Rome: Total War PC Review DuBois PA

provided by: 

After Medieval: Total War and Shogun: Total War left gamers wanting more with what was a promising series with plenty of potential, The Creative Assembly decided to go back in time, back to what was the known world in the regions of Europe and Africa where the superpowers of Rome, Greece and Egypt ruled the lands. This addition to the series is dubbed Rome: Total War, and is four years in the making. Have The Creative Assembly spent their time wisely, or will Rome: Total War drift away into the land of lost strategy games?

As usual, the included game modes consist of skirmish style offline battles, a campaign mode and multiplayer gaming. Multiplayer allows up to 8 players over LAN and Internet connections, including the ability to play out historic battles, whilst the campaign mode is the premier offline mode and perhaps the premier attraction to the entire game as this is where most time will probably be spent.

The campaign mode is where gamers will experience the impressive structure of Rome: Total War, combining turn based gameplay with RTS gameplay. This is not by any means the first game to combine turn based with RTS (Rise of Nations as a recent example), however never before has it been so brilliantly executed. Most of your progression towards a successful empire will be done on the campaign map, where you manage settlements, build and move armies, set spies on enemies, and conduct diplomacy missions with neighbouring empires. Unlike many previous similar games, fighting a battle or discussing terms of an agreement isn't as simple as opening a game window, you will have to actually send your units to desired location and depending on the distance, this could take more than a few turns.

As your towns progress so will the troops and equipment they produce. Better local services such as blacksmiths will enhance the effectiveness of soldiers, whilst building archery ranges and stables etc will naturally unlock various extra unit types for you to wage war with. The amount of total units is quite impressive, including unique units for each available race, and each unit type has its role in battle. For example, soldiers equipped with spears will be effective against incoming enemies including cavalry, whilst archers and other missile units will be effective behind the front line attacking from a distance. It is your job to make sure you have the right stuff for the job on hand for any given situation, and I can assure you this is much more challenging than it sounds.