I am Marcus Aurellis, emperor of all that lies before me. … I rule over Rome and Rome is the center of the world.

In blood, the greatest words are written and so Rome became a mighty scribe.

Her destiny has been carved in steel; let not the world forget the mighty battles fought in her name.

The History Channel Great Battles of Rome is a game that tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, to focus on a city-state entity and explore what made it great. Unfortunately, this CDV/Slitherine title does not focus entirely on the glory that was Rome, but rather allows players to play as different sides against Rome.

When you do get to play as the Romans, you will confront Gaels, Celts, Carthage, internal revolts and civil war. The game has more than 100 key battles to contest and has a network multiplayer feature as well. Where the game falters, though, is in a look that harkens back to real-time strategy titles of more than seven years ago. What was fine in the 1990s is less than impressive in 2007.

At the beginning of the game you can only play as the Latin’s. This is a progressive campaign and only by completing the scenarios for the Latin’s – which is a tutorial mode – will you unlock the Romans and Celts. The game itself has many ways to set up the action. You begin with your units and organizing them on the battle field. This is somewhat a tactical endeavor and akin to chess. Your general is the field commander and the combat really relies on him. Each general has order points. When you issue commands you use order points. No order points, no movement is possible.

Win a battle and you will be promoted, receive a medal and get a fame bonus. The more lopsided the victory, the bigger the bonus.

After each battle, you are returned to the Army camp where you can promote squads (which imbues them with more skills), and replenish losses. Money won during battle will help with the replenishment of forces. You can customize your units or color-code them. When you are zoomed out on the map, have your units wear different colors is advantageous to quick decision making.

The interface is simple enough to understand. Once you get the hang of it, everything is displayed in front of you and readily accessible. However, the controls within the interface can be clunky at times. Even in the tutorial you may be instructed to select a unit and there seems to be no real way to do that. They will not highlight in the unit selection box, nor can you pick the unit displayed on the preparation battlefield.

As you begin a campaign, you are asked to start and name a new army. Doing so erases any previous army you have. You are handicapped by the denari (funds) you have as you build an army, so starting anew means that you have to really pay attention to strategy more than simply throwing numbers at an enemy.

The battle preplanning includes matching up your units against enemy units. There is an overview of the battle conditions (open field, rocky slope and so on) and when you are ordered your line the way you wish, you can then proceed to the battle phase. Here the gameplay is precisely what one might expect. You select a unit and right click to order them into motion. There are icons in the interface along the bottom that will give you some options, but you essentially plan an attack order and then carry it out. You might want to send in a main unit, holding a second in reserve to see if the enemy unit flanking the defensive unit you are attacking moves to attack your unit, exposing their flank to a unit you are holding back.

The game, regardless of the campaign you undertake, has a soft learning curve. The difficulty is progressive.

Great Battles of Rome does not do anything particularly new within the RTS genre. This is a game that would have been decent in the late 1990s, but looks antiquated by today’s standards. While not a particularly innovative game, this might serve as an entry point for anyone who has yet to play an RTS.

Gameplay: 6.5
This game has basic gameplay elements. The interface is serviceable and the load times are short. While the game does seem to track a timeline for Roman domination and conquest, the way that the campaigns are set up, you get a quick overview as you enter battle. This game focuses on the fighting rather than a Roman leadership/strategic world plan.  

Graphics: 5.8
These graphics would have been fine seven years or so ago. Not only are the sprite-based characters blocky, but the animations are repetitive and, at times, awkward.

Sound: 6.0
The musical score is nothing to write home about and the sounds of battle are what one would expect from the game.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 5.5
The game is simple and graphically not up to today’s standards.

Multiplayer: N/A
The game does allow for network head-to-head play, but during the times playing the game for the review, there was no one online to play against.

Overall: 6.2
The battle graphics get the job done, but everything else is a wash. The game is simple to play and though it does try to complicate matters, does a poor job – which reveals the simplistic nature of this title. The game is a cerebral exercise and one that you need to undertake even in the early stages of a campaign. You will need to plan ahead, just as one would in chess, so that when you encounter tougher enemies down the road, you have the units ready to fight. In the overall analysis, though, Great Battles of Rome is an introductory point in the RTS genre and a dated one at that.