Building in the game is simple as well; you right click to bring up the radial build menu, choose the building from one of several categories and rotate the mouse wheel to the desired position. If the building can be placed you'll be fine, if not, the game will tell you what you need to satisfy to build there or if you can't.

If you don't want to play the campaign you can free build on the selected map, many of these maps give you various interesting options, such as a starting town and so forth or a small barbarian presence you can quell.

Military

There's a simple RTS mode in the game that allows you to amass, train and use armies quickly and efficiently. You are capable of capturing trade markers that allow you to control them and provide a trade route over land. You can build ports and shipyards, colonise new islands and defend your cities and outposts via the land and sea using a variety of units. This mode doesn't feel a tack-on any longer, it actually seems as though the developers have taken the time to make it simple and still tactically fulfilling to play.

There are war ships, traders, siege engines and more to discover as you get deeper into the game building your glorious empire. You can subjugate enemy islands and settlements, either taking their towns over or razing them and making their population into slaves.

Graphics

The graphics engine used for GA: Rome is a superbly detailed one. You can bring the camera in close and see the excellent textures at full detail, including even authentic looking Roman graffiti on the walls of many of the buildings. The game brings to life some stunning landscapes and the maps are huge, with many various islands and terrain features. The water looks gorgeous and the landscape is packed with rolling hills, mountains and forests. The day/night cycle with weather effects is the proverbial icing on the cake, looking superb in a thunder storm for example.

The detail on the characters is also excellent; they have been given a great sense of being and personality by the designers. The game is basically a joy to look at and history buffs should like the level of detailing in the construction of the buildings and the authentic look to the various key structures.

Animations

There are tonnes of ambient animations as each caste of Roman goes about their daily duties, they can get into fights, get married and do their jobs as time passes, day flowing into night. It's all nicely animated and there's a lot of detail here as well, both in terms of character movement and interaction.

The same can be said for the military aspect of the game, fights don't look as static as they were in Imperium Romanum, they are epic clashes between men, machines and raw power in some cases (War Elephants) that leave whole armies smashed in their wake. With a nice amount of variety in the battle animations, both on land and sea, it's great to watch these skirmishes and full scale clashes happen.