''Imperium Romanum'' is a 2008 city-building

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

developed by Haemimont Games and published by Kalypso Media (SouthPeak Games only licensed the game for a U.S. release by Kalypso). ''Imperium Romanum'' is a sequel to the 2006 game '' Glory of the Roman Empire'', by the same developer. Players act as governor of a Roman province and must build and maintain a thriving and prosperous settlement. The game takes place during the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Players build Roman towers, gates, and bridges and use currency to fund projects. The Italian and Spanish versions of the game are titled ''Imperivm: Civitas II''. A successor game, '' Grand Ages: Rome'' (also known as ''Imperivm: Civitas III''), was released in 2009.

Gameplay

''Imperium Romanum'' features significantly improved graphics from its predecessor and also adds several large Roman monuments such as the

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian language, Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot racing, chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine Hill, Avent ...

and the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

. The game does not have a scripted campaign mode like some other city-building games, but instead has the player navigate different historical scenarios such as life in

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

under the terror of

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...

. Along with maintaining cities, players must also keep them very well-organized and keep money evenly distributed among the people. If the people of the city experience extreme poverty, crime rates may increase, which has a number of negative effects on the city. The game features fully rendered 3D structures and people and allows the player to zoom in and out of the scene as well as rotate the camera a full 360 degrees. While much of the game is focused on building and maintaining cities, there are some RTS elements when opposing cities and civilizations do battle with the player's. Along with building fortified walls and towers around their cities to prevent enemy attacks, players may also build objects such as trebuchets to go on the offensive against opposing nations.

Expansion pack

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

entitled ''Imperium Romanum: Emperor Expansion'' was released in the summer of 2008 in North America and Europe.

Reception

''Imperium Romanum''

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. A review in

GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Compute ...

praised the game's pace, buildings and user interface, while criticizing its uninspired mechanics and underwhelming design.

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave a similarly mixed review.

''Emperor Expansion''

The ''Emperor Expansion'' pack received a "mixed" review based solely on

's review according to Metacritic.

References

External links

* * at Haemimont Games * * {{Haemimont Games 2008 video games City-building games Kalypso Media games Real-time strategy video games Video games set in the Roman Empire SouthPeak Games Video game sequels Video games developed in Bulgaria Windows games Windows-only games Video games set in antiquity Multiplayer and single-player video games Haemimont Games games Video games set in the Colosseum