Wow! What genius came up with this game? If I want to have a challenge without trying to remember where the heck I was in a game (HOS and Adventure), I'll play Cradle of Rome. A match 3 game that really gets the adrenaline going....beautiful graphics, timed sesssions that really seem to get shorter and shorter, plus you can earn bombs etc to help to get to the next level. Not your average match 3. Over 100 levels - worth every penny! My husband and I have probably played this game through at least 7 times. A definite buy!!

Got carpal tunnel? Want it? You can have it with Cradle of Rome. This game is so addicting and fun you won't want to stop until your wrist falls off. Toward the upper levels it is crazy hard. But, nice challenges with different bonuses, working to the goal of mount olympus, and building yourself from peasant to emporer. Music is delightful and the game moves swiftly along adding things each turn so no two screens look the same. I predict at the end you will say 1 thing: "I hate those chains!" -- still you will love this game - long, and worth the cost.

This game led me into the world of games. I just love it. It is fun but not over the top hard. Great for the reflexes. My challenge is to have my name in some form on every level. I have about 80 out of 100. Great Fun

Pros: Game length, secrets to obtain citizens, good learning curve Cons: Timed only, highly difficult near end of game If you want a good, classic M3 swaps type game, it's hard to beat Cradle of Rome. The basic objective is to remove all the non-gold tablets from each board, but the main goal is to build up ancient Rome by using the resources you collect from playing each board. Each game tile has a value in either money, food, or building supplies and it will take a number of each of these to obtain a new building for your city. As you progress, you will also earn powerups to help you in your quest for more materials, and the game tiles will be upgraded accordingly with the rising costs of new buildings. Along with all this construction comes the people who will live in your city, and these citizens are the Easter eggs to find. The tricks for obtaining new citizens are kept a secret until you perform one and the popup dialog appears to tell you who has just moved in. If you manage to build up ancient Rome (it will take you more than a day assuming you do other things sometimes) and get a full complement of citizens, you will be rewarded with the opportunity to visit Olympus, the home of the gods. The gameplay eases the player in gradually, with the first 10 levels being more of a tutorial. But the learning curve picks up very smoothly and goes all the way to very hard by the game's end so that everyone will be challenged sooner or later. Unfortunately for some, there is not an option for untimed mode, so finishing COR is a job for the experienced M3ers. Even if you play a lot of M3s, you're going to hate those double chained tablets in later stages of the game. The graphics are a little dated now, but are on a par for the time the game was released and the music is OK, but a little repetitive over long gaming sessions. I always wondered if the developers meant to cut the fisherman from the citizen roster but left him in at the very end, because the fisherman is not only the hardest

I have played hundreds of match 3 games and none of them can hold a Roman Candle to the Cradle of Rome series. I have purchased every game in this series as soon as they are released and the original game is by far the most challenging and most addicting game. When I say addicting I'm not kidding because everyone I've convinced to play, spend hours playing this game so proceed with caution. The goal is to turn all of the blue cells on the board by making matches on them. You earn bonuses that will help you progress, a Hammer for a single tile, Lightning for destroying several random tiles, a Bomb for a specific group of tiles, Shields for destroying a line of your choosing, a Star for destroying all tiles of any one type and a scarab to mix up all of the tiles. Some tiles are blocked by one chain and even 2 chains as you progress which require several matches to break both chains. As you make enough resources and money you build a Roman city and progress with the times, and each building requires you to do specific tasks in order to earn bonuses quicker and earn valuable resources. If you right click on any of the buildings, you can find out what is required (in Cradle of Rome 2 the tasks are more specific) enjoy!

This is one of my favorite games I go back to all the time. It is fun, challenging and has many levels to complete. Each level getting little harder. I would like to see a Cradle of Rome 3 and would definately buy it. Try this game, you will love it, Great 3MG, try Cradle of Rome 2 also, even better. Big Fish get a Cradle 3 if available!

it's extremely exciting. It's also adventurous. It provides me the taste of building a reasonable state where people are guided by reasons. Because one has to develop his post by showing his skill. I just love the game and want to keep playing.

I really enjoyed this game and played it to the end. It was quite a challenge when you get into the higher levels. It's a swap type of M3, which is my favorite. The graphics are beautiful and the game plays beautifully without any rough areas. The good news is that you don't go all the way back to the beginning if you fail a level -- you go back to the previous epoch. The bad news is that if you're close to the next epoch, you get knocked back several levels. I highly recommend!

Have played this over and over again. Levels move quickly from tutorial easy to very hard to beat. Getting to build the city from the ground up and gain in status is much more fun that just collecting points. There are some M3 games where after a match you have to wait for all of the tiles to fall before you can make your next move (Jewel Quest), which means matches you are setting up are often swept off the board before you can use them. I don't play those. Cradle of Rome lets you keep making matches as things are falling, much more entertaining and strategic in my book. I would like to give it 4 1/2 stars. There are several things I don't like. Once you have reached Olympus there is no more point to collecting points except to achieve a higher score. The graphic scenes behind the M3 levels are lovely and the only time you get to see them in full is a brief glimpse when you have completed a puzzle. I'd like a slideshow of them. And if there is a way to go back to see your previous high scores I haven't found it.

Have had this game for years and replay it again and again. You get helps like hammers and bombs and more. I was new at these games and could not get past a certain level. Then the strategy finally hit me. I also have Cradles of Rome II and Egypy. Both the others are different in some ways. I love and play them all. I just now discovered Cradle of Persia. Oh yeah!