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Pyro Studios and Eidos want to bring us to the Roman Empire.
Will this be another real time strategy title or will you actually be interested in it? This is the world of Praetorians.
In the game you get to pick from the Barbarians, Egyptians and Barbarians although only the Roman's campaign recreates historic battles. The missions are standard fare; in Praetorians you'll defend, guide, and save units. You are given your list of objectives in the beginning of each mission, and you'll notice most of them fall into those categories. The wonderful exceptions are the conquering missions, which always prove to add some excitement.
The game's control scheme should be familiar to RTS gamers since the trusty mouse handles most of the action. The left and right mouse buttons control your units so you can move them and attack. The mouse wheel enables you to zoom in and out of the action. As typical, the keyboard has some hot keys for you to use but they are for more experienced players. You can pretty much do anything you please with just the mouse. Getting the hang of the controls is no problem at all.
In some RTS games, you can overtake someone with simply having more units than your opponent. While sometimes that may work here, most of the time you have to make sure you have your units properly matched. This is further enhanced by the game's concept of building. Rather than being based on resources, the building is based on time. The stronger the unit, the longer it will take to complete. You need to have a certain amount of villagers to build certain units and others require you to have certain honor points which are gained from killing others. This makes you take a while before you have a decent army but also makes you think of the units you choose.
Each of the three races has twelve units for your pleasure. They are named differently but you'll notice that they are practically the same. Remember that only the Romans have a single player mode. All units have weaknesses and but they have also have their strengths.
Unit Roman Name (Barbarian Name; Egyptian Name)
Archer cavalry (Mounted bowmen; Camel archers) - Archers on horseback, good for distance and surprise attacks
Auxiliary infantry (Infantry; Slaves) - Villager, builds and repairs buildings
Auxiliary archers (Bowmen; Archers) - Fast and good for distance attacks
Balearic slingers (Hunters; Parthian cavalry) - Throw rocks at enemies hidden in trees
Equities (Nobleman; Camel Riders) - Legionnaires on horseback, great for long range attacks
Gladiators (German cavalry; Nubian archers) - Powerful unit when managed properly
Hawk Scouts (Same; Same) - Find enemies hidden in trees
Legionnaires (Warriors; Soldiers) - Relatively weak but still good for close combat
Physicians (Druid; Priest) - Require honor points but heals injured soldiers
Praetorians (Berserkers; War chariots) - Most powerful unit in the game, have strong defense and offense, require a lot of time and resources to build
Spearman (Pike men; Guardsmen) - One of the most powerful units, great when used in large numbers
Wolf Scouts (Same; Same) - Long distance scouting, long range
The graphics are pretty much what we're used to with few exceptions. Pyro worked on the engine and some of the effects are pretty nice. The weather effects in particular are very good and your screen is always filled with something, usually rain or snow. The environments also look rather good because the trees and bushes let you hide in them adding more suspense and thinking into the game play.
The background music is relatively good and fits well into the time period. The sound effects are filled with groans and moans and the colliding of weapons. The weather sounds great and provides a great ambience. The voice acting is great, in particular the narrator who does a superb job.
When you're ready you can take your skills online and play against other players thanks to Gamespy online. The game plays the same and the players range in skill levels. The only problem is that the game isn't as populated as other games but you should still find a good game.
This game is perfect for that closet-general. If you enjoy giving orders and watching them play out but still want to take part of the action, this is for you. The time required to build a sufficient army may disappoint some gamers. The game is also pretty hard despite that there are three difficulties - easy, normal and hard - although it should be hard, harder and omg-wtf hard. The graphics and music is great, as well. If you can deal with the difficulty, this is a great buy.
System Requirements:
500 Mhz Processor
(700 Mhz for online play)
4x CD-ROM
128MB RAM (Windows 98 )
256MB RAM (Windows 2000/XP)
16MB Video Card
Direct X 8
800MB Hard Drive Space
1027x768 Resolution
(56K Modem for online play)
Rec. System Requirements
800Mhz+ Processor
256MB RAM
32MB Video Card
(DSL/Cable for online play) -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jun 24, 2003
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