Civcity: Rome: Review
The theme of ancient Rome is definitely a success in the development environment. Only during this year, the developers gave us so many game -sisters about the great Caesars and the eternal city that any author of the history textbook for high school would have been aligned by the amount of information that the creators of the Titles with a subtitle splashed on our heads "Rome" In the name. Particularly popular projects of ancient Roman themes, for some reason, are used by manufacturers of urban planning simulators. Do not feed these harsh people with bread, but just let the poor gamers once again build a nth aqueduct and lay another kilometer of roads from one settlement to another. Whatever you say, and the daily time for economic strategies for a long time it is time to enter the daily days of provincial towns in the daily routine. So, you look, from some Uryupinsk will grow up "New Vasyuki".
But back to our rams. The year 2006 from the Nativity of Christ will be remembered not only by the beginning of the Great Next-Gen War, but also by an unprecedented surge in activity "CITY-SIM" Apeninsky orientation: Glory of the Roman Empire, Heart of Empire: Rome, Our patient today Civcity: Rome And finally, majestic Caesar IV. The last two projects, as it seems to us, will play among themselves the title of the best rimo -building strategy of the year.
Civcity: Rome – The fruit of night gatherings of employees Firefly Studios And Firaxis Games. Talented, it should be noted, employees. The first, during their development career, managed to be noted by the medieval series Stronghold. Second … however, about the track record Sid Meira (Sid Meier) and Co. You can tell more than one hour. Suffice it to say that from under the pen Firaxis And to this day, more and more chapters of a great strategic novel come out Civilization. Such a star composition of workers, by definition, was supposed to create at least a quality product, at a maximum – a new standard of genre. In fact, Igrodel did not manage to reach the lower bar – perhaps the level of dressing Civcity: Rome I broke more than one reviewed heart. After recent Civilization 4 And Stronghold We have the right to expect much more.
Singleplay campaign (however, the word "single" With regard to the game, you can not use it at all, the benefit of the multi -user regime is not completely here) consists of a couple of dozens of missions. The geography of the project is very wide. During the passage Civcity: Rome You will have time to visit the sultry sands of the Middle East and in the harsh lands of Britain. True, the meaning of the missions, regardless of the region of stay, will remain statist – to create a prosperous city from the assistant village. For more advanced users, the developers glued several single scenarios that differ from the main levels with an unpleasant neighborhood with aggressive barbaric tribes or the scarcity of natural resources. The essence of the tasks is simple as twice two. Each time you will be asked about the same thing – to get a certain number of fossil goods and bring the level of residential buildings to the necessary bar, increasing from the mission to the mission. Boring. To give some variety, developers brought into the game "Cylipedia" – Smart electronic textbook telling about intra -game buildings and other interesting things. However, in comparison with a similar encyclopedia in the very knowledge, where it looks like a small brochure, for pennies sold at book collapse: tasteless illustrations, small volumes of information, in a word-shame and shame. There are three levels of complexity varying depending on the size of the financial handmade of the Senate.
Borrowing from early crafts Firefly And Firaxis observed at almost every step. Settlements, for example, as in Stronghold, At first they are a city center with peasants who are around. The influx of new workers directly depends on the living conditions – increase the norm of daily food diet, ennoble the surroundings of cultural monuments, and the free bogans will run out of headlong to line up in the queue for registration in your city.
For a further comfortable game, it will not be enough to lure new inhabitants. Demanding residents must be constantly appealed, sensitively reacting to their requests and desires. At first, the hard workers will be content with a simple neighborhood with a functioning well, they will be asked in the future, or they will even demand to build a meat shop, a library, a temple, a Senate building and other urban infrastructure nearby. Each building has a certain zone of influence. The more dwellings fit in the cross areas, the higher their level. With the growth of construction work of mossy hibaras gradually turn into beautiful villas: in all, the game has six evolutionary steps.
In order to turn the handed farm into the ancient Roman Rublevka, you need to think for a very long and thoroughly and thoroughly location of the new real estate. Point development – our everything. Indeed, try to replace one building with another, as the plebeian mansion instantly degrades in "Domus". Another wrong move – and in front of you is an old -loser hut. The only possibility of transferring an expensive house to a new place by the wave of several mice -shutterks is pleased. Thus, very often it is possible to preserve elite "Cottages", bringing, by the way, solid deductions to the city treasury.
The second most important duty of a virtual posadnik is the planning of the working routes of residents. The less time the townspeople spend on overcoming the path from the place of residence to the place of work, the better. If in order to get to the destination point the city dweller will have to "Sprinkle" After half a ceremony, then he will not have a banal one free minutes to visit cultural and leisure institutions. There are no visits – there is no increase in points to the level of the building – there are no proper tax requisitions. By the way, if your treasury is empty – be prepared to start the mission again: the number of possible loans is strictly limited. However, the length of the working day can and should be adjusted.
IN Civcity: Rome Wells a division of labor. Each employee does exclusively his own business. Simply put, in order to, for example, to realize a batch of fresh breads, it is necessary to start harvesting wheat to start, shaking it to the mill, then deliver bags with freshly ground flour to a bakery and only then distribute hot bread through trading shops. Nothing reminds? It is worth mentioning that next to production buildings, it is necessary to build warehouses. They are of two types: food and general. You probably already guessed that in the case of industrial affairs, the location of buildings included in the production chain plays a decisive role. Simply put, the longer the miller will weave to the bakery, the longer the delay in the baking of the new bread will arise. Time is money.
Such problems, in theory, should solve trade. But here the developers had an annoying mistake. In total, in exchange with neighbors, 17 types of goods are allowed to use. However, each market can sell only one (sic!) type of resources. Want to make additional profits from the sale of several types of products at once? – Kindly build the same number of stores, each of which, by the way, will cost you a tidy sum. The speed of the movement of merchant caravans is not happy. Trading vessels are called to speed up the process of cargo flow, however, a little more of the sense of them.
In total, in the game you can count a little more than fifty buildings that create the appearance of an ancient metropolis: hospitals, schools, libraries, taverns, buildings for law enforcement, music academies, theaters, areas for the battles of gladiators and animals, circus, fountains, gardens, etc. Miracles of the world pass by a separate item. There are seven of them, as in real life: a great lighthouse, two obelisks, a Colosseum, a giant circus, a library and a pantheon. To build any of their above exhibits, it will simply be required an incredible amount of resources, and the construction process itself will be excessively tightened. For the inhuman patience and generosity, a miracle will reward the ruler with Jackpot Charm Casino review a collection of pleasant bonuses. Emigrated from the role of useful updates "Civilizations" technologies. The Tree of Scientific Resources inspires respect. Although there is not so much benefit from him. For a tidy sum, local kulibins will significantly increase the speed of the movement of residents or production.
Civcity: Rome is not a completely economic simulator. Players, scratching the back of the head, came to the conclusion that the military component of the project is simply necessary. Of course. On the urban planning threshold, a grandiose Caesar IV, also not depriving attention to power methods for solving problems. It is said, done – and now, behind the walls of the city, the squads of recruits ready for the battle march with might and mainly. Although it is still not worth it. The military wrapping is sewn to the game exclusively for a checkmark. Units are divided into only two types: swordsmen and jackets. Both the first and the latter are surprisingly dumb. Armed clashes in Civcity: Rome Most like classic porridge-mala, a couple of years ago, dominated in all RTS class "IN". Wars mix into a faceless mass, silently ignoring orders to change the formation. All this applies to city battles. Open battles occur instantly. In the clash of two icons symbolizing the army, there is an automatic calculation of the number of infantrymen from both side and the final verdict is issued – who has more "meat", He won. Apparently, tactics generals at that time were not in high esteem. In each settlement, for its protection, it is allowed to have three detachments of 25 people each. Prevent enemies from burning their native "hut" The walls are called up, introducing the attackers into a slight confusion. Surprisingly, the security towers, repeling wild animals and suppressing local uprisings, do not take any participation in the defense of the village. Common sense, hello!
The game could be forgiven a lot, solder the developers to it a modern graphic engine. However, "Motor" Civcity: Rome And it can be called modern, the benefit of the release of the product took place recently, but in no way satisfying modern requirements for the video. Blurry textures, poorly detailed little men, turning the camera in the angular "Buratin", the absence of any weather effects and, you won’t believe it, the shifts of the time do not honor the development tandem. The interface is similar to a visual component. He is also miserable and not ergonomic. The menu that covers the good half of the screen with its appearance is a bad tone that has become inherited from primitive examples of the genre.
With the release of a press release that has known the world about the existence Civcity: Rome, Firefly Studios And Firaxis Games They stated that this project will be the first in the family of urban planning Sims united under the brand Civcity. At that time, we were happy with a similar decision of the studios and, as children, anticipated the appearance of the first results of cooperation between two glorious gagodelopers. As it turned out, in vain. Civcity: Rome It turned out surprisingly boring and predictable, devoid of some fresh trends and interesting gameplay finds. A good portion of tar added a clumsy graphic engine, an inert military component and the absence of a multiplayer. Although, perhaps, some of you will like a slow, measured style of play – in this case you can safely throw an extra score to a final assessment.
Pros: An interesting economic model;The indescribable flavor of the ancient city.
Cons: dull graphics;slurred combat system;Excessively methodical gameplay;lack of multiplayer regime;A large number "misses" and logical inconsistencies.