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Caesar is a 1992city-buildingvideo game published bySierra On-Line in which the player undertakes the role of aRoman governor, building ancient Roman cities.
| Caesar | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Impressions Games |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Designer(s) | David Lester |
| Programmer(s) | Simon Bradbury |
| Artist(s) | Jon Baker Erik Casey |
| Composer(s) | Christopher J. Denman |
| Series | City Building |
| Platform(s) | Amiga,Atari ST,MS-DOS |
| Release | October 12, 1992 |
| Genre(s) | City-building |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Released in 1992 on theAmiga andported the following year toAtari ST,PC andMacintosh, the game is similar toSimCity. In addition to similar graphics and user interfaces, it also came with issues ofmicromanagement, including complicated city-planning requirements such as building the right number of schools, theaters, libraries, bathhouses, and other amenities within suitable distances of residential areas.
An updated version,Caesar Deluxe, was released in 1993 for the Amiga.Caesar spawned three direct sequels and several spin-offs set in other ancient civilizations, which are together known as theCity Building series.
Reception
editAccording to Sierra On-Line, combined sales ofCaesar andCaesar II surpassed 400,000 units by the end of March 1996.[1]
In June 1993,Computer Gaming World recommendedCaesar toSimCity fans who "wished for more buttons to push, knobs to adjust and wires to reroute". The magazine concluded that "Caesar provides that rare quality in strategy gaming — an experience whose rewards prove equal to its challenges ... [it] provides the serious player with a real lion's feast".[2] A survey of pre-20th-century strategy games in the issue gave the game three-plus stars out of five, calling it "More of a game than a simulation, but it can be fun".[3]
Caesar and itssequel were named, collectively, the 96th best computer game ever byPC Gamer UK in 1997. The editors wrote, "Impressions keep on keeping on with the likes ofLords of the Realm [...] but have never managed to regain the dizzy peak they climbed with their handsome brace of think-'em-ups."[4]
Sequels
editCaesar was developed and designed byImpressions Games and distributed bySierra On-Line. Impressions also developed another Roman-themed game,Cohort 2, at the same time, which allowed players to direct ancient Roman battles in a style akin to a crude precursor of theCommand & Conquer series. Impressions included a feature inCohort 2 which allowed players ofCaesar to load their saved files and play out the battles fromCaesar inCohort 2. Later, Impressions released an updated version ofCaesar which automatically launched a version ofCohort 2 whenever the player engaged in battle. This version was released under the titleCaesar Deluxe in 1994.
Impressions released the sequelsCaesar II in 1995 andCaesar III in 1998. A third sequel,Caesar IV, was announced in August 2005 byTilted Mill Entertainment and was subsequently released on September 26, 2006.
References
edit- ^Sierra On-Line Form 10-K (Report).Bellevue, Washington. March 31, 1996. pp. 7–9. Archived fromthe original on April 16, 2018.
- ^L. Greenburg, Allen (June 1993)."All Code Leads to Rome | Impressions' Caesar".Computer Gaming World. No. 107. p. 126.
- ^Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993)."An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames".Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved7 July 2014.
- ^Flynn, James; Owen, Steve; Pierce, Matthew; Davis, Jonathan; Longhurst, Richard (July 1997). "ThePC Gamer Top 100".PC Gamer UK. No. 45. pp. 51–83.
External links
edit
- Caesar atMobyGames
- Caesar at the Hall of Light
- Caesar Deluxe at the Hall of Light
- Discussion of evolution ofCaesar games by lead designer Chris Beatrice (on Internet Archive)