Back in 1989, Maxis released a little game by the name of SimCity. Building on a concept established back in 1982 by Utopia, SimCity launched and solidified city-building as a full blown gaming genre. Four years later, Sierra Online Entertainment entered the market with their own city-building game, Caesar.
Set in Roman times, Caesar not only allowed players to build massive cities of marble and stone, but also required them to defend their city from invading barbarians. Now, thirteen years after the series started, the venerable city-building classic is back and this time it’s gotten a nice coat of gloss.
Where previous Caesars opted for the standard isometric view, this time, you’re given a full 3-D camera, which can be rotated, pivoted, and angled to give you the best view of your city. The buildings are absolutely gorgeous and are easily some of the most beautiful pieces of artwork the genre has ever seen. As your citizens walk down the roads draped in shadows and lights, one can’t help but stop and think that Caesar IV feels alive.
Unfortunately, the game is a horrible resource hog at almost any resolution on any machine and this causes a massive amount of cursor lag. Often, the cursor lag will be so bad the game will miss clicks and you’ll have to try four or five times to place one simple building. These problems can be somewhat eliminated by turning the down the detail levels and dropping your resolution, but the game still seems to suffer from some frame drops.
It’s a shame that it’s nearly impossible to play the game with all the effects turned on because it truly is a sight to behold. If you are able to overcome the game's notable frame rate issues, it does have a lot to offer. The economic model alone is enough to keep veteran city builders busy for quite some time.
In order to have goods to tax, you’re going to make sure your workers have the necessary materials. That means building farms for food and lumber, iron and clay camps for resources, and, of course, then you’ll need workshops to build everything. You’re also going to need to provide your citizens with a place to sell their wares, such as a food market or a luxury goods market — both of which can be taxed to your greedy little heart's content. It may seem pretty simple, but actually maintaining the proper balance of camps, factories, and markets can be a bit tough as an imbalance at any level will have an effect on the others.
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