Celtic Kings: Rage of War, a late 2002 release from Strategy First and developer Haemimont Games, flew under the radar of most gamers. That's a shame, as it was one of the better strategy titles of that year. With a new publisher in Enlight Software, Haemimont is back with a sequel, of sorts, dubbed Nemesis of the Roman Empire.

Nemesis, like its predecessor, has a lot of varying gameplay elements that make it hard to easily classify -- you could describe it as a real-time strategy/wargame/role-playing hybrid. The real-time design is familiar yet streamlined to focus on the fun stuff. There's no emphasis on base building, and you don't have to worry about assigning peasants to chop down trees or pick berries from a bush. The focus is on combat and settlement management. You still need to worry about food supplies, money, and other administrative options, but the bulk of your time will be spent building and managing your armies. It plays, in some ways, like Age of Empires without the peasants.