Rome: Total War

This game is simply amazing. Words cannot describe it, for its awesomeness. The graphics are surprisingly good for a strategy game. The fighting is very engaging. It is very fun to watch your elephants wreak havoc and trample the other army's infantry. The calvary charges are very entertaining and cool. And it is very fun to play mulitplayer against each other. You will end up yelling things like "Hey", and "Why do you have elephants" and some other choice words that I cannot say here(JK). In other words:

Graphics: 5 out of 5.(very nice to look at)

Playability: 4 out of 5(just a few confusing things)

Over All: 5 out of 5(well worth $50)

I bought Rome Total War (short: RTW) because I was interested in the add-on Barbarian Invasions. The add-on promised to invoke the mood of the final days of the empire and the early middle ages, the period that is the subject of Gibbons book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This period holds my special interest because I am fascinated in last days and falls of anything. However I never got around to buying the add-on since I was disappointed in the way Rome Total War worked on a strategic level. Let's get around to RTW main failings before getting to the good bits. This way we can end in a happier mood.

RTW's primary failings are on a strategic level. Politics, broken down into internal and external relations, are usually based on marriages, the key component in the power-games that surrounded the rise of the roman empire. However in RTW internal relations, while being represented in the game, are beyond the influence of the player. External relationships are better represented, but in RTW you can't arrange a marriage with representant of another nation and an alliance is as easily broken as it is agreed upon by the AI, which doesn't represent reality and for game purposes it means it is useless. In fact with the exception of bribing most instruments of the diplomat in this game are either not effective or useless.

Strangely, while in politics there is not enough control, there is to much control on the economic level. You can develop every town in any way you see fit, while in reality and of necessity the ancient period lacked a tight centralized control. Only the roman emperors could, because of their vast wealth and power, slightly influence economics, but even when they applied drastic policies these would general fail or backfire.

There are more strange things in this game. For instance, populous cities always get inflicted with rebellion regardless of how many guards or pacifying buildings you assign to them, so you need to exterminate the population of all large cities you conquer. This extreme measure seems to have no influence on the opinion of the rest of the world as far as I know. A bit strange. Another strange thing is that when you are roman, the senate will give you quests that half the time simply undo-able(conquer a city in the middle of enemy territory within 10 turns, even if the trip will take 10 turns). There are many more examples, but let's leave it with these two examples.

Now after all this negativity, let's have a look at the positive sides. The best way to do it is to forget that the game tries to accurate depict historic realities of ancient roman times. If you look at the game from the bottom-up: that it is battle generator in which the battles are given a context by having a rudimentary, but easily manageable, strategic shell, the this game is superb.

The battles are stunningly well done. There is a wide selection of troops available who's composition is dependent on the nation you play. Play the Greeks and you get a hoplite army, play the Parthians and you get a horse army, play the Romans and you get a heavy infantry army. Each nation is well represented with their own troop types which allows for much replay-ability and sheer enjoyment when watched on the battlefield. The AI in combat is adequate(compare it with the AI from Mark of Chaos, which is two years younger and performs worse) although it is unable to learn from failures, so once you find the key to defeat a specific army composition(horse archers vs infantry) then the AI will not adapt his army to the new challenge. The developers have put in every effort to make sure the battles are pleasant experience by easy control, speed of pace and free range of the camera. There is little to more to require. A special remark I want to make for the sounds. The developers have chosen good sounds in the battle and for each of the nations you can play. This is well done and enhances the mood of the game.

So here is it, a weak strategic shell but a hell of a good battle generator. With these limitations it is recommended to anyone interested in tactical games. Hopefully the add-ons will be available in one big bundle in the near future.

Rome Total War is a big step up from its predecessor set in the Medieval age in terms of graphics and game-play. You can now move the camera right into the action and watch as men are thrown into the air by charging cavalry or elephants, or fall from the walls of the cities. Indeed the siege combat stands out as a major improvement as there is a wider range of siege equipment such as ladders and towers that mean the long sieges of Medieval Total are much less frequent. There are no princesses or religious characters on the campaign map any longer which just reflects the era of the setting.

In Campaign mode you begin as one of the three Roman families, each have different missions assigned to them by the senate, creating varied challenges. As the Julii you will be battling your way northwards into the Gauls, Germans and Britons, all barbarian tribes that can often summon thousands of troops to the battlefield. As the Scipii you will have to conquer Sicily and aim to capture northern Africa held by the Carthaginians with their mighty war elephants. Finally as the Brutii your task is to head east and defeat their Greeks and Macedonians with their tough infantry phalanxes.

Once you have the completed the game with any of the Romans you are given the option of tackling the campaign again with other factions. This ranges from the Britons with their head-throwers and chariots, to the Greek Cities with their mighty infantry, but pitifully weak cavalry, to the Parthians with their lethal cavalry, but woeful infantry. This gives the game a great deal of re-playability, since I was given the game as a present some months ago I have played little else except the excellent expansion packs of course! It helps that the long campaign requires owning 50 settlements (including Rome itself), which can be extremely challenging and time consuming considering the amount of management has to be gone into to prevent captured cities rioting.

The Romans have the biggest range of units (especially in artillery)and probably the most balanced, but they are not invincible by any means. It just takes some time getting to understand the units of each faction and how to use them to the best of their ability. Of course most fight better in their home terrain, e.g. Egyptian troops will have a significant disadvantage in the snows of Germania.

There are some minor weaknesses. Naval combat is still decided by auto-calculating by the computer only which adds a disappointingly random element to a game that is all about careful strategy. The AI in battles is puzzling sometimes, sometimes if you are being besieged the enemy army will just stand outside the walls and gets wiped out by the wall towers.

However small glitches cannot prevent this from being best designed strategy games of recent years, as battles are decided by superior tactics rather than just weight of numbers all the time. It is also better for long-term strategists who enjoy building up cities and ultimately their empire, slowly. If you prefer the real-time battles and fast conquest then I would recommend the Alexander Add-on pack.

One day I was at a local Wal-Mart. I was walking through the video game section looking at some PS2 games when I decided to look at the CP games. I looked over them and came across this. It looked entertaining. Eventually I bought it. WOW!

Rome: Total War is set in and around the highest point of Rome (270 BC - 14 AD). You are able to choose from a house of the Roman Empire (Julii, Scipii, or Brutii) and go from there. You are presented the most stunning graphics for a strategy game of this multitude. You can battle on the grassy plains of Briton, the deserts of Africa, and the forests of Germania.

Build a variety of units from Elephants, to Cavalry, to Headthrowers. There are something around 25 different factions you can choose from: Rome, Gaul, Carthage and Egypt just to name a few. I usually stick with a game around a month, I've been playing this for nearly six! the outline and design of this game is unbelievable. Full fledge armies confronting each other on the field of battle. Cavalry charges, arrows crashing into lines of soldiers, and elephants stomping men into the ground.

The graphics are top notch and no blood is present in the battles (thats a drawback to me but parents mite like that part). The game spans three continents and sea battles may also takes place. As you conquer cities you must learn to manage taxing and home guards for each city. You'll be confronted with the task of being the emperor of your own kingdom!

Rome: Total War.

Graphics: 5/5

Replay Value: 5/5

Design: 5/5

Overall: 5/5 A great strategy game.

Barbarian Invasion is set some few hundred years after the campaign shown in the original and the setting is extremely different. The mighty Roman empire has fractured into two factions the Western and Eastern. Despite still having large territories there are few troops to go around, and there are hordes of barbarians such as the Goths, Vandals and Huns waiting to take advantage of any weaknesses on their borders...

In this game you are given the option of commanding most of the factions present from the Saxons in the far north to the Sassanids (the only faction in the add-on with elephants) in the Middle East. The campaign is more limited in that some factions only need 10-15 territories for victory, but that is not as easy as it sounds. Whereas in Rome Total War most battles might be fought with 1000 or less on each side, in the expansion you can find cities besieged by closer to 5000 barbarians! There are some changes to the game-play - some units can now swim, offering an alternative to losing many men crossing a bridge head on. Some troop types can also form shield walls and 'schiltroms', offering better protection from a head-on attack and the ability to prevent cavalry attacking infantry from the rear respectively. Superior generals can now attack at night, which is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also has some benefits such as archers will be less accurate at night. There are a very large number of new units as warfare has changed a little since the earlier game.

All in all this exciting strategy game is better suited for those people who preferred the real-time battles in RTW to the more drawn out campaign map aspect. The battles are more numerous and often challenging as there have been some improvements to the AI, making it more intelligent than before.