Caesar (computer Game)

''Caesar'' is a 1992 city-building video game published by Sierra On-Line in which the player undertakes the role of a Roman governor, building ancient Roman cities.

Released in 1992 on the Amiga and ported the following year to Atari ST, PC and Macintosh, the game is similar to '' SimCity''. In addition to similar graphics and user interfaces, it also came with issues of micromanagement, 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 the '' City Building'' series.

Reception

According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of ''Caesar'' and ''Caesar II'' surpassed 400,000 units by the end of March 1996.

In June 1993, ''Computer Gaming World'' recommended ''Caesar'' to ''SimCity'' 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 ... tprovides the serious player with a real lion's feast". 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".

''Caesar'' and its sequel were named, collectively, the 96th best computer game ever by ''PC Gamer UK'' in 1997. The editors wrote, "Impressions keep on keeping on with the likes of ''Lords of the Realm'' ..but have never managed to regain the dizzy peak they climbed with their handsome brace of think-'em-ups."

Sequels

''Caesar'' was developed and designed by Impressions Games and distributed by Sierra 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 the ''Command & Conquer'' series. Impressions included a feature in ''Cohort 2'' which allowed players of ''Caesar'' to load their saved files and play out the battles from ''Caesar'' in ''Cohort 2''. Later, Impressions released an updated version of ''Caesar'' which automatically launched a version of ''Cohort 2'' whenever the player engaged in battle. This version was released under the title ''Caesar Deluxe'' in 1994.

Impressions released the sequels ''Caesar II'' in 1995 and '' Caesar III'' in 1998. A third sequel, ''Caesar IV'', was announced in August 2005 by Tilted Mill Entertainment and was subsequently released on September 26, 2006.

References

External links

''Caesar''
at MobyGames
''Caesar''
at the Hall of Light
''Caesar Deluxe''
at the Hall of Light

(on Internet Archive)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caesar (Video Game)
1992 video games
Activision Blizzard franchises
Amiga games
Atari ST games
Business simulation games
City-building games
DOS games
Classic Mac OS games
Sierra Entertainment games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games set in antiquity
Video games set in the Roman Empire
Impressions Games games
Single-player video games