63
MobyRank
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
3.7
MobyScore
5 point score based on user ratings.

Description

Starting as a young Roman legionnaire in 275BC, your job is to conquer the known world through force or diplomacy, fighting on land and sea.

Centurion: Defender of Rome is a turn-based strategy game. You start with one province, Rome, and one legion. To complete the game, you have to conquer all the provinces on the map.

One part of the game is micro-managing your provinces. You set up tax rates and make people happy by organizing games. In Rome, you can organize a chariot race, a gladiatorial combat or even a simulated naval battle; this starts an action mini-game where you control the chariot rider, gladiator or ship.

Another part of the game is military conquest. You can raise legions or strengthen them in any province you control (let's just hope there are enough men in the province, or your legion will be incomplete and weaker). There are three types of legions, each of them has a different strength. You can also move a legion to a neighbouring province.

When you enter a province you don't yet control, you can speak with the ruler there. With luck, you can convince him to give you the province for free; but this isn't very likely, and you'll often have to fight.

When your legion attacks a province, or defends one of your provinces from an invader, the game switches to an isometric view of the battlefield. You can give orders to your legion (assuming they are within the range of their commander's voice) and watch as they duke it out with the enemy forces. Eventually, one of the sides will be completely wiped out or panic and retreat.

Finally, you can buy warships and have naval battles with the enemy fleet. This is represented as an action mini-game, depicting a duel of the flagships; however, the outcome of the battle actually depends on the strength of your fleet.

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User Reviews

Centurion: Pretender to the Throne? PCGamer77 Bronze Star Contributing Member (3027) 3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars
Excellent game. Tomer Gabel Bronze Star Contributing Member (4418) unrated
A classic! Raphael (1164) 3.6 Stars3.6 Stars3.6 Stars3.6 Stars3.6 Stars
Full of promise but never delivered Tony Van (2692) 2.8 Stars2.8 Stars2.8 Stars2.8 Stars2.8 Stars
Not very rewarding. Mr Blea (2) unrated
Defend the empire in this classic game of strategy and guile. bb bb (29) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars
Another classic from the classic days of gaming William Shawn McDonie Bronze Star Contributing Member (1153) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars

The Press Says

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Sep, 1990 750 out of 1000 75
Computer Gaming World (CGW) Oct, 1990 3.5 Stars3.5 Stars3.5 Stars3.5 Stars3.5 Stars 70
Dragon Nov, 1990 3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars3 Stars 60
Power Play Aug, 1990 60 out of 100 60
The Games Machine (UK) Aug, 1990 48 out of 100 48

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Trivia

Music

The music used in the naval battles was taken from the movie Ben Hur. It was in the scene where Ben Hur was a galley slave.

Information also contributed by William Shawn McDonie


This entry was contributed by PCGamer77 Bronze Star Contributing Member (3027), Raphael (1164), Terok Nor (16793) and MAT Bronze Star Contributing Member (53416)
 

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