Populus Romanus
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* 14 scenarios of varying size and difficulty, ranging from the initial conquests of neighbouring kingdoms by Roman city-state, to the First Punic War and beyond
* Single player and Local Multiplayer (players sharing same device) game modes (online multiplayer not supported)
* Freely zoomable and pannable hex based map, with multitouch gesture support
* Hex and counter style of play, like many table-top TBS board games
* Autosaving: Progress is automatically saved at end of each turn, or when you switch away from the game; No risk of losing game progress because of forgetting to save
* Designed to be playable also on lower-spec Android phones and tablets; on the other hand, users with more capable 'droid devices have enhanced frame rate and smoother experience
* In-game help guide
* Supports natively all screen resolutions from the smallest phones in your pocket to the largest HD tablets
* OpenGL ES hardware accelerated graphics engine
The basic gameplay style of this game was inspired by many earlier hexagon based "oldskool" or retro PC strategy games like Fantasy General, Panzer General and Battle for Wesnoth as well as some of the more recent titles, such as Uniwar on mobile devices ... with a little bit of Civilization / Freeciv spirit mixed in. However, the backdrop of the game is set in the ancient Rome, and the game attempts to follow faithfully the known course of the events to the extent that is known to the modern historywriting (some liberties have been taken in interpreting the details to make the game more entertaining). The game has some minor RPG like elements such as unit leveling (success in combat leads first to veteran, then to elite status, giving stats improvements), but at its heart it is first and foremost a pure strategy game.
Nearly two millennia before the era of medieval knights and castles of the European middle ages, the first ancient settlers of the Roman tribe founded the city of Rome. As the legends customarily tell, the twin brothers and townsmen Romulus and Remus were the original founders, with Romulus eventually becoming the first king of Rome. From its humble beginnings first as a small village, and then a local kingdom, its destiny was to become a great empire encompassing all coasts of the Mediterranean sea and even beyond. For centuries, his royal majesty the Emperor of Rome was undoubtedly the most highborn ruler on the Earth, wielding total authority over a large portion of the humankind, until barbarian hordes and many years of revolution brought the fallen empire to its end.
The game begins in the very first years of the Roman saga; You, the player, will lead the Roman army, legion after legion, from a battle to another in the name of the Roman Empire against the mighty warlords of the neighbouring realms. Assault the Etruscans on river Tiber, stop the madness of Samnite invasion in Campania, conquer South Italy, drive Carthaginians out from the isle of Sicily, and much more ... May the god of war Mars spare you from the fury and vengeance of your enemies in the battlefield!
While the main campaign of the game deals with the Roman Republic expansion wars, the second campaign is played as commander Hannibal of Carthage, one of the greatest military commanders to ever live, whose brief advance against Rome brought him all the way from North Africa almost to the gates of Rome, before the Romans got their defense lines established. This revival of warfare between Carthage and Rome came to be known as the Second Punic War in the books of history.
Category : Strategy
Reviews (27)
I have completed this game multiple times over 10 years, I keep coming back to the simple story, combat and UI. I'm only angry that they haven't released a sequel in a different era because the developers of this game are stella.
Please make more games like this. There are so few of them available.
Have you considered making this game into a board game ?
I've played this game for years and loved it. However after the last upgrade I must reevaluate. Simply said, to win stay on the defensive and maybe the enemy will run out of troops. Second, only produce spearmen, the cheapest units on the board ad they are uber. They defeat the best of Rome, chevrons or not around 3 to 1. Fix and I will change my vote. Edit: I still play it and I still like it.
As a tactical board game style app, it's OK. But it poses as a historical game, and is very inaccurate. There was no Praetorian guard in that time frame, the legionary units don't reflect the maniple system in use at the time. The auxiliary units appear to be post Marian reform, again the wrong period. Perhaps worst of all, cavalry and chariots are too powerful. The Romans relied on infantry as the backbone of their army. Roman cavalry should be fairly ineffective, basically support.
The simple, streamlined controls enhance gameplay. Plus, even with the settings set to 'easy' the games AI still gives one enough of a challenge to make things enjoyable. Well done developers.
This has happened a number of times. You lose all game progress in a battle and have to start over. Very annoying and a 101 level glitch. In fristration I am now uninstalling this and the sequel.
Great combat system, innovative and easy to understand. Many hours of replay value on varying difficulties. The sequel even better!
Kept me busy for hours - wonderfully balanced and very rewarding. Living in hope of seeing some new scenarios. PR2 is next!
Not strategy at all. Played through all of the scenarios. Winning / losing is completely luck due to the dice roll nature of the battles. It seems like strategy but it isn't
2 player games won't save, close the game lose your game.
Paid-scen2 unplayable too diff
One of the best turn based strategy games on the play store.
Great game. More battles please
One of the best phone wargames - very addictive!
Easy to play yet challenging to master. Plus reasonably accurate historically.
This game is amazing but it would be nicer if the enemy troops were not always same types but best game ever
Loved it but need more battles scenarios
Wish there were more games like this
Hex turn based wargame set during Roman early start.
It has quick load times because it is such a light interface. It was fun but a quick play though as the AI and difficulty on hard was very low. It would be nice for an impossible mode that had 50% more enemy units or so. Official rating 4.5 stars.
I like turn based strategy games and I enjoyed working out how to win this. You can play as the Romans, defeating the surrounding tribes, or as Hannibal revolting against the Roman empire which makes it great value for money. I recommend changing the display settings to stop it centering on the selected unit. The graphics are clear and the rules make for an interesting challenge. The only thing that might make it better for me would be an ultra hard mode where the ai is better and perhaps gets elite units
Wow! I'm old-school and play these kinds of board games with friends and this is an excellent digital option. I'm amazed at the depth and complexity for the price you pay. It's so much fun! Some improvements: 1. Undo button. On a phone and it is very easy to mistakenly touch the screen during maneuvering and erroneously place a unit. There really should be an option to undo ONLY the last maneuver. 2. Network multiplayer lacking. I wanna play this with my friends online! Thanks for a great game!!!
Great game but takes more power than other more complex games even when playing hotseat where no ai is required.
Tried out the demo first and now have downloaded the paid version. This game is a great value for money, is very stable and is challenging enough for hours of play. A big thank you to the developers for creating such a great game.
Great little game for the tactical minded. Worth the $3 price-tag. The only improvements I would suggest are more scenarios to play and making the multiplier work with two devices.
For a tablet game this is pretty fun, but it lacks the staying power of other tablet war games I've played like Open Panzer (an implementation of Panzer General) where the mechanics feel less random and where the battle front feels more dynamic. A typical scenario in this game has almost all units (friend and foe) crowd a strategic section of the map where you then try to take favorable terrain. This is actually quite fun for me, but after that initial struggle for favorable ground, the front becomes established making the game into dice rolling that feels highly random even with terrain and flank bonuses. It's very difficult to punch through an enemy defensive line and similarly it's relatively easy to hold a friendly defensive line. The established front is basically the entire game and once it is broken through you've won. Consider the free version and if you find that WW1 tactics in Rome is your thing, have a blast.