Caesar II

Last updated
Caesar II
Caesar II Coverart.png
Developer(s) Impressions Games
Publisher(s) Sierra On-Line
Designer(s) Christopher J. Foster
David Lester
Programmer(s) Simon Bradbury
Artist(s) Chris Beatrice
Composer(s) Jeremy A. Bell
Jason P. Rinaldi
Series City Building
Platform(s) MS-DOS/Windows, Macintosh
Release4 September 1995
1996 (Macintosh)
Genre(s) City-building
Mode(s) Single-player

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.

Contents

Gameplay

When the game begins the Roman empire extends no further than Italy. Players have the opportunity to civilize adjacent barbarian provinces, eventually reaching the entire Roman Empire at its height. When a province is civilized it unlocks the surrounding provinces. A computerized rival also completes missions both preventing the player from civilizing that province and allowing them to civilize the provinces adjacent to it (the computer has been known to civilize a province it could not have selected when it successfully civilized the last, meaning it is a randomized event, rather than AI). Unlike Caesar III, or Pharaoh, the province and city are separate spheres, as is the military. The player builds primary sector facilities (such as mines or farms), trade facilities (such as roads or docks), and military facilities (such as forts and walls) on one map and builds their city houses, secondary sector facilities (such as wineries or potters), and tertiary sector facilities (such as fire stations, police stations, bath houses) on another (represented as four squares in the center of the provincial map). Also unlike later games walkers are not required to bring services to people, which is instead determined by one buildings distance from another. Invading Armies differ from later games as well, in that Barbarian towns exist within many provinces from which Barbarian armies can emanate. These are converted to Roman towns through invading them and defeating the inhabitants. Most missions require the player to pacify a province and raise the citizens standard of living to a certain level, while neither suffering a military loss, nor losing the emperor's favour, often within a certain time frame. Major factors in city and province-building are housing values and types of housing, unemployment/labour shortages, taxes, wages, deficits, food shortages, military readiness and morale, and imperial demands. The game is won when the player has conquered sufficient provinces to attain the rank of Caesar. The game is lost if the player's computerized rival becomes Caesar, if Caesar removes the player from their post for running too large a deficit, for going beyond the time frame, for failing to follow Imperial demands, or having the city conquered.

Reception

Initial reception of the game was positive. Arinn Dembo writing for Computer Gaming World gave the game 4 stars. [1] A reviewer for Next Generation deemed it "an innovative mix of SimCity -type building strategy and wargame campaign." He said the game's strongest point is how it expands from a city-building simulation into nation-building and wargames, but also highly praised the graphics and simple, easy-to-grasp interface. He scored the game 4 out of 5 stars. [2]

Caesar II was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1995 "Strategy Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Command & Conquer and Heroes of Might and Magic (tie). The editors wrote that Caesar II "surpassed the original with SVGA graphics and an actual combat module", and noted that it "could have won had the competition not been so strong." [7] PC Gamer also nominated Caesar II as the best strategy game of 1995, although it lost to Command & Conquer. [8]

Caesar II and its predecessor 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." [9]

According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of Caesar and Caesar II surpassed 400,000 units by the end of March 1996. [10] Caesar II alone sold above 500,000 units by late 1998, [11] [12] and ultimately reached 2.5 million sales worldwide. [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Civilization</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Sid Meier's Civilization is a 1991 turn-based strategy 4X video game developed and published by MicroProse. The game was originally developed for MS-DOS running on a PC, and it has undergone numerous revisions for various platforms. The player is tasked with leading an entire human civilization over the course of several millennia by controlling various areas such as urban development, exploration, government, trade, research, and military. The player can control individual units and advance the exploration, conquest and settlement of the game's world. The player can also make such decisions as setting forms of government, tax rates and research priorities. The player's civilization is in competition with other computer-controlled civilizations, with which the player can enter diplomatic relationships that can either end in alliances or lead to war.

<i>Civilization II</i> 1996 turn-based strategy video game

Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy video game in the Civilization series, developed and published by MicroProse. It was released in 1996 for PCs, and later ported to the PlayStation by Activision.

<i>Steel Panthers</i> Video game series

Steel Panthers is a series of computer wargames, developed and published by several different companies, with various games simulating war battles from 1930 to 2025. The first Steel Panthers game was released in 1995, and the most recent update was released in 2018 and is still updated regularly (yearly).

<i>Caesar</i> (video game) 1992 video game

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.

<i>Caesar III</i> 1998 video game

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. The developers of Caesar III designed the game in response to critiques of its predecessor, introducing branching missions, a merged map for city-building and combat, and a "walker" mechanic for citizens of the city to affect their surroundings. Caesar III was released to positive critical reception, with praise directed at the game's visual presentation and complex design, and criticism levelled at its military features.

<i>Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest</i> 1995 video game

Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest is a turn-based strategy game developed and published by New World Computing in 1995 for DOS. A spin-off of New World Computing's Might and Magic series of role-playing video games, the success of Heroes of Might and Magic led to a number of sequels.

<i>Dune II</i> 1992 video game

Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a 1992 real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games. It serves as the sequel to Dune, which came out earlier that same year.

<i>Pharaoh</i> (video game) 1999 video game

Pharaoh is an isometric city-building game released in November 1999. It was created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Studios for Microsoft Windows. Using the same game engine and principles of Caesar III, it is the first such game in Sierra's City Building series to focus on another civilization of ancient times. Players oversee the construction and management of cities and settlements in Ancient Egypt, micro-managing every aspect of the city to ensure citizens are fed, employed, healthy and protected from diseases, disasters and wars. An expansion pack, Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, was released in 2000, developed by BreakAway Games. In 2001, both the game and expansion pack were bundled together as Pharaoh Gold. A remake titled Pharaoh: A New Era was released by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu in 2023.

<i>Homeworld</i> 1999 real-time strategy computer game

Homeworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios on September 28, 1999, for Windows. Set in space, the science fiction game follows the Kushan exiles of the planet Kharak after their home planet is destroyed by the Taiidan Empire in retaliation for developing hyperspace jump technology. The survivors journey with their spacecraft-constructing mothership to reclaim their ancient homeworld of Hiigara from the Taiidan, encountering a variety of pirates, mercenaries, traders, and rebels along the way. In each of the game's levels, the player gathers resources, builds a fleet, and uses it to destroy enemy ships and accomplish mission objectives. The player's fleet carries over between levels and can travel in a fully three-dimensional space within each level rather than being limited to a two-dimensional plane.

Real-time tactics (RTT) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the lack of classic resource micromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics.

Europa Barbarorum, or EB, is a modification of the PC game Rome: Total War (RTW) based on the desire to provide Rome: Total War players with a more historically accurate game experience.

<i>Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion</i> 2005 video game

Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion is the first expansion pack for the strategy video game Rome: Total War. The expansion was released in 2005 in North America and Europe and in 2006 in Japan for Windows. Feral Interactive released the iPad version on 28 March 2017, the iPhone version on 9 May 2019, and an Android version of the game on 18 June 2019. A remastered version of the game was released as part of Total War: Rome Remastered on 29 April 2021. While the main game deals with the rise of the Roman Empire, Barbarian Invasion covers the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire during the Migration Period.

<i>Legionnaire</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Legionnaire is a computer wargame for Atari 8-bit computers created by Chris Crawford released through Avalon Hill in 1982. Recreating Julius Caesar's campaigns in a semi-historical setting, the player takes command of the Roman legions in real-time battles against the barbarians.

<i>Warlords III</i> 1997 video game

Warlords III: Reign of Heroes is a computer wargame released in 1997, and the third release in the Warlords video game series. In 1998 it was followed by the expansion Warlords III: Darklords Rising.

<i>Get Medieval</i> 1998 video game

Get Medieval is a 1998 hack and slash dungeon crawl video game developed and published by Monolith Productions and Microïds for Microsoft Windows. The player controls one of four characters looking for the exit in a series of dungeons. The game is similar to that of the 1985 Atari Games arcade video game Gauntlet.

<i>King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame</i> 2009 video game

King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame is a real-time tactics and role-playing video game developed by NeocoreGames and published by Paradox Interactive in North America, Ubisoft in Europe, and E-Frontier in Japan. It seeks to blend elements of the real-time tactics, role-playing, and grand strategy genres into one. A sequel titled King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame was released online in Europe on September 20, 2011, and then worldwide in 2012.

Arinn Dembo is an American author currently living and writing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dembo is best known for her work with Vancouver-based Kerberos Productions, where she was lead writer and has worked on the background fiction for the Sword of the Stars series and Fort Zombie.

<i>The Great Battles of Alexander</i> 1997 video game

The Great Battles of Alexander is a 1997 turn-based computer wargame developed by Erudite Software and published by Interactive Magic. Adapted from the GMT Games physical wargame of the same name, it depicts 10 of Alexander the Great's key conflicts, and simulates the interplay between Ancient Macedonian battle tactics and its rival military doctrines. Gameplay occurs at the tactical level: players direct predetermined armies on discrete battlefields, in a manner that one commentator compared to chess.

<i>The Great Battles of Hannibal</i> 1997 video game

The Great Battles of Hannibal is a 1997 computer wargame developed by Erudite Software and published by Interactive Magic. Based on the board wargame SPQR, it is the sequel to The Great Battles of Alexander and the second game in the Great Battles computer wargame series.

<i>The Great Battles of Caesar</i> 1998 video game

The Great Battles of Caesar is 1998 computer wargame developed by Erudite Software and published by Interactive Magic. Based on the board wargame The Great Battles of Julius Caesar, it is the third and final entry in the Great Battles computer wargame series.

References

  1. 1 2 Dembo, Arinn; The Governor's Race: Building Rome Can Make Your Day in Sierra's Caesar II, p. 304. Computer Gaming World, Issue 138, January 1996
  2. 1 2 "Carpe Diem". Next Generation . No. 14. Imagine Media. February 1996. p. 175.
  3. ↑ "Caesar II". Computer Games Strategy Plus . February 9, 1996. Archived from the original on 1997-01-01. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  4. ↑ Loyola, Roman (April 1997). "The Game Room". MacUser . Archived from the original on 2000-06-04. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  5. ↑ Snyder, Frank; Chapman, Ted; Kaiafas, Tasos (December 1995). "Roman Holiday". Computer Game Review . Archived from the original on December 21, 1996. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  6. ↑ Klett, Steve (January 1996). "Caesar II". PC Entertainment . Archived from the original on 1996-10-18. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  7. ↑ Staff (June 1996). "The Computer Gaming World 1996 Premier Awards". Computer Gaming World . No. 143. pp. 55, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 67.
  8. ↑ Editors of PC Gamer (March 1996). "The Year's Best Games". PC Gamer US . 3 (3): 64, 65, 67, 68, 71, 73–75.
  9. ↑ Flynn, James; Owen, Steve; Pierce, Matthew; Davis, Jonathan; Longhurst, Richard (July 1997). "The PC Gamer Top 100". PC Gamer UK . No. 45. pp. 51–83.
  10. ↑ Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report). Bellevue, Washington. March 31, 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018.
  11. ↑ Borovskis, Thomas (October 1998). "Brot und Spiele". PC Games : 116, 117.
  12. ↑ "Golem.de: IT-News für Profis". Archived from the original on 2002-08-26.
  13. ↑ "Real Business Case Study: David Lester". 6 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-06-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.