Centurion: Defender of Rome

Centurion: Defender of Rome is a computer game that made its first appearance in the early 1990's and is certainly dated as of the writing of this article. The player is charged with conquering the world (what else) and does so by first advancing to the a high rank, which in turn allows the player to command more and more legions. Historical figures are represented and there is a modus for negotiation and diplomacy, but one must be quite the pacifist to use them, as outright warfare and vanquishing your neighbors (and therefore enemies) on the battlefield is so much easier.

The real advantage of this game is that it was the first game that I know of, that had a real-time battlefield strategy modus. This means that once you attacked an enemy army, the screen would then focus on the battlefield, with your legionary cohorts arranged in lines (and hopefully with calvalry support) and your general behind them. Typically the barbarian armies had their general in front, and generally they would perform a frontal attack, meaning that their general ran straight for your lines and attempted to defeat your cohorts single-handedly. 99.99% of the time, he was thus killed and the ensuing morale loss of the enemy army was usually enough to make the battle quite stress free. However, later in the game, particularly with Rome's historical enemies like Parthia, and Carthage, they fought much smarter, and also had much tougher troops. Despite these flaws, the game is highly interesting relative to its age because it really was, as stated before, the first game that allowed you to arrange your forces and command units to advance, retreat, melee, or flank in a real-time setting.