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CivCity: Rome

EMAIL PRINT pc

7.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 46 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 17 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Firefly Studios - Firaxis Games

Genre(s): City Building, Simulation

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)

Release Date: July 24, 2006

Summary

In CivCity: Rome, gamers will recreate the glory of Rome by building a small settlement into a mighty imperial city. Featuring hundreds of buildings including gladiatorial schools, amphitheatres, the circus maximus, legionnaire forts, weapons workshops and much more, CivCity: Rome offers the most detailed look at Roman life ever depicted on a computer screen. [2K Games]

Also On The Web: Official Game Site

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

IGN

The interaction between the buildings could definitely be a little more complicated but the challenges of fitting everything together is more than sufficient to keep you coming back for more.

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PC Zone UK

A wonderfully engaging game; striking in its ease of use and rewarding in terms of depth. [Sept 2006, p.64]

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Computer Games Online RO

Aside from a couple of bugs and irritating gameplay elements, the combination between "Caesar III" and "Civilization" works pretty well. And considering that the game also has a level editor, I can safely say that both novices and veterans alike will play it until "Caesar IV" and "Anno 1701" hit the shelves.

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ActionTrip

In a manner of speaking, CivCity is the exact opposite of "Glory of the Roman Empire" - while the latter may feel initially more impressive, CivCity wipes the floor with it in the long run. It's an involving and challenging city builder that has more under its hood than what the paint job might suggest.

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Game Informer

Although it is plagued by flaws in several areas, I still want to keep playing until I've conquered every challenge that the designers could fit in. And that says something about a game. [Sept. 2006, p.98]

G4 TV

Civ City: Rome doesn’t do much to meaningfully innovate, but it does successfully take the more important design elements of past games and incorporates them into a challenging, great looking, and great playing package.

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Game Over Online

If you haven’t played a lot of city-building games, then you might find CivCity: Rome to be enjoyable enough, but otherwise it’s not a game where you’d be missing much if you skipped it.

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PC Format

A decent game. If the subject matter grips you, or you're coming to it from "Civilization," it's compelling and well designed. Exciting it isn't, and in the end, the glory of Rome demands a level of oomph that it just can't quite muster. [Aug 2006, p.101]

Next Level Gaming

Though this is a nice city building game it lacks enough to make it stand out from the crowd from other city builders, especially from other ancient city building games.

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PC Gameworld

CivCity Rome could’ve been a great game. It is the culmination of a lot of minor problems that ultimately bring down this empire. All of these issues, however, are easily fixable.

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Pelit (Finland)

Recreates "Caesar III" with nicer graphics and smooth gameplay. Unfortunately, after a few scenarios the game starts to repeat itself and lacks enough new things to do. [Sept 2006]

IC-Games

It’s not too far into the micromanagement side of city construction to make it too difficult to get into and play the game and difficult enough to make the game last.

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GamingTrend

While there is an addictive quality to the game, the bugs and bizarre behavior of your citizens can sometimes pull the game into the realm of frustration instead of enjoyment.

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Game Chronicles

It’s easy to use and understand menus and information pages make for fun gameplay and quick results when you know what to change to improve your citizen’s lives.

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games(TM)

Genuinely offers something new to a genre whose form is now long established. [Sept 2006, p.110]

Total Video Games

An overly structured Campaign mode, and a directionless sandbox experience, help to bog the game down with bland gameplay and future of (dare we suggest) possible mediocrity.

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GameSpy

An enjoyable variation on city-builders, and it certainly makes for a pleasant trip down memory lane for Caesar fans like me. The problem is, the game's flaws will keep it from being little more than a nine-day wonder on players' hard drives.

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Yahoo! Games

A more challenging economic system would add a lot to the game and make it more replay-friendly. But as a step up from a lightweight like Glory of the Roman Empire, CivCity is engrossing enough to command a couple weeks of play time.

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WHAM! Gaming

Younger gamers will enjoy the Roman atmosphere and fairly easy game play and there are enough features and variety in CivCity: Rome to make it a good addition to any strategy game collection.

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Armchair Empire

No franchise was built in a day, and I’m afraid it might take another installment before CivCity Rome lives up to its potential.

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Worth Playing

Roughly equal parts frustration and stupidly compelling gameplay.

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Gamer 2.0

Overall CivCity feels unbalanced and rather short for a game of this genre.

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eToychest

The biggest problems with CivCity: Rome, however, lie in its numerous bugs and terrible camera.

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GameZone

CivCity follows an old model for a city builder. If you are a fan of the Pharaoh series, you may find a home here with CivCity: Rome. It focuses around the economy rather than any type of military action.

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GameShark

Despite a few new twists to the core gameplay, its middling graphics and its lacking features drag it down from what could have been a must buy for fans of ancient era city builders to yet another game that fails to advance the genre in any real and meaningful way.

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Gamers' Temple

CivCity: Rome fails to capture the glory of Rome or of the Civilization series of games.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

Considering the game is too dissimilar to appeal to Civ fans, too simplistic to appeal to SimCity veterans and too bland to appeal to gamers looking for a Roman epic, it’s tricky to pinpoint who exactly will want to buy CivCity: Rome. It’s not irredeemably broken, but it is repetitive and a little on the dull side.

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GameSpot

CivCity: Rome could have been a classic, but it wound up just another city builder.

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PC Gamer UK

Worst of all is its absense of an Undo function. [Aug 2006, p.78]

Gamezilla!

Sadly, its similarity to earlier titles and it's somewhat mechanical game play, this one gets a Fans Only for fans of city sims and fans of all things ancient or ancient Roman.

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Play.tm

Untrustworthy artificial intelligence, hit and miss land plots for resources and graphics, though charming, that we're no longer all that impressed with are all quite substantial disappointments. There's enough here for authentic Roman wanabees, but for everyone else it's a case of been there, done that, bought and outgrown the t-shirt.

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Digital Entertainment News

A Civilization-branded carbon copy of other games in the city building genre, CivCity: Rome has a few too many flaws to justify purchase over its competition.

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2404.org

The bottom line is Rome loses its fun sometime around the ten-hour mark of the campaign.

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VideoGamer

A passable enough way to while away the rainy summer evenings. But remember, there is much more to discover outside these lacklustre city walls.

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AceGamez

Problems like the poor camera angle and dated graphics are sure to put off a lot of gamers, while feeling like a clone of Caesar will probably dissuade most fans of city builders from getting properly into the game.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Mission objectives lack imagination, and after constructing several cities the game can feel repetitive and formulaic.

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Games Radar (in-house)

While it's not nearly as deep as you'd expect for a game with the Firaxis seal of approval on it in terms of features or gameplay, CivCity Rome manages to provide a significant level of entertainment, despite its obvious and glaring faults.

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Times Online

While the graphics impress and the inhabitants all go about their business with a smooth efficiency, the game makes too many demands to maintain interest. Worse, there are few moments in the game that don’t awaken a feeling of déjà vu.

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GamingExcellence

A basic city building game is joined with simple combat, trading, and research. CivCity Rome is very plain and not very fun to play.

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Computer Games Magazine

No wonder the actual Romans threw up walls. [Nov. 2006, p.74]

1UP

Too hard for novices, too repetitive for veterans, and too silly for warmongers, CivCity Rome falls into the netherworld of games that you wished you could've liked more.

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GamePro

It becomes especially maddening when you're trying to navigate a heavily developed city where one errant mouse click can banish an otherwise productive structure to the ether.

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Eurogamer

We'd like to apologise to Sid Meier - this game, while not terrible, has sullied your good name and brand. Our only suggestion is to never let someone else make a game for you and to make sure the inevitable next game in the franchise explores a less familiar environ and period.

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PALGN

Probably one of the most unimaginative titles branded with the Civilization name.

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Game Revolution

Although CivCity: Rome is just as good a game as it was fifteen years ago, it’s still an almost direct port of Caesar II with 3D graphics and the sly marketing gimmick of sharing a name with one of the all-time greats. We recommend sacking another town.

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GamerFeed

What is surprising is the lack of creativity, integrity, or even quality regarding practically every aspect of the game. The only saving grace is the authenticity of Rome.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay P. gave it a7:
Nice game , lots of stuff to research and build , interesting game play for managing your city , some flaws , troops legions dont square off right , and hard to control battles , some city planning problems as well , like moving homes , and the storage depo's dont have enough control to them , need more setup with them ( they are one of the most important structures , along with grainary ) , also tree's get in the way of build , you can build a huge temple , but cant cut down a tree to place it there , lol .. All and all good time waster , lol ,one more thing map dont zoom enough out , even in unlock mode for camera ....so 7 rating.

Kalman K. gave it a4:
I am truly sorry for this game. I loved Firefly's Stronghold, but lately, they have no luck with 3d engines. This game is plain ugly, so if you are looking for a citybuilder with an atmosphere, look someplace else. Also, the game was prone to totally freeze up, forcing me to push the reset button (I dont know the last time when a game did this to my machine but it was loooong ago) And the 3-4 min loading time BEFORE the main menu? It is a joke right? For the economy sim part, I cant say good or bad neither. Simply could not play long enough to appriceate it. After the fifth city (and third freeze) I uninstalled the game. A very bad place to put 40 bucks, all I say.

Calvin M. gave it an8:
I love the idea of being able to build Rome.Graphics are great but could use some improvement even on the ulra setting.game is kinda limited, it neeeds an expansion already for more maps and campains.

Jose C. gave it an8:
good game, recreate the glory of rome in first person.

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Game Info

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