Praetorians

Weapons of mass destruction? Steve Polak leads a Roman conquest of Gaul that is sadly, Asterix-free.

Praetorians sees you controlling formations of troops as you wage war over some rather lavish 3D landscapes. The action is real time and you can only spot the enemy troops that your men can see, so ambushes and hidden manoeuvres are very much part of the picture.

Formations are a critical element in this game, as they make units better at one function or another. These formations are easily selected by clicking on an icon on the interface, and the animations as your troops sort themselves out are really quite decent. The formations make a major difference during the fighting too. For example, your legionaries can move in tortoise formation, with their shields turning them into a living tank. This is great for moving while arrows rain down around you, but you cannot do much damage in combat in this mode, so you have to change formation type when you close with the enemy.

You can end up in control of some quite massive armies as more troops are recruited by taking over settlements with your Centurion and training up the locals. There are various basic troop types, including spearmen, legionnaires, archers, cavalry, siege troops and light skirmishers.

This last group is also responsible for building strongholds, assembling siege equipment and shoring up settlements. There are also unique characters, like scouts, your physician and your Centurion, each with unique functions. The scouts summon birds or dogs that then reveal hidden areas on the map; the physician heals your troops; and your centurion gives you a leadership bonus in battle.

Supporting characters like the doctor and especially the scout can often move faster than the rest of your troops, and so they'll get ahead of your battle formations and be easily cut down by the enemy. Frustratingly, you have to continually keep moving them to the back of the formation or they get minced.

The landscapes are a delight to behold with their gentle flowing brooks and small furry animals wandering about.

Similarly the music is good melodramatic stuff, however the voiceovers aren't so hot. Unless you subscribe to the theory that Rome was built using cloned armies, it is a little hard to believe that all of the troops have exactly the same voice. This is sadly the case in Praetorians and for the sake of a few more speech samples the game would have had a lot more personality.

The action leading up to combat is exciting enough. You will be busy sorting out your formations and scouting the enemy position, but then once battle is joined it can quickly deteriorate into a seething mass of arms, legs, shields and weapons, and you'll find any options for tactical manoeuvring go out the window as numbers come into play.

This is the game's Achilles heel. Sometimes you'll find it impossible to extricate your troops from a battle if they are losing, because you can't easily click on their icon and get them to retreat.

Praetorians has a very simple resource model. The more towns you take over, the more troops you can recruit. This works well enough as long as you ensure that the towns you have conquered are adequately guarded by troops you have left behind. In later missions the enemy is very adept at organising counter attacks in the rear of your position.

There are three factions you can control. The Roman army is the only choice for the single player game, but if you are interested in multiplayer or skirmish options then you can also lead the Egyptian or Gaul armies. The Gaul army has less rigid formations, but they are generally better at hit and run tactics, while the Egyptian soldiers are more like the Romans, although not quite as disciplined.

For the most part this is a tactical war game that delivers good accessible RTS action. If Pyro had only made it a little easier to control your troops both before battle and especially during the fracas, then this game would have been a lot more satisfying. That said, Praetorians is worth a look if you are a fan of the era and don't mind the loss of order which happens during the heat of battle.