Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Grand Ages: Rome wasn’t a bad city management game (with some mild RTS combat elements), but I’d probably buy Tropico 3, which was by the same team in the same engine. If you’re already gone to that Roman place then you might be interested to hear that the expansion has hit as a download (at GamersGate, but other portals are apparently imminent). It’s called Reign Of Augustus and it’s got twelve more missions, six new multiplayer maps, four new building types, new talents for each family, and the ability to connect your city to the Roman roads. There’s also a sandboxian God Mode for unlimited resources play, which sounds like something that should have been in the vanilla game, to me… Trailer in the below.
Read the rest of this entry »

Somewhat fiddly and annoying city-builder Grand Ages: Rome (previously Imperium Romanum II) is out this week, and while it might not be the smoothest city-building strategy game we’ve ever encountered, it’s certainly one of the most visually impressive, with its lavishly detailed ancient urban systems, and boggling long-zoom. The Roman metropolis you can construct with its aqueducts and villas is eye-soothingly realistic: perfect for an accelerated-time trailer like the one after the jump. Rome built in just a few minutes, in fact. Go take a look.
Read the rest of this entry »

Electrogame samplebit! Grand Ages: Rome! This is, in case you forgot (or didn’t know), Imperium Romanum 2 – which I’m sure will offend all the many devoted fans of Imperium Romanum. Seriously, you don’t want to offend the Imperium Romanum fans. Theys Meanies! I heard they shot a games reviewer just to see him die. Anyway, this is that fashionable-900Mb size and can be got from here and features a demo of Grand Ages: Rome. Which is always a good move for a demo of Grand Ages: Rome. Anyway – you’ll find a couple of videos of this city builder below.
Read the rest of this entry »