Praetorians
Praetorians
Praetorians, développé par Pyro Studios et édité par Eidos Interactive ainsi que Kalypso Media, est paru le 28 février 2003 sur PC (Microsoft Windows). Ce jeu de stratégie en temps réel indépendant se déroule dans un Empire romain naissant et plonge le joueur dans les champs de bataille d'Égypte, de Gaule et d'Italie, où il doit conquérir le pouvoir face aux troupes et machines de guerre de l'Empire, jusqu'à affronter la garde prétorienne. Trois armées sont disponibles, les Gaulois, les Égyptiens et les légions romaines, avec des capacités et formations propres à chaque type d'unité, et le terrain influence les possibilités défensives et offensives selon une intelligence artificielle qui en tient compte. Le titre propose plus de vingt missions en solo demandant des stratégies variées ainsi qu'un multijoueur en ligne jusqu'à huit participants, avec un temps de completion estimé à dix-sept heures pour l'histoire principale et trente-six heures et demie pour un parcours complet. Le jeu est protégé par la gestion des droits numériques SecuROM et est proposé au prix de 4,99 euros, avec un score Metacritic de 78 et une note agrégée de 80,05.
La presse a salué le titre : Gamer's Pulse a ainsi qualifié Praetorians de incontournable pour les amateurs du genre et d'excellente introduction pour les nouveaux joueurs PC grâce à ses visuels et son audio, tandis que Game Chronicles a relevé un rythme plus rapide et plus intense ainsi qu'un retour des tactiques militaires absentes des RTS récents. Certains joueurs sur Metacritic ont exprimé des difficultés techniques ou ont jugé le jeu lent et copie de Total War, tandis que des avis positifs sur Steam ont trouvé l'achat avantageux et ont apprécié le tutoriel et la progression du gameplay, malgré un nombre limité de factions.
Médias
Avis des critiques et joueurs
Critiques de la Presse (Metacritic)
« With outstanding visuals and audio to showcase its gameplay, Praetorians is a must-have for genre fans and a great introduction for newcomers to PC gaming. »
« It’s quicker, fiercer, and more exciting, and the military tactics utilized is something that has been missing from RTS games recently. »
« The gameplay and tactical strategy in this title is certainly its strong suit. »
« The sheer focus on tactics and all of the available options within this makes this an extremely challenging game, but persevering and learning these intricacies will reveal a true gem. »
« The challenging and lengthy single-player campaign and the tough AI will keep you busy for a long time, while custom skirmish modes and multiplayer capability add to the game's value. »
« A solid RTS experience that uses the hook of streamlined play without requiring resource management. »
« Cutscenes are decently animated, and the most impressive feature of the game has to be the environments, such as the dense forest and rippling streams that can be disturbed as columns of soldiers move through it. Even the destruction of these environmental features, such as an archer sending a flaming arrow into a stretch of trees, looks nice. »
« A little unmanageable when large opposing forces enter toe-to-toe melee combat. The front line becomes a clanging, tangled, dying mass of soldiers, and no player micromanagement is going to save them. »
Avis des Joueurs (Metacritic)
« Yakın zamanda oynamaya çalıştım ama menüden oyuna girmeye çalıştığımda oyundan attı. »
« It's a slow clunky 3d knock off of total war from the 2000s,just get total war Rome »
« Awesome game to this day. Really fun and tactical. Would like a remake!!! :D. Its definitely the best strategy game of all time, a real classic. You have to put some thought into military tactics in the game, as apposed to some games where you can just hurl troops at the enemy and they will take victory with ease. Will they be hiding troops on that hill? Can I ambush them? I need to get that base quickly otherwise they will! Things like that. 10/10 Faultless. »
« Praetorians is definitely, to me, the greatest strategy game of all times, because it's not only the first game I have ever played since i was 10 years old but also stands out in contrast to other mainstream popular strategy games like Age Of Empires thanks to the complete absence of resources ( gold, food, wood,...). My friends say this is a significant drawback, but i personally find it a plus as all you need to do is to concentrate on military tactics: you've got decide which unit to recruit, what village to take, which position to capture - a high hill to build catapults or vast woods to hide your units from enemy scout so that your troops can organize an ambush. There are lots of things to be done should you wish to seize victory, and you don't have abundant time to do that. Pressure that is constantly put on you does a marvelous job because you have to make up your mind very quick without hesitation. Trust me, you'll get to know it when you play it. »
