6 of 9 customers found the following review helpful:
 Praetorians is a pretty much must!, 2003-04-26
Although this game is great, I would give it a 4.5 stars if I could. First the good: Beautiful graphics (the scenery is almost like real), the campaign has a story (unlike some RTS games that have no campaign or story), skirmish mode is fun but sometimes too quick, great gameplay, and it runs nicely. The bad: The units are sometimes kind of dumb (they stand and do nothing sometimes when they are told to go somewhere), the unit graphics could have been a little more sharp, and there aren't many units (this is not really that bad but I would have liked more units; there are 9 different combat units for the Romans). Don't let the bad things sway you from buying the game. Unless you are a real critic than the bad things would make you very mad.
12 of 21 customers found the following review helpful:
 At least the sound of marching sandals is cool...., 2003-04-22
Since when did Gauls throw hand axes? I thought that was the Franks...a Germanic people if I remember correctly who came along some time later and while on the subject, I'm pretty sure Roman infantry didn't wear their cloaks into battle. I guess I'm a stickler for details sometimes and when those details get kinda blury and 'wierd' I lose interest. I believe some of the designing of the game might have been influenced more by fantasy game programers than from any historical data. Troop control is disapointing as they seem to charge off happily after enemy formations against orders then are non responsive to commands at the vital moment...strange! There is no detailed unit control capablity really. Once contact with enemy troops is made the game seems to play the combat for you. Kinda takes the fun stuff right out of it! The script and dialogue delivery is sad indeed. Take a look at the 'CLOSE COMBAT' series of games for attention to details with dialogue and sound effects particularly for comparison. Praetorians lacks the same homework. Well at least you get to march your Legions around the countryside for a while and watch them!
7 of 8 customers found the following review helpful:
 A highly polished and very fun game!, 2003-04-21
"Praetorians" is sort of a "Age of Empires/Total War" hybrid set during the 1st century BC when Julius Caesar and the other members of the 1st Triumverate vied to increase Roman dominance upon the peoples of Northern Europe and the Middle East. It's like the AOE series in that it's a RTS game- the clock is always running and sometimes you must react quickly to achieve victory. However, there is no real resource gathering. Slowly regenerating peasants in villages/barracks, which can be turned into combat units, are the only resource and they're just represented by a number counter. You can do some limited building by having specialist soldiers construct defense towers, bridges, and siege equipment. But like the "Total War" series, the emphasis here is on combat and one controls units of men instead of mobs of individuals.The graphics are nicely done and convey a great deal of atmosphere such as birds frightened from the forest, raindrops visible as they hit water, snow flurries, and desert duststorms.) However, they're not groundbreaking, but that can be a blessing for people with moderately low-end systems. The combat system is the typical rock, scissors, paper of the RTS genre with each unit having its own strengths and weaknesses. The number of combat units is limited to about 10 types for each of the three civilizations (Romans, Barbarians, Egyptians.) Combat is not as realistic as it is in the "Total War" series in that there is no morale system or bonuses for flank/rear attacks. However, terrain and formations do play a vital role in "Praetorians." Seizing the high ground is a huge advantage for archers. You can set up ambushes in forests or high grass in which your troops will be completely invisible to the enemy until it's too late for them to do anything about it. Special formations play a major role in improving the combat capabilities of certain units. Recon is also a major key to success in "Praetorians" because the enemy will have also archers on hills or troops hiding in the forest. "Praetorians" gives the player access to "Hawk" and "Wolf" scouts, who not only can see further than other units, but they also are accompanied by their namesake animals with which the scout can send out to spy out the enemy. (Yes, it's silly to think that a flying hawk can impart recon info to it's handler on the ground, but it's just a game and it works!) "Pratorians" has both a skirmish mode and a campaign game. Skirmish allows the player to choose 1 of 20 maps, choose a civilization, and how many CPU/human opponents. Skirmish mode is the closest thing "Praetorians" has to a random map feature. The strength of the game, though, is the campaign which features 24 missions set during Julius Caesar's heyday. Although, it's not a true "campaign" game in that forces are not carried over from scenario to scenario, the player still must win each scenario to move onto the next one. In the campaign the player plays the Romans in a variety of settings: Caesar's conquest of Gaul and his forays into Germany and Britain, Crassus' campaign in Syria, and the Civil War between Pompey and Caesar. The missions all have different victory conditions and most play quite differently from each other. Also many of them are not easy even on "normal" difficulty. (I love the Total War series, but I think they're easy even on Expert. So it's great to play a game that does challenge me.) The AI is fairly strong, but good scenario design made it even tougher. The scenarios in "Praetorians" are a joy to play and I didn't mind having to restart one difficult scenario 3 or 4 times. Also some of the scenarios are introduced with really cool little movies. My only faults with "Praetorians" is that there is just one campaign game and that may lead to replayability issues upon its completion. Also one has to micromanage the scouts, leaders, and healers because if you do group moves they'll rush ahead of the combat units making them vulnerable. (This can be a problem because many of the campaign scenarios require the protection of certain leaders in order to win.)
18 of 23 customers found the following review helpful:
Like Caesar 1,2 &3 series but definitely not Rome:Total War, 2003-04-16
I have played many strategy games: Red Alert, Starcraft,
Star Wars, Caesar 3 to name a few.
I have even tried this game on the demo level, while
playing another game called Medieval: Total War. However,
that was before I knew another game coming out in November, Rome:Total War. To be honest with you all, I am more of a
'deep-thinking;micro-managing' type of player. I still
recommend Praetorians, since it is quite similar (not the
same) to the Caesar series. The gameplay is still good, and
the time line is also similar to Rome:Total War. But, after
Shogun and Medieval, I am currently hooked to 3D battles
and deep micro-management. So therefore, if you:
1) like Romans but prefer less management and straightforward
stuff, Praetorian is for you.2) like Romans but would want to experience the
'Gladiator' Roman general Maximus style of crushing
barbarians in 3D battles, then go for it. I miss playing Caesar 3, but Praetorian is the next phase
and so is Rome:Total War. Choose according to your taste,
or choose both if you want. I am on a tight budget ;) PAX ROMANA
3 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
Disappointing, 2003-04-12
I bought this game because my friend said it was excellent, however he's never been a very good gamer, I thought the no resource management idea was ok, but it ruins half the point of an RTS, and strategy is all about careful management of resources to fund your army, because, if you dont have any resources, you dont have an army ;-) I'd say ok for someone who doesn't really know how to play a REAL RTS, but if your an expert, I'd save up for Warcraft 3:The Frozen Throne, and if you haven't got the normal Warcraft 3, go buy it!
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