Caesar II

aka: Caesar II: Build A City, Build An Empire!, Caesar II: Bâtissez une cité... Bâtissez un Empire !, Caesar II: Errichten Sie eine Stadt, Errichten Sie ein Imperium!
Moby ID: 1588
Windows Specs

Description official descriptions

Caesar II is set in the time of ancient Rome, and lets you try to be the next Caesar. You start with one province and have to build an efficient city. To do this you'll have to manage the water supply properly, make sure the city is policed well, and provide adequate education, entertainment, baths, and temples (which also hold your money and can be robbed if you don't have enough protection).

At some point, possibly more then once, you'll have to defend your province from invading tribes that don't really want you there. You also have to connect all the little villages in the province with roads and make some industry, like stone mining, grapes, etc. for which you can then create markets in your city.

When you have achieved the necessary requirements, you'll be able to start all over again in a new and more challenging province. Do well enough and you can become the new Caesar.

Spellings

  • 凯撒大帝II - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 凱撒大帝Ⅱ - Traditional Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

30 People · View all

Design
Additional Design
Programming
Production
Art Direction
Graphics & Animation
Sound & Music
Speech Recording & Production
  • PolyLang Multimedia Ltd.
Translation & Re-Recording
  • Coktel Vision
Voice Talent (English)
Video Compression
Documentation & Research
Director of Technology
Quality Assurance Manager
Lead Tester
Quality Assurance
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 18 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 47 ratings with 1 reviews)

Venni Vinni Vicci! (or whatever)

The Good
The first thing that appealed to me about this game was the fact that you can see your citizens wandering around the street. Sim City 2000 was one of my all time favorite games, but I felt that it lacked the ability to personally see what your Sims are up to during the day. Caesar II allowed you to not only see where your citizens go in the day, but you can also hear their thoughts on what a great (or bad) guy you are, as well as hearing what they desire and a more detailed description of their job and where they're going. This nice touch made me realize that my little digital citizens actually exist, if only in virtual reality. If Sim City 2000 had this feature, maybe I wouldn't have started so many fires by the zoo.

City-building is a lot of fun in Caesar II. Houses start out as worthless huts, but as you expand and add to your city, the houses begin to look better and start to expand. Ever citizen and every house has needs, and they will not expand until you can meet these needs. People need water, for instance, so you will have to build aqueducts or wells to bring the water to them. They'll also need access to the marketplace, or churches. And once the really rich citizens start moving in, and the houses begin to look fancy, they'll be asking for really expensive and elegant things, like, say, a colosseum or a chariot race track.

I've compared this game to Sim City 2000 at least twice now, and I think it's a valid comparison. Caesar II is, after all, a city building sim at heart. Of course, the two games are very similar, but it's not as simple as saying "Caesar II is Sim City 2000 but in Roman times!", because it's not. Caesar II takes a few steps forward and adds an expanded commerce, trading goods and the bloody, military side of Rome.

There are two modes to play in Caesar II. You can either play a city-building sim, which could be compared to Sim City 2000 (but in Rome), or you can play the campaign, where you'll not only have to build an efficient and functional city, keeping your citizens happy and allocating plebs where needed, but you'll also have to expand outward, to other locations as to acquire resources for trade and, of course, more income. Using the income, you must also build a military, not only to guard your city from invaders, but to invade opposing cities, settlements and encampments.

The battles are fun to play and watch. You can have quite a large army charging into battle, with many different units available, from spearmen to elephant riders.

The Bad
The combat doesn't have a lot of strategy involved. There is no terrain to take advantage of or anything of that nature. It usually boils down to who has the largest, most powerful army.

The difficulty might turn some players away. It can get quite tough at times, especially when your citizens start rioting and starting fires.

The Bottom Line
A classic game in every aspect. It raises the bar for city-sims, and is even educational!

DOS · by kbmb (415) · 2003

Discussion

Subject By Date
3.x is a crock eXo (346) Jul 22, 2015

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Related Sites +

  • Sierra Forums
    This has a forum where you can ask questions about Caesar II and get several answers in return.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1588
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Dr. Elementary.

Macintosh added by Kabushi. Windows added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Duan Xuan, jean-louis, Paulus18950.

Game added June 11, 2000. Last modified January 30, 2024.