Initial reception of the game was positive. Arinn Dembo writing for Computer Gaming World gave the game 4 stars.Dembo, Arinn; The Governor's Race: Building Rome Can Make Your Day in Sierra's Caesar II, p. 304. Computer Gaming World, Issue 138, January 1996 A reviewer for Next Generation deemed it "an innovative mix of SimCity-type building strategy and wargame campaign." He said the game's strongest point is how it expands from a city-building simulation into nation-building and wargames, but also highly praised the graphics and simple, easy-to-grasp interface. He scored the game 4 out of 5 stars.
