Rome was not built in a day but gamers can attempt to match the glory of the ancient city in pretty much an evening in the upcoming Sierra sequel Caesar III, a game that is rather ambitious and grand in scale. In fact, it makes one wonder how Caesar and Caesar II didn't become the gaming classics that similar titles, like SimCity and Populus became-but at least the Caesar franchise is alive and well and has the lasting potential of even the glory that was Rome.

Like Rome, maybe the Caesar series just needs time to grow on its own. It has been viewed as SimCity BC, but obviously limited to the structures of the day (albeit they were extremely advanced for the era-and I just got back from seeing many of them first hand!), but Caesar III is really much more.

Gamers have the option to take part in an overall campaign, meeting objectives and advancing in power and prestige, as the challenges become increasingly more difficult. In addition, players can also run and develop their own province building Roman-style (Writer's Note: Romanesque is something else) creating glorious cities-or at least attempting to build glorious cities, as everything from fires to angry gods can attempt to tear down the governor's hard work and ambitious efforts.

As in SimCity, the game involves players placing structures like the Senate that is actually constructed as it is placed, or "zoning" for houses which the virtual Roman citizen's construct. (It should be noted that the real Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire had a system that determined who was a citizen, who was a slave, etc., but for gaming purposes, at least in the beta, there seems to be no "class system" in place).

This may be worked out, but currently house tiles are placed on the map and people will move to the digital Roman City. It is necessary to have road access to all structures, as the digital people can not move goods without the transportation routes in place. After all, the Romans were known for their roads, many of which are still in existence in Europe today.

At first the type of buildings are limited to farms, granaries (of which there seems to never be enough), markets, houses, wells and temples (to appease the angry pagan gods). Players must also place wells for drinking water, and Prefix' offices to maintain the peace and keep fires under control.

As the city grows and the game advances, more structures are possible to add to the city, each with a very Roman-style of the Republic and later Empire. These include the ever-popular Senate Building, which serves as the center of government, and the Forum, so people can voice their opinion. Players can add parks, fountains and water reservoirs and build the extensive aqueducts to transport water to other fountains and public baths, which help maintain the population's good health until the city grows and is able to construct a hospital.

Obviously the Romans were people who appreciated the arts and finer things in life, so theatres and artisan colonies can be built and no Roman City would be complete without the ever-important Gladiator training school or hippodrome.

But as the city grows, so do its problems like disease, fire and barbarians (and today's mayors think inner city crime is bad!) but worse of all, those damn angry gods! Building hospitals, making sure there are proper Prefixes and water in place, and finally building walls should help solve all the natural and man-made problems, while dedicating better temples to the gods should keep the super-natural powers at bay as well. City resource management is extremely important, the granaries need to be supplied with food by farms, and natural resources need to make goods.

But in addition, the theatre is useless without an Actor's Colony, while the hippodrome depends on chariots for the exciting Ben-Hur style racing action that takes place there. While the beta's early cities limited what could be built, in the final game, luxuries are also very important to the city's growth. Therefore, more complex farms, like those that grow olives or grapes, need to be built to supply the upper class citizens with the olive oil and wine they desire for their more refined tastes.

Caesar III's interface is reminiscent of SimCity's and is easy to use. The biggest issue is that the area being developed must be completely cleared, unlike SimCity where the clearing cost was simply added to the development cost. It is hard to therefore lay roads, and often requires players to switch to the clearing icon and then switch back to the road-or end up doing something stupid like building around a single bush!

The need for clearing is also annoying because it can accidentally cause the deletion of the wrong thing (e.g. like the Senate!) but fortunately those things can be undone; but only immediately after they happen! Aqueducts present a similar problem and would be governors should rotate the map to map sure that the water transport is headed exactly where it should be. More than once, the aqueduct construction was ill planned and resulted in unnecessary and expensive changes and turns (which also take up valuable real estate).

The game's maps also don't seem to make it overly clear as to where specialized buildings, i.e. farms and clay pits, can be constructed. Players will find that they that need to hunt around to determine the proper locations for these structures to be placed. Obviously clay pits need to be near rocks formations but not on any particular location near rocks, while farms need a proper type of grass land.

The graphics and animations are excellent and give a real sense of a Roman City, as it rises and declines. The white structures and colorful citizens help provide what we commonly associate with the era of the Republic and the early Empire. The animated updates, which often bring bad news, are equally colorful-both in appearance and use of puns and language.

The gameplay is solid but like any good simulation, running a city is not just about building, building and building. There is an infrastructure to maintain, and someone has to pay for all this. Taxes need to be collected, people need to be employed and more importantly kept happy.

As the city grows so do its problems and the expenses of keeping it glorious. Ancient city planners are therefore advised to build slowly (again Rome wasn't built in a day and the Empire grow over time as well), and to carefully try to manage everything. The important thing to remember is that time can be slowed down so those problems can be dealt with as they happen and hopefully solved!

Finally, because this game doesn't model the technological advances seen in a game like Civilization or the advanced technology and transportation of a city building game like SimCity, Caesar III may have a limited appeal to those with an interest in the history of the great city of Rome, and its Republic and Empire. The game is not a war game, nor does it pretend to be one. But it is an excellent historical simulation worthy of many evenings of play and fun.