Roman War Machine
Last updated: 26/07/2007 - 16:58
"Si vis pacem, para bellum" - "If you seek peace, prepare for war" – Publius Renatus (390 AD).
Armchair generals get their chance to learn while they fight over 100 of the most famous battles of the ancient world with the release of The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome.
With the massive interest in the ancient world in today’s media – from the success of the HBO/BBC mini-series Rome last year and the packed screenings of the Frank Miller inspired Spartan epic 300 to BBC2’s interactive team wargames show Time Commanders it seems that may roads still lead to Rome...
Action & Drama
Koch Media UK, Black Bean Games and The History Channel deliver the drama and colour of Roman Empire warfare with The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome.
Combining compelling gameplay, dramatic video footage and battle simulation, The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome allows players to become army commanders and fully immerse themselves in many of the historical battles and campaigns that forged arguably the greatest Empire the world has ever known – as well as a series of fictional ‘what if?’ style campaigns.
Merging action and strategy in a setting that delivers the atmosphere of the period, The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome allows players to take control of a series of campaigns against Barbarian hordes, and rival states while carving out the Roman Empire. What sets this latest release apart from other computer wargaming is the desire to create something far more than just another sword and sandals battle simulator. Taking its lead from real historical events the game looks in detail at the logistics, strategies and scale of the Roman war machine at the height of its power – asking players to consider far more than might usually be demanded of them in such a game.
Game Features for The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome include:
Interactive Entertainment
"I am delighted that Black Bean have once again chosen to work with us," comments Craig McNicol, Managing Director to Koch Media UK, "This is an excellent license and truly underpins the quality of the game. This game has given us the opportunity to bring a great television brand to life in the interactive entertainment arena. The blending of dramatic video footage from The History Channel with fast paced gameplay delivers a unique and authentic experience that will have mass appeal," added Chris Mehers, Managing Director of Black Bean Games UK.
With increasing focus on the possibilities of games to educate - and the use of pupil-friendly technologies such as PlayStation within schools - the appearance of a title like Great Battles of Rome which combines playability with genuine historical details would seem to be timely. Whether this could be the vanguard of a new generation of educationally motivated titles based on real history (and perhaps tied into schools syllabus) is interesting to speculate upon. Who knows? Given enough encouragement we could find ourselves faced with a new emerging immersive teaching gaming sub-genre - which could easily find applications (and a ready audience!) in simulations of more recent history (learn about World War Two battles, consequences, logistics and history by fighting them - switching sides and perspectives?) as well as on more peaceful (less battle sim.?) subjects. Time will tell.
Carrie Trimmer, Director of Licensing at The History Channel says: “We are very pleased to be working with Slitherine and Black Bean on the development of The History Channel Great Battles of Rome, the first international console game to be released under our brand. The History Channel is always looking for ways to make history experiential for our viewers, and by giving them the power to build their own armies and plot battle strategy, this game truly allows players to be a part of the building of the Roman Empire.”
Koch MediaFounded in 1994 and based in Basingstoke, game publishers Koch Media UK (Knight Rider) is responsible for a diverse mix of titles for home console gaming systems, personal computers and the internet. Based in Basingstoke, the company has distribution contracts with a number of software publishers, including Nintendo. For publishers not in the UK, Koch Media exclusively markets, sells and distributes titles. Under its own brands of Deep Silver and Europress, Koch Media develops and publishes its own range of gaming and educational and lifestyle software – including recent game titles Dawn of Magic, SBK'07 Superbike World Championship and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
Black Bean is the games label of Lago Srl, which is part of the Leader Group. Leader SpA has been the leading independent distributor in Italy since it started business in 1984. Leader is based in Gazzada in northern Italy. Black Bean philosophy is to focus on a wide range of games genre leveraging on the niche targets that remain uncovered in the market. By adding original content to the products and by fully localising the titles Black Bean's vision is to remain close to the player's needs.
Now available in over 125 countries in a staggering 210 million households, The History Channel is the only international television network devoted exclusively to historical programming, featuring informative and entertaining series, specials and documentaries. The network reveals the power and passion of history, allowing viewers to experience history personally and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past.
As part of the channels remit there is a series of classroom materials made available via the History Channel website for teachers looking for good lesson ideas – together with useful classroom materials to download. For ideas from The History Channel ‘classroom’, follow this link: www.history.com/classroomFor more information on The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome, visit the official website here: www.greatbattlesofrome.com and www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/
For those looking for a little more information on the armies of Rome – and on the broader subject of tactical wargames, the following links may be useful:
The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome is available now for PS2, PSP and PC priced £19.99.
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First Impressions
Great Battles of Rome really is epic scale conflict – resembling nothing more closely than the BBC2 TVs interactive team wargames show Time Commanders - which is exactly what we hoped it would look and feel like! In amongst the carnage of battles between roman legionaries – on a small scale at first and then increasingly lager (if you pick ‘Campaign’ mode) this is a game that looks superb and plays smoothly – though be warned, it’s a good deal trickier to control an evolving battlefield (particularly the larger one) than you might at first think.
This game turned out to be quite a challenge – on PS2 we soon found that the three difficulty levels of ‘Easy’, ‘Medium’ and ‘Hard’ soon found themselves being reduced to one difficulty level – ‘Easy’!
The bewildering array of troop types – somewhat alien at first, unless you happen to be a historian of this particular period - soon become second nature. Even when you’ve got to grips with the terminology of the ancient world it’s easy for an unwary General to get overtaken by events. The game moves fast and with so much going on: repositioning troops under fire, adjusting your strategy to react to enemy movements, or unexpected successes or losses it’s easy to get lost in the melee and in the majesty of the great graphics before you. After a few trial runs you begin to get used to both the feel of the game and the spectacle of the magnificent action unfolding – and start to be able to concentrate on trying to win.
Handy features we liked include:
Ability to change the livery of troops - shields and uniforms – and personalise them with their own ‘team’ name. This stage of the game also allows you to select some of the skills of your forces – an all important mix of which (to fit a variety of battlefield roles) will be essential if victory is going to be your fate later on…
Autosave. A life saver this when you get embroiled in the melee and suddenly need to answer the door or the call of nature – or realise you’ve missed two meals and have got a tad peckish! Time does fly when you’re fighting a civil war you know…)
The ability to choose to fight straightforward smaller scale skirmishes or fully fledged campaigns (for the more ambitious, experienced player – or the suicidal beginner!).
Ability to take your little band of followers from first low level local fights to regional battles, to take on the whole world as you build up your own force in numbers and abilities and build on your own experience in battle –using tactics and the terrain to defeat each new challenge from your enemies.
Ability to control various aspects of your forces, their set up and disposition on the field to change their role in the battle – often on the hoof!
Bird’s Eye View
Ability to sweep across the battlefield with your ‘birds eye view’ – which you control yourself and choose how you watch the battlefield.
The History Channel fills you in on how the real life Rome developed as you go along – giving a proper sense of perspective and a ‘real’ feeling backdrop to your campaign.
Close-up realistic battle action as the troops – plenty of historically accurate types too: infantry, elephants (the main battle tanks of their day!), archers, heavy cavalry etc…clash on the battlefield.
Playing Verdict
A first class game that’s full of spectacle and delivers educational content at the same time as the undeniable thrill of up close and personal battle action in a superbly realised ancient world setting. Highly playable this is an addictive game that should have many players reaching for the shelves for a history book on the ancient world (or at least making the odd search on Google). This is one you’ll come back to again and again with plenty of opportunity for extended repeat play. Highly recommended.
Great Battles of Rome is available now.
Steve Donlan, posted on 27/07/2007 at 10:35