Rome AD 92 - Pathway to Power Longplay (Amiga) [50 FPS]
156Developed by Firstlight and published by Millenium Interactive in 1992.
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Released in Europe as "Rome AD 92" and in the US as Rome: Pathway to Power", you assume the role of Hector, a blonde-haired Roman slave who, through a succession of events, rises above his station to eventually become emperor of the Roman Empire.
The game bares many similarities to "The Adventures of Robin Hood", which is no surprise considering it was produced by the same developers and uses the same game engine.
Rome AD 92 deviates from it's predecessor by being more story-driven and less free-form. On each of the game's levels there is a distinct objective to achieve and must be completed within a certain time limit.
Due to the time limit, the actions I take in the video are done with prior knowledge of the story and may need explaining to those who are not familiar with it, or have forgotten; I've provided a brief synopsis of the game story here:
Hector starts out in the small town of Herculaneum, tasked by his master to deliver a message to one of Rome's consuls. Things quickly take a turn for the worse as Vesuvius erupts, threatening to engulf the town in lava and ash; Hector must quickly find a way off the island.
Having secured his way out of Herculaneum, Hector arrives in Rome and discovers that the consul to whom he delivered the message, is up to no good and is plotting to kill the the emperor. Hector must find a way to gain access to the royal palace and warn the emperor.
For saving the emperor's life, he is given the title of centurion in the Roman army and is dispatched to Britannia in order to subdue the hostile Celts living there. Hector must order his men to storm the enemy village and capture their war-standard.
Having secured victory, Hector returns to Rome to a hero's welcome. Not content to rest on his laurels, Hector decides to stand in an election to replace the traitorous (and deceased) consul who threatened to kill the emperor. Hector must canvas the the citizens of Rome, improving his reputation whilst denouncing his opponents in order to secure votes and win the election.
Hector is then sent to Egypt on a mission to guard Queen Cleopatra from assassination at the hands of her brother, Ptolemy. Hector must defeat all of Ptolemy's men in order to save Cleopatra.
On Hector's return to Rome, he finds that the emperor has become increasingly paranoid about Hector's rise in popularity and gone mad. Hector decides that the only course of action is to assassinate the emperor, but must also eliminate the rival consul in order to secure his position as future emperor.
I think that what is so remarkable about the game is amount of life that has been infused into the world, especially the characters. They amount to little more than a handful of pixels each, yet the artist managed to include tiny details that make things stand out. Each of the characters have their own names, status and their dialogue is well written and often very funny.
Of the 2 games, I preferred Robin Hood because it always felt less restrictive than Rome, but there is no denying that this was a fantastic game with a level of life and detail that very few other titles have ever managed to produce.
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