Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The Great Empires Collection brings together three pillars of classic city-building—Caesar III, Pharaoh, and Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile—each offering its own set of challenges and delights. At its core, the gameplay loop revolves around urban planning: zoning residential, commercial, and industrial districts; managing food, entertainment, and public order; and ensuring your citizens remain loyal and prosperous. Veteran builders will appreciate the depth of micromanagement, from flood control in Egyptian arenas to maintaining supply lines for Rome’s legions.

Each title’s campaign throws a fresh twist on the familiar formula. In Caesar III you must expand Rome’s influence, navigating political intrigue and military defense on the frontier. Pharaoh transports you to the banks of the Nile, where you balance seasonal inundations, religious festivals, and monumental pyramid projects. Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile builds on Pharaoh’s foundation with new scenarios and more sophisticated trade routes to cement your legacy beside Egypt’s most legendary ruler.

Beyond the campaigns, sandbox mode lets you unleash creativity without success conditions, dialing in custom difficulty settings like disaster frequency, taxation levels, and resource abundance. Whether you prefer the guided sense of progression from mission to mission or the open-ended freedom of a blank map, the Collection caters to both structured strategists and imaginative architects.

Puzzle-style scenarios interspersed throughout each game keep the formula fresh. One moment you’re racing to feed thousands before the Nile’s waters recede; the next, you’re fortifying a newly founded Roman town against barbarian onslaughts. DLC and community-created maps—still active decades later—add replay value, ensuring that even seasoned commanders will find new ways to test their mettle.

Graphics

While all three games date back to the late ’90s and early 2000s, their hand-crafted isometric art styles remain surprisingly charming. Detailed sprite work portrays bustling marketplaces, grand temples, and sprawling villas with a level of personality modern titles sometimes lack. The Collection includes higher-resolution support and compatibility patches, allowing the original graphics to shine on contemporary displays without distortion.

Each empire boasts a distinct visual identity. In Caesar III, burnt-orange rooftops and marble columns evoke the grandeur of Rome. Pharaoh’s palette shifts with seasonal floods, from verdant fields at high water to sun-baked flats in drought. Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile enhances this with more varied architectural sets—Greek influences in Alexandria, ornate palaces in Thebes, and desert oases lush with date palms.

Cutscene stills and scripted event art convey each period’s drama, from triumphant Roman generals crossing the Rubicon to river gods rising from the Nile’s depths. Though static, these art assets still capture narrative tension. Animated elements—smoke rising from brick kilns, chariots clattering down stone roads—offer constant visual feedback that keeps settlements feeling alive.

The user interface has aged gracefully but benefits from modern tweaks included in the Collection. Tooltips, zoom controls, and a refined HUD help newcomers get oriented quickly, while die-hard fans will appreciate the option to switch back to the classic layout. Overall, the graphics strike a nostalgic balance: retro enough to charm long-time players, polished enough to avoid feeling archaic.

Story

Although city-builders are rarely narrative-first, The Great Empires Collection weaves historical context into every mission. Caesar III’s campaigns chart your climb from a provincial administrator to an imperial governor, complete with political machinations and military directives that underscore Rome’s fragility at its borders. You’re not just placing houses—you’re defending civilization itself.

Pharaoh introduces a deeper layer of myth and religion, tasking you with satisfying deities like Amun and Ra through festivals and grand monuments. Each scenario reads like a chapter in an epic, with briefing text that references real rulers and historical events, giving each urban project a sense of greater purpose. When you finish building a pyramid, it isn’t merely a sandbox toy—it’s a tribute meant to stand the test of time.

Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile goes further by placing you directly in the queen’s inner circle. Embassies, espionage, and court politics add intrigue to your city-building duties, and Cleopatra herself makes cameo appearances in mission briefings. The blend of historical personages with gameplay objectives gives each scenario dramatic stakes—failure isn’t just economic ruin; it’s political disgrace or the wrath of a rival state.

Across all three titles, story elements are presented through text boxes, period art, and map-based objectives rather than voiceovers or cinematic cutscenes. While this might feel low-key by today’s standards, it allows you to interpret events in your own way, fostering a sense of investment in the fate of your empire.

Overall Experience

The Great Empires Collection is a masterclass in city-building that stands the test of time. By packaging three beloved classics into one release, it delivers extraordinary value—hundreds of missions, dozens of historical scenarios, and virtually unlimited sandbox possibilities. For newcomers, it’s an accessible entry point into a venerable genre; for veterans, it’s a nostalgia-packed return trip to formative gaming experiences.

Installation and performance are seamless on modern systems. The included launchers manage compatibility settings behind the scenes, so you won’t need to wrestle with DOSBox or manual configuration files. Steam and GOG versions even support achievements and cloud saves, letting you track progress across devices with minimal fuss.

Community support remains strong decades after each title’s original release. Fan-made scenario packs, visual mods, and balance patches continue to enrich the experience. If you crave new challenges, dozens of custom maps and campaigns are available online, extending replayability far beyond the bundled content.

Ultimately, The Great Empires Collection shines as both a preservation of gaming history and a thoroughly enjoyable strategy package. Its blend of deep mechanics, historical ambiance, and open-ended creativity will satisfy anyone who dreams of raising a city from dusty crossroads to imperial glory. Whether you’re shaping Rome, mastering the Nile, or reveling in Cleopatra’s court, this compilation invites you to leave an indelible mark on antiquity.