Product Description

Praetorians is an epic 3-D troop-based strategy game set amid the political machinations of an emerging Roman Empire. Gamers will be transported back to the dusty battlefields of Egypt, the combat theatres of Gaul and finally to the heart of the Empire itself, Italy in the crusade to become Emperor. Your quest will be no easy task as the Empire is heavily defended by thousands of different troop types and war machines, all with special skills and individual strengths. The road to becoming Emperor depends on strategy! You must learn to combine your units and exploit the weakness of the enemy, but as you get closer to the Emperor things become even more difficult as you must face his personal guard, the most powerful and deadly fighting force in the Empire... The Praetorian Guard!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2262 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Eidos
• Released on: 2003-02-28
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

Customer Reviews

Love it!
Now THIS is value for money! I've had the game for six+ months, and I still have nothing to fault it on. Smooth graphics, minute system requirements, small and hassle-free installation, endless challenge, good graphics, good learning curve, nothing else out there quite like it, no bugs whatsoever. Even the manual is good. so is the strategy guide!

As you can see I am really impressed. People do however, make one mistake when they review (or buy, for that matter) this game. Praetorians IS NOT Age of..., or Empire..., or Warcraft or Total War at all. Don't compare, because there are no similarities as far as gameplay is concerned. This game is as unique as Commandos was when it was first released. And even though I didn't enjoy Commandos that much, it broke still the mold, and it was still a game of utmost quality. My advice is to see if you can get a demo to see if you like the gameplay, as no-one can decide that but yourself. I certainly love it. You can be sure that you will be getting a quality game, an original concept, excellently executed. Hats off to Pyro Studios!

Join the Praetorians
To start with, i've got to say that Praetorians isn't a ground breaking RTS. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing: it is a very polished and fun game. The graphics are excelent; though not the bleeding edge of technology (e.g. C&C Generals), they are very pleasing to the eye and keep the whole experience alive. The detail and animation is very pleasant, with birds flying up as your troops make their way through lush forests and fields in Gaul, and the splendid deserts of Egypt with the huge Sphinx and pyramids.

What I thought was great were the formations, variety of units and use of terrain. Your legions can (of course...) gather into turtle formation for minimal casualties, your archers can kneel to more effectivly shoot down the enemy. The terrain will constantly affect your strategy and tactics. You can have your soldiers hide in tall grass (though you must be careful for enemy archers setting your hiding place alight) or await the unsuspecting enemy in forests. Cavalry cannot enter dense forests, while the heavily armoured legions cannot cross rivers. At the beginning of the game it is essential to gain control of the high ground because if you don't it can be hell to retake.

The game has left out resource management which might be an annoyance for some but i think it works well; after all you are a general. To recruit new troops you must capture settlements and create formations (as opposed to individual soldiers) from the villages' populations. When these formations' numbers get reduced in battle you can weld smaller units back into powerful single formations, or alternativly split up you mega units into smaller ones for tactical purposes.
Your troops suffer fatigue over the course of their activities, but it is true that the addition of morale would have been very nice to see, considering this is a game that leaves out resource management for more concentration on strategy.

One part of the game that is worth a mention are the sieges, which are very satisfying to watch, with huge lumbering siege weapons and the defender's troops able to stand on the walls of the fortress to fight the assaulters.
From what I have seen multiplayer is fun; although i've only played two or three times over LAN, I thought the settlment mechanism for reenforcments worked well, because it force you to move on to other towns.

In conclusion, i consider Praetorians to be a very fun game, definitly a winner on the RTS front, with some minor errors and lack of anything outstandingly new that kept me from giving it 5 stars.

Praetorians
I bought this game thinking it would be a war-game - more along the lines of "Total War" and "Close Combat" than "Command & Conquer". How disappointed I was! Undoubtedly the graphics are superb (think "Warrior Kings" but better) and the game-play straightforward and intuitive. However, in my view it is overly simplistic and is therefore lacking in any realism at all. The troops happily obey all orders and fight to the death regardless. They hold formation at all times suffering only minimal fatigue. The landscapes, whilst well drawn, do not allow you to play set-piece battles and I found frustrating as they are not actually that clear as to terrain type.
If you liked "Warrior Kings" and "Command & Conquer" then I'm sure you will enjoy this (although if the economy management element was important to you this will again disappoint due to it's simplicity) but if you believed the blurb about it being an epic strategic troop-based wargame - forget it; it's not for you.