Centurion: Defender of Rome
| Developer: Bits of Magic | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Electronic Arts | Sound: |
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| Year: 1991 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Strategy | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
Another game that didn’t excite me when I saw the pictures (European maps have haunted me since school).
Live the rise of an ambitious centurion, and through it, the formation of the Roman Empire, by conquest and diplomo diplama or a few Gladius swords blows to the face.
The clear and neat presentation, the reduced number of options at the start of the game, make it easy to get into. Collect taxes, enlist soldiers, attack neighbouring countries: the simple routine of a turn-based strategy game.
The novelty is the battle scenes, where you can see, almost life-size, the two armies facing off on either side of the plain. And just before this little world washes its dirty linen in blood, you are offered the opportunity to employ different pre-established military formations. I do not know to what extent tactics prevail over chance. Perhaps this is the art of war, a glorified “rock-paper-scissors”?
In any case, you can influence the course of the battle at any moment, through an “active pause”, during which your general (if he is within earshot, and incidentally, alive), issues orders, so as to direct each cohort individually. You thus observe, in real time, legions manoeuvring, cavalry attacking on the flanks, panicked soldiers playing castanets, the archers … oh, where are the archers?
Of course, you have the right to charge frontally against your enemies while screaming. That is a tactic!
The alternative to war, called “di-plo-ma-cy”, consists of crossing a border at the head of a horde of musclemen, and asking the local lord to let you take his place. The affair seems to be settled with a dice roll. I suppose it costs nothing to threaten one’s neighbours before invading them. Moreover, this gives you the opportunity to chat with some historical figures: Vercingetorix, Cleopatra, Hannibal…
Between battle phases, you manage your lands (and subjects) in a traditional manner, preparing their defence against external attacks (barbarians), and balancing the level of taxes to reduce the risk of revolt. Another way to please the plebeians: participating in chariot races or gladiatorial fights. These sequences take the form of borrowed arcade mini-games, the kind we’ve come to expect.
Much later, when the treasury permits, will come the moment to acquire a fleet, fill your small ships with legionaries, and go say hello to our Breton cousins, on the other side of the Channel…
More images: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Is that enough?
I’d recommend installing the game on a hard drive (much faster) or sticking to the original version (PC-DOS); and in any case, turn the sound off!
On the same theme, there was also Annals of Rome (PC-DOS, 1986, adapted on Amiga two years later), Cohort and Cohort 2 (1991/1993, PC/Amiga/Atari), Rome: Pathway to Power aka Rome: AD 92 (1992, Amiga then PC-DOS). And of course, a bit later, a certain Rome: Total War (2004).
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