GI.net writes: "Ah! The Roman Empire! Any intellectual worth his grain of salt knows something about the period. As most people over age 18 who have been to college know that the Roman Empire used to be THE superpower. They were the leaders in art, philosophy, medicine and sanitation, diplomacy, and military tactics. There also was some insanity with the emperors: One leader made a horse his loyal adviser. Enter in Imperium Romanum, a real-time strategy that lets you play with the Romans.
When I first received it, I thought it sounded interesting. The manual certainly lends itself this form of credibility. Unfortunately, shivers ran up and down my spine when I read the note on the back of the CD slipcase that our fearless leader, Ophelea, left me: "Be sure to patch." Have we learned nothing from Pools of Radiance II: Ruins of Myth Drannor?! When the game first came out, it was highly unstable. Within two weeks or so after release, a fair amount of the bugs were crushed, and a month later the game was stable. Even then some people had issues with the game. And it did not stop people from hating the game.
On the bright side, Imperium Romanum smoothly and cleanly installed itself onto my computer from the CD. I have read on the forums that there are issues with downloading and then installing it from the South Peak game's Web site because of the use of an old download application. As of this writing, the version is up to 1.03 and is now stable. This is what it should be out of the box. Period."
With the release of Tropico 5 in a couple of days, I've decided to take a look back at the Bulgarian studio's history. Be wary, it contains a lot of Romans.
For a limited time only, Bundle Stars, the direct-to-consumer company focusing on digital downloads, is launching its biggest PC game bundle to date. Gamers have the chance to download and own 12 standalone PC games for the price of just $5.
Imperium Romanum is a real time strategy game set in, you've guessed it, the era of the Roman Empire. It's the usual build your city affair with houses, military buildings, buildings for food, etc. Then you have to defend it against attacks, generate money and keep your people happy – pretty much the same as every other RTS then? Well, not really.
