31 of 39 customers found the following review helpful:
 Pray to Reruns, 2004-03-28
Once again I have been duped into buying a game based upon the advice of so-called consumer reviews only to discover that the game fails to live up to the hyperbole. Lets be brutally honest, Praetorians is a game which is marketed to appeal to the Medieval Total war fans but delivers a product more akin to Age of Empires. If you are about seven years old and/or have a basically juvenile sense of wonder then surely this game was tailor made for you. With the exception of the even more awful Platoon PC game this has to rate as my biggest gaming disappointment to date. The pundits for this mediocre yawner glory over the fact that the game has no resource management thus freeing you up to do lots of scrapping. This is basically true but on the down side the maps are so badly designed that manouvering units in anything other than a gaggle is practically impossible. Units will often blunder into one another and become entangled, this is not conducive to a happy gaming experience and the battle has not even been joined yet. But this is pretty much the essence of the game. It (bottlenecked maps)force you into waging war between individual units rather than the grand battles of the ancient kingdoms which were set piece affairs on open ground. Units are created in villages/towns which sounds fine but once again we are dealing with an abstract depiction - a few huts and structures surrounded by a simplified pallisade and peopled by a few sprites which bustle about to simulate an occupation of sorts. Oh did I mention that this village/town is just slightly larger than a unit of infantry? Must have slipped every reviewer's mind I guess.Even creating units is a puzzlement. Just create a barracks and then instruct your leaders to train this or that and voila there they are-a couple of minutes later. Although some units require that your leader sacrifice honour points to create-Oh did I forget to mention that, must have slipped my mind....Honour is won in the slaying of enemies. In short there is an artificiality pervading the game which rather than enhancing gameplay reduces it to a farce. The Ai prefers to operate with a mob mentality - so much easier than trying to reproduce the model of efficiency and co-ordination which was the Roman Legionary system. Unlike the Total War series which relies upon maps with realistic terrain, Praetorians has opted for an even more simplified version of Age of Empires (the original one at that). Even the camera view is severely limiting because you can only see in line of sight which is not very far in this abstract representation of the real world. The map is revealed - not blacked out- thank heaven for small mercies. Pulling the camera back to take in anything more than a top down view of a small area is impossible-pretty much like playing the game. This even extends to the lack of ability to angle the camera - something I haven't seen in a game like this since I don't know when. PC gamers deserve so much more than a retro update on a much worn out formula given the relative expense of a new purchase - $40 or more for most, including this one. In mere value for the dollar I would be hard pressed to say that at half the price I paid for it ($20) that it is a worthwhile purchase. I could go on but just move along folks - nothing to see here....
11 of 13 customers found the following review helpful:
 The Best PC Game out there, 2003-12-22
I definately recommend this game, which can be played on three different levels. It's an exciting game which not only has 24 chapters at 3 levels, but also a dozen skirmish games to pit your skill against the CPU. If you are serious about realism and into ancient warfare, then Praetorians is the game for you. One other great thing about this game. You can rebuild destroyed units and with that add different fighting units once a certain plateau of wins is acquired. It will keep you glued to your seat as well as keep your attention on the screen.
5 of 37 customers found the following review helpful:
 this games sucks, 2003-12-21
this game sucks so much dont buy this its full of glitches and stuff people can take over your stuff even if your in them and destroy your villages it take 20000000 words to describe how bad this game is in summary dont waste your money on this game buy something anything else!
7 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
Great Game!, 2003-12-12
"Praetorians" is a great RTS game! Unlike "Age of Empires", Praetorians allows soldiers to enter thick woods, ambush out of grasslands, and recruit soldiers at captured villages instead of having to build a barracks and wait a lifetime for your soldiers to be created.The units are interesting such as a barbarian (barbarian meaning Gual) axemen that, first, throws an axe at the enemy and charges into battle immeadietly after.Archers don't take forever to kill an enemy unit, (in Age of Empires it takes most archers atleast fiffteen shots to kill an enemy soldier)it usualy only takes them about nine shots. The graphics are realistic!Such as trees that are the right size compared to the units and rain hitting water, making a small splash. The AI is a little poor. Units travel in groups, and if a group gets to fighting hand to hand with the enemy, than it is impossible to get that group to retreat. This game is great! That's why I decided to give it five stars!
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
Best Tactical War game I own. Love it!, 2003-12-02
This is an action packed game. Looks good. Exposes you to some Roman history. I love the scenerio where the Gauls are attacking the fort and you have to survival. That is hard as hell, I beat the Gauls once. Lots of fun. Wyatt Kaldenberg
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Amazon Sales Rank:#6574