14 DAY TRIAL // 
As my legions and their auxiliary allies are getting ready to take the fight to my Germanic allies, I notice that a unit of their Celt allies is sneaking down the side of the map, threatening my supply lines to Italy, which can be a problem in the long term.
I start to recruit a unit of skirmishers, hoping that they will be enough to take care of the problem, just as a town rebels and further threatens my logistics and I get the sinking feeling that my offensive might be doomed before it starts.
The supplies that my units are carrying quickly dwindle and just as I begin my siege, I see a powerful Germanic relief force moving towards my lines.
I need to decide whether to stand and fight or retreat to more favorable positions and I decide that my legions, with their superior morale, should be able to decide the battle in my favor.
Five minutes later, I am forced to admit that my decision was wrong and I need to wait while my forces are strengthened and while I make sure that my supplies are secured before I launch another offensive into enemy land.
Story
Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is a video game designed around one of the most popular periods and one of the most popular characters in Ancient history: the move from the Republic to the Empire and Caesar.
Gamers will be able to try to recreate the impressive feats of the Roman commander, both in terms of strategy and tactics, as you witness the way he shapes politics around him, breaks ties with old allies and finally moves across the Rubicon in order to march on Rome and become the first Emperor.
The theme of the new title is very similar in the early game to that of the Caesar in Gaul expansion for Total War: Rome II, but the title from Longbow is much more complex and covers a long historical period, which makes it better suited for history lovers who want to recreate the impressive feats of the real Caesar.
Gameplay
Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is a game that plays out entirely in real time, although the player is free to issue a pause command at any point if he feels a little overwhelmed by the amount of things happening at the same time.
The strategic map is where all the action takes place, with armies maneuvering around, cities developing in the background, resources gathered from farms, sawmills and mines and a number of enemy factions plotting the best way to destroy Caesar’s plans.
In many ways, Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is a video game about the limits associated with any military campaign and the huge role that supply, morale and careful selection of targets played in the Ancient World.
Each settlement can only sustain a limited number of military units and each upgrade applied to a town can unlock more powerful recruitment options while limiting what other forces can be raised there.
Specialization is very important in the long run and even as he recruits troops, the gamer must make sure that they are well fed in order to fight adequately and that he creates a logistics chain that can support them as they move into enemy territory.
The battles are a little underwhelming, with limited space for actual tactics, and the focus is on occupying crucial locations, determining which towns need to be conquered and then planning and implementing a solid siege.
Units that are defeated in Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar can be captured and used as slaves or they otherwise return to the city where they were recruited in order to slowly reconstitute themselves.
The developers have also included generals that can be attached to any force, but the bonuses they are offering seem a little limited, given the huge impact that solid leadership had during the Ancient World.
Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar offers a huge campaign map and maybe the biggest obstacle when it comes to enjoying the experience is the fact that at points, the player has to pause every 30 seconds to a minute to make sure that everything is going right.
The enemy force in the scripted campaign, which forms the core of the game, has some moments when it feels threatening, but it’s mostly because of sheer numbers rather than the tactics they use, and it pays to make sure that the gamer’s forces are always concentrated and ready to respond.
Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is in many ways an atypical real-time strategy title and even if some elements of the game feel a bit weird at times, the entire experience is attractive and engaging, even if a little overwhelming.
Graphics and audio
Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is a good-looking game when the player uses the zoomed out strategic view, which is the best suited to keeping track of all units and elements included in a campaign, with a cloth map that feels adequate to the period, but which still manages to clearly show all relevant information.
The transition to the more zoomed in view can sometimes feel a little slow and fractured and the results are not as impressive.
The units are rather small and the various buildings are barebones and there’s no need to watch the little men battling to the death up close and personal, because the spectacle offered is not nearly as impressive as that of Total War: Rome II.
The audio design is decent and suited to the themes of the game, with some impressive tracks that sound like something that Caesar himself might have listened to while trying to create his own Empire.
The voice work and the ambient sounds are also solid, but they do not represent the biggest attraction for those who want to enjoy the strategy layer.
There are moments when playing the experience created by Longbow Games seems like it involves too much work and requires the player to spread his attention to too many places at the same time. But as long as one keeps an eye on his resources, knows where his units are at all times and understands that enemies tend to move fast around in order to raid and scavenge, the game becomes one of the best history-based strategy experiences I have ever played, regardless of the rough edges.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
