Caesar (video game)

Caesar is a city-building computer game where the player undertakes the role of a Roman governor, building ancient Roman cities.

Caesar
North American cover art
Developer(s)Impressions Games
Publisher(s)Sierra On-Line
Designer(s)David Lester
Programmer(s)Simon Bradbury
Artist(s)Jon Baker
Erik Casey
Composer(s)Christopher J. Denman
SeriesCity Building
Platform(s)Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS
ReleaseOctober 12, 1992
Genre(s)City-building
Mode(s)Single player

Released in 1992 on the Amiga, ported the next year to Atari ST, PC and Macintosh, the game was similar to SimCity. In addition to similar graphics and user interfaces, it also came with issues of micromanagement, including complicated city-planning requirements such as building the right number of schools, theaters, libraries, bathhouses, and other amenities, within suitable distances of residential areas.

An updated version, Caesar Deluxe, was released in 1993 for the Amiga. Caesar spawned three direct sequels and several spin-offs set in other ancient civilizations, together known as the City Building series.

Differences from SimCity

Notable differences of Caesar from Sim City included:

  • Addition of a military aspect to the game.
  • Simulation with detailed historical city themes and structures.

In Caesar the player was required to organize and fund armed campaigns against barbarians, and budget accordingly. The battles themselves were not featured in the original game, but the player needed to accommodate expenses such as travelling troops, billeting and provisions, as well as maintaining a road network to transport legions more effectively. SimCity eventually offered historical city graphics to overlay its game engine but the underlying user interface and growth simulation remained unchanged.

Sequels

Caesar was developed and designed by Impressions Games and distributed by Sierra On-Line. Impressions developed another Roman-themed game at the same time as Caesar, Cohort 2, a game which allowed the player to direct Ancient Roman battles in a style akin to a crude precursor of the Command & Conquer series. Impressions included a feature in Cohort 2 which allowed players of Caesar to load their saved files and play out the battles from Caesar in Cohort 2. Later, Impressions released an updated version of Caesar which automatically launched a version of Cohort 2 whenever the player engaged in battle. This version was released under the title Caesar Deluxe in 1993.

Impressions released additional sequels Caesar II in 1995 and Caesar III in 1998. A third sequel, Caesar IV, was announced August 2005 by Tilted Mill Entertainment and was subsequently released on September 26, 2006.

Reception

According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of Caesar and Caesar II surpassed 400,000 units by the end of March 1996.[1]

Computer Gaming World in June 1993 recommended Caesar to SimCity fans who "wished for more buttons to push, knobs to adjust and wires to reroute". The magazine concluded that "Caesar provides that rare quality in strategy gaming — an experience whose rewards prove equal to its challenges ... [it] provides the serious player with a real lion's feast".[2] A survey of pre 20th-century strategy games in the issue gave the game three-plus stars out of five, calling it "More of a game than a simulation, but it can be fun".[3]

Caesar and its sequel were named, collectively, the 96th best computer game ever by PC Gamer UK in 1997. The editors wrote, "Impressions keep on keeping on with the likes of Lords of the Realm [...] but have never managed to regain the dizzy peak they climbed with their handsome brace of think-'em-ups."[4]

References
  1. Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report). Bellevue, Washington. March 31, 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018.
  2. Greenberg, Allen L. (June 1993). "Impressions' Caesar". Computer Gaming World. p. 126. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  3. Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. Flynn, James; Owen, Steve; Pierce, Matthew; Davis, Jonathan; Longhurst, Richard (July 1997). "The PC Gamer Top 100". PC Gamer UK (45): 51–83.
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