Rome - one of the greatest and most influential empires the world has ever known - has always proven to be a rich source of inspiration for the city management games; just a couple of years ago you couldn't move five feet without bumping into one. Imperium Romanum is the sequel to one such game - Glory of the Roman Empire - a title noted for its rather casual approach to the genre, abandoning the hardcore management gamers to the lions while everyone else was free to stand in awe of the pretty looking buildings; and nothing much has changed since then.

As a newly appointed governor it's up to you to tackle a range of scenarios that require the raising and maintaining of grand and prosperous Roman cities, transforming patches of dirt into large, self-sustained communities. Keeping on top of the demands of the citizens goes hand in hand with the expanse of the city, as you seek to exploit exotic resources to pull in and keep a higher class of citizens who bring in much needed wealth. This all sounds far more difficult than it actually is however, as Imperium Romanun doesn't betray the casual style of play of its predecessor.

Historically Rome wasn't built in day, but an hour into the game and you'll have constructed such a sizeable and economically stable city that even the ancient Romans would be green with envy at your progress! It's a game that has been clearly aimed at those without a love for stats screens and no interest in the inner complex workings of a city; everything is concise and easy to understand. At the centre of it all is the same one-click build interface from Glory of the Roman Empire, one of that game's crowning achievements, giving you complete access to all of the build options with just one click of the mouse button.

The challenges on offer here are hardly going to worry the most seasoned of gamers, but they're sufficiently frequent to keep the pace moving enough to prevent tedium from setting in. Most problems you face will revolve around relinquishing to the ever-persistent demands of your citizens, who, as any decent member of society does, spend most of their time complaining to you about the lack of basic facilities. Failure to address their concerns can lead to an unhappy population teetering on the brink of full scale rioting. Employment issues and poverty are also black spots that can dampen a thriving city, yet even when these issues arise they're hardly difficult obstacles to overcome. The lack of any real challenge isn't a great loss, as the game still remains fairly compelling, with a vast selection of scenarios that range from historical missions that allow you to rebuild famous Roman cities the way you want to imposing strict limits, such as one that sees you without the ability to build farms, so you become reliant on trade to feed your city. Even with the game being as easy it is, there's still a great sense of accomplishment when you witness your city transforming from its basic foundations into a thriving metropolis.

It all looks extremely well polished on top, with a much-improved graphics engine. The detail has been ramped up and the city streets really do begin to feel like city streets, as they fill up with the populace, all going about their day-to-day business. It's impressive enough to look quite special on high-powered machines, while scalable enough to allow older PCs to enjoy the views without sacrificing too much detail. The sound works just as well, with the ambient atmosphere of the busy city doing just as good a job at bringing the streets to life as the graphics, although some oddly chosen contemporary music spoils things; this is really the kind of game that would have benefited from a soundtrack more in line with the time period it is set in.

There are one or two problems that do occasionally mar the experience however, an ill-thought out and rickety combat system being one of the most noticeable. This isn't a combat game, as is evident by the lack of any real control over the few soldier units you're allowed to train - at best you can simply tell a squad of soldiers where to move, then all the fighting takes place automatically when two opposing armies meet. There's no real gain or incentive to it all; barbarian camps might sometimes block a needed resource vein, but for the most part they're a nuisance that you can, and often will, simply choose to avoid. This feature was obviously shoehorned in, so you have to wonder why the developers even bothered adding such an unnecessary aspect of the game when they clearly hadn't the heart to follow through with it. There are also some slight problems with attending to the needs of your citizens who occasionally demand access to buildings they've been within spitting distance of for some time. Whether a bug or intentional, it's mildly irritating all the same.

Imperium Romanum ticks all the right boxes; with an intuitive and easy to understand interface, a varied mix of scenarios to play through and a substantially improved graphics engine, there's a lot to like about it - but it isn't perfect. One of the real problems that burdens the game isn't that it does anything particularly wrong, but rather that it doesn't do anything new. Whether this will be a problem for you really depends upon whether or not your hunger for Roman-themed city management games was satisfied a couple of years ago. Imperium Romanum is a standard sequel that incrementally improves some aspects of its predecessor without really pushing the boundaries of what the genre can do - it's solidly made and enjoyable to play, but ultimately there's just nothing remarkable about it.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).