I wish there were a modern remake of Caesar 2.
Caesar 3 was ok. It was a fun game, but it's a very different kind of city builder than Caesar 2 was. I haven't played 4, but it seems to have the same gameplay as 3.
Part of it is that Caesar 2 just felt "bigger." That was partly from the map size, yes, but the city builder role had a more macro scope in 2, compared to the micro perspective of 3.
I found it interesting to have to build up both the city and the province. Having them as separate maps that did different things helped create that feeling of making an impact on a larger scale: you weren't just confined to your city, you were part of an empire.
Likewise, the menu screen where you could allocate plebs, adjust your legion funding, and your ability to suck up to the Caesar made it feel more alive. Like you were walking the halls of your forum, almost. It put you into a little piece of your world. Caesar 3 condensed it all down to a single map/screen, and it lost a lot of its charm in that process.
I also really liked how Caesar 2 abstracted out the industry a lot. It made it feel like the city was just one piece of that puzzle; that your city is nothing without the province and its neighbors supporting it. Whereas in Caesar 3, your city feels like the only important part of the world.
I don't think I've seen Caesar 2's point of view on city building in any other game of its kind. With some modernization, especially to the graphics and UI, I feel like a remake of Caesar 2 would still stand out as unique against any current game in the genre.
