Romopolis Game Review by Tim Peters
Game Rating = 1/5
Romopolis by Lonely Troops is a tedious real estate management game which only distinguishes itself from games like Build-a-Lot and even the designer’s own Townopolis with its setting in ancient Rome. If you’ve played Roman town-building games like the Caesar series or CivCity: Rome, you’ll find none of their charm or difficulty here. The buildings look okay and the game does present a challenge as it progresses, but its presentation is so lackluster that even the novelty of Roman architecture can’t save it.
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Your goal in each level of campaign mode is to meet whatever needs the unseen Emperor has in mind, from X number of buildings to Y amount of civic advancement to Z amount of denarii, or a combination of the above. There are also medals and trophies for accomplishing special goals, and some levels impose time limits. You receive a steady income from residential buildings such as houses and apartments, and generally they will need things like shrines and gardens to generate happiness and yield more revenue. With a limited number of plots per level, a lot of careful building and sometimes even rebuilding is necessary to win. It’s not a bad concept, but it’s been done before – and far better.
The most striking detail about Romopolis is its sheer lack of action. In the secluded suburban setting of the superior Build-a-Lot this is forgivable. But in a Roman town supposedly full of people, it’s jarring to see such a static landscape animated only with ugly clock and damage icons. Worse, there’s simply not much to do at the beginning of each level. All you can really do is build small houses until your resources grow. And the ostensibly helpful tutorial messages actually hamstring you if you haven’t built exactly as the designers intended. All of this combined with soporific Roman-style musak makes for an excruciatingly dull experience.
Romopolis doesn’t help its cause with its horrendously lazy presentation. Sure, the game’s Roman, but was it really necessary to use a white Times New Roman font for everything in the game? Or wash out the already drab colors with a brown marble border? Or offer medals and trophies which apparently serve no purpose other than to keep gamers busy? Or list campaign levels as nothing more than numbered circles around a static shot of a Roman city? There are so many things that could’ve made Romopolis easier to play and look at, and none of them were included.
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Romopolis is nothing more than an incompetent clone designed to piggyback on the success of superior real estate management games. The hour-long demo is 60 minutes of your life you’ll never get back, and the idea of anyone actually buying the full version is less likely than Caesar rising from the dead and singing showtunes. For foisting this game on innocent gamers, Lonely Troops should be sacked by barbarian hordes. Romopolis gets a 1 out of 5.
wish it was 9.95