Centurion: Defender of Rome
I feel like I've Ben Hur beforeGenre: strategy - 4x
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Year: 1991
System: Genesis
Gameplay Score: 2
Gameplay Notes:
Confusing controls. A is the action button, until it's not. B is cancel, and C is a bit of a wildcard. Battles are initiated by sending your army (legion) to an adjacent area and declaring war on the natives. You mostly just watch battles. They have little interactivity other than choosing between 3 or 4 strategies, starting the battle, and then issuing orders which your troops promptly ignore. And issuing these orders is an exceedingly unclear experience. Hovering over a unit shows an animation of a movement pattern. Is that what you're telling them to do? Or is it what they will do without any orders? Can I give them a different order? I click the button...did it work? So yeah, combat is confusing to say the least. The other aspects of the game include building fleets, changing taxation levels, raising armies, and conducting and betting on games and chariot races. These features seem simplistic compared to the Koei games which is a welcome improvement in my book. There's no political theater and no resource management that I encountered. I probably didn't play long enough to find these.
Level Design Score: 1
Level Design Notes:
I don't really know what hides behind the first half hour of this game, but I couldn't find anything but a "new game". There aren't multiple scenarios to choose from. Every game begins in 270BC in Rome.
Theme Score: 1
Theme Notes:
This sort of game never really appealed to me and with a nameless, faceless protagonist and adversaries, this game has little to no personality.
Art Style Score: 1
Art Style Notes:
Menus and tiny toy soldier armies with two frame animations. These are some uninteresting graphics.
Audio Score: 3
Audio Notes:
The music ain't bad. It sets the mood just fine.
Overall Score: 34
Review ID: 817
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