Rome: Total War

"And thus the series legacy continues."

The Total War franchise has a reputation for their massive-scale battles, and epic confrontations. It first saw light in Shogun: Total War, where you commanded one of several Daimyo to supremacy in Japan, but quickly spread to Medieval Europe. Now, we stand here, two games and two expansions later, with a solid, dedicated community all looking forward to Rome: Total War. This title, as you might have gathered from the name, is set in Ancient Europe during the rise (and not so much fall, unless you buy the expansion pack) of Rome. One thing is apparent just looking around, and that is that the developers obviously express how much of a veteran they are in the genre. Right from the get-go, there is a voice-narrated tutorial, fresh menus and a background that reeks of professionalism. The entire game seems so much more polished from what it used to be, and this is good in that it shows the developers are pushing forward and expanding, instead of just going off what they know works and sells.

Starting with the Graphics, one thing is apparent; they were absolutely stunning for their time. You can zoom in and view each individual soldier. They all look the same, that's something which won't be changed until the next instalment in the series, but how many games where you are sending thousands of soldiers off to war let you view each and every individual beard? It's the attention to detail that immerses people in this world. You can view the visceral combat up close, or back-off and look at the lush hills rolling about in playful ecstasy. The environments themselves vary depending on where you fight. The Pontic Hills are very rugged, while the Italian plains are flat and green. North Africa is, expectedly, filled with the assortment of dunes and endless sand. One thing that was lacking were the towns; they seemed misshapen on the Battle Map, and could have been done better, but the Graphics are, simply put, very, very good.

The Sound is next, and this is, for the most part, also very good. You have a voice-narrated tutorial, where you get a female helping you through the Campaign Map, and a male helping you through the Battle Map. Other than that, there is voice-acting in the form of unit responses; clicking on them will give you a nice little “salute” – usually the name of the unit in an accent that isn't generally very good, but oh well. It would have been nice to have them speaking in their native tongue, but that is covered in the various wonderful mods which are strewn about the internet. The Music isn't particularly memorable; mostly dark, ambient, and very, very quiet. Nothing ground-breaking, but the Sound is above average.

And the Gameplay is where the Total War series has always excelled. For those not in the know, you compose armies in the size of hundreds (later on in the game, thousands) and do battle with other armies from other nations, conduct diplomacy (although it's not implemented very well – the focus of the game has always been its battles) and attempt to rule Europe or Japan, depending on what game you're playing. The game itself is divided between the Campaign Map and the Battle Map. The distinct difference is that the Campaign Map is where you run your nation, move armies around the Campaign Map, build structures and train units in your cities. You can set the tax-rates, but a neat new little feature is that you have to have a governor in a city in order to be able to choose the tax-rate, or what to build. Governors are your family members, which will be described in detail later on in the review. The Battle Map comes up when two rival armies come into contention, where you will then be given the option of retreating, resolving automatically, or commanding the attack yourself. Resolving automatically just makes the computer solve the battle for you, but it's commanding the attack yourself which sets the series apart from most others. On the Battle Map, you must take morale, exhaustion, and elevation into account. You must attack units with their respective-counters; charging a brigade of horsemen into a wall of spearmen is a quick way to end their lives. It is not only this which forces you to think strategically, but also how you get into battles. The entirety of Europe has been recreated in 3d on the world-map, and you can see the conditions of the terrain before you even get into battle. Zoom in, and you could see a river (indicating that there will be a bridge in the battle), forests, or hilly terrain. Again, it is the attention to detail which makes us feel so warm and giddy, and makes the developers seem like such veterans of the genre.

But there are also agents; these people will conduct various tasks for you on the Campaign Map. Diplomats can offer alliances or peace to factions, or they can bribe armies to join you or leave. Spies can infiltrate cities and open the gates when your men attack, and lastly, Assassins can stealthily kill officers and other agents. One thing to note, is that Diplomats are very over-powered. Once you get a solid economy running, you can bribe entire armies to leave, meaning all you need to guard your borders is a legion of Diplomats. Even Family Members can be bribed to join your faction, which is another point of the game. The Family Tree is gone into much more depth; you can adopt talented commanders, or would-be suitors to your daughters into the family, or perhaps bribe a rebel leader to join your cause. You can choose who will be your Faction heir, and this makes you grow attached to your Generals. Do you let them sit and govern provinces, racking up traits such as lazy or corrupt? Or do you risk their lives out in the front, earning them scars, fame, and fortune? You can even get them titles, such as “the Great” or “the Mighty”, which is all dandy. If you are playing as a Roman faction, you will have the Senate to deal with, which is the City of Rome itself. Rome is divided into four factions; the Senate, Julii, Brutii, and Scipii, with the latter three vying for power and influence within the Senate. You are in a permanent alliance with the other three members, but as your power grows, so does the jealousy, and eventually, you will grow too powerful for the Senate, and they will ask you to kill your Faction Leader, or you will be attacked. Thus starts the Civil War, and thus starts another aspect of the game.

This little touch to the Roman faction helps to add a hint of uniqueness to the factions, but unfortuantely, not all to the Factions are very well thought out. A lot of them aren't even playable unless you mod the game, which is disappointing seeing as a lot of them have much more interesting starting positions that the playable factions. However, you can roughly divide the nations into two; Barbarian and Civilised. Barbarian nations such as Gaul, Spain, and Germannia will have a strong focus on plain infantry and archers, while the Civilised nations, like the Roman factions, Greece, and Macedon will be more sophisticated, with blends of Cavalry, Phalanxes, and even exploding pigs, which is really quite something to witness.

Rome: Total War is a lovely addition to the series, and if you fancy yourself a tactical warfare gamer, there is no excuse to not have it. It is solid, it is fun, it is polished, it is professional. It is awesome incarnate.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/09

Game Release: Rome: Total War (US, 09/22/04)