Nemesis of the Roman Empire (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 8.0 (4.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Bob Colayco
• Reviewed on: 03/19/2004
• Released on: 03/25/2004
• Originally published on GameSpot: Nemesis of the Roman Empire (PC) Review

Nemesis of the Roman Empire (also known as Celtic Kings: Punic Wars outside the US) is Haemimont Games' follow-up to its well-received real-time strategy game Celtic Kings: Rage of War. Nemesis is built upon the same engine as its predecessor but adds two new races, the Carthaginians and the Iberians, to the Gauls and Romans that were available in the original Celtic Kings. While on the surface Nemesis offers features we've seen many times before in the genre, such as hero characters and a lack of base-building, it also includes a clever logistics model and better-than-average artificial intelligence to help it stand apart from the numerous RTS clones on the market.

On the whole, Nemesis' presentation is easily the game's worst aspect--relatively speaking. The orchestral-style music sets an appropriate mood for a game based on classical wars between Rome and Carthage, but the few available scores grow repetitive rather quickly. Voice acting in the game is also rather bad, just as it was in its predecessor. Simplistic cutscenes are interspersed between the campaign missions, but for the most part, the characters in the game interact via text boxes, and mission objectives are given to you with more unceremonious text.

Graphically, the game is pretty good but not great, as the engine seems to have aged since the original Celtic Kings. There's a decent sense of scale between the units and buildings, as well as a fair amount of detail in the actual unit models. The animation is where things start to fall apart--while most units look fine while standing in place and battling, they have somewhat awkward walking motions.

Despite the superficial shortcomings, the engine is still pretty impressive in the bigger picture. Nemesis maps can be rather large, with dozens of units rendered on the same screen, and you can instantly jump from one part of the battle to another, via the extremely detailed and useful map screen. The game seems to be able to effortlessly render the activity of hundreds of units, possibly engaged in many different skirmishes at the same time, across an entire map. With a simple press of the space bar, you can examine a full-screen view of the level, including color-coded dots representing your troops and the enemy's troops, the villages and forts you control, and where those facilities are shipping their resources. Fog of war is a part of the game, but in many cases, you can still discern enemy troop movements and army sizes with a quick glance at the map screen.

Like in many other RTS games, there's no base-building to worry about, but you must keep track of standard resources like food and gold. You use food to increase the population of your cities, and it can also be sold for gold, while gold is used to train troops and buy upgrades. It's the logistical element that helps Nemesis stand out from the competition. Your troops out in the field consume food, so to maintain a standing army outside the city, you must make sure to have pack mules laden with food follow your army around and keep it fed. Even if you have your army garrisoned in a fort, you must maintain a steady supply of food to that fort to maintain combat efficiency.

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