Road to Rome HD reminds me a lot of the old PC title
Settlers. Although I never pictured myself a fan, because I used to watch Geck0 play all the time and never quite saw the appeal, now I totally get it and I have been having a blast with
Road to Rome HD.
So the story goes that you are General Victorius and you and Caesar's beautiful daughter, Julia, have fallen in love and want to marry. Caesar can't have his regal daughter marrying a member of his armed services, but he can't deny the union without alienating one of his best men. So what does he do? He sends Victorious off on a mission to build a road through his conquered lands. If Victorius wants to someday make it back to Julia, he must accomplish his mission.
You'll have 40 levels in all to complete, 10 in each region. You begin in a grassy valley and there's a helpful tutorial that will pop up tips from time to time to make sure you know how to proceed. You begin with one worker and you will tap to have him cut down a tree to gather wood, then tap to have him extend the road. He will require food to keep working, and for this, you will either have to pick berries or build a farm or fisherman's hut to generate food. In the warmer climates, the berries will regenerate, but in the colder climes, once you pick the berries from a bush, that's it, so you must use your resources carefully. As you progress, you'll be able to gather stone for building by picking away at small stones in the area, clearing large stones from your path and eventually building a quarry. Some points will require you to build a hot air balloon launch or boat launch to reach previously inaccessible areas. You'll have opportunities to increase the number of workers per level by upgrading your camp and there are power-ups that will appear from time to time, such as a pair of shoes to increase the speed your workers travel, a hammer to make them work faster, a clock to stop the timer for a select period and a bag to increase the resources they gather during a select period.
Your mission goals will be listed at the top of the screen, over a bar signifying your timer. If you can complete the level prior to the bar timer reaching a set point about 2/3 of the way down the timer, you will earn the Expert rating on the level and add to the beauty of the My Valley area mentioned above.
The last level in a given region will actually be a Tetris-styled game where you remove colored gems from the playing area by matching three or more. You have a set number of a certain colored gem to collect and you have to survive long enough to obtain these gems. Once you do, they become a necklace to send to your beloved Julia. It's a nice change of pace and tie-in to the storyline.