Annals of Rome

The Good
I played this at least 15 years ago on an Atari 520ST and although even then I probably thought the graphics were crude, I got caught up in it.

One review suggested it was flawed because it allowed play to continue indefinitely. Each turn in the game represents 25 years in real time. You start during the early years of the republic. With a bit of luck and skill you end up in the era of the empire.

In my final game and longest lasting I still had a Roman Empire in the 17th century. It was a shadow of what it had been but that made it all the more fascinating to me. I ended up managing to hold onto territories like Cappodocia (Turkey or Asian Minor) but only turn by turn. It almost seemed as if the game logic was stuck historically at about the time Constantinople fell to the Turks and the last vestiges of the empire were wiped off the map.

I no longer recall if eventually I was vanquished or after several hundred game turns I realized the jog was up. I could not conquer or hold any territories for longer than a turn at a time, and so I may have quit.

All I can say is that for the $20 I probably paid for it, I enjoyed double that in hours spent playing.

The Bad
There is nothing actually that I would remark on critically. For the time it was already unsophisticated in many ways. But the elements of play that engaged me made up for it.

The Bottom Line
engaging