Rome:Total War

[Nastrodamus]

If you thought RISE OF NATIONS was good......you need to take a play at ROME:Total War.


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[Nastrodamus]

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[Greatis]

hmmm Nastro this game look hype I guess we need to link and hehe.

[twistakid]

indeed the game lookin like must play

[kilaj1]

indeed the game looking like must play

Hold that thought...

I had the pleasure and discomfort of playing this game...so I think I needs to give you’ all the 411 on it........


Rome: Total War
Genre: RTS/Turnbased Stratergy

Firstly and foremost, this is a Real Time strategy fan's wet dream when it comes to combat, but where the battles end the nightmare begins :(..... Okay okay it’s not that bad... And just so you know, those images above are in game shots.

Rome: Total War, is a Real Time strategy (combat) Turn based (micro management) game. And as you may have guessed, it’s based in ancient Rome. And if you all are up to speed on your history, Rome was basically the ancient "Hitler", they where hell bend on taking over the world, lies, betrayal and a few thousand troops is what got you in power in Rome.

Initially, you can choose between 3 factions, all loyal to Rome (how long is up to you), when you start the Campaign mode, you are given a region to given over, this region will supply you with new troops, money and technology. You can set your regions, or settlements, to be auto-managed; however I never really see too much going on when I do that. From time to time the Senate, The people who control Rome...for now :), will give you missions to complete, in return they will reward you and you will be in there favors more.

Now there are different ways you can win this game, depending on which faction you choose, but generally, you have to capture a certain amount of regions and outlast or exterminate a faction,(which can be a bit difficult).
The game, as stated before, has a turn based side to it, this is at the world overview map, this is where you would manage your regions, move your armies etc. This slightly cripples the game play as it can take several turns to build up your army or a specific building as well as moving your troops.

Now on to the sweet part...the combat...If you thought that this was your typical RTS combat THINK AGAIN. This game actually involves some SERIOUS strategy....

You have the option to build SERVERAL different units, each faction has there own special units, from Roman Calvary to Egyptian War elephants, from Heavy Catapults to Ballista...nice....
Now believe me when I say this, there is a lot of strategy that goes into these battles, I once went up against an army of 60 pike men (guys with 14 foot polls normally used to stop Calvary from charging) and I have 350 light Calvary, me thinking its a simple matter of numbers over power, I charge then...biggest mistake I ever made...lets just say I left the battle a broken man....That brings me to another thing, these units have a moral meter, which is becoming more common in RTS games, and if your units get all scared, they turn tail and run:(...and unlike in most RTS like Age of Empires, when miraculously shot a stream of arrows or catapults at a enemy and your units are next to them, your units will take damage... learnt that the hard way...took me a while to realize that I was shooting fire arrows at my own people.

Keeping to the authenticity of the time, they have special siege weapons that are used on heavily defended walls; one can even dig under ground and collapse a wall, or TRY to scale the walls with ladders.

On a down note about the combat, you have a time limit :( and sometimes its just not enough, I remember I had 6 minute left to take a settlement and I didn’t even bring down the walls yet. And then there is the nice challenge on watching your ammunition... it would be kinda embarrassing to run out of stones for your catapult while laying siege on an army of 15, and then you have to call it off because you can reach them.

[Nastrodamus]

Well said comrade

[Greatis]

hmmm ok still want to play it.

[NeGatiVe]

Nice review Kilaj