Recent reviews by camille

There are too many things wrong with this game. There seems to be too may bugs. The buttons that don’t work or dialog boxes which don’t close. Worse of all, the game save and load seems to be flawed. On loading a saved game while playing, the information from the current and saved game appears to get mixed up into one another. The only solution is to quit the game and restart. The save menu is very poor. The game play is very unclear. What is the point of having quests, promises and crises when you can’t act towards resolving it? The events on world map are unclear and also most of the projects have little clarity. The dialogue is semi-humours at times but become repetitive after a little. Some of the events keep repeating, even after they have been resolved, sometimes with the same characters involved. In fact, you just have to answer according to what scores you will get or lose for the six categories. The election is also a waste of time and the information is not useful or available afterwards. After the election the scoring system went completely awry and the scores were stuck on the main (office) page but not the final page. There is little information of what is what and at times the scores change without any explanation. What is worse is that they change if re-loading the game to the same point. I played this game for the two terms and that was more than enough. I am glad that the game was discounted when I got it and I would definitely not recommend buying this. There are a few similar games that are far superior.

Not sure what is supposed to happen. No one seems to do anything and nothing is very clear. Not really worth it. The developers need to have another look at this. Either the "simple tutorial" doesn't say how to make the people do things, or likely the commands do not work. The only thing the people do is endless "Moonwalking" in the same spot.

This reminds of the game SETTLERS except in a different setting. Build to collect resources to get an army, as big an army as you can. Then attack. The games has many bugs including saving problems. The saved games are not always intact and even sometimes the "save" does not work. The game-play has problems. First the objectives are really vague and not clear how one is supposed achieve them. Also, despite the very few deviations from "build, get an army & attack", the game is just too repetitive. I could not get the other nations unlocked (if they are there).

Really good game. The hints do help with grasping the purpose of the game. Very quick start and is easy to get into the game. But it gets more challenging after progressing a few levels. Quite rewarding.. The price is excellent too.

The game has issues both with the game idea and the programme bugs. The game is an odd mix of historical campaigning and a board game but doesn’t do either well. The campaigning part is not real and the game tries to follow too many rules according to history. Unfortunately, the player (in this case, I) just wanted to win. Bring in the bugs and it gets comical. I played the game two times and had problems both times. To give an idea of how things deviate the first time I played it (as Romans/yellow player), Emperor Trajan came good for us, and let the legions stay. The legions did not change to Romano-Britains and Arthur, Offa and some of the others never turned up. Neither did some of the other characters and Nordic clans who decided to stay warm at home. When the Saxons turned up the coastline was covered by the legions. But that didn’t stop the Saxons who flew into Leeds/Bradford airport, bypassing any coastal district. The last bit was also bizarre, William the Conqueror versus the Roman Legions. Again, William and his army couldn’t land on the coast (Hastings was not available) so he flew into the interior. But after the Historic “Battle of Heathrow”, the Roman legions sent him packing (somewhere). I think that gives the idea for some of the game plan bugs. The idea of board-game doesn’t work either. What is the point of the dice when only one number (6) counts in the battle. The battles are done individually, so there is no point in stacking. In another game (Green player) one Welsh soldier defeated two Roman legions and a fort because the fights were not connected (unit strengths do not appear to add up). The stacking, the resources and the scoring are not understandable. Some nations never seem to earn enough points to have any additional units. The game machinery is also problematic. Almost every save resulted in a white screen which went onto (close programme/wait until…). The save is not in order of the time, so if you save a game under a used name, it does not appear at the top of the list when loading. The game can really do with a proper direct load command and ideally a quick-load command. After all, this game is easy to win, so long as you are prepared to load the game a few times and save regularly (after each event). I think a lot is needed before the game is enjoyable and in any way playable. I don’t think the board-game aspect lends itself to players disregarding the order of events as the publishers appear to want these processes to go according to plan (they don’t ). And so the bizzare errors happen. For me two times was enough and I can’t see me playing as a third colour.

I really hoped this game would be a brilliant game. I had it on my wishlist and bought it as soon as it came out. So this is a review within a few days of release. I wish I hadn’t bought it. It is awful! There is something wrong when you have to play the tutorial a number of times and even then you can’t get through. The tutorial is hopelessly unclear. So I gave up with the tutorial and played the game as single player). The first time (on novice level) I was doing really well (or so I thought) and then in one turn a competitor won. With no explanation of how or why? I really wanted to get the hang of the game and enjoy it, so I tried again and then another time. In fact very little makes much sense. There are a lot of silly cards (opportunities) in this game which make absolutely no sense. There does not seem to be any explanations of what goes on. The game itself is not at all, the kind of empire builder. As said above, I really wanted this to be a success. But having played it a few times, the only words I can use to describe it are “un-enjoyable and illogical”. Perhaps one day the publishers can sort it out and remember it should be a game for people to play and enjoy. But as it is, the game is really poor. I won’t be wasting my time on this and do not recommend it.

An excellent follow up to the previous version. I thought this game would be a repeat of the previous but it is not and has more than enough new and interesting content. At the same time, it keeps the main aspects and the progression path of the previous game. Will there be a third?

As an overall strategy game, this is excellent but combat fields are not its forte. The tutorial can be a little off-putting with overcrowded maps. But the game is uncomplicated, enjoyable and easy to grasp. There are some excellent features such as appointing lords and regardless of the starting kingdom, the game is rewarding. The game is still interesting even after a few repeats with different kingdoms. The list of city buildings that can be constructed are good but first, they could be more and also, why do all kingdoms have exactly the same buildings. Despite these, the game is well made and recommended.

Overly complicated with things that are unnecessary and are not relevant. You spend more time dealing with a senator's sexual indecencies or a family members stomach problems than the matters of state. Not clear why events happen or change but, sacrificing appears to be the answer to most problem. Also there is little that can be done to find out what has happened, why certain things have changed or how to control the game. I played the tutorial and I thought I was doing ok until that went pear-shaped too. But I don't know why. If you like cleaning up after senators' bottoms, then this is good game. Otherwise, is a dead-end.

One of the best historical empire building games I have played. The idea of building cities where you want and having them named (as close as possible) is brilliant. The graphics are really good, very smooth motions and also the mechanics of the game are great. The game has plenty to manage and yet, is simple enough not to bog down with cycles that hours to deal with; perfect balance! Tutorial is good and the game was easy enough to master, both the first time I played it and then, a second time after a two years break. There are a number of DLC with different scenarios which are well worth exploring. In fact, I thought the "Ancient Rome Centurion" and "Ancient Orient" are even better scenarios. I did not encounter any bugs either. The only issue is the slow start and lengthy load time of the saved games. Otherwise, a brilliant game.