"Deep and detailed yet accessible, an amazing strategy game"

Before the review, please note that Rome: Total War is not an RTS game in the vein of Warcraft, Age of Empires or any other "point and click" RTS games. The Total War series is pure strategy, not building an army and mass attacking. This game revolves around a turn-based map where you build units and real-time battles in which maneuvering and utilizing unit strengths outclasses simply overwhelming an enemy with the best units. Of course, having the best units never hurts...

With that said, Rome: Total War is quite possibly one of the best strategy games ever created.

Gameplay: 10/10

My favorite aspect of ANY game, the gameplay in Rome: Total War is strategy in the purest form. From a turn-based detailed map of the Mediterranean Sea, including Europe, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East, one must develop cities to build bigger and better units for conquest. New in the series, instead of simply dropping an army onto an enemy territory, units must now be moved manually. This means that if you'd like to avoid fighting over a bridge, you can march around the lake. If you'd prefer fighting in the woods, entice your enemy to attack you while you are in a forested area. While it may seem like a logical and simple change, this adds much to the strategy and gameplay, as you can now trap and surround enemy armies or build forts and watchtowers to protect all areas of your territory. Battles essentially remain unchanged from past games, large units rely on maneuvering your battle lines and punching holes in the enemies formation. There are, however, new unit specific special abilities that can be used. Roman legions, for example, can form a special formation that makes them nearly invulnerable to enemy missle fire. Sieges, in contrast to land battles, have been completely redesigned. Towers, ladders, rams and wall sapping weapons can now be used to gain the upper hand on a defender. Walls can be manned to repel invaders, and a very large city, with it's town center as the objective, can now be fought through if one makes it over the walls.

Sound: 10/10

The music, voice and sound effects are of the utmost quality and add much to this game. Music captures the feel of the battle and enhances the intensity. Before a battle, your general will give a little speech to his troops. While it doesn't matter what he says, and although they only say a dozen or so lines rearranged for whatever the fight is, it's a really cool feature that adds to the realism of the game. But sound effects are where this game truly shines. Zoom in and you will hear marching that really sounds like thousands of troops on a march, screams that are varied and believeable, the tension in an archers bow, the clashing of metal, all of which are realistic and believeable. A complete change from Medieval, such sound effects enhance the gameplay in an unbelieveable way.

Graphics: 10/10

While as a general rule I don't feel that good graphics are necessary for a good game, the graphics in Rome: Total War are simply amazing. Unfortunately I do not have a PC gaming quality computer, just the bare minimum to run the game, and yet the graphics are still literally breathtaking. With all graphics settings set to LOW and with all extra graphics enhancements turned off, this game still impresses with amazing unit, building and terrain detail. To prove my point, the History Channel utilizes this game engine in a special TV series about ancient battles, using in-game unit models and maps to illustrate.

Replay: 10/10

Simply put; this game is long. Very long. Like I said, I have the bare minimum requirements to run the game and unfortunately must keep my unit size at the lowest settings, and an average battle will still take 15 minutes to a half hour. Smaller skirmishes take about 10 minutes, and large siege battles can last over an hour. Each turn on the turn-based map portion of the game lasts about 5 minutes early on, but nearly a half hour when you have 30+ provinces to manage on the huge map. Not that length is the only factor that will have you playing, there are also multiple modes of play. You begin the campaign as one of three allied Roman factions, but as you conquer other factions they become unlockable for play in a new campaign. Carthage, Egypt, Greece, Gauls, there are many unlockable playable factions, each with unique units that will have you replaying the campaign over and over. That's not even saying that you are in freedom of what your empire is doing, and replaying the same faction again is a distinct possibility. In case that isn't enough for you, there are quick battles, if you just want to set up a battle and fight, historical battles, programmer designed battles that recreate historical ancient battles, and even online battles. There is no online campaign, but that's for our own good, who would want to wait 30 minutes while an opponent takes his turn on the map?

Overall: 10/10

Not even as a fan of the Total War series, just as a fan of strategy games overall, Rome: Total War is easily one of the best strategy games ever created. Everything about this game is outstanding. The gameplay is deep but not overly complicated, making it accessible and fun for vets and new players alike. Every fan of the strategy genre should pick this game up, you will not be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/27/04