The best game called “Imperium” you’ll play all year!

Generally when I see a game billed as a resource management sim I run for the hills and don’t look back, but in the case of Imperium, which has been causing quite a stir since it’s release on Kongregate a few days ago, I decided to give it a try anyway. Fortunately, the game gets a lot of things right and I walked away pleasantly surprised.

Imperium isn’t breaking any new ground as strategy Flash games go, but it does differentiate itself from the pack by focusing mostly on juggling your resources rather than combat. You’re goal is to first build yourself a little city in the corner of the world and eventually take over the entire map, territory by territory. Of course there’s another faction vying for the very same territories so you’ll need to watch your back. You can even play the diplomat if you’re not in the mood to go to war. This usually boils down to simply throwing some money at your opponent, but it’s nice to have the option. It’s depth and attention to detail like this that really make the game shine.

Of course it’s not quite as deep as something like Civilization, but there’s a fair bit of micro managing you’ll need to keep on top of. You’ll find yourself moving soldiers around between your cities and scrambling to make sure everyone is fed and has housing. At the same time you must remember not to thin the front lines out too much lest one of the hostile neighbors attack your city. It can be tricky trying to strike that perfect balance between expansion, defense and the day to day lives of your soldiers and workers, but damn if it isn’t addictive.

Unfortunately it’s not all sunshine and roses when it comes to Imperium. The resource management aspects of the game are well thought out and very deep for a Flash game, but other aspects of the game seem to have suffered as a result.

Combat basically boils down to choosing which units to send into battle, then just sitting back and watching the whole thing unfold. It would have been nice to be able to manage your troops during the battles. Failing that, it would be great if the positions you choose for your troops before the battle begins actually mattered. It doesn’t take long before most confrontations turn into a big rumble in the middle of the screen, no matter how strategically you think you’ve placed your troops. It’s really just a question of who brought the biggest club to the fight.

Presentation is great for the most part. The graphics are very sharp, and detailed and the interface is well laid out. The music and sound effects are nothing special, but they certainly aren’t an annoyance. You can turn sound off through the options menu if you please. Imperium even supports save games, which is handy since winning the entire map can take some time for a beginner. I did notice a couple of typos here and there, but we’ll let that one slide since the rest of the package is so well put together.

All in all I’d say Imperium is definitely worth a try for strategy fans. If you’re not a fan of the genre (like me), give it a try anyway. I found myself really enjoying the game once I got into it and even now I’m compelled to go back and play just one more round. The mantra of the RTS gamer.