Reviewed: August 17, 2004
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Enlight Software

Developer
Haemimont Games

Released: January 7, 2004
Genre: RTS
Players: 8
ESRB: Teen

8
7
6
8
7.9

System Requirements

At first glance Nemesis might seem to be more of an expansion pack to Celtic Kings. You have some new battlefields, armies, and new units to make up those armies, but just as much hasn’t changed. The engine is relatively untouched and many of the units from Celtic Kings reprise their historic roles in this title.

“Nemesis” is a word used to define an enemy, a source of harm, or an opponent that cannot be overcome. When one thinks of the unstoppable Roman Empire it’s hard to imagine them having a nemesis, but historians will certainly remember a general named Hannibal, with his armies of mercenaries who made Carthage the greatest world power and a prickly thorn in the side of the Roman Empire. The Punic Wars are about to begin.

Nemesis features:

• Large maps complete with neutral settlements and camps that present a threat to all players.
• Player controlled heroes that command armies of up to 50 units on their own, providing them with an additional bonus in battle.
• Settlements have their own resources they can spend locally or transport elsewhere.
• Rituals performed in places of ancient worship that effect the entire world.
• Military units have the ability to capture resource caravans, outposts and even entire cities and settlements.
• Ships and shipyards providing for sea battles or transport of armies and resources from one shore to another.
• Upgrades that increase the might of your armies and the power of your settlements.
• A vast array of items that bring specific bonuses to the unit carrying them.
• A number of special abilities that give different advantages to the various units.
• Single Player
  • Integration of character development and major battles.
  • A single-player campaign featuring the campaign of Hannibal Barca (Sagunto battle, the crossing of the Alps, Cannas battle).
  • A single-player campaign featuring the development of the Roman Republic during the Punic wars (the invasion of Sicily, the conquest of Hispania, the destruction of Carthage).
• Multiplayer
  • Four sides to play with – Roman, Gaul, Carthaginian and Iberians, complete with their own historical buildings and units.
  • LAN and Internet games with up to 8 players.
  • GameSpy Arcade support.
  • Random map generation.
  • In-game scenario/adventure editor.
  • Off-line ranking system.

Buildings are linked directly to certain resources so capturing and holding these structures is now your new mode of resource gathering. Food and gold are your two main resources. Food keeps your troops alive while increasing the population of the city and can also be sold for gold that can be used to train and upgrade your men.

The use of food is an interesting twist for an RTS game and leads to several strategic issues where you must maintain supply lines to troops out in the field or holed up in a fort somewhere. The game makes it easy to establish supply lines from the source to the consumer with just a few mouse-clicks, but these lines are always subject to attack, and once broken, your troops will suffer.

Heroes, a new RTS concept that is quickly growing in popularity, are put to good use. You can assign troops to a hero giving them certain bonuses and allowing them to move in formation. Conversely, troops who aren’t assigned to heroes are difficulty to control in large numbers and fall back on AI, which never seems to be as smart for you as it is for the computer.

There are also specialty units like cavalry and magic users who really help to distinguish each of the opposing factions. Some of the mounted units ride horses while others ride camels. Spellcasters enjoy the luxury of certain environmental elements like caves that allow them to “teleport” around the map or ancient ruins where they can cast spells on a global scale.

Single players will enjoy a clever enemy AI that seldom cheats, or at least does it so well I never picked up on it. The computer seems most adept at scanning the battlefield, poking at you troops, testing for weaknesses, and then attacking in the most efficient way possible. You might be tempted to turn the AI against itself and bait them with intentionally poor defended zones, but the computer almost seemed to sense this. Then in some brilliant strategy on the AI’s part (and a total lapse on mine) the computer would turn around and bait me into a trap and I’d lose a few hundred troops.

The solo portion of Nemesis features two large campaigns that allow you to play out the Punic Wars from either side. When you are finished reenacting or rewriting history you can then enjoy a nice skirmish mode that puts you up against up to seven AI opponents or take your game online for some eight-player conquests. With a random map generator and a plethora of settings to tweak, there are infinite battle possibilities.

The battlefields are impressively large which makes the detailed map insert one of the better functions of the game. You can instantly jump to any battle using the world map or scroll around the main window or even zoom out for the complete big picture with a tap of the spacebar. The “fog of war” is implemented nicely in the main view but the map screen can often override it and give you some unfair insight into enemy movements.

The game engine still impresses me with its ability to rendered amazing detail on dozens of units on the same screen then scale that detail to depict hundreds of units, often engaged in their own private skirmishes.

The 2D menus and informational displays are nicely laid out, easy to read, and simple to navigate. Despite being almost three years old, you have to admit the interface and the game engine are still keeping up with the competition, even if they aren’t breaking new ground.

Sound effects are minimal, mainly battle sounds which serve their purpose. There is a smattering of voice acting in the cutscenes, most of it fairly average if not downright bad, but most of the conversation during the actual game is through text messages.

The random map generator and near-infinite combinations for multiplayer gaming will make this one RTS game that will stay on your hard drive until you simply can’t stand to play one more mission. Truly, a remarkable value for $30.

There are certainly better titles on the RTS horizon, but until those games materialize Nemesis is a worthy addition to any strategy gamer’s collection and will keep you engrossed for countless hours of historic battles of epic proportions.