Total War: Rome II

 PC
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Sep 2, 2013
User Score
4.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3974 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,184 out of 3974
  2. Mixed: 613 out of 3974
  3. Negative: 2,177 out of 3974
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  1. gdwitt
    Jan 19, 2014
    4
    Uhhh. I played the game before I read the reviews.
    I bought all the DLC's before trying it.
    I didn't encounter too many battle bugs because I autoresolved due to graphic issues. I believe CA knows everywhere it's broken. The campaign map is awesome, a wonderful work of programming and graphics. I would urge then to loosen up the city-province options and let us empire build. All the    Uhhh. I played the game before I read the reviews.
    I bought all the DLC's before trying it.
    I didn't encounter too many battle bugs because I autoresolved due to graphic issues.
    I believe CA knows everywhere it's broken.
    The campaign map is awesome, a wonderful work of programming and graphics.
    I would urge then to loosen up the city-province options and let us empire build.
    All the new petty restrictions break the game.
    Penalize unhappy civilizations like CIV5.
    Let us leave standing armies.
    Just let this game be like Medieval 2TW.
    Please don't give up yet.    … Expand
  2. Mikimax
    Sep 24, 2013
    4
    Well, what can i say what others haven't.
    I had high hopes for this game, expected it to be the pinnacle of the franchise and then it all fell down.
    Maybe after 2 expansion pack this game will be in line with Shougun 2.
  3. Backslider
    Oct 5, 2013
    4
    A gutted and souless excuse of a Total War game. It's pretty, and introduces a couple interesting mechanics, but that's where it ends. A mountain of well loved and/or classic Total War features have been inexplicably amputated from this gimpy game. Family trees, seasons, loose formation, agent cutscenes, epic general speeches, all of these and more are gone.
    Despite boasting a huge unit    A gutted and souless excuse of a Total War game. It's pretty, and introduces a couple interesting mechanics, but that's where it ends. A mountain of well loved and/or classic Total War features have been inexplicably amputated from this gimpy game. Family trees, seasons, loose formation, agent cutscenes, epic general speeches, all of these and more are gone.
    Despite boasting a huge unit count, the units feel bland, and therefore so do the factions. 200 reskinned units of spearmen with identical stats do not an interesting unit roster make. Combat feels arcadey; battles are over in a couple minutes, with units flying across the battle field while making liberal use of magical cooldown-based abilities click, click, click click. It feels more like Dance Dance Revolution than Total War.
    The AI is terrible, but will likely be patched. But what of all the other things that are wrong with the game? Time will not fix their horrible design decisions, and AI tweaks won't bring back all the gutted content. Don't waste your money on this game. If you want CA to make a good TW game, they have to know when they've made a mistake.    … Expand
  4. Strategist1979
    Sep 11, 2013
    4
    This game is just broken. The AI is so stupid. This game is not challenging at all. It is very buggy. RIP Total War franchise. The only reason I'm giving this a 4 is because there seriously are worse games out there. I can not believe they spent as much production dollars on this as they did. unbelievable. Time for people to get fired.
  5. Zebrastealer
    Sep 18, 2013
    4
    Rome II at launch, really deserves no higher score than a 4. I can see where a lot of people are coming from with their utter disgust and 0's across the board. This game is in bad shape, completely unacceptable for a $60.00 title to launch in this unfinished and bug riddled state.

    Eventually this game may end up warranting a midland score of a 7, after a year of patching, paid DLCs    Rome II at launch, really deserves no higher score than a 4. I can see where a lot of people are coming from with their utter disgust and 0's across the board. This game is in bad shape, completely unacceptable for a $60.00 title to launch in this unfinished and bug riddled state.

    Eventually this game may end up warranting a midland score of a 7, after a year of patching, paid DLCs and another expansion. I've played every CA total war game and expansion since the original shogun total war. Actually I should correct myself I own Napoleon Total War but never played it beyond 30 turns or so Empire was a disaster at launch, just like Rome II.

    Really, to think, we all actually thought Creative Assembly learned their lesson after Empire Total War. They aim too high, promise the moon, then deliver a fraction of the promised features, game improvements, etc. in a stinking pile of buggy poo.

    This game needed another 6 months of development time to release properly. Just like all future Bioware titles, this will be the last time I ever buy a Creative Assembly title on pre-order. May as well wait til the following winter for the inevitable Steam sale since the game won't be playable until then (at the earliest) anyway.

    Shame on you Creative Assembly.    … Expand
  6. Substance2020
    Sep 5, 2013
    4
    As mentioned by others the bugs etc. but if nothing else the loading times kill this game dead. I have a very decent PC(i7920, gtx590, 6GB) and waiting to load campaigns, battles, turns is excruciating. It's almost a return to the days of the Commodore 64 and tape loading. Your life is being wasted and you don't even get interesting loading screens to look at/read. They could at leastAs mentioned by others the bugs etc. but if nothing else the loading times kill this game dead. I have a very decent PC(i7920, gtx590, 6GB) and waiting to load campaigns, battles, turns is excruciating. It's almost a return to the days of the Commodore 64 and tape loading. Your life is being wasted and you don't even get interesting loading screens to look at/read. They could at least give you a mini game to play perhaps tetris...

    I'm a big fan of the Total War series but I'm sorry to say Rome 2 is NOT enjoyable. If the loading times get fixed then maybe it get's an 8/10.    … Expand
  7. fox294
    Sep 6, 2013
    4
    Really liked Rome 1. After a few hours of Rome 2 I'm about ready to quit. Almost every single mechanic is either a downgrade or a side-step from the original. It's just not much fun at all, and it's riddled with performance issues. Shame.
  8. Sencho
    Sep 9, 2014
    4
    The first Rome Total War is one of my all time favorite games. With eager anticipation I pre-ordered Rome 2 on Steam after many years of waiting. However, I immediately had trouble running the game after the release, not a unique experience of course. I consoled myself with the fact that my pc was old and that it was at fault that the game was nearly unplayable.

    Fast forward almost    The first Rome Total War is one of my all time favorite games. With eager anticipation I pre-ordered Rome 2 on Steam after many years of waiting. However, I immediately had trouble running the game after the release, not a unique experience of course. I consoled myself with the fact that my pc was old and that it was at fault that the game was nearly unplayable.

    Fast forward almost exactly a year later. After getting enough money together for a new gaming PC, I eagerly installed Rome 2 to finally have a real crack at the game. Sad to say, after 4 hours of play I find myself very disappointed. Even after a year of patches I find the campaign AI to be erratic and units in battle glitchy. The weird looking faces on the campaign map characters still happens and I generally feel that things are still a mess. I hope Creative Assembly learns from the mistakes it made with this game. It wasn't ready for release a year ago and, in view of the current state of the game, I think its still not at a place where it should be released had it been delayed until this year. Creative Assembly has been a company that has shown true vision over the years, I hope they haven't lost that.    … Expand
  9. WhataTwist
    Sep 10, 2013
    4
    Rome 2 has been a massive step back in the franchise since Shogun 2. Somewhere in there is a good game, but it's bogged down in bugs, horrific AI, graphics problems and tons of really bad design decisions. Give it a few months for modders and patches to make it playable and then buy it.
  10. Jesper
    Sep 12, 2013
    4
    You betrayed your fans CA. The game is broken and even if it was not, I would give it an 8/10. What keeps it from getting 10/10 is that the game is heavily dumbed down. There is so much that has been simplified in the political system that you do not really care for any of the characters that belong to your faction. For example, with no family tree there is no need for caring if someoneYou betrayed your fans CA. The game is broken and even if it was not, I would give it an 8/10. What keeps it from getting 10/10 is that the game is heavily dumbed down. There is so much that has been simplified in the political system that you do not really care for any of the characters that belong to your faction. For example, with no family tree there is no need for caring if someone dies, someone else will just instantly pop up and take his place. It feels like you did not listen to the community at all when making the game. You just dumbed it down to make it more accepted for a wider audience. Regarding the game being broken, perhaps SEGA pushed your deadline too early to be able to finish the game the way you wanted it to be. Or is it just the fan in me that makes up excuses for such an unfinished game. I guess you just have to get used to hate loving this genre. In conclusion however, I have not lost my trust in you CA(though it is quite shaken). But know that we fell for your awesome trailers for ROME II and we somehow ''knew'' that you could not this up... yet you did! We will not fall for your trailers again!… Expand
  11. Mannschaft
    Sep 5, 2013
    4
    Disappointment.
    No family tree
    Graphics worse than Shogun 2 Capture points in open fields on non-siege battles Every faction has a British accent (Slavic if you have the German version) Battles end quicker than a virgin's first time with a lady Horrible AI, it does not react at all to being flanked Minor factions are destroying all major factions Every faction and their mom has    Disappointment.
    No family tree
    Graphics worse than Shogun 2
    Capture points in open fields on non-siege battles
    Every faction has a British accent (Slavic if you have the German version)
    Battles end quicker than a virgin's first time with a lady
    Horrible AI, it does not react at all to being flanked
    Minor factions are destroying all major factions
    Every faction and their mom has ships everywhere
    Sieges are boring
    Unit cards are huge and take up a lot of screen
    Upon hitting end turn you have enough time to have a fap until you're able to play your next turn
    Obviously set up to charge lots of microtransactions like the previous two or three titles ($2 for blood)

    The list goes on but I'm tired and need to go have a fap. Avoid this game for now. I only gave it a 4 because it's a Total War game.    … Expand
  12. Jexiah8bit
    Sep 5, 2013
    4
    As someone said, publishers have used the digital age to turn us all into suckers who beta test their "finished games" only after paying full price. Total War: Rome 2 is the penultimate example of this. If you do not believe me, youtube the glitches and bugs in the AI and game design. You will be astounded. For my experience, I can only say that this is a new low and I am deeply troubledAs someone said, publishers have used the digital age to turn us all into suckers who beta test their "finished games" only after paying full price. Total War: Rome 2 is the penultimate example of this. If you do not believe me, youtube the glitches and bugs in the AI and game design. You will be astounded. For my experience, I can only say that this is a new low and I am deeply troubled by the scores most "professional" game sites are giving this game.… Expand
  13. Mordobb
    Sep 3, 2013
    4
    This game is what i feared. Just a repixeling of the old engine. Same AI, Same Bugs, same behavior.
    EA is re-milking this cow with each new iteration since Medieval 2.
    As a long time player.. Shogun Total war. I ve lost all hopes of real improvement. They are just repixelating and improving the GFX capacity. But the core is the same as ever, the team is totally unable to really improve    This game is what i feared. Just a repixeling of the old engine. Same AI, Same Bugs, same behavior.
    EA is re-milking this cow with each new iteration since Medieval 2.
    As a long time player.. Shogun Total war. I ve lost all hopes of real improvement.
    They are just repixelating and improving the GFX capacity. But the core is the same as ever, the team is totally unable to really improve anything. Almost a decade of players same complains: AI, Interesting multiplayer that work, bugs on release that are the same of the last iteration.    … Expand
  14. Grindtoof
    Sep 21, 2013
    4
    I found a site selling digital copies for 50 bucks, pre-order. Even 50 bucks was too much for this game in it's current state.
    Where to begin:
    The first thing I noticed was that the game's graphics, controls, and flow felt more like a console game than any previous Total War title- WTF? The best way I could equivocate it was the difference between Dragon Age I and Dragon Age II, whereas    I found a site selling digital copies for 50 bucks, pre-order. Even 50 bucks was too much for this game in it's current state.
    Where to begin:
    The first thing I noticed was that the game's graphics, controls, and flow felt more like a console game than any previous Total War title- WTF? The best way I could equivocate it was the difference between Dragon Age I and Dragon Age II, whereas DA1 felt like it was meant for a computer, DA2 seemed watered down and felt like a console port on the computer.
    Back on topic: Graphics on overhead map or laggy and choppy- probably something to do with the animated clouds and random birds...dumb. Playing as a Roman the whole family/ruler/faction experience is askew and there is no explanation provided: You can't marry your leader and generals to produce offspring- in fact offspring do not come of age and join your ranks- just random dudes that become available. I had to start 'adopting' opposing faction members because my House Julia died out. A really disappointing aspect to an otherwise fun minigame.
    Diplomacy could have been great, but, has missed the mark. You may or may not like how conveniently a faction's opinion of you is broken down into a numeric roster- its kind of neat to know that the AI tracks all of the stuff you do representing your faction, but, I don't need a spreadsheet to explain why a neighbor doesn't like me. Something else that really iritates me about Diplomacy: You can only give a percentage of the money in your coffers (so you have 5,000 talons, you can only give gifts in increments of 500- wtf?)
    Battles in single-player are really, really buggy. First, I really like the new, true line of sight feature in R:TW2. I also like the combination of naval and land battles on some maps- the potential is really, really cool. Too bad all of that potential is eclipsed by stupid objective markers that earn/bleed victory points. So, strategy and tactics become very one-dimensional, and every battle becomes a matter of holding these artificial objectives- dumb. The game suffers bad AI: command a unit to attack another unit, and they stop mid-attack- you have to repeatedly order the unit to attack. Enemy units will run up to your line, or your unit, stop, and then run away (all the while getting whittled down by ranged units). When units break- they break in a straight line and are very difficult- almost impossible to eradicate. Unit stats are incorrectly represented at times- to the detriment of your plans. What happened to the complexity of battle found in Shogun? Geez. Btw, don't expect those great, unique General speeches at the onset of every battle- they're gone! The General says something inconsequential (and barely audible) at the beginning of each battle- you have to physically zoom in just to hear it...Lame.
    Missions are non-existent in my game: I received a couple in the first twenty turns, and not one since: I'm almost to 200 turns in my campaign, mind you.
    Agents have real potential to be cool- too bad all three types do roughly the same thing: sabotage and assassinate. I mean, don't get me wrong, each of the three types are supposed to do specific things, but, those things really aren't explained.

    In closing there are a lot of cool ideas poorly implemented in R:TW2. Do yourself a favor and save your sixty bucks- don't pay for this beta in it's current state!    … Expand
  15. ComicBookGuy
    Sep 13, 2013
    4
    A good game soured by a rushed release and unfinished content. The alpha screens and videos showed something much better than was delivered, a real shame really. I did enjoy the game until I started to crash in battles with more than two armies present, co-op is shamefully incomplete, and worst of all the fixes will be paid DLC.

    Really that is what you can sum up Rome 2 as, a shame. A    A good game soured by a rushed release and unfinished content. The alpha screens and videos showed something much better than was delivered, a real shame really. I did enjoy the game until I started to crash in battles with more than two armies present, co-op is shamefully incomplete, and worst of all the fixes will be paid DLC.

    Really that is what you can sum up Rome 2 as, a shame. A real shame.

    Who do we blame? Publisher or Developer. My bet is both.    … Expand
  16. Achilleslastand
    Oct 13, 2013
    4
    This game clearly needed at least 3 more months in development and that's being generous. From the hype/propaganda spread by CA/Sega/Craig/Will to the quite numerous bugs and performance issues as well as features from previous TW titles mysteriously omitted. Add to that a 60$ price tag and possibly more if you purchase if you add the Greek states DLC and you can see how the game hasThis game clearly needed at least 3 more months in development and that's being generous. From the hype/propaganda spread by CA/Sega/Craig/Will to the quite numerous bugs and performance issues as well as features from previous TW titles mysteriously omitted. Add to that a 60$ price tag and possibly more if you purchase if you add the Greek states DLC and you can see how the game has gotten below average reviews. I have seen titles made by smaller development teams for half the price of R2 that were more polished.
    I myself will never purchase another CA product upon release and in all likelihood possibly never.
    Caveat Emptor{Buyer Beware}....    … Expand
  17. Spineker
    Sep 3, 2013
    4
    Where to start? Well not a whole lot of technical problems can't run it at ultra but already knew that.

    Problems are many mainly don't feel part of the game like in older TW games were you controlled most everything and interaction with the game made you feel part of it. Not going to happen here feel no connection with my faction at all. Avatars are the ugliest I have seen in 10    Where to start? Well not a whole lot of technical problems can't run it at ultra but already knew that.

    Problems are many mainly don't feel part of the game like in older TW games were you controlled most everything and interaction with the game made you feel part of it. Not going to happen here feel no connection with my faction at all.

    Avatars are the ugliest I have seen in 10 years they are that bad and when they talk they just open and close their mouths do not even remotely connect to the speech.

    It took two years to sail from Rome to the other side of Corsica. I think my army would have starved. The 1 year turn sucks.

    The battles I will say the units respond better and pathing is much better in this release. The biggest problem with battles is they are over in like 3 to 6 mins. The units make contact 30 seconds later one or the other is running.

    The biggest let down though is the lack of feel part of the game that has always been something I loved about TW and it just doesn't exist here. The technology tree went backwards and is not interesting at all. The city control is bad and not interesting at all. Raising armies is way to easy and being connected to a General is stupid. With one year turns and taking two to land and army on Corsica there is no way in hell I will ever get to enjoy the huge world.

    In the end I don't really care if I go back to playing or not there is no excitement like "Wow I need to go to the store ok one more hour I will go!" Nah I leave the game all time have really no care if I play it or not most likely will too see if it gets better but with already many turns gone I doubt it.    … Expand
  18. Hner
    Sep 6, 2013
    4
    After more than 20 hours of playing I gotta change my initial rating. In its current state I'd give it a solid 4/10. Too many bad design decisions and on top of that a plethora of bugs and performance issues.

    In its core it's a dumbed down version of the original Rome TW with a pretty campaign map.
  19. deadmeat2k
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    This review is based on the game, as it currently is (patch 5). I have played for about 25-30 hours. I fancy the new region based system, which makes it so much easier to manage cities compared to earlier TW games. The graphics are really great and run pretty well with the latest patch applied. However a number of things, seriously spoils the game: The agent system, screws up the gameThis review is based on the game, as it currently is (patch 5). I have played for about 25-30 hours. I fancy the new region based system, which makes it so much easier to manage cities compared to earlier TW games. The graphics are really great and run pretty well with the latest patch applied. However a number of things, seriously spoils the game: The agent system, screws up the game completely, being way too dominant, the civil war system is impossible to understand, and is really just an annoyance and the diplomatic and trade systems are fundamentally flawed simply doesnt work in their current state. The battles are some fun, but often feel too chaotic and arcade style. All together the game is a dissapointment. Would have wished for a Darthmod for this TW game too, to fix all these things, but that will unfortunately not happen.… Expand
  20. hhslf
    Sep 3, 2013
    4
    Awful performance, probably the worst Total War AI ever (and that's saying a lot), graphics are nothing like the Siege of Carthage video even on max settings (probably mostly due to performance issues), a lot of reskinned units (every faction gets skirmishers, light infantry, heavy infantry etc., they're not functionally different in any way), battle formations collapse on contact becauseAwful performance, probably the worst Total War AI ever (and that's saying a lot), graphics are nothing like the Siege of Carthage video even on max settings (probably mostly due to performance issues), a lot of reskinned units (every faction gets skirmishers, light infantry, heavy infantry etc., they're not functionally different in any way), battle formations collapse on contact because you have less control over your units, and battles are over too quickly. Another horrendously botched Creative Assembly launch, they should have learned by now not to release unfinished games. I'm sure that performance and graphics issues will be patched in time (but with CA's record I expect it to take months). The major issue for me is that the game has been made more casual, CA has clearly made an effort to attract a larger audience by making the game more cinematic and less historic and layered. I've come to this conclusion because tactics are less important due to formations collapsing almost instantly (even hoplites and Roman legions quickly descend into a blob of hacking one on one animations), no fire at will mode for many units with javelins (such as Roman heavy infantry, you won't be able to control when they throw their pila, they do it only on a charge now), no guard mode (meaning your units will mindlessly chase hostiles they've driven off even if you don't want them to), and very quick battle times (if you know a thing or two about tactics you will make any difficulty AI route in under 10 minutes, even fighting against full stack armies). In short CA have made the change to more casual game play, this accompanied by a buggy launch has made R2TW lackluster at this point. If you're interested in battle tactics more than seeing epic Hollywood battles (which will get boring quickly), you should look to other Total War games. Rome 1 is still very playable, extremely deep and satisfying, especially with all the love and care modders have added.… Expand
  21. ge0s
    Sep 10, 2013
    4
    Its fairly easy to say Rome 2 may be the worst Total War game in the series as it stands right after release, but damn does it hurt. Even Empire didn't feel this bad for me and it's likely due to Empire's problems having to do more with AI and smaller technical details than the blatant problems appearing in Rome 2. Unfortunately most the TW fans have taken the PreOrder Free DLC hook lineIts fairly easy to say Rome 2 may be the worst Total War game in the series as it stands right after release, but damn does it hurt. Even Empire didn't feel this bad for me and it's likely due to Empire's problems having to do more with AI and smaller technical details than the blatant problems appearing in Rome 2. Unfortunately most the TW fans have taken the PreOrder Free DLC hook line and sinker, but now its our job to try and warn other gamers about this game as it stands. It's easy for gamers not familiar with the problems plaguing CA's AI flaws to buy the game out of nostalgia for the Rome:TW brand, which is easily the most famous and most know game in the TW series.

    The AI simply doesn't act competent in any way shape or form. Usually poor AI isn't a big deal for us TW fans, we've seen it before and usually upped the settings for a tougher challenge(not anymore). Most TW AI is at least smart enough to exploit flanks and run down archers in battle, while attacking major cities with larger stacks on the campaign map. Rome 2's AI however suffers from some of worst AI I've ever seen in a strategy game and worse it feels like CA has added deliberately gamey features to cover over its incomplete AI. Units will charge solo then turn tail before impact with a better unit, allowing your ranged units to sit behind and slowly pelt them to death. When a unit does decide to charge it'll send all of its units (including archers) into the front of Phalanx and Legionaries without trying to first use its ranged units to dwindle your numbers or exploit flanks along alternate routes. These are things you could see the AI doing to some extent in Shogun 2 on release, but are astonishingly absent from Rome 2. Formations, a staple of Ancient Roman period combat and often what won battles in Antiquity, completely dissolve into blobs when sent into combat; a far cry from the constant formation and impact units had in the original Rome:TW. Your well set phalanx and legion formations will collapse before impact (usually after throwing javelins), instead these units rely on puffed up numbers CA has put in to give those unit better strength, that was usually due to superior formation.

    On the Campaign map, AI appear to always try to max out the number of armies they have, resulting in many factions having a 3 or more small Armies of 2 or 3 units, with only 1 army with a medium size force but no where near the number of units it needs to pose a threat. I have managed to find one army in the entire game with a massive unit stack at about turn 30. It came from a random barbarian tribe north of Greece and proceeded to wreck Macedonia, burn Athens, grind Sparta to dust until I could finally see it take out Epirus. Due to the AI splitting its forces, this single fluke army carved out an empire until I smashed it with a Legion half its size, discovering it was nothing more than a bunch of tier 1 troops. After you destroy a faction its remaining armies will then suicide charge with single unit stacks, rather than group up and attack as one.

    Unit balance has become another major issue. Navies themselves are pointless (beyond later game catapult/ballista ships) while Land armies can instantly gain bigger ships, easily ram the smaller naval triremes and win most boarding actions due to land units having 200 men vs the 60 aboard naval units. That's if you can get the boarding function to work properly for yourself, leaving you forced to use ramming while the AI can pick and choose who to board, although I imagine this will be one of the first things fixed within a month. This makes the formidable Naval powers of Carthage and Athens feel no where near as formidable as they should be to take down. Elephants are far more over powered than they should and a single general unit with Elephants can destroy and entire army on its own. However the worst offender of poor balancing goes to the Roman dog units. These units have trainers which send out packs of dogs as shock troops, which historically were used to scare enemies and weaken them before the real Roman assault began. In Rome 2, however, you might as well build legions of just them as they can destroy units in seconds and stop an elephant or chariot charge dead in its tracks.

    Rome 2 saving grace is its streamlined map and city management which is really well designed and its fantastic to see your cities grow in size. The technology tree is also streamlined, but still well displaced and easy to understand. I also like the number of factions and the map itself, but waiting for all of them to take their turn takes forever and don't dare play a co-op campaign.

    Multiplayer is a huge step backwards however, as the great campaign style fight for territory multiplayer is completely gone, leaving only custom battles. The ability to also call on jump-in multiplayer battles while in campaign, first introduced in Napoleon:TW is also no where to be seen. A feature that could save the poor AI.    … Expand
  22. MrJade
    Sep 16, 2013
    4
    This game looked to be a new era in the Creative Assembly's star studded history. The pre-release hype, coupled with the amazing screen shots, and stunning CGI footage certainly seemed to reinforce this belief.
    Then the game was released. Not only did the single player campaign have bugs, but it had bugs that rendered the game nearly unplayable (minutes of wait time between turns, massive    This game looked to be a new era in the Creative Assembly's star studded history. The pre-release hype, coupled with the amazing screen shots, and stunning CGI footage certainly seemed to reinforce this belief.
    Then the game was released. Not only did the single player campaign have bugs, but it had bugs that rendered the game nearly unplayable (minutes of wait time between turns, massive frame rate issues, and more). The game's AI is equally crippled. The enemy will hardly ever build a large army, and even when it does the army is comprised entirely of early game units, even 100's of turns into the game. The major factions, Carthage, Sparta, Egypt, Rome, Macedon, are all swallowed up by smaller factions because of the ignorance and idiocy of the game's AI.
    Battles rarely present a challenge, and this reflects poorly on the Creative Assembly.
    All in all, this game is a bust. Hardly worth your time, and you should only pick it up out of the bargain bin.    … Expand
  23. Doctor-J
    Sep 5, 2013
    4
    The AI is completely broken, the battles in a city have no strategy at all, there are f0ck1ng special powers in the mid of the battle, i feel like i'm playing a MOBA, and I HATE MOBAs!!! I really miss the General Speech, it was one the favorite features in Rome TW. I'm really disappointed with this game, specially because they probably won't add the speeches back so soon, or maybe not atThe AI is completely broken, the battles in a city have no strategy at all, there are f0ck1ng special powers in the mid of the battle, i feel like i'm playing a MOBA, and I HATE MOBAs!!! I really miss the General Speech, it was one the favorite features in Rome TW. I'm really disappointed with this game, specially because they probably won't add the speeches back so soon, or maybe not at all. The reason i like Total War games is because they're games about history and realistic battles, not some goddamn MOBAs that have no strategy at all! This Game needs a ENORMOUS patch...… Expand
  24. luc1kjke
    Sep 3, 2013
    4
    So I've selected "Very High" graphics just to make sure game runs smoothly and hoping to increase it later but I was incredibly surprised seeing graphics equality of Rome I with lags. My specs are: X4 955/6950 2gb/8gb ram. I'll wait for a patches but for now this isn't how surprise fans Creative Assembly!
  25. Antiks
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    The attempt at simplifying the game not only took away from what made the series great but in some ways made it more complicated/less intuitive for people familiar with the Genre. Over all the game is alright but doesn't really live up to the standard set by the previous Rome title.

    The simplification of the cities takes away a lot from the crowds who like to experiment and specialize    The attempt at simplifying the game not only took away from what made the series great but in some ways made it more complicated/less intuitive for people familiar with the Genre. Over all the game is alright but doesn't really live up to the standard set by the previous Rome title.

    The simplification of the cities takes away a lot from the crowds who like to experiment and specialize different cities in different parts of their empire. Also, armies relying on a general to field and actually being recruited by the general in place takes away from having to manage the logisitics of your empire. This makes the game overall less of a simulation and more of an arcade title of the RTS fights. Research is also taken down to two very basic easily obtainable paths.

    For some these may be welcome changes but as someone who likes the empire building and civilization style large branching tech trees these are significant problems. The title is clearly made for a broader audience who don't want to have to get bogged down with the logistics and economy management of previous games.

    On top of changing the general game play these changes have made some things more difficult; the removal of some of the more detailed city/settlement management tools has made it in some cases extremely hard to understand why your city/province is unhappy.

    The combat remains more or less the same though it seems some what easier to route/destroy your enemies. It's possibly less tactical but I'm not sure if I'm confident in saying that yet only having played about 15 hours.

    There are significant wait times between turns but that is somewhat expected.

    The game has beautiful graphics.

    I would say if you liked the world map part of Rome, research, and auto completed most of your battles you could probably give this game a pass. If all you did was play for battles and were irritated by having to manage your empire then you may like the changes that were made.

    For people like myself and my group of friends I cannot recommend you play this game. Personally I'm more concerned with empire building than doing the little RTS battles, for me they were just the cherry on top that made Total War special.    … Expand
  26. WerewolfAlpha
    Oct 6, 2013
    4
    Another case of paid reviewers giving the buggy ass game a 78 and the ACTUAL PLAYERS GIVE IT A 3.8.
    Terrible AI, game lags constantly, end game is a DISASTER of game-ending bugs. The UI is like they just started making these games. Did they fire their entire team and hire people off the WarZ team??? Wasted my money on this. Total War is Over. Total Failure is HERE!!!
  27. KeyserSozeNZ
    Sep 7, 2013
    4
    Maybe in 6 months time this game will be worthy of a 6 or 7, but you can only review it in the state it is in now. The AI is terrible, pathing issues, AI doing nothing, having to reissue orders multiple times etc. Oh and the prologue is stuck in a loop for, another bug which has been acknowledged by CA, so I'm fighting the same battle over and over again.

    I know games will have bugs but    Maybe in 6 months time this game will be worthy of a 6 or 7, but you can only review it in the state it is in now. The AI is terrible, pathing issues, AI doing nothing, having to reissue orders multiple times etc. Oh and the prologue is stuck in a loop for, another bug which has been acknowledged by CA, so I'm fighting the same battle over and over again.

    I know games will have bugs but we are talking some real big deal breaking bugs here, which makes me surprised they would even release in this state it's that bad.

    Avoid for now and pick up on sale in 6 months time.    … Expand
  28. Saratosa75
    Jan 18, 2014
    4
    So, after numerous patches and Steam offering 50% off, I decided to get it.
    I've read user reviews so I kept my distance until now.
    So here is what I think after some crucial patches: Perhaps the first 30 turns are enjoyable and the it gets very boring. Almost like a job with no paycheck . First, the turns. Clicking the turn button is when you could go and Get yourself a sandwich or    So, after numerous patches and Steam offering 50% off, I decided to get it.
    I've read user reviews so I kept my distance until now.
    So here is what I think after some crucial patches:
    Perhaps the first 30 turns are enjoyable and the it gets very boring.
    Almost like a job with no paycheck .
    First, the turns. Clicking the turn button is when you could go and
    Get yourself a sandwich or take care of other things at home.
    Since you probably have uncovered almost the whole map, you gonna have
    To wait a lot for the AI do it's turn.
    Once you clicked turn , you gonna spend an hour just to be sure
    That your provinces aren't rebeling or nobody sent some agents to your territory.
    This is what is going to be 80% of your "gaming".
    The battles will get boring, especially sieges, since they are still have bugs.
    You gonna try to auto solve both the sieges and the naval battles, because they are just simply awful.
    The game still looks nothing like they advertised it.
    It runs slow and you gonna hear your computer fans spinning up,
    While graphics wise, the game just don't look to good.
    If you have to turn down the graphics, it looks like a game
    10 years ago.
    The AI is bad, probably worse than the first rome total war.
    So you may play 30-40 turns and then you gonna forget about it.
    It's not worth a full retail price, that's for sure.
    As a bargain bin title, it may be worth about 15 dollars.    … Expand
  29. Liteit
    Nov 17, 2013
    4
    Great franchise which i liked since the first Rome. But this game is terrible. they just made out a raw game, which is practically unplayable with its poor optimization and crashes. Obviously they would fix everything but the first impression is ruined. Hope next time they won't treat their fans like that.
  30. uziel
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    ehhhh.... poor graphics (ugly sometimes water, trees, commanders`s faces), poor performance, too fast foot mobile units, sometimes stupid AI. rest is good
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
7
#7 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 71
  3. Negative: 7 out of 71
  1. Worth Playing
    Nov 18, 2013
    74
    The game is far less polished than Shogun 2, and a few more patches will help, but Rome II is still a flawed game that is underwhelming when compared to previous titles in the franchise.
    Read full review
  2. PCGamesN
    Nov 6, 2013
    70
    And here’s the rub: every addition, every sub-system, every mechanic is subservient to War. War is what Total War is really about. Everything else not directly related to conflict comes across as ancillary. Rome II is a game for warmongers, on both the campaign map and, obviously, on the battlefield. When peace is happening, nothing is happening. When war is happening, Rome comes alive.
    Read full review
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Oct 28, 2013
    40
    If you will play literally anything featuring Total War and Rome in the same title and don't value your time, this is for you. [Nov 2013, p.80]
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