Praetorians (video game)
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Praetorians | |
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Developer(s) | Pyro Studios |
Publisher(s) | Eidos Interactive |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
Release date | February, 2003 |
Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
Media | Compact Disc |
System requirements | Direct3D |
Input methods | Keyboard, mouse |
Praetorians is a 3D real-time strategy game developed by Pyro Studios, based on Julius Caesar's campaigns.
Players are given the option of a mission where they play as Julius Caesar commanding forces of varying sizes against various barbarian tribes. Or a skirmish can be played in which the player first chooses a difficultly level (easy, medium, hard or expert) then chooses up to 1 character and up to 7 AI players, commanded by the computer. These can be Roman, Egyptian or an anonymous barbarian tribe. Once this is completed it can then be chosen to create alliances by putting two forces on the same team. This means that they can't attack each other and in times of crisis one team member can call to another via a message line "We need help" whereupon the ally will normally throw in spare troops to help their ally. Praetorians varies from other games of its genre in that resources do not play a part in it. In most real time strategy games, wood, food, gold, stone and glory need to be collected and is spent as troops are created. According to Gamespot, Praetorians had beautiful graphics but it was difficult to zoom in and impossible to turn the camera around 360 degrees. However it was praised by Gamespot for its gameplay and tactical depth.
The game continues to sell well even today (May 2008), with it still being in the top 20 Budget PC titles on ChartTrack.
An unofficial patch was released in October 2004, after the Pyro Studios producer of the title Javier Arévalo and Eidos' Jason Walker talked about sorting out a flaw in the Multiplayer game that was being exploited by gamers. This helped catapult the game back up the GameSpy Arena charts.