The constant clank of marble cracking at the tip of an axe numbs the mind after a while. Long days of wailing away at the rock can get old fast. But when the marble cutter gets home his wife and child await him, with bread and sausages and fresh linins. His small family is just one piece of the puzzle, and keeping every piece cared for while constantly expanding is you job. You must make sure every slave has enough work to do, but is never overwhelmed. You've got to make sure the citizens already in your town have flour and water, or else they'll get diseased or starve. Also on your laundry list of chores is to make sure every citizen has a job to contribute to society, and that there are no jobs which lack the citizens to work them.

When setting out into the wilds of the young Roman Empire, it takes careful thought and dedicated leadership to bring a civilization to life. Starting out with a shack you call your Town Hall and a few measly slaves, it is your duty to your empire to govern these slaves and your soon arriving citizens to prosperity and health. With plenty of tools at your disposal, and a few rewards you may reap from the Emperor with some planning and luck, it's your job to make every town in Rome go from a few shacks on a river or less to being metropolises of their time.

In Glory of the Roman Empire, you have the choice to play a long and spanning campaign of various scenarios and locations throughout the empire or you may hop into free play, starting a city and running with it, no goals or timers attached. Either way (though especially apparent in the campaign), things start out very simple. In most cases a Town Hall, ten or twenty slaves, and possibly a handful of citizens are all you have to manage. From there you're finding local resources, setting up farms and mines, and as always building more houses. Suddenly you've got yourself a city of 150 citizens, and hopefully at least that many slaves. It can be a lot to manage. Every citizen needs access to an altar, bread, cloth, sausages, and water. And as the citizens become more sophisticated (by gaining prestige for the city through altars, statues, and other monuments), they have even more needs. They become better producers as well, though.

As if managing to provide all of the necessities to the citizens wasn't enough of a chore, there are also requirements for every building! Each and every building has an upkeep of wood, stone, or marble that must be delivered to the building or it runs the risk of catching fire. With so many buildings and so much going on, it's pretty likely that at least a few will light up on occasion, even if you've got the resources. Perhaps your slaves are overworked and couldn't actually bring the materials to the building in time, or maybe it was all tied up at a construction site.

There are support buildings to help with such problems and many others. For instance, there's the Herbalist that will cure people of the plague, and the Marketplace which makes all the goods available somewhere else in your city available nearby. There's also security forces which help hold off Barbarians and put out fires in their precinct. Then there are the goods which trade well. There's the grapes for wine from the vineyard, which all the friendly barbarians want and will trade nearly anything to get. Then there's the olive oil which grows from olive farms. Most cities will offer a few gold pieces for a keg of that. With a few trade posts set up, and enough slaves to cart the goods, you can trade for nearly anything your city might need.

The game looks pretty good, with nice lighting and very pretty artwork. Sadly, the people don't really shine, and none of them except the tutorial advisor ever speak. An occasional grunt is all you'll get to hear over the zings and schwas of the building sound effects and repetitive music. And though the game is pretty problem-free, that itself is a big problem. Haemimont did a fantastic job programming the game, making sure there are as few errors as possible, and nearly no micromanaging to hassle with. However, that left us with only small challenges. Truly adept governors will find themselves with little to do after an hour or so with any city. Glory of the Roman Empire is a great ride, but it lacks the extra distance. There are some truly grand ideas here, and it's perfect for anyone cracking into the city simulation game, but difficulty settings and perhaps a more challenging scenario set after the first campaign would have made this an instant classic.