With These Three Titles, Do as the Romans Do

Depending on how you count, the Roman Empire ruled for the better part of a century, and it feels like it has been that long since we have seen a city-building title set there. But now there is a powerful triumvirate of titles on the scene.

CivCity Rome was created by collaboration between two simulation titans, Firaxis Games of Civilization and SimCity fame, and Firefly Studios, creators of the Stronghold series. Glory of the Roman Empire was created by Haemimont Games of Celtic Kings fame. And Sierra and Tilted Mill Entertainment just released Caesar IV, the latest installment in this grandfatherly series dating to the early 1990s.

In each game, you construct cities for the glory of Rome in real time, but in different ways. Each game was rated on several factors such as difficulty, polish, graphics, extras and combat. All three will keep you entertained for hours, but which Roman holiday is worth your hard-earned denarii?

Difficulty: Glory and CivCity require that you place certain buildings close to each other. For example, in Glory, if you place a temple near a worker's house then that house will automatically upgrade because the resident is filled with pride, which means the person living there will be more efficient at his or her job.

In CivCity, houses upgrade only when their residents have free time and can make improvements. To go from a shack to a hut requires water, so you need to have a well within walking distance. If the well is too far away, the resident won't ever upgrade, so planning is essential.

In the games, you'll need to build neighborhoods close to services such as food-providing buildings. CivCity is stricter in this approach, which makes the game more difficult. Caesar has no such distance requirements. If a shop is far away, it simply takes longer for the citizen to travel there, which makes your town less efficient but does not force people to sit around starving, waiting for your godly intervention.

In Glory, you won't ever really be faced with losing a mission. It might take you longer to complete if you are overrun with plague, fire and riots, but eventually you should be able to win. In CivCity there are loss conditions, which, if met, will end your rule. In Caesar, you have to really mess up, but Rome will remove you if you have the managerial skills of Nero.

Glory is a bit too easy for all but the novice gamer. CivCity is fun, but later missions can be murderously difficult. Caesar gets it just right and, as a bonus, generally gives you enough money so that you can pause the game and plan 90 percent of your town before anyone moves in, which makes it a true city-planning title.

Polish: Glory lost this category quickly because a lot of the game's details are hard to find. Angry citizens rush to town hall and protest (but without voices), so noticing they are unhappy in the midst of your huge city is difficult. And the people are stupid. I've seen protesters head to city hall because there are no sausages in town and pass by two full butcher shops en route.

CivCity and Caesar are amazingly detailed. Almost every character in your city has something to say and does so with a real voice. If they don't have anything to complain about, they will tell you about their missing brother, a play they saw at the theater or how much they enjoy strolling through the lush gardens you have built.

Caesar has a nice animated adviser screen, too, while CivCity has a cool animation that plays when you construct a wonder (something Civilization players will recognize).