Rome might be long gone, but it continues to wage an aggressive war for your gaming dollar. The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome is the latest assault in a steady line of ancient Roman strategy games. CDV's partnership with the History Channel promises something a little different, mixing in documentary footage and loads of historical information with its hybrid role-playing and strategic gameplay. While it's not a cutting edge entry in the genre, Great Battles of Rome should find a home among historically-minded gamers.
The game chronicles the rise of the Roman Empire from the early days of tribal fighting to its expansion and eventual downfall. 14 historically-accurate campaigns promise well over 100 battles, each recreated from real historical military confrontations. For each mission, the History Channel has provided tons of video footage from documentaries aired on the network, as well as background information to add historical context to the game. From key battles in the Second Punic War to sieges in Caesar's Gallic War, the game packs in a huge number of authentic battles and period-specific units. We watched all kinds of units including hoplites, legionnaires, heavy cavalry, and elephants march onto the battlefield.
Although Great Battles of Rome doesn't look all that hot with graphics on par with a PlayStation 2 launch title, it ought to make up for it with depth of role-playing and strategy. Units gain experience for time spent on the battlefield, which goes toward leveling up their core attributes; additionally, you can purchase a wide range of passive and active abilities. For example, unlocking missile protection grants legionnaires greater defense against arrows or javelins whereas endurance increases the stamina of heavy cavalry. Dozens of different abilities will be available for enhancing your units, ensuring plenty of depth in developing your army.
Purchasing abilities requires fame and denari, the game's main resources. Fame is directly tied to your general's skill level; in short, the better your general performs in battle, the more fame you receive. Denari, which was the currency of ancient Rome, is awarded at the end of a successful battle. Abilities are unlocked with a combination of the two, with advanced skills costing more fame than denari. You can also recruit new units to your army with denari netting you basic units and fame more advanced special units.
Once you've customized your units, you venture to battle-planning mode where units are placed on the battlefield and given orders. Icons for each unit are placed on the map and you're free to position them strategically. There are a number of different tactics you can choose from including ambushing, flanking, and direct charging among others. You can also set each unit's stance to defensive or offensive, which alters their reaction to events on the battlefield. Defensive units are much more cautious than offensive units which will actively seek to engage enemies.
How well you strategize in battle-planning mode makes a difference between victory and defeat. Since battles occur almost entirely independent from your direct control, you'll have to rely on pure strategy to win. Great Battles of Rome technically plays in real-time, but interaction with your units in combat is limited to issuing a flee command and fast-forwarding the action. As a result, the game should reward you for employing thoughtful strategies versus throwing a bunch of units on the map and rushing.
The focus on single player will likely leave multiplayer lagging behind, as Great Battles of Rome will ship with only support for two player skirmishes via LAN. You'll have the option of playing as either Romans or Celts, although both factions play in much the same way. After playing through a quick match, it seems clear that the game will be best enjoyed as a solo experience simply because the multiplayer lacks the intrigue of the historical campaigns.
