Against Rome

Back when a piece of polished steel had the power to change the world, great empires were a regular thing throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Thus, the Roman, Persian and Egyptian empires all had their time in the spotlight, which implied slavery, harsh tributes and bloody wars to establish their dominance. However, a few of them managed to engulf almost everything they set their sights on, thus becoming almost unstoppable.

Against Rome is a real-time strategy game that allows you to feel the power of the Roman Empire on your own skin, by playing as one of the barbarian tribes that neighbored it at the beginning of the first millennium. By systematically resisting Rome's military pressure and extending your territory bit by bit, the end goal is to become strong enough to bring the empire down and take its place, thus pulling the barbarians out of obscurity.

The story is not that intricate and it basically presents a longer and more boring version of this ascension, although you are also allowed to choose the desired tribe before you start. Hence, in case you want to make the Teutons the new masters of Europe, there is nothing stopping you to do so. However, each tribe has its own special units, strengths and weaknesses, which means that you need to be prepared to deal with some annoyances as well.

Aiming to be large-scale strategy game, Against Rome gives you control over pretty large armies and puts you through historically-accurate battles. However, the mechanics themselves are not very well refined and these battles do not feel big or exciting at all, given the fact that the units themselves are rather difficult to distinguish from each other on the screen and everything is over rather quickly.

Visually, there isn't too much to tell, mostly because the graphics engine is not that powerful and the textures themselves could have used a lot more work. The animations are jagged and repetitive, as are the units and buildings that decorate the environment. Naturally, all of this wouldn't have mattered too much if the gameplay was fun and captivating, but unfortunately things do not always go according to plan.

It is quite clear that Against Rome has some very intriguing ideas at its core, as well as a rather unique take on the genre from multiple points of view. However, the sloppy design and the lack of attention when it comes to the gameplay itself greatly hurt the overall experience.