Theocracy is set in the 15th and 16th centuries and is about the Spanish invasion of Mexico. In 100 years time, the Spanish will invade the Aztec lands. Forewarned by a vision from your priest, you must turn your small Aztec province into a force capable of repelling the Spanish invasion and changing the course of history. Through trade or conquest, you must try to ally the majority of the 41 other Central American provinces to you. The ultimate objective of Theocracy is to gather your forces, fight off the Spanish Conquistadors before they destroy your fledgling empire, and throw them back into the sea.
Theocracy takes place on two levels – tactical and strategic. The tactical game involves constructing buildings and units, gathering resources and fighting off invaders. The strategic game takes place on a map of the whole of Ancient Mexico, split into a number of different territories. You start the game with just a single province, a small army and a few dozen untrained workers to serve you, but from this point you can essentially do whatever you want. Soldiers gain experience as they fight in battles and there are a wide range of magical weapons, shields and other items which you can discover during the game and give to your best troops.
MY OPINION
Theocracy is an interesting and challenging game which manages to mix the turn-based and real time strategy genre to come up with something almost unique. The Aztec setting is unusual as well and makes a welcome change from the traditional medieval European setting of most semi-historical strategy games. I especially like the ability to have up to 50,000 units on the screen without any slowdown. Unfortunately, once you get your troops into battle, things can become a little chaotic. There is no way to slow down or pause the action while you give orders and formations tend to be difficult to manoeuvre in the heat of battle.
The graphics in Theocracy are quite impressive. The units are highly detailed and the maps are well set out. The sound effects are fairly good, from the cutting of wood and ambient sounds of the forest to the clamour of battle. I did find however, that after several hours of play, the sounds became somewhat repetitive. The music is good, but as there are only a limited number of different soundtracks, this soon became repetitive too.
Theocracy comes with a well laid out manual which I often found myself having to refer to. To sum up, you really do need to play Theocracy for yourself in order to fully appreciate it. The sheer scale of the game and the wealth of options and strategies available more than makes up for any minor niggles.
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