Centurion: Defender of Rome

The Good
My brother in law was the manager of a computer store in the late 80's. One day he told me I could have one of the PC games in the discount box. I went through the titles and found this one. At first glance I didn't think much of it but it was the only thing in the box worth my time and it was free. It turned out to be a great game. Like all great classics the controls were easy to use and learn. I am a Ben Hurr fan (movie) and when I started a naval battle I heard the famous music from Ben Hurr. COOL!

The Bad
I never could master the art of diplomacy very well. I ended up 99% of the time using force. The naval portion of the game was a little lame. Your personal ship goes into combat with the enemy commanders ship. Instead of tatical control of all the fleet. That is decided my several factors not in your control.

The Bottom Line
A must for any Classic Gamer.

The Good
This is one of my favorite games of all time. While old and primitive by today's standards, Centurion was years ahead of its time and offers hours of fun gameplay.

The centerpiece of the game is real-time land battles. It may take a while to figure out the quirks and strategies of the units but it is well worth it. The game takes into account factors like unit moral, the direction units are facing (and being attacked by) and the general's abilities. These factors, along with army formations and tactics form an eligent and challenging experience which was unmached in gaming until the likes of "Shogun: Total War" came out almost 10 years later.

The empire level is fun as well. It's a turn based system where you can move your legions around, invade provinces, fight off invaders etc. Its deep enough to have stategic depth without being complicated or requiring micomanagement. There is only 2 resouces: money (talents) and manpower - both of which are usually in short supply. Eventually you earn enough promotions to command up to 14 legions and once you conquor the world you become Ceasar and win.

I also liked the fine tuned difficulty settings, where you could change how difficult each part of the game was, rather than the game as a whole. You could even change difficulty levels mid-game if things were too easy or too rough.

The Bad
But there are many flaws in the game. Graphics were clunky, even for 1991.

The costs of some things don't make any sense. An infantry legion (4200 foot soldiers) costs 20 talents, the same as a single galeon (which can carry only 200 soldiers) and the same as a heavy chariot for racing. This makes sea battes overly expensive and dangerous since you can lose your whole fleet if the battle goes badly. Its often easier to simply go around the whole mediteranian to conquer north africa than to build a fleet to cross it.

While land battles are excellent, chariot races and fleet battles are boring and poorly made. Thankfully we don't have to fight gladiator battles in the genisis version - which are even worse.

There are other minor detals which are irksom. Like not being able to combine armies or transfer troops, not being able to dismiss bad generals (being forced to suicide them in battle to be rid of them) and the really bad savegame password system.

The Bottom Line
A well designed empire building game with real-time land battles. A game ten years ahead of its time.

The Good
A very good port from the Amiga, Centurion is an excellent strategy game with great replay value and good gameplay. Although it can basically be finished within an hour or so, the game features well-rounded gameplay with great combat, interesting types of minigames and good managerial section.

Designed by legend Kellyn Beck (who also designed just-as-legendary Defender of the Crown), it is one of the best games I've ever played. Excellent graphics, good music, good controls and excellent gameplay make this one game you will not forget.

The Bad
Although a good game on its own, the PC version does have its drawbacks:

• The music is FM-based and not nearly as good as in the Amiga. Although the limitations are understanble, I still think it could have been done better.
• Very weak diplomacy, which is present in the original version as well, and that is unfortunate.
• Horrible sound effects. Jesus, and I thought the Amiga sound effects were bad...
• The game is too damn easy. I could never finish it on the Amiga, and the hardest setting on the PC is not nearly as difficult.

The Bottom Line
Overall, an excellent strategy game for the whole family. Wait, wrong game. Just play it, for crying out loud.