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Great software = Great Game?
Adam: So, how exactly are we doing this?
Jose: Well, you played the game didn’t you?
Adam: Sure did.
Jose: Alright, well just state something about it and we’ll go from there. I’ll start.
Adam: Pax Romana is a different attempt at the strategy genre by not only focusing on getting the largest army possible and destroying the other, but also paying attention to the political side of things. Granted, politics are rather simple in 272BC and your goal isn’t to lie as much as possible but to become the next well, Caesar.
Your goal is to go from a lowly senator to the next big thing. To do so you’ll need to need to expand your faction to get more and more seats in the government to be able to dominate the empire. You need to take into consideration who you send, taking in mind things like age for example. If being diplomatic doesn’t work you can also bribe a government official or well, kill them.
The political format – like much of the rest this game – sounds easy. You register a candidate and campaign for the post in the government. Too young may mean inexperience and thus will not garner any confidence. Too old and your candidate may die while in office. Should your candidate fail to gain the office, you have other tools at your disposal. You can use a seductive woman or bribery to blackmail your target, or you can have them assassinated.
Included is a handy multiplayer version of the game which can be played through TCP/IP connections.
Jose: All of this is awesome. But there is one thing wrong with Pax Romana. Gamers need some sort of visual assistance. The interface isn’t bad but the graphics are extremely plain. No animation or anything, though. The audio is decent, as in it does its job, but not much more.
With a better presentation, Pax Romana could have been a good game. Right now though, it’s a good piece of software.
-- Adam Nunez & -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Feb 16, 2004
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