CivCity: Rome

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CivCity: Rome
CivCityRome Boxart.jpg
Developer(s) Firefly Studios
Firaxis Games
Publisher(s) 2K Games
Producer(s) Darrin Horbal
Designer(s) Simon Bradbury
Artist(s) Darrin Horbal
Writer(s) Simon Bradbury
Composer(s) Robert L. Euvino
Series Civilization
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release
  • NA: July 24, 2006
  • PAL: July 28, 2006
Genre(s) City-building
Mode(s) Single-player

CivCity: Rome is a city building strategy game by Firefly Studios and Firaxis Games. It includes elements from two game series, Caesar and Civilization .

Contents

The player manages various cities of the Roman Empire by strategic placement of buildings. Making sure that each neighborhood has access to all the commodities it needs to upgrade the residences of citizens is the primary challenge.

Gameplay

Trajan's Column in the game Trajan's Column.png
Trajan's Column in the game

The game offers two types of mission: stand-alone missions to include freeplay (or "sandbox") and campaign-based tutorial missions. The campaign-based mission begins when the player, an engineer, is hired by a local stone works overseer to build a stone mine colony. The player then gets further opportunities to prove himself, meeting such historic characters as Marcus Licinius Crassus and Julius Caesar. The player is granted various ranks, progressing through such titles as Quaestor, Aedile, Censor, Tribune, Praetor and Consul.

Each campaign mission begins with the player's patron offering the greeting of "Hail!" and then stating the character's title. Midway through the game, the player can choose to embark on military campaigns or continue to play peaceful missions which have harder goals but no risk of invasion. In the five military missions, the player can fight three different enemies: the Egyptians, the Germanic tribes of the north, and the famous warriors of Carthage. The building and research options vary according to which mission the player chooses.

The game comes with 27 different maps and 34 missions with user-created scenarios offering many game play possibilities. There are over 75 unique units, 115 different building types and 70 technologies to research in the game. The player can also find over 1000 historical facts in the Civilopedia. There are seven wonders that can be built: the Colosseum, the Great Library, the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria, Trajan's Column, the Obelisk, Circus Maximus, and the Pantheon. Production of these trophy buildings will confer various advantages to the city.

Some citizens will break the fourth wall and state that they are aware they are in a video game. One female citizen specifically will state that she often looks upwards and sees a great face staring down at her (referencing the player).

The player can look inside of various buildings and interact with many of the city's residents. If these citizens are not paid, fed, or given other necessities, they will start to become unhappy. If city happiness falls too low, people will start to leave the city. In the game, there is also chance that certain people, (Cleopatra, Attila the Hun, Julius Caesar, etc.), can increase or decrease city happiness by sending messages. Some natural disasters can occur, such as earthquakes and fires, and these can bring down buildings.

An in-game editor allows players to create new maps and scenarios.

Reception

The game received average reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [1] Reviewers claimed that derivative and monotonous gameplay and graphical bugs dampened the playing experience.[ citation needed ]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "CivCity: Rome for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Review: CivCity: Rome". Computer Games Magazine . No. 192. theGlobe.com. November 2006. p. 74.
  3. ↑ Kramer, Greg (October 2006). "CivCity: Rome" (PDF). Computer Gaming World . No. 267. Ziff Davis. p. 92. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  4. ↑ Egon Superb (August 7, 2006). "CivCity: Rome". Eurogamer . Gamer Network . Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  5. ↑ "CivCity: Rome". Game Informer . No. 161. GameStop. September 2006. p. 98.
  6. ↑ Kilgore (August 10, 2006). "Review: CivCity: Rome". GamePro . IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  7. ↑ Ferris, Duke (August 10, 2006). "CivCity: Rome Review". GameRevolution . CraveOnline. Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  8. ↑ Todd, Brett (July 28, 2006). "CivCity: Rome Review". GameSpot . Red Ventures. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  9. ↑ Rausch, Allen (July 25, 2006). "GameSpy: CivCity: Rome". GameSpy . IGN Entertainment. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  10. ↑ Grabowski, Dakota (August 16, 2006). "CivCity: Rome - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  11. ↑ Butts, Steve (July 25, 2006). "CivCity: Rome". IGN . Ziff Davis. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  12. ↑ Klett, Steve (November 2006). "CivCity Rome". Maximum PC . Future US. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  13. ↑ "CivCity: Rome". PC Gamer UK . Future plc. August 2006. p. 78.
  14. ↑ Hill, Jason (August 17, 2006). "CivCity: Rome". The Sydney Morning Herald . Fairfax Media . Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  15. ↑ Wapshott, Tim (July 29, 2006). "Civ City: Rome [sic]". The Times . Archived from the original on September 29, 2006. Retrieved October 9, 2022.(subscription required)
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