Caesar IV (PC Games, 2006)

This game's graphics are UNBELEIVABLE and the gameplay is similar to Sierra's previous city building games.

THERE ARE PROBLEMS THOUGH!!!

First, you need to have an Nvidia video card that supports DirectX 9. I had to purchase an AGP 7600 GS ($150 on Newegg.com) and it works fine, but with my prevous video card the game wouldn't work. If you are not willing to pay the $150 to upgrade your computer, and download the latest drivers than don't buy the game.

Second, the game has some serious glitches. There was a patch released before the game even hit the shelves for online play. I strongly suggest going to the Tilted Mill Forum to find the solutions for any glitches you might be having. Odds are that there are other people who have experienced the same thing (I found the answers to my problems there).

Once all the glitches are taken care of and you have a computer capable of running the game correctly you find that the effort was well worth it. The games graphics still amaze me. Things like the motion of the water, the suns reflection off of the waves and the movement of shadows and weather make this game wonderful to the eye. It is easily one of the best city building games I've played and getting the bugs fixed was well worth it to me. Will it be worth it to you?

caesar IV is a great game with excellent graphics and has improved gaming features compared to caesar III. the best strategy game ever created. people who like city building games such as cotN, pharaoh etc.. would love C4. the online component and scenario editing makes the game even more enjoyable. a must for every strategy game fan.

I bought this game because I bought and loved Caesar I, II and III. I've spent countless hours playing Caesar III. I'm now about five or six hours (six scenarios) into Caesar IV and, while I'm not horribly dissapointed, I'm not thrilled either. Most of the work seemed to go into a new "3-D" camera that allows you to zoom around and view things from different angles and/or view the inner workings of buildings. This is pretty but leads to a very "twitchy" interface in which it can be very difficult to select the a specific building or area. It frequently can take two or three tries to put plazas on a road and one must be extremely careful not to delete the wrong building. (Thank god for the "undo" button.) It is now nearly impossible to select a walking person unless you use an extreme zoom or pause the game. It's also nearly impossible to build an aqueduct without wasting money on unneeded portions or constantly "undoing" areas.

This seems to be a game of complexity for complexity's sake. They've made things more difficult to do without really giving much payoff. Most tasks have been changed by adding more buildings to perform the same task. A farm, which used to be a single building now takes two, a military fort which used to take two buildings (a fort and a recruitment station) now takes both of those PLUS a "mess hall" (Wouldn't that be part of the fort?) This just feels like more buildings for the sake of building and really adds little. Compounding this is the fact that the maps feel smaller than in earlier games so you frequently find yourself out of room to put in all the extra required buildings. It IS nice that you can now build fields without having to take up fertile lands with roads (but, with the twitchy interface, it's still a challenge to arrange the fields so that you get maximum use of your arable land). I also like the addition of new "classes" that require different food, goods and entertainment. That seems a nice and realistic change.

What I was really hoping for from this game would be for the developers to realize that, after three tries, they have the building portion of this game down well and concentrate on some of the other features. The combat portion of this game is stll more of a distraction than a challenge. From my limited play it still seems that the only thing needed for any victory is MORE. Train three or four groups and you can easily defeat anything sent at you. I'd also like to see more flexibility in the trading component. It would be nice to negotiate with or even threaten trading partners for different terms.

Finally, I'm grateful that I waited until I bought a screaming-fast game machine before trying to play this game. Despite the "Quad-Core" processor and top of the line video card I've installed the game occasionally lags. That's a sign of sloppy programming.

Despite all of my complaints, I'll probably finish Caesar IV but if I want a "Caesar fix" in the future I'll probably pop in Caesar III. This game is pretty and has incredible potential but they need to spend less time worrying about how it looks and more time thinking about how it PLAYS.

Yes, the graphics are prettier and they added a few ideas and enhancements, but the actual game play feels like its taken a step BIG backwards. I LOVED Caesar III and I was thrilled when I heard about Caesar IV. What a disappointment. Oooh yeah, they added pretty graphics (which my super computer is having difficulties with!) and took away the best parts of the game that i enjoyed like easy mouse controls and such. Its hard to explain in words, but it is differently worse than III. Just think what Casear II is like and you'll probably figure out what IV is like.

My recommendation if you haven't play Caesar III, buy that instead!

I had purchased the previous version, Caesar III and totally loved it. I was expecting to love the newest version as well. Unfortunately I did not find it to my liking. The graphics are beautiful. But I had trouble controlling where the cursor moved and struggled with the placement of building, roads and gardens. I had hoped it would be similar to the previous version. I enojoyed the new features and special effects. It deffinately looked more realistic and much more colorful. I just could not handle the landscape roaming all over the place (i.e.up, down, sideways).

I became deeply addicted to the Caesar concept with C-III, and C-IV did not disappoint in any way - my first words on starting the game were "wow." - and that was just the intro screen before the game even started. However, there are things to be aware of - you have to have a good graphics card - strike that, not good, great cutting edge, just came out in the last year graphics card - and a CPU with the speed to match. This game is so processor intensive you can pretty much count on listening to your case fans running on high the whole time you play. Finally, it is wise to just download the patches available before you even try to play the game - nothing like spending a few hours building a city that you lose to a crash!

Issues solved, hardware capable - it plays great and I'll be spending many, many hours playing it.

Pros: Great graphics, interesting scenarios, well structured trading system.
Cons: Hardware intense application, battle controls are awkward, some scenarios require a second try to even survive Rome's outrageous demands (Caesar got a lot greedier since C-III).

Final piece of advice? When the legions of Rome show up, you're done. There's no beating them.

Super game, the graphics are excellent, game play is smooth, armies and battle are very good, excellent game for the money, seller shipped very fast, product arrived in excellent condition.

Fast, prompt, shipping. Did not leave any business cards or receipts and was wrapped, which is ideal. I could have delivered the gift fresh out of the box. -Christian

this would be one of the best city builder games I have played and the deal gets better when you can build your very own version or romw SWEET

I like the 3D graphics and the detail, as well as look of the fire, realistic night and day,and rain. It is not as easy to change, or edited a scenario like Caesar III. They do not give you more room to builded.Other than that good game. I gave it a 8.

i liked that they r really fast on the delivery, very communicated and many other things. ebay is proud to host these kinds of sellers!!!

It is a very interactive game! It's not as simple as placing buildings here and there and making things look attractive. Instead, you need to create a functional city with certain tasks....You need to keep you people happy as well as Rome happy!

Great game!

Just as description said and was very fast on shippping, even at christmas time thanks will look at your store again.

Its a cool game as long as you have tons of memory and the latest video card or you will end up having to get a new video card and memory ..my laptop is uncapable of playinh it at all even with 1g memory..good luck and happy gaming

previously owned caesar 3 and saw this newer version at great price on ebay. Product arrived fast and was complete creating a great E Bay shopping experience. Newer version includes improved graphics, added features, and makes what was already a great addictive game into an even better one.

I loved Caesar III and was excited about playing Caesar IV. It ok. I think navigating the board is a little harder than it needs to be and I'm not really happy with the view choices. Its ok and I do play it but not as much as I did Caesar III.

Great advancements from Caesar III, and graphically amazing. But it is a major memory hog. I had to install more memory and a better graphics card just to get the game to load. Worth it though, I love the ability to rotate the playing screen, and the zoom feature is awesome! Plus the graphics are more advanced than any other game I have seen - tons of detail and very visually pleasing. Took a little time to get used to the rotate/zoom features, and the new layout compared with C III, but not too long. That's all from me - time to play another round!

Not for me. Too much about the graphics and not the game. Would never play this one instead of Ceaser3. I have spent days playing it but un-installed this one after an hour.