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Caesar | |
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![]() 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 |
Series | City Building |
Platform(s) | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS |
Release | October 12, 1992 |
Genre(s) | City-building |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Caesar is a 1992 city-building video game published by Sierra On-Line in which the player undertakes the role of a Roman governor, building ancient Roman cities.
Released in 1992 on the Amiga and ported the following year to Atari ST, PC and Macintosh, the game is 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, which are together known as the City Building series.
According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of Caesar and Caesar II surpassed 400,000 units by the end of March 1996. [1]
In June 1993, Computer Gaming World 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]
Caesar was developed and designed by Impressions Games and distributed by Sierra On-Line. Impressions also developed another Roman-themed game, Cohort 2 , at the same time, which allowed players 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 1994.
Impressions released the sequels Caesar II in 1995 and Caesar III in 1998. A third sequel, Caesar IV , was announced in August 2005 by Tilted Mill Entertainment and was subsequently released on September 26, 2006.
SimCity, also known as Micropolis or SimCity Classic, is a city-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright and released for a number of platforms from 1989 to 1991. SimCity features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective. The objective of the game is to create a city, develop residential and industrial areas, build infrastructure, and collect taxes for further development of the city. Importance is placed on increasing the standard of living of the population, maintaining a balance between the different sectors, and monitoring the region's environmental situation to prevent the settlement from declining and going bankrupt.
Lemmings is a puzzle–strategy video game originally developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis for the Amiga in 1991 and later ported for numerous other platforms. The game was programmed by Russell Kay, Mike Dailly and David Jones, and was inspired by a simple animation that Dailly created while experimenting with Deluxe Paint.
SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony is a 1991 life simulation video game by Maxis and the company's third product, focusing on ants. It was designed by Will Wright. In 1992, it was named "Best Simulation Game" at the Software Publishers Association's Codie awards. SimAnt was re-released in 1993 as part of the SimClassics Volume 1 compilation alongside SimCity Classic and SimLife for PC, Mac and Amiga. In 1996 SimAnt alongside several of Maxis' simulation games were re-released under the Maxis Collector Series with greater compatibility with Windows 95 and differing box art, including the addition of Classics beneath the title.
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The Settlers is a city-building video game with real-time strategy elements, developed and published by Blue Byte Software. Released in Germany for Amiga in June 1993, and in the United Kingdom in November, it is the first game in The Settlers series. In 1994, Blue Byte and Massive Development ported the game to DOS. Blue Byte published the DOS version in Europe under its original title in May, but in North America, it was published in December by SSI as Serf City: Life is Feudal. In 2018, the game was re-released for Microsoft Windows as The Settlers: History Edition.
Impressions Games was a British video game developer founded by David Lester. He sold the company to Sierra On-Line in 1995, who was then bought out by Cendant and eventually, Vivendi Universal.
Caesar III is a city-building game released on September 30, 1998, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra On-Line. It is the third installment of the Caesar series of games and is part of Sierra's City Building series. Players assume the role of a provincial governor to build thriving cities across the Roman Empire, in which they must ensure their citizens have their needs met, and deal with various disasters, angry gods and hostile enemies.
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is a point-and-click adventure game, first released in 1992 as the sixth installment in the King's Quest series produced by Sierra On-Line. Written by Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen, King's Quest VI is widely recognized as the high point in the series for its landmark 3D graphic introduction movie and professional voice acting. King's Quest VI was programmed in Sierra's Creative Interpreter and was the last King's Quest game to be released on floppy disk. A CD-ROM version of the game was released in 1993, including more character voices, a slightly different opening movie and more detailed artwork and animation.
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Caesar II is a 1995 video game of the Caesar video game series that takes place in Ancient Rome. It is the second game in the City Building series.
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