a little bit of polish could easily have represented one of the bigger franchises like The History Channel series, and indeed it's looking to be a far more compelling and solid game than some of the titles in that particular line. We look forward to getting time with the final code.
Imperium Romanum is the latest in a long line to take on this challenge, and judging from the preview code that we played this week, it may well have a chance to at least live up to the best offerings of the scenario thus far. We live in hope.
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| At this level, the graphics are basic. Zoomed out however, Imperium Romanum looks very pretty indeed |
The graphical engine has a similar feel and look to Black and White |
First things first then, Imperium is a strategy game pure and simple, along the lines of The Settlers or Anno 1701 but with historical accuracy pumping through its veins. Indeed the attention to detail is something to be celebrated here, with a whole mode set aside for people that wish to relive classic moments in Roman history, and a nice annotated timeline interface for those not so familiar with the period. There is a distinct lack of historical text or explanation at this stage however, and I can only hope that side of things will be fleshed out closer to release.
In practice the city-building plays out as most games that have come before it. Resources need to be managed, with wood, grain, cloth, iron, weaponry and housing of paramount importance to your city. Buildings are well defined and a simple info-panel shows you exactly which elements each unit is depending on to function. Keep the supplies of resources flowing, and your city will expand and prosper, allowing you access to luxury items and upgrades. Quality of life plays a part here, so laying out buildings takes on an almost SimCity-like vibe, with houses needing strategic placement in order to ensure maximum value for the residents.
 |
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| Natural disasters and realistic timelines feature heavily in playground |
The sense of scale is excellent, although perhaps not quite as busy as one would expect |
So far, so standard then, but one of the nice things about Imperium is the streamlining of micro-management to a level in which it simply fails to exist for the most part. Residents simply get on with what they should be doing. Build a weaponsmith for example, and the residents will begin to stock it with wood and iron automatically, lending the game a nice flow and a lack of frustration. Information panels are clearly laid out, with a wealth of statistics and graphs on offer for those that wish to get truly involved with the experience. Units don't take too long to build, and the whole game tends to fly by at an engaging pace for this type of experience.
Compounding all of this is one of the most simplistic, yet truly elegant control interfaces yet to be developed for this type of genre. Right-clicking on the ground opens up a radial menu with a choice of building categories. Clicking on one of the menu items zooms in and opens up a further radial menu with all of the various choices to be made. Clicking in the centre of the wheel takes you back up one level to the previous selection. It sounds like an obvious system, and that's the very beauty of the concept. No more unwieldy menus or tiny icons, placing buildings and units is a simple and painless task, and as that's what you'll be doing for the most part of this game, the effort expended here is most appreciated.
 |
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| Terrain varies in height, leading to some interestingly laid-out cities |
The only downside at this stage sees to come with a traditional bugbear in this type of experience, the combat interface. City defences are interestingly developed, with walls and siege weapons playing a large part, but the troop movement and command options are simplistic in the extreme, and whilst we're not looking for a Total War type of experience, it would have been nice to have some further options here. Graphically the sense of scale works well, but city streets and buildings also seem strangely spaced apart at times.
We could go on for a while about all of the features, but it's probably best to save the majority of them for review; suffice to say that Imperium is fairly graphically accomplished at this stage, has a good atmosphere and some interesting game modes. With the attention to detail and the obvious love of the time period, this is the type of product that with a little bit of polish could easily have represented one of the bigger franchises like The History Channel series, and indeed it's looking to be a far more compelling and solid game than some of the titles in that particular line. We look forward to getting time with the final code.
