This fall seemed to be the season for managing Roman empires. No less than three games have made their way to North America prior to the holiday shopping season: CivCity Rome, Glory of the Roman Empire, and Caesar IV. We're going to avoid a hard-line side-by-side comparison of all three, but each offers something different for players worth noting. Caesar IV, in many ways is the cream of this strategy building game crop, though it isn't quite as flashy as CivCity: Rome or as easy for new players to jump into as Glory of the Roman Empire.

Caesar IV is Tilted Mill and Sierra's return to the venerable city building series, after a rather lengthy hiatus . Titled Mill, comprised of former Impressions folk (and the developers of Children of the Nile), are no strangers to the genre, and by some accounts the master of it. The spirit of Titled Mill's past accomplishments can certainly be felt in this latest city building game that ultimately lets you take the reigns of the Roman empire in all its glory..

Underneath all the visual and technical distractions you'd expect in a high level city builder, Caesar IV features a pretty solid trade system where supply and demand is important to your success both in the early parts of the game and later on when select goods and services play an integral role to managing your little patch of civilization.

Basically the game has you setting up a spider web of goods trading, which connects with every other aspect of life, with end result being creating a prosperous Roman society. While meeting those lofty goals you'll also have to keep Rome happy by accomplishing whatever demands they send your way. Failing to do so results in a decline to your imperial rating (which is important to some objectives) at the very least, or you being removed from your station at the very worst. Caesar IV is all about micromanaging everything and keeping a watchful eye as situations and needs change.

Players start out with an empty bit of real estate and some cash. They'll have to spend capital to build residences and other structures, which will then be occupied by your virtual citizens. As the game progress, depending what type of citizen you are dealing with (laborers, middle class, upper crust of society) they'll desire specific goods or services. If you keep them satisfied their structures will upgrade, adding more room for population growth or even tax revenue. These goods could be anything from basic needs like food and clothing to raw materials and advanced goods that take multiple steps to create. For example the middle classmen of your populace might need food, clothing and entertainment, while the Patrician class may want exotic goods and services. For that you'll have to reach out to other societies and create trade networks to get those necessities. And since the upper echelon of society are the only group that can be taxed keeping them happy is as important as keeping your city's other revenues flowing. The whole balance of trade, economy and domestic tranquility is pretty fun balancing act. It's fairly easy to get things rolling and challenging to keep everything balanced.

Caesar IV also offers combat, but not in the traditional hands-on sense. This is, after all, a strategy builder, so your combat abroad and at home will not feel (or play out) like something in a historical real-time strategy game. Some may not appreciate this hands-off approach but it works very well in Caesar IV, much like every other managerial chore in the game works. Another aspect of the game that is put to good use is religion. Religion is used as a way to give players global bonuses to gameplay based on the deity (there are five familiar gods to choose from) that's getting the most respect. You can further these bonuses by proclaiming a festival in honor of your god of choice, but there are some costs associated with those kinds of activities.

Finally it's worth mentioning how multiplayer works in Caesar IV. This isn't your traditional empire vs. empire multiplayer per say. The game uses leader board type system where players can compete and compare scores online through different challenges and familiar game scenarios. And if that's not your cup of tea, there's also empire mode, which, as the name implies, allows would-be rulers to upload their civilizations to create an empire, which gets ranked against players around the world..

In the end, Caesar IV is a pretty impressive strategy builder and while it doesn't surpass Glory of the Roman Empire's ease of use or CivCity: Rome's good looks, it does offer the most robust city building components of the three. - Dean Martell.