Praetorians
$29.95		(Win98/2000/Me/XP) (DVD Case) (PRAETORPR)

Publisher: Eidos

Ratings:

from Games Domain

Death Or Glory?

Your destiny awaits on the battlefield... As a Roman General on a crusade to forge an empire, you will be transported back to the dusty battlegrounds of Egypt, the frozen lands of the Gauls, and finally to the heart of the Empire itself, Italy.

You must employ cunning military operations as the lands you seek to conquer are heavily defended by thousands of powerful troops. Feed your insatiable hunger to rule the empire with this combat-heavy adventure inspired by the historical battles of Julius Caesar. Command the forces of not only the Romans, but also the ferocious Gauls, and the religiously fanatical Egyptians. Your road to victory depends on strong strategic skills – learning to combine units and exploit the enemy’s weakness is key.

Played out in jaw dropping 3D visuals from the immense scale of the pyramids right down to the individual centurion. Praetorians is stunning in its detail, scale and beauty. Incredibly intuitive, Praetorians allows skilled strategy gamers and beginners alike to fully immerse themselves in the story with absolute ease.

Features:

Unique Civilizations: Command the forces of three civilizations, each with a unique set of troops and tactics.

Diverse Units: Each civilization has 13 different units ranging from pikemen, centurions, and cavalry to specialized units such as the Roman gladiators, Barbarian hunters, and Nubian archers.

Pure Strategic Combat: Minimal base building and resource management means you can focus entirely on battlefield manuevers.

Massive Fortress Sieges: Conquer your foes in colossal fortress sieges involving hundreds of units. Will you attack using siege weapons, or deploy an all-out ladder assault?

Multiple Play Modes: Ambush your enemy utilizing three different gameplay modes. Battle for supremacy against your friends and foes! In Praetorians you can wage war with up to 8 players via the Internet or a local area network. The game fully supports GameSpy Arcade for online play.

Master the art of war in 24 singleplayer missions: Devastate your rival in freeform skirmish mode in both single or multiplayer.

Strategic Terrain: From high elevations supplying range and vision advantages, to dense forests providing cover for ambushes, understanding the terrain’s strategic value is key for victory.

Requirements:

Win98/2000/Me/XP: Minimum Requirements : P3 500 or equivalent 128MB RAM (Win 98/ME) 256MB RAM (Win 2k/XP) 16MB Graphics card (DirectX 8 compatible) Desktop display at 1024x768 resolution 600MB free hard drive space

Network : P3 700 or equivalent 56k/Cable/Broadband Network connection

Recommended Requirements : P3 800 or greater 256MB RAM 32MB Graphics card (DirectX 8 compatible) Broadband Network connection

Reviews:

Games Domain by Chris Hudak

"The benefits and function of healers is obvious, but the scouts are neat bits of military practicality; in addition to having a greater seeing range than the norm, they can send out eagles or wolves, depending upon whether you are searching for the enemy on open ground ahead, or looking for forces that might be lurking in deep woods (such enemies, when sighted, show up only as lighted silhouettes). Precisely in what manner your eagle-scout is mindmelded to his feathered friend in order to allow such aerial scouting is, well, is none of your business! Yours is not to question why - you're the right arm of the Empire, and there's a war on! Seize the high ground!

"No, we mean it - seize that sucker, because it's important, as it should be. Higher elevations not only allow greater range of sight, but greater range of fire for your missile units, such as archers. A combination of some tactical foresight, the good use of scout units and the occupation of higher terrain will let your forces outrange, harangue, and in some cases actually be practically impervious to the enemy's troops. At least until they tire of getting nickel-and-dimed (drachma'd?) to death from afar, and come marching up after your collective, fortified ass. Legionaires, for example, can "turtle up" with their shields presented in all directions, and become all but immune to arrow strikes (apparently, they saw Ridley Scott's Gladiator)."

"Praetorians isn't the deepest RTS going, but for fans of the genre and/or the era, it's a no-nonsense, well-presented package and well worth looking into."

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