Centurion: Defender of Rome
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Centurion
(1995)
Description official descriptions
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.
Spellings
- センチュリオン Defender of Rome - Japanese spelling
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Credits (DOS version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 70% (based on 26 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 75 ratings with 9 reviews)
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.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4538) · 2000
Another classic from the classic days of gaming
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.
DOS · by William Shawn McDonie (1131) · 2001
The Good
The battles were pretty fun.
The Bad
But on easy mode, all you had to do was make all your men stand in one place, wait for the enemy to come, and your army kills them all as they're coming. That's a guaranteed win every time, so the battles got boring pretty quickly. Anything harder than "easy level," and you will surely lose every single battle you fight, no matter how many men you have. The battles could have had more men on them as well, and the computer's forces sometimes had elephants! Hey... I want to control elephants!!! But the game won't let me - that's only for the computer. It's no use negotiating with other countries because they will all want to go to war immediately. Once you win, you don't unlock anything, and nothing happens. Game over, man!
The Bottom Line
You can play something better in your spare time.
DOS · by Mr Blea (1) · 2005
Trivia
Awards
- Enchanted Realms
- September 1991 (Issue #8) – Distinctive Adventure Award
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
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screenshots, information, tips, & a tutorial for Centurion: Defender of Rome
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Raphael.
Genesis added by PCGamer77. PC-98, FM Towns added by Terok Nor. Amiga added by MAT.
Additional contributors: MAT, Patrick Bregger, Narushima.
Game added August 14, 1999. Last modified January 11, 2024.