Caesar III by Marty Dodge Caesar III is one of the oddest gaming experiences I have ever had. I cannot remember when a game's demo interested me more than the actual game. I played and finished the demo of the game when it came out, and was rather keen on playing the full version. The full version was, however, a bit of a disappointment. That's not to say that Caesar III is a bad game-far from it-it just seems to be missing that special something that makes it an awesome piece of entertainment software. As you can imagine from the name and the two previous versions of the game, Caesar III is the third installment, which puts you in the place of a governor of a city in the Roman Empire. Your job in the career path of the game is to grow your city to a high enough level so that you might be able to get more prestigious assignments and someday become Caesar yourself. The other option is to use the City Construction Kit and see how well you can cope with building a great city in various parts of the empire, from founding a city called Londonium across the channel from Gaul to establishing a presence at the edge of the empire, as well as attempting to extend Rome's influence farther into the wilds. Some of these assignments involve military action; others do not. Learning Curve As to be expected with this sort of sim game, the learning curve is rather steep. An initial annoyance is that the default seems to be set on the hard difficulty level. If you leave it thus, the learning curve is almost vertical, and you will find yourself getting creamed very early on in the tutorial. The box that comes with this game includes a 230-page manual, and yes, you will have to read it. The tutorial does not even begin to explain the ins and outs of this game. The tips sheet is rather paltry as well, preferring to introduce you to your neighbors (townsfolk) rather than giving quick tips on the game; the other side of this card explains what all the symbols on the side board mean. Graphics Graphically, the game looks nice although it can be overwhelming at times, with so much going on that it is easy to lose track of things. There are few too many gimmicks for my taste. Clicking on each citizen and building gets an opinion of how you are running the city. It does have a bit of a cartoonish feel, and the characters are too small to really show anything. They hustle about and get on with things seemingly oblivious to what you are doing. Your advisors can be found via keyboard shortcuts, overhead menu, or via the sideboard, I found these less than helpful, as they did not do much for the game. The interface is a bit touchy at times, allowing you to accidentally take out your building when attempting to clear land. It can be a bit frustrating when attempting to go across a big map to find some trouble spot, clicking on the small map on the right side is rather imprecise. This can be frustrating as there are a lot of things to keep track of, and you are continually rushing back and forth across the map to organize things. Gameplay Gameplay is less than satisfying: this is not a game like Age of Empires that has you forcing yourself to stop playing. Caesar III holds no such addiction quotient. The frustration level seems to be struck often, and I found myself giving up and coming back to it later. Part of the problem is the fact that the game takes so long to get the hang of in any effective way. It will take a long time with the tutorial and the book to even grasp the basics of this game. Even the complex Imperialism II is more approachable than this game. Those interested in this sort of sim would be well advised to wait for Sim City 3000, the granddaddy of all city sims. If you are able to get into this game, there is great scope for different challenges. Although all games will consist of building a city somewhere in or near the empire, there are plenty of challenges to keep one occupied. One of these challenges is appeasing the gods (there are 5) so that they might shine on your efforts. If you do not appease them by building ever more impressive temples to them and throwing lavish festivals, they will make life difficult, with everything from dead crops to lost caravans. While this is a historically accurate Roman approach to religion, it can get a bit tedious at times, especially when one is attempting to learn the game. There is an option to turn these effects off. In addition to keeping your people healthy and safe, it is necessary to keep your workers happy by giving them entertainment in the form of a theater, Coliseum, or a Hippodrome. Bugs There is a major bug in this release due to a CD pressing error. The two files used during Mission 8 (Lutetia) are known to cause a freeze to occur even if you have performed a small or medium install. The two game files in question are: /wavs/14b.wav and /wavs/14w.wav. You can find a fix on Impressions' Web site at http://www.mac-games.com. I would recommend that if you have the space, do a full install as it speeds up the game. Caesar III has no multiplayer element, as it would be rather difficult to have so much transpiring on two computers even over a LAN. It would be possible to have campaigns where one player played an enemy of Rome (Gauls, Carthaginians, Picts, Angles, Saxons, etc.), and the other player, Rome. Since the military element is not really stressed in the game, it is not surprising that there is no LAN or Internet play. Combat is very basic and unexciting. Overall Overall, Caesar III is an unusual game that is not for everyone. It may be unfortunate that it has been released when there is an abundance of sim/strategy games vying for Mac gamers' money. The list seems endless. However, I hope this game sells well on the Mac so that Sierra will continue with its plans to bring the intriguing Pharaoh to the Mac. Caesar III is a competent and well-conceived game, which, like Imperialism II, will attract the few hearty souls willing to put the time into the game to make it worthwhile. Pros • Intriguing • Good graphics • Longevity • City Construction Kit Cons • Learning curve • Some bugs • Gameplay • No multiplayer