Rome: Total War™ - Collection Reviews

a bit dated and with some bugs but still an awesome game.

Old but gold! Especially with the Alexander expansion, this game was fantastic

[h1]Roman Revolution[/h1] [i]Rome: Total War[/i] is one of the greatest real-time strategy games ever made and one of the greatest video games ever made, period. It certainly occupies a special place in my heart, being my introduction to the series and kickstarting my lifelong interest in all things historical. The game is a watershed for the series where the gameplay solidified into its modern form and pushed Total War into the mainstream; a prerelease of the game even featured on History Channel’s [i]Decisive Battles[/i] and the BBC’s [i]Time Commanders[/i]. [i]Rome[/i]’s contribution to the series is to upgrade the campaign map from a board game to a fully rendered 3-dimensional world. Armies, agents, and navies now traverse the landscape in detail with movement points limiting how far they can move per turn. Each “tile” or space on the map corresponds to a specific battle map reflective of the local terrain and army positions when the battle begins. Settlements also occupy their own space on the map and are the hub from which you control provinces – capture the settlement, own the province. They come with new considerations; while public order and taxation remain your primary concerns, population is introduced as a prerequisite for recruitment and upgrading your cities. Like battlefields, settlement maps are reflective of what you construct, and it can be fun to watch your cities grow (you can even explore settlement maps outside of battle!). The new campaign paradigm places new emphasis on strategic terrain and positioning of armies, opening up a host of new strategies not possible in [i]Shogun[/i] or [i]Medieval[/i]; you can hold river crossings and mountain passes against hordes of enemies or pull off large-scale pincer attacks with multiple armies. The marriage of campaign and battle maps also rockets the series to new heights of graphical immersion. Launch an amphibious assault against an army or town and you will likely see your navy anchored offshore; hold off the enemy some distance from a city and you will see the walls far away in the distance – [i]Rome[/i] is the first [i]Total War[/i] to make the game world come to life in the big and small details. It’s also immensely appealing to look at, coupling the rich colour of [i]Medieval[/i] with the regional diversity of the classical world, from the dark forests of Germania to the sands of Egypt, while winter blankets the north in freshly fallen snow. [i]Rome[/i] can also claim one of the most diverse faction and unit rosters of the franchise. The Romans are favoured with an exclusive campaign mechanic: three separate factions must compete for territory and favour with the Senate and People of Rome before making a bid to seize total control in a massive civil war. It’s the defining campaign experience but the other factions hardly suffer. All eleven playable factions feature unique start positions and rosters spanning the full spectrum of classical Europe, from the heavy infantry legions of the Romans to the heavy cavalry and horse archers of the Parthians, offering plenty of challenge and replay value. On the battlefield, these armies look and feel more impressive than ever. No longer mere sprites, your men are now flesh-and-blood (read: polygonal) soldiers. Unlike the stop-and-start jitter of sprite animation, units have weight and momentum behind their movements, while varied and reactive combat animations give battles a lifelike spontaneity. I’ve always appreciated the fidelity of Rome’s battles but playing it in turn after [i]Shogun[/i] and [i]Medieval[/i] drives home the sense of mass and scale behind the armies in the game and it translates into some of the most satisfying combat in the series, benefiting from a modern control scheme (selection and orders on separate buttons!) and egged on by meaty sound design and Jeff van Dyck’s finest work yet – one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. Even a classic has its foibles. Diplomatic options are expanded but rarely come into play with a stubborn and often illogical AI who is quite happy to broker and break peace in the same turn. Unit pathfinding can leave me scratching my head, especially in the maze of city streets. Some settlements also appear to have inherent bonuses or penalties to income or population which can be frustrating when a city refuses to stay in the black. Your characters can be used as governors to manage these issues but, as in [i]Medieval[/i], characters are a mixed bag and might be even worse in Rome. Characters are not as involved as in [i]Medieval[/i] – there’s no loyalty or civil wars to worry about and marriages are taken care of in the background – while attributes are streamlined into Command, Management, and Influence. But it’s their traits that again prove the greatest frustration. No longer based solely on chance, characters accrue points based on their circumstances to eventually generate traits, and many of these are tied to being garrisoned in or governing settlements and the presence, absence, or level of buildings there. Characters are therefore guaranteed to develop negative traits in the early game or anywhere there are low level cities. It is possible to counteract or “cure” some traits, but the result is a system which effectively punishes you for using characters as governors, and it's a stain on an otherwise fantastic experience. [i]Rome: Total War[/i] remains a defining game of the series and a classic of the RTS genre. It’s the first [i]Total War[/i] to feature the turn-based campaign and real-time battles in their modern forms and an outstanding amount of variety and replay value you would expect from the setting, even as it suffers from some frustrating mechanics and some unpredictable performance on modern systems. It may not be the most challenging game in the series, but it will always serve as fitting entry point into [i]Total War[/i].

Rome Total War was my first exposure to the Total War franchise. The Total War franchise surprised me with complexity and depth that demanded more from me as a player. Since I started playing Total War over a decade ago, Rome Total War has been a satisfactory challenge that rewards deep strategic thinking. The bigger pay offs hit when an Imperial Campaign turns into success. I have not played the Remaster so I can't speak on it. This one still entertains and I can lose track of time from playing it.

very fun game, also has manual controls that give you command of each legion.

Great game, lots of fun history and war into one.....

goodie but an oldie. dated graphics but still so satisfying. nothing beats taking over the world in this staple.

Just great fun with plenty of options for replay.

Great game, truly timeless. been playing this since it originally came out all those years ago

This is an absolutely fantastic game! The graphics may scare away some, but the gameplay is unmatched. Unlike others here, I started playing this game for the first time within the last year, being my first foray into the Total War series. I do have some issues with the game, but I forgive these easily due to its age. My primary issues are with population management. While I do enjoy the grand strategy side of controlling your populace, cities can quickly grow out of hand and start rebelling. In order to overcome this, you must limit upgrades that may add too much to population growth. Even still, it is inevitable that cities far from your capital will expand beyond your control and rebel. These cities can be easily recaptured, but it is a pain when the real fun comes from pushing into enemy land. What this game does excel at is spectacle. Battles feel epic, despite the age of the game, and the commander speeches before these battles just adds to this feeling. Moreover, there are so many unit types that you must learn new tactics in order to deal with them as you progress across the map and from civilization to civilization. Rome Total War captures RTS mechanics in a way such that feels right. Battles are nicely paced between calm, slow approach periods and frantic clashes and skirmishes where your strategy must change on the fly. Pause, play, and fast forward buttons are a welcome design inclusion to speed up slow segments and slow down chaotic mosh-pits. The grand strategy side of the game may not be the most in depth, but it blends well with the RTS side so that the whole experience feels cohesive. Without the grand strategy side, Rome Total War would surely be a lesser game. All in all, a fantastic game. Veni, Vidi, Vici friends.