Rome: Total War

 PC
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 1490 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,336 out of 1490
  2. Mixed: 110 out of 1490
  3. Negative: 44 out of 1490
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  1. Gameboy
    Sep 25, 2004
    0
    All the hype about this?
  2. Justannoyed
    Apr 20, 2005
    0
    0 for the same problem mentioned above; unplayble since mousespeed doesnt work, 40 bugs for an unplayable game, and they dont even care to improve this in a 60 mb (!) patch.
  3. R.N.
    Sep 29, 2004
    0
    I want my money back!! This game is definitely over-hyped. The art work is and the animation is putrid. The graphics are done by the same people who illustrated my grandmother
  4. YoopB.
    Jan 18, 2005
    0
    Graphics might be good, but the game is boring! everything is sooo slow. Not worth installing.. also, mouse speed cannot be adjusted, so you have to pick up the mouse 5 times for it to move from one side of the screen to the other - very frustrating.
  5. a_consumer
    Dec 13, 2012
    0
    This game BLOWS! sooo bad. If you thought it would be like the first age of empires you are so off. All my friends and family who plays games all tried it and got bored so damn fast. I would pay steam to get it out of my library. I would rather play mind jack in mind jack. What i'm so shocked is that this confusing and boring game beats the original portal. what the hell?! O.o The ONLYThis game BLOWS! sooo bad. If you thought it would be like the first age of empires you are so off. All my friends and family who plays games all tried it and got bored so damn fast. I would pay steam to get it out of my library. I would rather play mind jack in mind jack. What i'm so shocked is that this confusing and boring game beats the original portal. what the hell?! O.o The ONLY positive side to this is graphics that is it, and yes it would lag on an average computer -.-… Expand
  6. theNILE
    Jan 11, 2013
    1
    I remember I got the rome Total War Anthology as a present...what happened is I installed the game without a hitch, ran into a bug where I couldn't play most of the content (if 1 option out of 3/4 is available...that's pretty atrocious), so I continue to play the first campaign. What follows is a game devoid of soul. You march units around the battle at a very slow pace as you siegeI remember I got the rome Total War Anthology as a present...what happened is I installed the game without a hitch, ran into a bug where I couldn't play most of the content (if 1 option out of 3/4 is available...that's pretty atrocious), so I continue to play the first campaign. What follows is a game devoid of soul. You march units around the battle at a very slow pace as you siege towns/cities...this wouldn't be so bad if the world map and strategy part was any good at all. The only thing decent in this game is the diplomacy and politics which was the one thing I really didn't care much about. But honestly it's un-engaging, slow, looks cheap and has no polish. I just didn't feel like playing it from the moment go. And that's why I think it's a terrible game you should skip.… Expand
  7. BlakeT.
    Nov 21, 2004
    3
    What game did you guys play? It wasn't the same one I played. Rome: Total War is a waste of money. Don't fall for the hype.
  8. MrFable
    Feb 9, 2013
    0
    Bad, bad, bad. The AI is absolutely atrocious. Every fraction has the same basic units with only a few unique ones. A lot of bugs too. Units refuse to use siege towers and get stuck at the bottom. Multiplayer is full of corner camping idiots. Graphics and animations were for the time awful. There is zero atmosphere. The first Medieval: Total War is way better, and it was released in 2002!
  9. Alexandros77
    May 30, 2014
    0
    Absolutely useless. Nothing to do with strategy. This game is clearly an unfinished project. Bought in 2014 and it still drops out for no reason, due to its programming and despite two patches. Graphics can not be adjusted even with a new powerful machine. If your idea of a fun strategy game is to babysit every single unit and issue orders to run three to four times to each unit and thenAbsolutely useless. Nothing to do with strategy. This game is clearly an unfinished project. Bought in 2014 and it still drops out for no reason, due to its programming and despite two patches. Graphics can not be adjusted even with a new powerful machine. If your idea of a fun strategy game is to babysit every single unit and issue orders to run three to four times to each unit and then still find them walking -loosing every single opportunity for advantage in open battle or defense. Also the AI is utterly unreasonable, while apathetic in battles with large numbers, the game allows a single defending missile horseman to venture out of guarded gates and attack 80 arches surrounded by other friendly units, and risk routing them! 3 missile horsemen against 80 javelin men completely routing them, again, while surrounded by friendly units, such as multiple phalanx units chasing them, to which the horsemen pass neatly at the edges of the spears without being engaged and rout your weakest units without even have a reasonably sized force. In the meantime of course none of the attacked units thinks about eliminating their single attacker. Other occasions missile horsemen reduced to 4 units surrounded by 30 heavy cavalry units with General and taking ages to eliminate them, you have to constantly click on them. In the meantime other bigger forces approach and your units are still dealing with the one unit that had been also routed previously. The turn based map is ridiculous also, there is no undo if you accidentally move a unit wrongly and as your turn ends, the next turn's events could be detrimental. You have to be precise with every move to the degree of being impractical. The economy can not really be managed efficiently due to being non intuitive , obscured and embellished with information that does not help the game, you have to try hard all the time for the simplest tasks and you rarely know how economy in some cities will go in the next turn. The impact of each decision is not visible and it can not be managed well. All this while battles, enemy alliances and own expanses are ongoing. The auto management does not seem to achieve much especially in military build. Some cities build more others less with no clear indication. It is a total waste of time. Honestly the one thing this game deserves credit for, is that it forces you to spend hours playing despite immense frustration and upset because you just can not believe that it can be so bad and you keep trying in the hope that it was only one frustrating mission or a particular element that was bad. Unfortunately this game is a constant source of never ending frustration. It feels like its been designed to keep you occupied rather than allow you to have fun. It is definitely worth an uninstall. There is no cure, newer versions in the series maintain the same problems. Graphics are not great, unit management could not be any worse, economies and user interfaces perplexing. The first thing that is needed in order to be on the road of fixing this game is for units to obey orders. Very few other games do not give you even this basic control. This game is the worst I have ever encountered in this respect. Literally unplayable. No amount of patience can solve the problems of this game.… Expand
  10. Sanastusa
    Oct 21, 2015
    1
    Had issues at start up that took some time to fix due to bugs. Battles are slow, everything seems blocky and makes my head hurt going through with the game. Not my type of strategy game. Boo
  11. Plautus123
    Jun 2, 2020
    4
    used to be my favorite game,. But its very unbalanced.
    Unbalance that was never fixed.
    Romes are OP, they have the best of everything, and barbarians have the worst of everythjinhg. Greeks lack good cav. Macedonians cav is weak too. Romans shuld not even have preatorian cav. Archers were overnerfed. Moral of units is too low. They ruined the camera with steam version or 1.3 patch. And    used to be my favorite game,. But its very unbalanced.
    Unbalance that was never fixed.
    Romes are OP, they have the best of everything, and barbarians have the worst of everythjinhg.
    Greeks lack good cav. Macedonians cav is weak too. Romans shuld not even have preatorian cav.
    Archers were overnerfed. Moral of units is too low. They ruined the camera with steam version or 1.3 patch. And also introduced a phalanx bug where phalanx turns around for no reason. Nefed Egypts only good cav (desert cav 150 size to 120).
    the game was more balanced when it came oujt then after the patches.
    The game is an unbalanced mess.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best PC Game of 2004
7
#7 Most Discussed PC Game of 2004
5
#5 Most Shared PC Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 58 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 58 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 58
  3. Negative: 0 out of 58
  1. Total Video Games
    90
    An epic game in terms of both visual execution and longevity...Campaigns can last for several hundred turns, so prepare for the long haul.
    Read full review
  2. Gaming Age
    91
    Many games are excellent world-builders, and many are deep real time strategy war games. Rome: Total War sets out to be both and pulls it off wonderfully.
    Read full review
  3. games(TM)
    90
    The tactical battles are better than ever thanks to an improved engine and significantly smarter enemy AI. You can now take up to 400 units into battle, leading to some impressive large-scale scraps.
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