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. vanzi
    Oct 31, 2014
    7
    After all the patches that were released and the even better job of modders (DeI, Radious), the game is in a definitely playable state. Performance is A LOT better than it was on release. The AI is still pretty dumb though and I'm personally not a fan of some of the changes they've made to the game (especially the province system and army movement only with general). All that said, I'mAfter all the patches that were released and the even better job of modders (DeI, Radious), the game is in a definitely playable state. Performance is A LOT better than it was on release. The AI is still pretty dumb though and I'm personally not a fan of some of the changes they've made to the game (especially the province system and army movement only with general). All that said, I'm having a lot of fun playing with Divide et Impera and I've spent over 400 hours in game.… Expand
  2. Porkenstein
    Sep 8, 2013
    7
    This game is fun, atmospheric, epic, and just generally awesome. However, it is hopelessly broken.
    Technical issues aside, the battle and campaign AI are completely nonfunctional, removing all challenge from every difficultly level. Also, many changes to gameplay in favor of appeasing the more "casual" customer base have destroyed much of what made Rome I great.
  3. abic007
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    The fail of Rome: A strategic map without strategy... A tactical mode without tactics

    Skip it. Shogun II is better in every respect, as are several mods for the original Rome: Total War.

    Very bad strategy game!
  4. JimCorbett
    Mar 24, 2015
    7
    This is a review of the state of Rome II 1 and a half years after release. There's still tons of bugs so don't think it's perfect but from what i've read about the disaster at release, the game is much improved. I still get a strange bug where there's awkward lag during siege battles sometimes that makes the game near unplayable but that's the only real issue i have had other than the gameThis is a review of the state of Rome II 1 and a half years after release. There's still tons of bugs so don't think it's perfect but from what i've read about the disaster at release, the game is much improved. I still get a strange bug where there's awkward lag during siege battles sometimes that makes the game near unplayable but that's the only real issue i have had other than the game crashing during multiplayer campaigns. I am also disappointed with the DLC direction that CA and Sega have decided to take. Half the playable factions are locked behind a paywall and even then there is an unreal amount of Greek-like factions which all play the same. Other than that i'm enjoying myself. It's nowhere near as good as Rome I and Medieval II and i'd even say Empire was better but I like it more than Shogun 2 and don't regret my $15 purchase.… Expand
  5. Jingo
    Jan 11, 2014
    7
    I gave this game 4 when it first came out. But now that it's up to build 1.8 it's time for a re-review. It is much better now! Still the AI is hopeless, particularly on settlement defence mode. That is simply not a challenge. All you need to take an enemy settlement is long range units. Line them up, and the enemy will line a target up for you, one after the other until they're all gone.I gave this game 4 when it first came out. But now that it's up to build 1.8 it's time for a re-review. It is much better now! Still the AI is hopeless, particularly on settlement defence mode. That is simply not a challenge. All you need to take an enemy settlement is long range units. Line them up, and the enemy will line a target up for you, one after the other until they're all gone. They will never charge out to get your slingers or catapults or whatever.

    But I'm giving the game a 7 now, because various other things have been improved and I'm enjoying it now.

    The VERY HARD and LEGENDARY difficultly modes give the other factions enormous bonuses, but their AI in the settlement defence battles is the same. It's a poor way to make things difficult.    … Expand
  6. Anyas_Dad
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    I am pretty darn sure that most of these low scores are coming from people who just want the "power" of keeping scores and sales low. That being said, I do see a valid point in some of the issues posted. I have a mid-range system that can run the game on max settings. I have noticed some stutter when moving the camera BUT it does not interfere with the experience. The AI has been UPI am pretty darn sure that most of these low scores are coming from people who just want the "power" of keeping scores and sales low. That being said, I do see a valid point in some of the issues posted. I have a mid-range system that can run the game on max settings. I have noticed some stutter when moving the camera BUT it does not interfere with the experience. The AI has been UP and DOWN. Like in real life, some armies are useless and others are hardcore death machines. Unit cards are not terrible confusing once you look at them and read the description. Withing a matter of minutes I was able to quickly spot the unit I needed. This game does take time to figure out. It isn't a game you install and master withing an hour. Many people claim we are beta testing games as of late including thins one. If that's how you feel then don't purchase day one games. In this day and age MOST games require a patch day one. It's the sign of the times. Things will never be like the good old days of cartridge based games where no patch exists and you blow in the slot to make the game work. Everyone posting that your scores do effect sales. So if you keep giving fake low scores you could cause bad sales which means no extra content. I get it...your argument is these companies need to release finished products. So if that's the case don't complain about delays. Like it or hate it, companies have us by the short hairs.… Expand
  7. tumbidragon
    Sep 16, 2014
    7
    After a complete farcical release, Rome 2 a year on is now an actual good game. 15 patches has seen vast improvements to optimization and game play. We now have three great campaign in CIG, HATG and EE. Battles are no longer decided within 2-5 minutes and I have had some last ~20mins with the new unit re-balancing to morale and armor!
    Unfortunately It still lacks the depth in which so    After a complete farcical release, Rome 2 a year on is now an actual good game. 15 patches has seen vast improvements to optimization and game play. We now have three great campaign in CIG, HATG and EE. Battles are no longer decided within 2-5 minutes and I have had some last ~20mins with the new unit re-balancing to morale and armor!
    Unfortunately It still lacks the depth in which so many were hoping they would deliver. The "new" political system is nothing more than a updated graphic to the UI so that you are able to track what is happening easier. But you could hardly call it immersive or in depth. Diplomacy is still hit and miss and just outright random sometimes (specifically trade agreements). There are also still major path finding issues atop walls when you have multiple units stationed on them. Also AI is still.. meh.

    Upon release I would of given this 3/10. But now I could unabashedly give it a 7/10 (but not forgiven nor forgotten CA!).    … Expand
  8. Daneoid
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    Fickle, fickle people, the game is exceptional, It's a Total War game, of course it's going to have bugs, they're no where near as bad as you people are making them out to be.
  9. dreadlord666
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    Let me start with the good things, first of there is the graphics wich look very good, awesome landscapes, and the different maps fells fresh and in some cases more alive than in any other total war game so far ("buildings, trees and general vegetation)". The units/army looks good close up, but then again not a huge leap from shogun2. The single player campaign is very good and its clearLet me start with the good things, first of there is the graphics wich look very good, awesome landscapes, and the different maps fells fresh and in some cases more alive than in any other total war game so far ("buildings, trees and general vegetation)". The units/army looks good close up, but then again not a huge leap from shogun2. The single player campaign is very good and its clear for me to see thats where the focus of the game is, single player is more or less like in rome 1 but with bettter graphics and some more deept..
    What keeps me from giveing a higher score is the fact that the multiplayer still fells like rome 1, where shogun2 did a awesome job with a avatar campaign in multiplayer and used a RPG element in skills and hero units, then rome 2 just fells like rome1 not much new under the sun other than updated graphics and some new formation options, dont get me wrong rome 2 got 3 options to change your generals abilitys, and i hope they will make more in future dlc, but still fells to me like shogun2`s multiplayer is light years ahead of rome 2, and i think it is a shame to take a step backwards..

    So if u like total war games, u will like this game as well, just dont expect to much... and see it as a major update of the old rome 1, rather than a whole new game..

    but it is a bit better than the score of 4.8 it has atm, some people expect a perfect game the day it comes out, wich isnt gonna happen without alot of patches, if u got horrible graphics or low Fps u should look at your own computer in most cases and not the game..    … Expand
  10. Astrith
    Sep 17, 2013
    7
    I understand all the guys disappointed by the newest Total War. I really do@ This game should be Brilliant, Legendary and Epic. It is just good (well, very good for me). It has it's problems graphics are not as good as those shown by CA's PR guys, I don't understand why I can build so limited amount of buildings and why I don't have a family tree available (the same is withI understand all the guys disappointed by the newest Total War. I really do@ This game should be Brilliant, Legendary and Epic. It is just good (well, very good for me). It has it's problems graphics are not as good as those shown by CA's PR guys, I don't understand why I can build so limited amount of buildings and why I don't have a family tree available (the same is with agents/generals lack of skill tree). Rome 2 is a solid game, great piece of strategy, highly addictive but with bunch of problems. Problems that should be resolved months ago. Maybe I'm a bit lucky because of all the problems I have only occasional CTD's. Fractions are very well designed, all the Greek states are very interesting on the campaign map and during the battles. The game is a bit too easy at the beginning however it gets more and more demanding later on. Worth playing, worth buying. One last thing this is a PC game, therefore can be modded!!! Modding community in TW games is one of the best ever and already there's a bunch of great stuff that will alter the Vanilla experience … Expand
  11. RedBlueThunder
    Sep 16, 2013
    7
    While the initial game is still fun and enjoyable, i do feel that Rome 2 is slightly bare-bones. A huge amount of features have been removed and replaced by simple mechanics that make the game feel simple.

    During my time playing Medieval 2, i was indulged in politics and creating glorious family "dynasty's". It actually felt like i was running an empire. In Rome 2 it feels like your a    While the initial game is still fun and enjoyable, i do feel that Rome 2 is slightly bare-bones. A huge amount of features have been removed and replaced by simple mechanics that make the game feel simple.

    During my time playing Medieval 2, i was indulged in politics and creating glorious family "dynasty's". It actually felt like i was running an empire. In Rome 2 it feels like your a band of raiders conquering city after city with no real purpose or motivation.

    Land battles are a more like two mobs clashing into one another rather than two unique armies using advanced tactics to outwit one another. Naval Battles are hugely dull, more like lots of floating bowls clumsily knocking into one another.

    Overall, Rome 2 is still fun, but can barely be considered to be a proper "Total War" game. I hope after this, creative assembly will learn from their mistakes and create much much better and feature filled games in future.    … Expand
  12. Makko_Mace
    Sep 15, 2013
    7
    Rome II is an amazing game, unfortunately it is deeply bugged at the moment which is unacceptable at release yet sadly common in this day and age. I would spend much more time writing out what I honestly think about every aspect of this game, but since everyone votes 0 or 10 on this site, I won't waste my time.

    In a few months it should deserve something like a 9/10 right now, it simply    Rome II is an amazing game, unfortunately it is deeply bugged at the moment which is unacceptable at release yet sadly common in this day and age. I would spend much more time writing out what I honestly think about every aspect of this game, but since everyone votes 0 or 10 on this site, I won't waste my time.

    In a few months it should deserve something like a 9/10 right now, it simply is lacking.    … Expand
  13. MisterFro9
    Jun 11, 2014
    7
    The game has come A LONG way since release. It was a huge disappointment at first, and there are still many things that would be nice to be fixed, but it is definitely fun as hell. With a few more tweaks this could have an amazing multiplayer scene.
  14. NecroMnemic
    Oct 24, 2013
    7
    I rate it a 7 out of 10, as it is a decent game, but does not live up to the Total War standard and doesn't even come close to the original Rome 1.

    I'm writing this after patch 5 has been applied and sadly the performance is still... not atrocious but not good either. The battles are still somewhat too short and AI does some really weird things. But actually these are not the issues    I rate it a 7 out of 10, as it is a decent game, but does not live up to the Total War standard and doesn't even come close to the original Rome 1.

    I'm writing this after patch 5 has been applied and sadly the performance is still... not atrocious but not good either. The battles are still somewhat too short and AI does some really weird things.

    But actually these are not the issues that I found saddening, I much rather regretted seeing that still all factions somewhat play the same and there has not been done enough to make them distinct from each other.

    All in all I recommend buying it for 25€ or less.    … Expand
  15. mikey6854
    Sep 3, 2013
    7
    I made an account to review this game because wow some people are really crazy. 10s? 0s? Really?!

    First of all: If you liked the other Total War games you will like this game. The history is cool and the number of sheer factions in the game along side the map is incredible. The combat itself is similar to the other guys although it seems a little bit sped up. I suppose some will like it    I made an account to review this game because wow some people are really crazy. 10s? 0s? Really?!

    First of all: If you liked the other Total War games you will like this game. The history is cool and the number of sheer factions in the game along side the map is incredible. The combat itself is similar to the other guys although it seems a little bit sped up. I suppose some will like it more some less but it's not THAT different than it was. Certainly nothing to get upset about.

    The game itself is very pretty. The water looks great and the sounds are also amazing. The individual soldiers really, really, really make it seem photo realistic when you get close to the action. There are some weird frame rate issues but my PC is 2 years old (I'm on an i5 and a HD6970) and the game runs pretty well. It isn't 100% optimized and I noticed it maybe 10-15 times over 5 hours. That is quite a bit but not "0" worthy and I'm confident it will get fixed eventually. A game the size of this I can understand the lack of polish.

    I can't really comment of the campaign mode more than 5 hours but it looks good, I like the region-based city management. The world is HUGE. Almost overwhelmingly so. The intro campaign is useful as a refresher even for a veteran player like myself.

    I don't want to blab your ear off. The game isn't a 10.. and it's not a 1. At launch: a fair and honest 7. Once (if) they fix the issues so it runs more smoothly and fix the AI (which is pretty bad but hey.. it's never been good) It could realistically go up to a 9. People need to keep it real when reviewing especially on day 1. Jeez. :)

    Thanks for reading,

    -Mike    … Expand
  16. JaM1977
    Sep 3, 2013
    7
    Worst game of the series.. Battle Combat lacks any tactics, its just about making all units to fight in one huge blob. strategy part is no better. Its dumbed down to any "fast Clicking" RTS level..
  17. sams0knite
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    This game did not meet m expectations but It's a good game and made improvements to the series, added features we've been waiting a while for, and overall is a beautiful and enjoyable game worth every penny spent. Sure there's some bugs, optimization is poor but you can only blame so much on Creative Assembly. The sheer scale of Rome 2 makes it very difficult to optimize for the hundredsThis game did not meet m expectations but It's a good game and made improvements to the series, added features we've been waiting a while for, and overall is a beautiful and enjoyable game worth every penny spent. Sure there's some bugs, optimization is poor but you can only blame so much on Creative Assembly. The sheer scale of Rome 2 makes it very difficult to optimize for the hundreds of current configurations, Operating System's, specifications, manufacturer's, drivers, and all sorts of other factors that come into effect when designing a game for Windows that utilizes a powerful game engine, high quality graphics, and allows you to play battles with thousands of individual units rendered at once, running countless scripts. I do believe the AI isn't bad, it's the same as Shogun 2. It's not amazing, I know, but I still think that the game provides its challenges and provides one of the best experiences in all singleplayer and cooperative strategy games out there; not to mention that Total War is just unique in its own right.

    I am disappointed by the lack of features I was hopping for and those that were promised which is really the only reason I took off appoints but other than that I think they did a good job with Rome 2 and I can't wait to see what comes next in the Total War series which has never to this day let me down.    … Expand
  18. Goose09
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    Short and sweet.

    Pros: New play systems (I.e. town management simplification, province system, recruitment system) work well and contribute to a more realistic simulation. Return to Roman setting is well appreciated Combo land/naval battles are entertaining and effective Diversity of agent options are useful without being confounding Cons: There are bugs, of course, which    Short and sweet.

    Pros: New play systems (I.e. town management simplification, province system, recruitment system) work well and contribute to a more realistic simulation.

    Return to Roman setting is well appreciated

    Combo land/naval battles are entertaining and effective

    Diversity of agent options are useful without being confounding

    Cons: There are bugs, of course, which is par for course with CA game launches. These will mostly be gone in a few weeks, hopefully

    Battle pathfinding needs improvement, again this will hopefully be patched soon

    Politics seem a little knife edge at the moment, not sure if I'm effectively manipulating the system though, so take with a grain of salt

    Ship to ship combat desperately needs rebalancing (javelin boats are waaaayyyy OP)

    Final verdict: If you love Total War, Rome, and aren't afraid of a little change, then go ahead and pick this one up. All others should wait a few months to see what happens first    … Expand
  19. Jeicobu
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    Rome 2 is a good game, but not without flaws. The UI inn the campaign map is good, the UI inn the RTS battles are still a bit easy and never tries to outflank you or do anything to not get flanked. The map is a lot bigger then inn shogun 2 and might confuse thous that joined the series back then. It doesn't look half bad ether the new Province/settlement functions is great for gameplay andRome 2 is a good game, but not without flaws. The UI inn the campaign map is good, the UI inn the RTS battles are still a bit easy and never tries to outflank you or do anything to not get flanked. The map is a lot bigger then inn shogun 2 and might confuse thous that joined the series back then. It doesn't look half bad ether the new Province/settlement functions is great for gameplay and adds a lot to the game.
    The free DLC's is also a pluss, since all the new factions costed real money inn shogun 2.
    What brings the game down for me is the AI and the missing content/bugs. There is no winter season rotation. Some city walls float inn the air and some more i haven't seen myself but heard other talk about.

    Conclution: The game is great and brought me what i expected.. a grand game where i could outsmart my enemies and change history, a not perfect AI and some great battles. what i did not expect was the problems that could have been avoided with a bit more play testing and the cheep solution to some of the problem (refering to the seasons).    … Expand
  20. someguy8896
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    this game is buggy and imperfect but it's amazing anyway. the long load times and UI I keep seeing people complain about aren't a problem for me. the UI is great and simple to use when you get used to it. and if you have a powerful enough processor the load time and AI turns aren't a problem. it runs fine on high with my Nvidia gtx 550TI and Intel core I7 3930K. like I said it's buggy butthis game is buggy and imperfect but it's amazing anyway. the long load times and UI I keep seeing people complain about aren't a problem for me. the UI is great and simple to use when you get used to it. and if you have a powerful enough processor the load time and AI turns aren't a problem. it runs fine on high with my Nvidia gtx 550TI and Intel core I7 3930K. like I said it's buggy but I found nothing game breaking and it has yet to crash on me. It was worth my money and I expect that like most total war titles most of these problems will be fixed at some point with patches. 7/10 as it is. I'm not disappointed.… Expand
  21. Romafar
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    Looking at some of the negative reviews given to this game I feel that some people need to get their entitlement in check. CA did a great job on this, and I'm sorry your 8 year old pc is having trouble but that's how gaming tech works. There are some load time issues with this as there was with Shogun 2, but luckily they aren't nearly as bad as it was originally with Shogun's issues, andLooking at some of the negative reviews given to this game I feel that some people need to get their entitlement in check. CA did a great job on this, and I'm sorry your 8 year old pc is having trouble but that's how gaming tech works. There are some load time issues with this as there was with Shogun 2, but luckily they aren't nearly as bad as it was originally with Shogun's issues, and they are already releasing a patch for it.

    The game is beautiful and the AI has improved, though its still AI and needs some tweaking. Ive already logged a little over 20 hours into it and I havent had any fps issues except for it chuggs for half a second when I pan over the siege animation on the campaign map.

    As for UI complaints, I really dont get it. It's a great UI. The unit cards are are interestingly designed and the general and legion development is a great additive. You really have to be challenged to not be able to understand this UI.

    Once the patch goes in for fixing the load times I'll give this an 8/10 for now its a solid 7. I put blood sweat and tears into my rig and I'm running ultra at 60+ fps at all times. Have realistic expectations with the machine you work with    … Expand
  22. Efa
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    A good game, with huge potential, if not for the fact it simply doesn't feel finished.
    Riddled with bugs and frame rate issues, this is only a Beta. Plus, with all the "new" features (by which I mean all the removed features) It just doesn't feel like a sequel, or even part of the series.
  23. CA1994
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    Total War Rome 2 was supposed to be a great step forward into a new generation of total wars. They hyped up the game way to much. The campaign map is so huge and there is no way to zoom out. Military victory conditions are crazy. Just for Rome it is hold 114 cities! There is no campaign options yet to have lesser victory conditions. The battles are fun especially the naval aspect withTotal War Rome 2 was supposed to be a great step forward into a new generation of total wars. They hyped up the game way to much. The campaign map is so huge and there is no way to zoom out. Military victory conditions are crazy. Just for Rome it is hold 114 cities! There is no campaign options yet to have lesser victory conditions. The battles are fun especially the naval aspect with land. But the campaign map is horrible in size and the fact that cities are in provinces now. If you don't own all the cities in the provenience they are unhappy. Also the fact that you have to passive the population that takes so long. There is different cultures that really hurt public order. Cities start out generally unhappy until you control the whole province and can issue a edict that can improve happiness. At least from what I played it seems like armies can only be 10 units large. Also on day 1 the battles I played online were laggy. I am happy to get back the factions and away from the avatar they did that part right. The awesome battles are the only reason I am giving it a 7 instead of 6.… Expand
  24. miyadaman
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    There sure are a lot of whiners around on the internet. Look, I understand being frustrated about the game not playing correctly on your machine, but at least acknowledge that it's different for every machine and try to review the actual game after getting that out of the way. For the record, I run the game on Ultra settings and it runs perfectly fine. My friend has bad lag but stillThere sure are a lot of whiners around on the internet. Look, I understand being frustrated about the game not playing correctly on your machine, but at least acknowledge that it's different for every machine and try to review the actual game after getting that out of the way. For the record, I run the game on Ultra settings and it runs perfectly fine. My friend has bad lag but still enjoys it.

    There are many negative reviews with people saying things like "I don't know what authority does and it doesn't say ANYWHERE!" or "There is no 'fire at will' button for ranged troops". Rest assured, the game does tell you EXACTLY what all stats mean and there is a button for fire at will (among all others). The problem is the UI is pretty shoddy and people are too moronic to search for 3 seconds without throwing a hissy fit. You can find 90% of the information you need with the tool-tip pop ups on the campaign map.

    The UI is spectacularly bad. It has everything you need, but as others have said it's a bit un-intuitive. There are a lot of ambiguous terms and numbers thrown at you and you will have to do a little pointing around with the mouse to find out what they do. Or hit F1 for times that doesn't work and open up the in-game encyclopedia.

    The AI, as all Total War games, has bouts of good play and bouts of baffling play. Patches will help here and there's no reason to think the game won't be a standout game after a number of promised weekly patches. The AI is a problem at the moment but I have some confidence patches and mods will fix this. You will sometimes find the enemy overly aggressive and other times overly passive. There's no nice middle ground.

    The battles are better than ever (forgetting the AI for a second). The battle maps are huge and have a ton of things scattered around them for looks and strategy. When troops walk, they walk slowly unlike the Benny Hill motions from previous games. There's a lot to like here. Factor back in the AI and it can be frustrating at times.

    Some of the campaign ideas have poor implementation. Politics is supposed to play a big part but most people are still struggling to figure out exactly what it does. They took out family trees but they tried to expand the political part of things. It's a game of minor subtractions filled by minor additions. It's not worse, it's just different. Most people seem to be complaining because they can't figure out the new system. That doesn't mean the system sucks, just that you're an idiot. Rest assured, there is nothing that breaks the traditional way Total War games are played. In fact, if you've constantly felt like the campaign side of TW games felt a bit shallow and flat, Rome 2 might be your thing. There are many things added to add complexity.

    Overall, there's a great game here with technical issues. I would give this a 9/10 but one can't overlook the technical issues. Therefore, it should be around a 6-7 on what it currently is. Personally, I view the problems it has as completely fixable so I side closer to a 7. Ignore the children screaming bloody murder over a few bugs.    … Expand
  25. Dairko
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    I have to say... I don't really understand the crap-storm that this game is getting.

    Past that I will say this: Despite poor optimization, and some strange and seemingly confusing and somewhat unfinished features and AI, this game is anything but terrible. Get past its problems that others can't seem climb over, and you will still have massive fun on a (slightly less) massive scale.    I have to say... I don't really understand the crap-storm that this game is getting.

    Past that I will say this:
    Despite poor optimization, and some strange and seemingly confusing and somewhat unfinished features and AI, this game is anything but terrible. Get past its problems that others can't seem climb over, and you will still have massive fun on a (slightly less) massive scale. The new army and agent features are great, however generals die very fast compared to the other games, unfortunately due to the 1 year turns. While the interfaces are rather shuffled, learning them doesn't necessarily take that much time. Also the diplomacy is a bit more usefully equipped compared to its original.

    As far as Skirmishes are concerned, the AI does seem rather off in terms of ability to coordinate its army properly. While it does seem like its trying to do something sometimes, it seems rather mindless. Obviously the AI programmer was either lazy, not given enough time to finish it, or simply did not have enough to work with. The enemy AI seems to only attack head on, trying to end the battle as soon as possible, no flanking maneuvers or anything really to out maneuver the player. However, it does seem to keep them in formation rather well, but because of the fast style of game-play compared to the previous games, battles are rather short, all units seem to lack proper armor ratings, or they simply rout when they suffer a few casualties, same with stronger units as well. Difficulty doesnt seem to change this very much, if at all. On top of that... there seems to be a lack of single faction unit diversity. Though I must say, when the highest graphics settings do work, the battlefield looks astonishing. Arrows and stones are bouncing off shields, and armor design look fantastic. Textures seem to not work properly though (a fairly quick fix is hopefully incoming... and for all these problems).

    Even with the poor AI, and poor optimization, the game does offer a lot for your purchase. The online/LAN coop works nearly as good as the single player campaign. There are plenty of factions to fight and trade with, though most of them are small and and only seem to be there to fill up empty spaces. The map is absolutely enormous, but it will take a rather long time to conquer all of it. I do feel though that CA was lying about a "more epic scale," as the game no longer offers a "Campeign Unit Multiplier." And the voice acting seems a bit silly, and sort of out of place.

    While its got its many problems, the game is not quite broken. All ports checked, this game is a must buy for total war fans. But it may be best for others to wait until a few of the weekly patches are made. This game deserves a bit less than it got from critics, but deserves much more than a bunch of quickly thrown out 0/10s from mindless drivel when the game hasn't been fully experienced. As a release, this game gets from me: 68/100    … Expand
  26. BrianU
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    Overall, a rare misstep from the Total War team. I've been a Total War fan since the first Shogun, and I can't help but feel slightly disappointed. That said, there are a number of plusses, too.

    Pros: Lots of factions to explore, tons of replayability as per usual. Naval battles are streamlined (thank God), plus the addition of naval vessels disgorging troops into the land battles is    Overall, a rare misstep from the Total War team. I've been a Total War fan since the first Shogun, and I can't help but feel slightly disappointed. That said, there are a number of plusses, too.

    Pros: Lots of factions to explore, tons of replayability as per usual. Naval battles are streamlined (thank God), plus the addition of naval vessels disgorging troops into the land battles is awesome. Everything looks great (if somewhat brown). The strategic (that is, big map) AI is much better than before: you won't have weak one-city factions suicidally declaring war on your enormous empire anymore, a major problem I've had for a while. The perma-Legion system is cool, though I'd like to name them myself. The province UI system, while taking some getting used to, is actually not that bad after a while.

    Cons: I have no idea how to work the politics part of the game. The new strategic UI is confusing at first, even for a veteran player like myself. Tutorial is lackluster and poor at acclimating the player to the UI. Tactical AI remains poor, actually a step back from Shogun 2, *especially* when they are attacking or defending a town; enemy missile troops will as often run straight into your cohorts as throw their javelins at you. AI is still bad at creating balanced armies, making most of the battles pushovers if you have a balanced force. Occasional lag. Rather long end-turn sequence, 2+ minutes at worst (there's a lot of factions, so this may be unavoidable. Still, I've found myself alt-tabbing to do something else after I hit the "End Turn" button). When you take the last town of a faction, what remains of their armies will bash themselves repeatedly against whatever towns you have near them, chicken-with-its-head-cut-off style, until they run out of troops.

    I think this game needed a bit more polish, and feels rushed in places. I'm going to blame this one on the publisher, unless someone informs me otherwise. I don't regret my purchase and will continue to play, but I can't help feel let down, and look forward to some patches at the very least.    … Expand
  27. vonzuchter
    Apr 27, 2015
    7
    Back for a 4th review.. I gave it zeros in the first two.. then a 9 after patch 15... I feal the need to reduce my rating a litte bit. Its a nice but didnt last the test of time. After I finished it a couple of time I never played again unlike all other Total War titles which I still play today..
  28. Maiser
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    This is not a rage review, i can play it without any lag. I will omit all rage critics because of crashes(even tough they are several atm), because i expect they will solve it. I will just review it as a "non-poluted" game.

    -Worse graphics than shogun 2 total war. -AI, as bad as always. -Commerce destroyed. You can only commerce from your capital, if you have not sea near(or even    This is not a rage review, i can play it without any lag. I will omit all rage critics because of crashes(even tough they are several atm), because i expect they will solve it. I will just review it as a "non-poluted" game.

    -Worse graphics than shogun 2 total war.

    -AI, as bad as always.

    -Commerce destroyed. You can only commerce from your capital, if you have not sea near(or even if you have it and can not build a port for god´s know why) forget it.

    -City improvement system destroyed. How is this that the avarage of buildings for a city are 4 fully improved and can never be more? Ridiculous.

    -Battle system destroyed. The longes battle you will play will last 10 minutes. Units just route in about 20 seconds at most. No blood or nothing, you do not realise if units have fought or not. Also the "epicness" of cities you expected, forget it.

    You are paying for "the popularity" of the franchise, not for the game itself. Did not expect this from CA taking in account it has been the most financed game of all the franchise. They must have spend it in publicity or something, as otherwhise i do not understand how did they got up with this.

    Neither the UI neither the battles makes you feel like "yes, finally i managed to capture this! It is just so arcade and feeling less.

    To sum up i would say a mediocre-good game, but a bad game to be from total war saga. Entertaining but without getting you enthusiastic on it.

    P.D: I have played all total war games since rome total war.    … Expand
  29. Ukgamer
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    The game is great but a lot of bugs and lag at the min that's the reason for a 7 maybe ill give it a 9 or 10 when they sort the game out i don't see why all the hate is on the game i think is not too bad the way it is now
  30. MorkSal
    Sep 5, 2013
    7
    Don't listen to the people who rate this game at the bottom or at the very top.

    The game is fun, it has been stable for me. I'm playing on ultra/extreme settings with little lag (except occasionally during big battles in cities) For people complaining about lackluster AI. This is a total war game. In the history of total war games there has never been stellar AI opponents. *There    Don't listen to the people who rate this game at the bottom or at the very top.

    The game is fun, it has been stable for me. I'm playing on ultra/extreme settings with little lag (except occasionally during big battles in cities)

    For people complaining about lackluster AI. This is a total war game. In the history of total war games there has never been stellar AI opponents.

    *There are problems right now (at the top of the list for me is that there are no drivers optimized for the game). I would recommend waiting a month before getting the game. I imagine most of the bugs will be ironed out by then and I expect drivers for the game at any time that will improve performance.    … Expand
  31. Ed_
    Oct 30, 2013
    7
    After the release of patch 5, the game improved really well. The gameplay became enjoyable and the AI improved slightly.

    The campaign map is very nice, graphics is amazing. The new family and upgrading system are also fascinating, however the one-year turn system is pretty annoying and fast.

    All in all, download all the patches and feel the difference.
  32. toredevir
    Sep 8, 2013
    7
    Lets play statistic: 1285 ratings vs 93k people playing the game right now not caring about metacritic
    753 say it sucks, but only 433 show they like it.. LETS BANISH THIS GAME
  33. Belidon
    Sep 9, 2013
    7
    The atmosphere is all you would want from the sequel to the legendary rome: rome total war. It is a very enjoyable game but it just feels it could've been so much better. It's unoptimized, it lacks depth in the diplomacy and political systems and battles currently suffer from blob fights rather than well executed strategy.

    Patches and potentially mods can make this good game, great.
  34. Franotix
    Oct 3, 2013
    7
    I change my score now

    After many patches, since the first one, I put a 7 instead of a 3 Now the AI will try to destroy the walls, or the doors and enter in the cities at least at very hard difficulty this is what they do before they were standing in front of the wall doing nothing. The AI turns are now alot more fast from what I can see in my advanced campaing at least 5 time    I change my score now

    After many patches, since the first one, I put a 7 instead of a 3

    Now the AI will try to destroy the walls, or the doors and enter in the cities at least at very hard difficulty this is what they do before they were standing in front of the wall doing nothing.

    The AI turns are now alot more fast from what I can see in my advanced campaing at least 5 time more fast than it was... So Now I play more than i waiting, its already a great improvement.

    some capture point on open battlefield have been remove this is a great improvement too
    But theres many point inside a cities and AI split his army sometime because of this, and its really easy to beat them when their unit are all split across a giant city you just got their stack one by one... Still need improvement

    And in average it seem I have better fps for the same graphics I had.    … Expand
  35. Thatweirdguy
    Sep 11, 2013
    7
    Totally horrible stupid A.I and graphics buy even with my high end PC and flag points on the battlefield totally ruined it .Horrible campaign matches that serge battle depend on a stupid flag point
  36. fbtsjxl
    Sep 11, 2013
    7
    The game looks great graphically and we can really feel the atmosphere as armies clash. The campaign map is visually stunning, units move and cities expand in beautiful detail. Overall, we feel that the graphics when on a computer that can handle it are fantastic, yes the engine needs optimisation to cater for the as many people as possible, however with some tweaking we have had a greatThe game looks great graphically and we can really feel the atmosphere as armies clash. The campaign map is visually stunning, units move and cities expand in beautiful detail. Overall, we feel that the graphics when on a computer that can handle it are fantastic, yes the engine needs optimisation to cater for the as many people as possible, however with some tweaking we have had a great experience on a mid-range laptop as well with a combination of low/med settings the game still looks good (obviously not to the extent of ultra or extreme settings).

    Some parts of the game need tweaking and there are some features that still need to be sorted out. However, random bugs aside (and this seems to be varying for a lot of people, we haven't had any game breaking bugs as of yet), the game is a fun experience. The AI will need tweaking, fixes and improvements, until that happens there are a few good mods that help this area a lot!

    There are other mods available that will tailor the gaming experience for you (and we enjoy these mods a lot too!), however the core features of the game are solid but needing some work to either improve or fix in some cases. This doesn't stop us (myself and partner) from having fun! We're enjoying both single player campaigns and co-op campaigns: be forewarned, right now the turns take quite awhile to finish in multiplayer (30 seconds to a minute or two) but this should be optimised eventually, with the amount of factions battling it out on the campaign map this an understandable, but still somewhat annoying, facet of the experience.

    The UI? We like it, it's streamlined for ease of use and quickly conveys information and lets you quickly make things happen on the campaign map, however the details deeper in the game information should be easily accessible as well like with the seperate windows in Shogun 2. This streamlining is at its most useful in the new system for managing regions that centralises city information and upgrades in an easy to use and intuitive panel that allows building decisions to be made quickly and easily.

    What we miss most though is family trees and more a more in-depth character development system like that present in previous titles with many traits, ranks, and even roles for characters to take. The new army traditions systems is fantastic and can only get better through development, we quite like naming our armies too!

    Overall, Rome II offers a lot of fun, and a streamlined user experience that hides a surprising amount of depth. While there are bugs, the ones we have encountered have been minor, and haven’t noticeable detracted from our gaming experience.    … Expand
  37. Defengar
    Sep 15, 2013
    7
    I did not have as many issues as everyone else seemed to have had on launch, but i did have several glaring ones (mutilated textures, retarded AI, ships thats would glitch out of control, and of course ridiculous lengths of time being taken up by AI turns). This is really unacceptable from a company thats been making these games for over a decade now and themselves said they had a farI did not have as many issues as everyone else seemed to have had on launch, but i did have several glaring ones (mutilated textures, retarded AI, ships thats would glitch out of control, and of course ridiculous lengths of time being taken up by AI turns). This is really unacceptable from a company thats been making these games for over a decade now and themselves said they had a far larger budget for this game than any they have done in the series so far, and that it was the best TW yet. I wish I could give this game a 9-10, but i just cant.… Expand
  38. Rogan
    Oct 14, 2013
    7
    I really like this game, it might not be as good as Shogun, but it isn't as bad as Ride To Hell Retribution, seriously giving this game a 0 out of 10? With some patches the annoyances in this game will be fixed.
  39. dans221
    Sep 18, 2013
    7
    I pre-ordered the game and I was a little bit disappointed at some of the release bugs. To be sure, it is a TW game and it follows the same old formula so if you like the formula, the game is actually pretty solid underneath; it just needs to some more polish. And after two patches, it's been running a lot better so I have hopes it's going to keep improving.
  40. laris
    Sep 19, 2013
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have only one word to say: disappointment...
    After of ten years of being royal fun to total war franchise the reward i get is to be foolish and roober like a ten years kid! After a year of promotion and brainwash of all the great stuff this game has i realise that i will never going to buy a product of total war. You spend all your money on promoting and not to even finished the game! Where are the great cities? what's the point of having great cities without having a "show on battle map button" And what's the stupid idea of buying a DLC? What's wrong with you? Even rome 1 total war had more unique units than Rome 2! And where are the wonders? Where is the acropolis of Athens? And what an obelisk doing in the middle of a Greek city? Acropolis of Athens was built 200 years before the game start. IT SHOULD BE ALREADE BE BUILT, not wait 30 years!!! And what's wrong with all those battles? 2-3 MINUTES???????????? MINUTES!!! I think the other comments have cover me...
    TOTALLY DISAPPOINT...    … Expand
  41. mortendc
    Sep 20, 2013
    7
    This game is very good. I just created a profile to enter this review. Because of all the bad reviews. I have more than 25 hours played and I agree at first there was several issues that was annoying but the 2. patch has improved the gameplay dramatically.
    It still needs some tweaking but all in all I recommend strategy fans to buy the game.
    Thats all
  42. bantad87
    Sep 24, 2013
    7
    As a Total War addict, I give the game a 7/10. The core design is solid; a strong gaming engine, good environment art, character art is fairly decent given the scale of the game, and the UI is pretty solid. The campaign has been streamlined to focus less on micromanagement, and more on macro in order to allow the player to focus more on battles and strategy. Unfortunately, Rome 2 suffersAs a Total War addict, I give the game a 7/10. The core design is solid; a strong gaming engine, good environment art, character art is fairly decent given the scale of the game, and the UI is pretty solid. The campaign has been streamlined to focus less on micromanagement, and more on macro in order to allow the player to focus more on battles and strategy. Unfortunately, Rome 2 suffers from bugs, glitches, and laziness in design. The battle and campaign maps suffer from transparency overdraw which results in massive FPS losses unless you lower grass, trees, and particle effects to low, The AI (at least for me) generally performs acceptably, but occasionally will glitch, fail, or make dumb decisions. Diplomacy towards the player is acceptable, but there is little-to-no diplomacy between AI factions. The AI factions are extremely intimidated by the player, and almost never declare war or assault the player. The result is a campaign AI that is easier to defeat when compared to Shogun 2's launch AI. Overall, given the scope of the game I recognize that Creative Assembly attempted a large overhaul of the series, but they failed to successfully implement the new features. Not being a pessimist, I rate the game as "average" at launch, and hope that CA will continue to patch and improve the game over the coming year. Lastly, I'd like to add that Creative Assembly has never successfully implemented a "good" AI. If we as total war fans expect good AI, we should turn to the modding community, which has always been the case with Total War games. Should all the "issues" be ironed out, I think this game would be well deserving of a rating between 8.5 and 8.8.… Expand
  43. orctown-troll
    Dec 20, 2014
    7
    If it runs at all the game is GOOD. The map is big and beautiful. The tactical battles are fun. After that, sad to say there are numerous problems with this game design, so it is not the great game it might have been. I won't get into the details, since others have covered them, but obvious bad points include: instant transports for armies... clunky region development..... excessiveIf it runs at all the game is GOOD. The map is big and beautiful. The tactical battles are fun. After that, sad to say there are numerous problems with this game design, so it is not the great game it might have been. I won't get into the details, since others have covered them, but obvious bad points include: instant transports for armies... clunky region development..... excessive DLC....crappy optimization.… Expand
  44. jadereviewer
    Oct 6, 2013
    7
    The overall concept is sound, and a large improvment for total war. On release, this was poorly executed but three patches later this game is very good fun. Bugs aside, this game is good fun- but a step backwards for SHOGUN 2: Total War.
  45. Brawlz
    Oct 21, 2013
    7
    Despite a rocky start, Creative Assembly have managed to fine tune Total War: Rome II, into a game worth of the Total War title, The AI seems vastly improved from launch, with the previous AI battle "Tactics" no longer consisting of running into a solid wall of spears, and actually using the terrain against you. But alot of things were changed from the older Total War games which kindaDespite a rocky start, Creative Assembly have managed to fine tune Total War: Rome II, into a game worth of the Total War title, The AI seems vastly improved from launch, with the previous AI battle "Tactics" no longer consisting of running into a solid wall of spears, and actually using the terrain against you. But alot of things were changed from the older Total War games which kinda hurt the games, with Generals dying really quickly from old age, leaving little incentive to put time into individual generals. The political system has also changed, with faction leaders being absent from the game, where instead you play a House or Party, which has to vie for political power. Not the same as invading a entire nation, your King/Faction Leader at the head of the fighting.

    Overall though a good game, People that didn't like it when it first came out should give it another chance if they were dissatisfied. Your opinions may change after you see the improvements made over the past two months    … Expand
  46. larek
    Nov 12, 2013
    7
    A lot better now, they released a free dlc and have fixed some of the major bugs. Now perhaps worth the money, before it wasn't by far. Yet it still is laggy, even with superior rig.
  47. DarkMandalore
    Nov 18, 2013
    7
    After 90 hours I can say I like the game quite a bit although I'm somewhat disappointed in it. They made a bold move trying the new system's out but some have come out tedious or limiting by quite a bit. I miss that in the first Rome you could have as many troops as you could afford and split them into as many "armies" as you liked general or no general, the only limitations were did youAfter 90 hours I can say I like the game quite a bit although I'm somewhat disappointed in it. They made a bold move trying the new system's out but some have come out tedious or limiting by quite a bit. I miss that in the first Rome you could have as many troops as you could afford and split them into as many "armies" as you liked general or no general, the only limitations were did you have enough available population and do you have the income to sustain your armies. I also miss being able to fully develop cities and towns with all upgrades based on population rather than having 3-6 slots to work with total. In most towns you can't have any walls, not even a simple defensive palisade. There are definitely some nasty bugs, though the worst I've personally encountered is when the enemy is coming from the sea they tend to have at least one ship lock up where your forces cannot hit it without siege weaponry. Troops cannot board vessels on the shore to go and deal with them even if the ship in question is one they themselves came ashore on. The AI has been really tame in the world map and is purely driven by capture points in many battles. The AI will regularly try to run right through multiple phalanx formations to go right for the capture points making battles no longer about the fight so much as watching your troops murder hundreds of unthinking AI troops hell bent on taking that point regardless of what's in the way. The food and squalor system is somewhat obnoxious. You'll have entire town building sets dedicated to one or the other. There's a command console, but it doesn't do anything aside from closing the game when you type "quit". The AI has a nasty habit of demanding money from you for ALL diplomatic agreements, even for non-aggression treaties to keep you from attacking them, yes, that's right, they want YOU to pay THEM to keep you from attacking and conquering them. Auto-resolve can be quite inaccurate on occasion, some battles you'll walk up to say you would lose almost all your troops but then you fight it and lose almost none of your men while others put you in favor when the enemy actually has a notably superior force. That doesn't happen often but it does happen enough to be mentioned. There is no demand surrender button in battles for use when you've got a notable upper hand, only "Concede Defeat" meaning that if you have a bug like I mentioned earlier and no battle timer then you cannot hope to win courtesy of a stupid glitch.

    That all said there are a lot of positives. The graphics are great, especially if you get a mod to remove the grainy, always afternoonish effect. When there's no capture point combat seems to be MUCH better, the AI actually tries to fight instead of running right through your lines. The map looks great. I LOVE the new line of sight features. Even though, like I said, the AI is fairly tame to the player, you'll see the borders of nations change frequently, wars happen quite often and can be vicious often completely devouring entire nations. New nations rise and fall often. There's several ways to make your money and if you do it right you can run your nation tax free with the maximum in full flag armies. Cities look nice and are usually pretty well built. No nation is immune to defeat. HUGE world map. I'm really liking the spy agent capabilities, no campaign is complete without them really. It's pretty darn fun to play once you snag the right balance mods from such places as the steam workshop or TWCenter. There are many mods you can get and if you like you can mod it yourself for a custom balanced game tailored to your idea of a proper balance.

    If there was one major addition I'd like to see it would be something along the lines of a big continent expansion allowing you to play all of Africa and Asia as well as Europe complete with local factions of the time. I hope with the future they can fix the issues I've listed and put out some awesome expansion grade content at the same time. The game will take work to be perfect, but it's not bad. It's not a typical Total War game, but it's still one I'd recommend.    … Expand
  48. baktor
    Nov 30, 2013
    7
    This game takes a step back from Shogun 2. The game does have quite a few bugs, most fixed now. The combat has some awesome features with automatic unit grouping and better AI. The campaign is just as good and improves on the territory features. It feels lacking of differences and strategies from AI. The entire game will freeze up and drop to 3-6 FPS in some siege battles. This drop isThis game takes a step back from Shogun 2. The game does have quite a few bugs, most fixed now. The combat has some awesome features with automatic unit grouping and better AI. The campaign is just as good and improves on the territory features. It feels lacking of differences and strategies from AI. The entire game will freeze up and drop to 3-6 FPS in some siege battles. This drop is after a constant 75~FPS in everything.… Expand
  49. Waterz
    Dec 22, 2013
    7
    It is an amazing game much like it's predecessor, yet as many point out it seems more or less unfinished.
    The initially released version 1.0 barely deserves beta status, and i would deem not even worth playing.
    Update to latest beta patch (even though the patch is in beta and can contain some minor problems, the game heavily needs all the fixes they bring in the newer patches!), and you    It is an amazing game much like it's predecessor, yet as many point out it seems more or less unfinished.
    The initially released version 1.0 barely deserves beta status, and i would deem not even worth playing.
    Update to latest beta patch (even though the patch is in beta and can contain some minor problems, the game heavily needs all the fixes they bring in the newer patches!), and you will find it not just playable but very enjoyable!
    Alas you will continually find stuff like phalanx units having so many problems you will all together drop them, and ranged units not firing like suppose to.
    All in all, the recent patches has made the game enjoyable, and hopefully the future patches will restore it to the polished game it deserves to be!     … Expand
  50. Driftic
    Jan 6, 2014
    7
    At launch, it was more enjoyable to electrocute your eyeball with a stun gun than play this game. But now there have been a lot of patches that have semi-fixed the ai and performance. I have found the game fun after these patches, and with mods that make the textures better and enhance the campaign Rome 2 is very addicting if you are a fan of the genre.
  51. Chunderfield
    Mar 24, 2014
    7
    Total War has a long, illustrious history. The pinnacle of which was Empire: Total War. That's is about as fine as they come. Since Empire we've had Shogun 2 and now Rome 2. I found Shogun to be underwhelming and now with Rome 2, the downward spiral into obscurity continues.

    Pros: 1. Phenomenal graphical potential if your hardware can handle it. 2. Cinematic camera mode. Makes it    Total War has a long, illustrious history. The pinnacle of which was Empire: Total War. That's is about as fine as they come. Since Empire we've had Shogun 2 and now Rome 2. I found Shogun to be underwhelming and now with Rome 2, the downward spiral into obscurity continues.

    Pros:
    1. Phenomenal graphical potential if your hardware can handle it.
    2. Cinematic camera mode. Makes it quick and easy to get a glimpse of the action up close.
    3. Strategic camera mode. A nice zoomed-out tactical camera option that's very reminiscent of Supreme Commander.
    4. HUGE world map.
    5. Decent in-game Encyclopedia
    6. "Continue Campaign" option right from the launch screen in Steam.

    Cons:
    1. The UI is unnecessarily huge and impeding
    2. The In game advice cannot be turned off. No matter how many times I click "suppress advice", I still get it. If you turn it on "Audio only advice" to avoid getting the extremely poorly animated advisor from popping up, It still pops up, only with no text.
    3. Animations were underwhelming. Units looked like little paper-doll clones.
    4. WAY too much DLC for extra cash. The only one worth getting (and should've come standard with the game) is the Blood and Gore DLC. Makes me feel like I bought an intentionally bare-bones game with the intent to sell me DLC later.
    5. Standard Total War long load times.
    6. Research trees are small and boring.
    7. Ultra high system requirements. It's a real hog. Crashes and freezes way more than I care to mention. I've been steadily reducing graphics settings in an attempt to improve stability.
    8. Infuriatingly clunky political system controls.
    9. Voice acting became repetitive and corny after the first hour.
    10. Generals have magical. ♥♥♥♥ing. powers. That you have to manually control in battle.

    Conclusion:
    Rome 2 stays true to its Total War heritage. I jumped in and it felt familiar and comfortable. It's a weak and unworthy successor to the original Rome though. The resource management is basic, and the empire building is rather shallow. Empire: Total War felt deep. I felt invested in that masterpiece. I feel very little with Rome 2 other than disappointment at wasted potential. It's a big budget game that's worth no more than $30.    … Expand
  52. JonMetacritic74
    Apr 1, 2014
    7
    The game is far from flawless, but it is no junk as most of the users say. With the latest patches Creative fixed the game and it rather enjoyable to play. It was a shame to launch the game with such a poor AI. However, they tried to improve the game and answer the fans' demands. It is a must if you like the Total War series.
  53. usmanali
    Apr 13, 2014
    7
    overall the game was not bad although it has some features that needs to be improved regarding the details.AI does not play so bad but it is also not convincing.overall a good game.
  54. metamoth
    Jul 11, 2014
    7
    I used to wonder why in spite of all the very good professional reviews there were so many criticisms and negative feedback from users. Then when I bought this game at a steam sale a couple of months back I realised why... cos they are all true. And yet... I've had an enjoyable 89 hours with this game thus far. There are many good things about it that perhaps is lost amidst the criticism.I used to wonder why in spite of all the very good professional reviews there were so many criticisms and negative feedback from users. Then when I bought this game at a steam sale a couple of months back I realised why... cos they are all true. And yet... I've had an enjoyable 89 hours with this game thus far. There are many good things about it that perhaps is lost amidst the criticism. The campaign map is a thing of beauty. It is the best in a TW game so far. The graphics, especially of towns and cities are very good if you have the right equipment to play at ultra settings. The field battles (not siege battles) are comparable to the best TW games. Diplomacy is definitely way more interesting than past TW games. If you are a fan of ancient history you will find much to like in R2 as it is populated with lots of ancient nations. The strategic situation is ever changing with public order, political intrigues and rebellions giving you something else to worry about apart from how to fight your enemies. Naval battles are some of the most enjoyable for me. Ramming ships just doesn't get old. Still the game is far from perfect as you can read from the negative reviews, but for me it is very fun to play. If CA finally makes siege battles challenging I'll be more than happy with this game.… Expand
  55. cononda
    Feb 25, 2022
    7
    #New review Rating: 7
    After the last patch, this game is finally in a state I can recommend it. No need for mods anymore to enjoy it. No need to buy the DLC either. CA finally delivered.
    # my old review Rating: 3 overhyped, underdelivered. Even the Total War™: ROME II - Emperor Edition does not deliver satisfaction. The sieges are no challenge. The AI not very smart. I hope they will    #New review Rating: 7
    After the last patch, this game is finally in a state I can recommend it. No need for mods anymore to enjoy it. No need to buy the DLC either. CA finally delivered.

    # my old review Rating: 3
    overhyped, underdelivered. Even the Total War™: ROME II - Emperor Edition does not deliver satisfaction. The sieges are no challenge. The AI not very smart. I hope they will learn and make quality some day. Until then I spend my money somewhere else.    … Expand
  56. TheIxianKing
    Dec 31, 2014
    7
    I really liked the game and the whole idea of a faction conquering all the others! Some game mechanics like the civil war or the sieges were really awesome and made the game always interesting. Despite the advantages of the game there are some draw backs too. First fo all, the A.I. of the game isn't really good...
    When it comes to the campaign map, it doesn't think like an army but like a    I really liked the game and the whole idea of a faction conquering all the others! Some game mechanics like the civil war or the sieges were really awesome and made the game always interesting. Despite the advantages of the game there are some draw backs too. First fo all, the A.I. of the game isn't really good...
    When it comes to the campaign map, it doesn't think like an army but like a very sophisticated machine! What I mean is that the game will position its armies like it knew how far your army can go or what units it has! It's a game that you will really like and enjoy! (play with Seleucid or Bactria!!!)    … Expand
  57. Gurdur
    Aug 18, 2015
    7
    A disappointment compared to its prequel (which is the best strategy game ever made in my opinion), but still a decent game after installing all the patches. Worth a try.
  58. HammerExcellent
    Jun 22, 2016
    7
    + Strategy games is fine according to charts
    + Detailed city design
    + Sea battles exhilarating

    -Artificial intelligence
    -Turn the duration of slowness
    -Graphic errors
  59. Axilley
    Jul 22, 2021
    7
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good not a legend tw r 2(
  60. WCM320
    Feb 6, 2021
    7
    I give this a 7/10 because its a good total war game, people who are giving it low marks for (Insert reason) Kind of seam to forget that no one else has done it better in this genre so far.
  61. Vectis99
    Oct 24, 2018
    7
    A fun and creative take on a real time strategy game focused on tactical combat exclusively and not resource management or building. The single player "4X" campaign is crude, tacked on, and arbitrarily balanced, but nevertheless remains fun and satisfying. The heart of the game comes from the combat encounters which are very beautifully and expertly rendered from a graphical perspective.A fun and creative take on a real time strategy game focused on tactical combat exclusively and not resource management or building. The single player "4X" campaign is crude, tacked on, and arbitrarily balanced, but nevertheless remains fun and satisfying. The heart of the game comes from the combat encounters which are very beautifully and expertly rendered from a graphical perspective. The audio quality is not bad, but the audio design of the game isn't really a selling point. Thematically, Rome II is very bland and boring, presenting an uninteresting and romanticized version of warfare in an ancient sense. The game has a moderate learning curve and a high skill cap, fostering the components necessary for competitive appeal. However, this is overridden by arbitrary balancing and a "unit value" system which couldn't hope to do justice to the complex interactions between armies and factions. The main frustrating element of Rome II is its cumbersome, overbearing, and obtrusive business model; the value of this game should be evaluated accounting for the sum price of all expansions and addons.… Expand
  62. Tilt1k
    Feb 5, 2019
    7
    Probably the worst total war game (according to fans) of them all. Yep it doesnt add new features, it just simplifies everything. But still i have around 350 hours on this game, because you know what? With Radious total war and more mods added by community is f*cuking awesome !! That feeling when you get overrun by Carthagian elephants and you just lose your **** for the first time isProbably the worst total war game (according to fans) of them all. Yep it doesnt add new features, it just simplifies everything. But still i have around 350 hours on this game, because you know what? With Radious total war and more mods added by community is f*cuking awesome !! That feeling when you get overrun by Carthagian elephants and you just lose your **** for the first time is awesome.

    So for me base game=thrash and bugged, with mods = pretty damn good game. CA didnt do great job, but modders did.    … Expand
  63. Shimmeywill
    Feb 26, 2020
    7
    Despite the solid visuals and great unit design, the ultimate combat system is a step back from the other titles.
  64. Nerevarinho
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    Enjoyed to learn the machanics. Interesting battle system, which I only won in tutorial. Fun fact, game is setted in italian, playing in italy, soldiers speak british english.
  65. nomeoriginale
    Aug 6, 2021
    7
    одна из лучших стратегий на данный момент .
  66. TheOnlineGamer
    Sep 17, 2013
    6
    For what it's worth, it's a decent game. It does however, have a fantastic foundation and one I hope gets expanded upon in the future.

    Full of dull moments and gameplay mechanics really brings this otherwise good game down. Some of the pop-ins and lags also drag things out and the execution for the game is EXTREMELY lazy! Hope things get better in Rome 3.....
  67. Typo
    Sep 6, 2013
    6
    So after logging about 10 hours into the game it is safe to say that there are issues with RTW2 but, unlike some on this board (which I understand after dealing with these issues for all of the recent TW games) I still see a very bright future for RTW2.

    The biggest issue I have is that the learning curve, because publishers have gone away from printed manuals, is very steep. I found    So after logging about 10 hours into the game it is safe to say that there are issues with RTW2 but, unlike some on this board (which I understand after dealing with these issues for all of the recent TW games) I still see a very bright future for RTW2.

    The biggest issue I have is that the learning curve, because publishers have gone away from printed manuals, is very steep. I found myself stumbling about as the Iceni not really understanding or knowing the effects of putting an army in "Raid" would be. I couldn't grasp for awhile how to manage population growth (it makes you choose, essentially, which settlement to expand instead of being able to do every settlement whenever) or how to split armies. However, once you do figure these things out, it becomes apparent what RTW2 was going for, authenticity.

    I know there are skeptics out there who just wanted a more awesome Shogun 2 with Rome or a high end Medieval II with stellar graphics and I'm not excusing CA for not delivering on that end (that being said, my machine, which is not top of the line, has run the game without crashes and enjoyable level graphics. Crashes which, on the same machine, I still experience with Shogun 2) but I think I can see that CA was going for which was a motif of authenticity. Those unit cards you hate? Those are based of black-figure vases from Ancient Greece that were treasured across the classical world. Armies weren't individual units that were recruited and sent out the were raised en masse and meaningful, empire defining clashes were mammoth affairs, not dozens of smaller armies running about (that is what the Raid stance implies). Contending with internal political rivals was a way of life for nearly every political unit from those times. These were choices CA made to convey a sense of realism and reality of many of the classical world's most prominent leaders.

    Again, if we want to talk about AI, bugs, and disappointing graphics, I couldn't agree more. CA most certainly should've put more time and effort into those areas to make sure they were the best they could be. But did anyone really find the AI that atrocious its worthy of a 0? I still command my armies with the same sense of ability as I have in any other TW iteration (minus Empire's of course) and with just as much enjoyment.

    What I'm saying is this game makes you put in the time. You aren't going to get high end units within 50 turns. You aren't going to wipe out half of the Eastern Mediterranean and start a new campaign because you are bored (admittedly, aided by the army and fleet cap limits) you will have to build trust with allies slowly throw NA pacts, trade agreements, defensive alliances, etc. RTW2 is about actually building an empire not flexing muscles instantaneously.

    In the end does this game have its issues? Yes. Should these have been resolve prior to release? Absolutely. But I can't sit here in good conscience and bash a game where I was able to crush Epirus with a fleet based army while my Athenian allies attacked from land. I can't bash a game where I was able to defend my Iceni city from two armies but pulling them into a choke point, watching them break on my shield wall, and then run them down with skirmishers and chariots. Where my generals are in just as much danger from the enemy as they are, truly, from rivals within their own faction. Or where you have to make a snap decision as a leader about a celebrity citizen. Or a game that allows me to "Raid" and destabilize an entire hostile region inciting civil wars to soften it up for my true thrust.

    Rome 2 is a flawed game but, when, not if, these issues get corrected I think the players who stick around, learn, and dig are going to find a very enjoyable gaming experience. Its these gems of gameplay mentioned above that have left me with a sense of hope for RTW2 future and, hopefully, you revisit it and see some of them for yourself as well.    … Expand
  68. darkcerb
    Sep 5, 2013
    6
    I figured the no graphics drivers from nvidia/amd/ati would give this game a low score.

    Everything about the actual game play is fine guys. in one or two patches...and with minimal effort from graphics card company's it'll be fine.

    This exact situation is why metacritic is considered a giant joke.
  69. 2484Stryker
    Sep 11, 2013
    6
    Rome 2 is essentially a shadow & husk of its predecessor, albeit with a few more technical glitches and questionable design changes. While some added features such as the provincial system were interesting, what CA took away effectively hindered my ability to enjoy the game as a whole. Rome 2 feels too streamlined, too simplified, too poorly polished. From the campaign map UI interfaceRome 2 is essentially a shadow & husk of its predecessor, albeit with a few more technical glitches and questionable design changes. While some added features such as the provincial system were interesting, what CA took away effectively hindered my ability to enjoy the game as a whole. Rome 2 feels too streamlined, too simplified, too poorly polished. From the campaign map UI interface to the unit stack icons during real-time battles, it feels like CA treated them almost as an afterthought. Furthermore, some features that were added either made very little sense, or were so poorly implemented that they ultimately were self-defeating.

    In the final analysis, Rome 2 is not a horrible game; it's an above-average yet quite buggy game that should have been better designed, beta-tested more thoroughly, then given deeper polish. And while it might not be a failure compared to the plethora of other games released these days, I do consider it a Total War series disappointment.    … Expand
  70. Kackur
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    The score I'm giving this game reflects it's current state. I feel there may be a decent title hiding here behind the many bugs and performance issues but it is rather hard to see at the moment. Currently the game is very close to unplayable. It is filling with graphical glitches, performance issues and crashes. For the more tech savy of us there are ways to tweak the settings so theThe score I'm giving this game reflects it's current state. I feel there may be a decent title hiding here behind the many bugs and performance issues but it is rather hard to see at the moment. Currently the game is very close to unplayable. It is filling with graphical glitches, performance issues and crashes. For the more tech savy of us there are ways to tweak the settings so the game does run somewhat smoothly and stable, however I feel many people will not get to that point.
    Bugs aside there are other issues with this game that really need to be addressed. The largest of these being the UI. It is complete Don't get me wrong it looks very pretty, but that is all that it has going for it. The biggest grip I have with it is the lack of detail. This is a game with countless stats that you need to manage to succeed at, however there is no way to get a list of the current stats or a description of what they do for either your cities or generals. When your generals or cities gain promotions you get to choose between bonuses such as +1 authority or +10% growth rate. However, since you have no way to check what your current values are or even what these stats do exactly you really can't make an informed decision. I still have no clue what authority does. Searching it in the games online manual comes up with nothing. Additionally the games does not list your cities current growth rates. So how are you supposed to decide if a 10% growth rate increase is a good direction to go in? And this is the same for virtually all the stats. About the only stat that it does show you is food. However it doesn't explain how this affects anything!! Does having more food make my cities grow faster? Or does it affect happiness? Seriously what is the point of all these stats if we can't use them to further the game play...
    Now on to the tactical section. Once again the UI fails here. Every time you reselect a group of units it resets their formation. So you are forced to give them new formation orders every single time you want to move them. Additionally for some reason they decided to do away with the group movement and rotation controls. As far as I can tell there is no way to just tell your troops to walk forward. Additionally when you have multiple units selected you often can't tell them to run as a group. Sometimes you can sometimes you can't. This is true even when all the units are capable of running.
    That being said there are things done right. The best thing that this game currently has going for it is the extreme diversity in troops and cultures. It is obvious the developers put a lot of time in fleshing out the various factions and I really appreciate that. This was one thing that I couldn't stand about Shogun. All the factions were just slight variations of a common set, which made sense for historical reasons, but at the same time deprived it of re-playability.
    Other than that Rome II does right what many of the other titles in the series do, however in many aspects UI especially it is a step backwards.
    I really hope that CA fixes this title. I see potential here, but as it currently stands I can't give this a score higher than a 6.    … Expand
  71. Gil8ert
    Sep 11, 2013
    6
    I've put in about 30 hours so far, so I think that's enough for an initial review.

    Given the complexity of the game mechanics, I'm more than willing to forgive the bugs it must be one hell of a mission to debug this game! But I have played all the TW games except the first Shogun so I'm definitely a veteran. Firstly, the campaign map is unforgivable in it's playability. I have an    I've put in about 30 hours so far, so I think that's enough for an initial review.

    Given the complexity of the game mechanics, I'm more than willing to forgive the bugs it must be one hell of a mission to debug this game! But I have played all the TW games except the first Shogun so I'm definitely a veteran.

    Firstly, the campaign map is unforgivable in it's playability. I have an Alienware laptop that is only 2 years old, and it was happy handling the Shogun 2 Campaign map. Rome II is not happy at all, even with the fog of war covering most of the map. I'm talking low frame rates, which I find inexplicable. There is nothing going on in the campaign map which is significantly more complex than Medieval II, and yet it takes up many times the processing power simply to run the graphics. The graphics aren't as important as the game. Go all the way back to Medieval and you'll find a quality game still, even though it looks a lot less graphically resplendent.
    Tied in with this is the number of factions available. It wouldn't be so much of a problem if they each didn't take at least 2 seconds to process their moves. With about 50 factions available that's at least 2 minutes to wait for the end of a turn. Couple that with the horrible campaign map frame rate and the campaign side of the game is woefully slow, with the key word here being 'unnecessarily.' Now I understand better systems will cost me less time but as I meet the minimum spec to play the game, I would expect the game to run properly on minimum spec. If you bought Battlefield 3 with a minimum spec machine, then you'd expect 30fps. If the game only ran at 15fps, you'd soon be questioning where the hell they pulled their 'minimum spec' requirements from!
    Next, the management of towns has changed. It looks as though they've tried to dumb down the complexity of the management but have managed instead to make your understanding of how to manage your province impenetrable. They did explain on their forum that they were trying to avoid the amass and conquer style tactics usually employed in the other games, but I personally find this new management style to be horrible. Very little flexibility in managing your towns, very little idea of how to split your building types effectively.
    Then you have the army units themselves. You now need a general in order to have an army and the number of generals is limited by the number of towns you own. This means if you raced in to conquer a town and won, and wanted to move all your archers west to another battle you would have to take that entire army west, drop the archers off and then bring your army back. This is HORRIBLE! And totally unrealistic, which isn't necessarily a hard hitting criticism of a computer game but as they've prided themselves on their realism so far I think it holds strong.
    You no longer need to build fleets to move your army, just walk your army through a port and onto the sea and suddenly they're all in boats. Why? It's a horrible idea.
    The battles themselves are pretty similar to previous titles and so can be a lot of fun. But there is some proper dodgy AI going on in them.
    So all in all, rather disappointing. I really, really enjoyed Shogun II, and the follow up Fall of the Samurai. I can't recommend Rome II to anyone. The changes they've made are for the worse, and it does feel like another dumbing down exercise like with Diablo 3 or Company of Heroes 2. I'm quite sure that pretty soon every game will involve just 1 button to mash repeatedly. After all, that'll be the entire market covered. It strikes me weird that anyone would even attempt to dumb down Total War. The specs to get it running mean only geeks will be playing it anyway.

    I'm not going to shout at CA, I'm not going to get angry. I'm just disappointed. And anyone who's messed up their school year know that is by far the most devastating comment you can get.    … Expand
  72. TomPD
    Sep 10, 2013
    6
    I have now put in 40 plus hours to the game playing the single player campaign on legendary. Initially I rated a 9/10 but I was too hasty.
    Bottom line is this game has so many issues, so many bugs. The AI presents very little challenge. Optimization is poor. Somwhere underneath it all is a game worth playing and that's why it doesn't score lower. Nowhere to go but up now.
    Check out    I have now put in 40 plus hours to the game playing the single player campaign on legendary. Initially I rated a 9/10 but I was too hasty.
    Bottom line is this game has so many issues, so many bugs. The AI presents very little challenge. Optimization is poor. Somwhere underneath it all is a game worth playing and that's why it doesn't score lower. Nowhere to go but up now.

    Check out the Angry Joe review of this game on YouTube. It captures the sentiment most of us have I would argue.    … Expand
  73. Ayestes
    Sep 30, 2013
    6
    Given mod and patch support I see the game turning out very well, but at the moment just like with most Total War games you pretty much need to wait out the initial period of issues. That said, I did enjoy a full campaign already so it's not horrible by any means it's just a disappointment compared to Shogun. This game does carry a bunch of improved features though which removed a lot ofGiven mod and patch support I see the game turning out very well, but at the moment just like with most Total War games you pretty much need to wait out the initial period of issues. That said, I did enjoy a full campaign already so it's not horrible by any means it's just a disappointment compared to Shogun. This game does carry a bunch of improved features though which removed a lot of the tedium, which I liked. Just wait a few months if you are interested and I'm sure the game will be fine.… Expand
  74. Furious28289
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Played for a day but got bored of it real quick unfortunately. Ill try to give an honest assessment.

    CONS - Battles become a giant blob of units mess - One year per turn has destroyed the attachment and reward you get from slowly training up your generals and agents, they just keep dying which brings up the "noble death" cinematic over and OVER again. Agents are also VERY expensive -    Played for a day but got bored of it real quick unfortunately. Ill try to give an honest assessment.

    CONS
    - Battles become a giant blob of units mess
    - One year per turn has destroyed the attachment and reward you get from slowly training up your generals and agents, they just keep dying which brings up the "noble death" cinematic over and OVER again. Agents are also VERY expensive
    - Concept of one year per turn is so stupid, it is adhered to for "historical accuracy" in some areas of the game (to its detriment) yet ignored in others. Just trash the whole idea, and do it like rome 1
    - AI is extremely inept
    - Naval landings against cities is FUNDAMENTALLY broken, as the defending side just clogs the limited landing spots with their own ships
    - Huge performance issues, even on high end rigs
    - Diplomacy has taken a step back from Shogun 2 (the whole game has taken a step back, but this specifically. Diplomacy quite bugged/not working
    - MASSIVE turn times, all those chores u have been wanting to do but cbf doing will be done while u wait for this epic turn time lol
    - As it was called out on the forums, the testudo formation is a useless JOKE, and in itself a true indication of CA's collapse of common sense
    - UI has also taken a step backwards: it is much harder to get a grasp of relations, who owns what on the map, finances, public order etc. NOT because i want it to be dumbed down, but because there are too many uneccessary UI obstacles to getting this information, or it simply isnt there
    - Battles full of bugs, units getting stuck, refusing to obey orders etc.
    - Much more difficult to effectively control your army in battle, couple that with the very fast pace of battles and you have a cluster turd of a situation.
    - Many bugs in all aspect of the game
    - Siege times are too short (CA trying to cling to the ridiculous notion of 1 year per turn again)
    - Sense of satisfaction on creating an empire/playing campaign map is missing, still trying to pin it down but it probably a combination of the above and the one year per turn nonsense inhibiting/destroying all the aspects of previous total war titles that we all loved.

    PROS
    - Has potential, like in a years time when (if) copious amounts of patching has rectified many of the above issues. Wait for steam special folks, in 2 years time. In the meantime go back to Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai which is actually a much better game.
    - Campaign map looks nice, just need those performace issues addressed
    - Army stances seem nice, although i see limited use for defensive stance
    - I believe the battle speed MAY not be an issue if they can enhance the unit controls more. Mosh pit mob effect must be fixed though, roman legionaries fought with much more cohesion in rome 1.
    - City building is kinda cool    … Expand
  75. Alienpope
    Oct 20, 2013
    6
    As a hardcore TW fan even since rom 1 i can say that this game is good. It is not amazing, not mind blowing... Just... Good. The game released with hundreds of problems and i am not talking about the minor problems. The AI was horrible. I've played all factions by now on very hard and breezed through it all.

    But now... 5 patches later.... Things are looking better. Much better i have to    As a hardcore TW fan even since rom 1 i can say that this game is good. It is not amazing, not mind blowing... Just... Good. The game released with hundreds of problems and i am not talking about the minor problems. The AI was horrible. I've played all factions by now on very hard and breezed through it all.

    But now... 5 patches later.... Things are looking better. Much better i have to say.

    It went from the worst pd release of the year (not including sim city) to a decent game. The AI will still make the worst possible decisions at times... But overall it will challenge you.

    The real reason to buy this game however is not because of the campaign. If you want that you can try crusader kings or maybe civ5. The battles are what makes this game good. Realistic looking fighting with a quite deep strategy depth to it. So the multiplayer really brings this game up to a 6.0 instead of a 3.0    … Expand
  76. VideogamesIlike
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Rome 2 is certinally a disappointment, though hardly the worst game ever as many user reviews state. It does, however, more than earn it's mixed reviews.

    On one hand the game is beautiful on higher end systems like my own, giving a gravity and scale to the conflict unseen in any Total war game before. It brings cultural diversity that Shogun 2 sorely lacked also. However, in many    Rome 2 is certinally a disappointment, though hardly the worst game ever as many user reviews state. It does, however, more than earn it's mixed reviews.

    On one hand the game is beautiful on higher end systems like my own, giving a gravity and scale to the conflict unseen in any Total war game before. It brings cultural diversity that Shogun 2 sorely lacked also.

    However, in many ways it is broken. Good ideas like internal politics are not at all explained, and are poorly executed at best. The player seems to have far more limited control over their cities, with the new interface robbing cities of much of their infomation. I often find myself at very low public order with little ability to work out why, or what I can do about it. Though the new army system is cool in theory, and it's nice to give armies some personality, it robs the game of some tactics, especially the- who should I hold back to garrison, who should I advance- question. Though their are many cultures, and a great deal more diversity than Shogun, there is a startling lack of unique troops, and the large number of filler factions with one or two provinces only seems to rob the primary factions of any unit individuality. Battles are far too fast paced, with combat taking mere seconds, gone are the epic scrums, now battles rarely take longer than five minutes at best. Mist of which is moving your armies. The AI hasn't improved much at all, and all the challenge in hard simply comes from relentless numbers, rather than genuine, fair tactics. Multiplayer has been massively stripped down from a Shogun high point, with all progression and army individuality dropped to return to a comparatively stale no stakes battle. Rome is a strong game on it's own terms, but very weak for a total war game. I have come away more disappointed with Rome than any TW game to date. A sad mistep for the successor to my favorite total war game. It lacks the depth of paradox, and the responsive war-based fun of the older games. The worst of both worlds.    … Expand
  77. SethP2343
    Sep 5, 2013
    6
    I have to say that if you are giving this game a rating of 4 or below, you obviously have never played other games such as Citadels or Space Marines...be fair in your reviews and don't rate 0 just because you are bitter.

    I am, however, containing a little bit of my own resentment towards Rome II. THE BAD: The game just feels clunky, as a summary. The AI is very unsophisticated and    I have to say that if you are giving this game a rating of 4 or below, you obviously have never played other games such as Citadels or Space Marines...be fair in your reviews and don't rate 0 just because you are bitter.

    I am, however, containing a little bit of my own resentment towards Rome II.
    THE BAD: The game just feels clunky, as a summary. The AI is very unsophisticated and predictable, in both the campaign map and the battlefield. The city management UI is bothersome, as it doesn't allow one to micromanage his own cities individually in order to react to regional dynamics. Being unable to move units around freely without a general is annoying while being able to recruit soldiers into an army from pretty much anywhere is unrealistic. The amount of time it takes for each turn to being is MUCH too long, as the game cycles through every single nation instead of just the ones in your immediate vicinity. A few historical inaccuracies as well, such as the Iceni were located in Northern Britain until they revolted to Roman rule, with Boudicca's forces driving the empire all the way to southern Britain until their final defeat in what was to be the last battle for the English Isles.

    The Good: The graphics are quite beautiful on stronger PCs. The progression and upgrading ability of experienced armies, as well as the ability to name individual armies is pretty badass. The sheer span of the cities on the campaign map as well as the stances your army can have while moving or defending is pretty awesome as well. Some units are pretty darn interesting as well, such as War Dogs. The ability to promote your generals and statesmen was also a cool idea.

    Summary: Though there are some cool new aspects to the game, most of them are overshadowed by serious drawbacks. I look forward to patches being released as well as what the modding community has to offer to the table.    … Expand
  78. Pandakiller984
    Nov 1, 2013
    6
    Well lets start off by saying this game has a TON of potential.....and I'm sure that it could be delivered if the game was actually finished...which it is clearly not. The reason this horribly unfinished game a whopping 6 is because it has obviously given us a lot things such as simpler city management, Cool battle animations with a sweet camera, and various other things such as buildingWell lets start off by saying this game has a TON of potential.....and I'm sure that it could be delivered if the game was actually finished...which it is clearly not. The reason this horribly unfinished game a whopping 6 is because it has obviously given us a lot things such as simpler city management, Cool battle animations with a sweet camera, and various other things such as building unique armies and navys and having a lot of various things to do within your faction.....But boy oh boy is this game flawed with an enormous amount of glitches and bugs, the game's AI is LAUGHABLE some of the dumbest I have ever seen, and I said the city management is simpilar but it gets rid of so much control that we loved in the first Rome Total war, While the battles are cool the graphics and UI are a little bad considering the 40% bigger budget than all the other games. There is many more Cons and a few Pros I missed as well but I hope this gets you to think about possibly waiting until the price drops or the game is actually...Finished… Expand
  79. ElBasque
    Sep 3, 2013
    6
    If it wasn't rushed out it had the potential to be a 10/10 RTS.

    As it was rushed out, as it stands, its around a 6. The AI is still a bit derpy but that's not really a negative point, especially as I'm not the best player. But the speed of the battles is much too fast, frequently if ordering a three unit attack, after ordering the last to attack, the first unit has already massacred    If it wasn't rushed out it had the potential to be a 10/10 RTS.

    As it was rushed out, as it stands, its around a 6.

    The AI is still a bit derpy but that's not really a negative point, especially as I'm not the best player. But the speed of the battles is much too fast, frequently if ordering a three unit attack, after ordering the last to attack, the first unit has already massacred everyone and is idling around waiting for new orders. Its a race to get all the directions made before you're needed again. It renders the battles simply a chore. I don't know why there's a cinematic button as you need to see all the battlefield at all times with unit on unit fights lasting 10 seconds at best. Playing on "slow-mo" is where the default pace should be.

    Graphically is not optimised in the slightest, and I'm sure the devs know this and are working on it. Its not a big issue for me personally but the downright lying through screenshots months ago is a bit gaul-ing.

    Strategically speaking the shedding of much of the micromanagement smacks of dumbing down. Paraphrasing dev quotes about how you don't now have to have 1-2 unit armies marching across the map to reach the main force is true; but when was any of that ever an issue? In a game that prides itself on realism why is spawning a unit of fully-equipped cavalrymen in the middle of a Germanic forest the preferred option?

    Also ive ran into a peculiar problem that no-one else seems to have had. After winning an engagement in the prologue, clicking "end battle" when prompted, it took me back to the main menu, and upon clicking resume prologue it took me back to the pre-battle strategy map. I had to fight every prologue battle twice to move to the next stage. I doubt that was how it was meant to be.

    Its obviously not a 9 or 10, those written by hype-influenced CA/TW fanboys. Neither is it a 0 or 1, those written by elitist zealots expecting perfection or something to show off their latest Nvidia Titan graphics card. It is, at the moment, a solid RTS let down by untuned graphics and stupid niggles that should appear in a mediocre title.

    Reading this after October 2013? I'd expect it to be an 8 by then, I hope I'm not disappointed.    … Expand
  80. CptCasual
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Whilst the game certainly isnt without fault, i would give it a six. Not great, but not awful. One of the major complaints seems to be that there wasnt a beta test, but that we are now the beta test. Is that not a good thing? to all those waiting until Xmas, but i bought my game 33% off on steam, i get to play the game now, find the flaws and have a part in their remedy. You complain atWhilst the game certainly isnt without fault, i would give it a six. Not great, but not awful. One of the major complaints seems to be that there wasnt a beta test, but that we are now the beta test. Is that not a good thing? to all those waiting until Xmas, but i bought my game 33% off on steam, i get to play the game now, find the flaws and have a part in their remedy. You complain at the lack of an organized beta and yet shun the opportunity for an unofficial one. That said, the AI is awful. I can assault a town with a garrison stronger than my army, defeat that, and then defeat their 1000 reinforcements.… Expand
  81. TeunisD
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Pro:
    - Great campaign map with alot of features.
    - Good foundation if it's moddable.
    - Good battle music.

    Negative:
    - Bugs, alot of bugs.
    - No music in the campaign map.
    - Battles are WAY to fast.
    - Graphics are not as advertised.
    - Very system heavy. Minimal specs are not going to make it. Bad optimilization.
    - Typical things like formation movement still not fixed.
  82. PCgamesreviewer
    Jan 20, 2014
    6
    As a long time fan of the series i was extremly hyped for the release for Rome 2 and never have i been this disappointed with a total war game. Luckily i didnt pre-order at the time because of a holiday in england. The shock that hit me when i checked metacritic at release day was enormous. I could'nt believe what i was seeing. Never have i seen a total war game with such a low score!As a long time fan of the series i was extremly hyped for the release for Rome 2 and never have i been this disappointed with a total war game. Luckily i didnt pre-order at the time because of a holiday in england. The shock that hit me when i checked metacritic at release day was enormous. I could'nt believe what i was seeing. Never have i seen a total war game with such a low score! Despite the warning i bought the game in the steam winter sales. While the lag and crashes seem to be fixed the ai and game mechanics are broken. The only thing that stops me from giving this game a 3 is the modding scene that has done a wonderful job to try to fix the game with some exellent improvements. All-in all only get the game if your a fan of the series and can cope with the horrendous ai and broken campaign mechanics.… Expand
  83. dinakos
    Feb 6, 2014
    6
    After the ninth patch the game runs way better. Still the siege mechanics are bad the political system needs further optimization. But the game does not deserve a 4/10 as before but rather a 6/10.
  84. blackbird1
    Sep 21, 2013
    6
    After Patch 3 i Re-Rate this game and give it a 6 cause its finaly playable fps are still sometimes to low but its okay now.

    If you make it better and also dont let the fps fall in late game i came back and give you maybe a 7 8
  85. Woody0
    Sep 5, 2013
    6
    I had some graphic and FR problems but was expecting the game to be buggy at release as the other TW games. To save time for some of you I would not buy this game until 2014 when more patches are released and the modders get a chance to polish this game. Overall I found myself spending most my time hitting the end turn button. This game seems to have a tremendous amount of potential ofI had some graphic and FR problems but was expecting the game to be buggy at release as the other TW games. To save time for some of you I would not buy this game until 2014 when more patches are released and the modders get a chance to polish this game. Overall I found myself spending most my time hitting the end turn button. This game seems to have a tremendous amount of potential of being the best TW title yet. I'll go back to playing the older titles and check back 6 months down the road to see if the game becomes more challenging and fun to play.

    Likes:
    Graphics

    Dislikes:
    Battles:
    -Victory points in open battles( Flags you have to hold placed in non strategic points) makes strategic placement of forces, hiding and ambushing pointless.
    -BAI not defending walls but the victory point in middle of city
    - Too fast paced battles, the one full stack vs full stack battle I had lasted under 10 minutes, no time to maneuver or check out the awesome graphics, before my cav flanked battle was pretty much over, so no epic 30+ minute battles.
    -Super fast movement speeds for infantry and other foot troops, makes any tactical error easily fixed
    -Units have magic powers(easily fixed by just not using them, the AI needs all the help it can get)
    -Ran into path finding issues both AI and my units in several battles
    -AI blindly heading for victory points regardless of what is in the way
    -Lack of open field battles, AI seems to wait for me to attack a city, many times the AI moves there army away leaving only garrison forces and is content to do it even at their last city.
    CAI:
    -AI seems to prefer small stacks instead of combining into large army, I have seen 4 large armies in 10 hours of playing, only one of which was used against me
    -AI attacks multiple times with small stacks against overwhelming odds
    -Seems more passive against player and more active against non-player factions
    -I have not figured out how to get other factions to trade with me, the diplomacy they do with me is them making unreasonable demands
    -The whole family/political thing does not seem to effect game play, maybe playing longer it will make more of a difference
    -The one turn a year is back, Don't get attached to your generals, they are dead before you can do anything worth while with them. It seems you have about ten turns or less to use them.
    -I do miss the generals' speeches, family tree
    -I am not a big fan of the changes in the UI but did not factor it in with my rating.

    There are of course the bugs here and there but CA has a pretty good track record of patching their games as mentioned before I'll go back to the other TW titles and give CA and the modding community a chance to make this into the best Total War yet.    … Expand
  86. fernandus
    Sep 6, 2013
    6
    Hi guys.
    How to start Well, i am a huge TW fan, i´ve played every single game of the franchise. This one is NOT the biggest f*** up CA did with TW, BUT, i expected more.
    When i started the game for the first time, the first thing i noticed was the POOR graphics... WTF I ran Shogun 2 in the highest quality and now THIS I remember CA people saying this will not need NASA rigs, folks    Hi guys.
    How to start Well, i am a huge TW fan, i´ve played every single game of the franchise. This one is NOT the biggest f*** up CA did with TW, BUT, i expected more.
    When i started the game for the first time, the first thing i noticed was the POOR graphics... WTF I ran Shogun 2 in the highest quality and now THIS I remember CA people saying this will not need NASA rigs, folks who ran Shogun 2 will be fine, lovely BS I´m playing Rome 2 like Rome 1.... very disapointing, the rest of the issues will be fixed.... i hope.
    finishing... CA don´t release a BETA game pls     … Expand
  87. IgnasPrzybylski
    Sep 9, 2013
    6
    My first impression was great gameplay and awful optimalisation. I ran Shogun 2 on very high settings without a problem and it was really pretty, while in Rome 2 my good old 448-bit GTX 260 had terrible issues because it cannot support dx 11. I was shocked, first TW games looked way better than what I saw. Got a rather cheap new GTX and the performance is good, I have no more problems withMy first impression was great gameplay and awful optimalisation. I ran Shogun 2 on very high settings without a problem and it was really pretty, while in Rome 2 my good old 448-bit GTX 260 had terrible issues because it cannot support dx 11. I was shocked, first TW games looked way better than what I saw. Got a rather cheap new GTX and the performance is good, I have no more problems with it. The poor AI doesn't really bother me that much, I got used to it and sometimes it's cool that I can hold them off with small armies just because they're dumb. Simplified city management... I like it, to me it's much better than management from the previous releases. Simplifying armies wasn't a very good idea though. Recruiting right on the general anywhere in the province is comfortable, but limit of armies sucks, I mean, economy should be the only thing that stops me from having a lot of troops. What I don't like about it is that I can't just split whenever I want. I can't leave some additional units to help city's garrison, they can't stay anywhere without a general now. This is imo the worst thing in the gameplay itself. But ok, it doesn't really make the game bad, garrisons are pretty strong now, at least I don't have to pay all those guards I usually kept in my cities. The most annoying thing would be ending your turn. There's so many minor factions it takes ages to wait for your next turn and it takes even longer when I alt-tab, not to mention that stuff happens, AI may attack me or some diplomatic proposal may appear. Personally I just play piano or write SMS in the meantime. If you don't have anything to do while waiting for your turn you will spend most of the time looking at the silly AI running around several times longer than in previous games. Of course, it's nice that there is a big variety of factions instead of just anonymous rebels like in, say, Medieval 2, but sometimes it's just scary to press "end turn". I thought it took long in Shogun 2, I don't anymore. Technical issues will probably be fixed, but even though my rig is rather mediocre (i3, gtx650ti boost, 12gb ram) it works and looks decently on high settings now. Lack of a nice multiplayer like the one in Shogun 2 disappoints, that's a huge step backwards. I loved almost everything about Shogun 2, except the fact it's set in Japan, which I dislike. I wanted a new TW game with S2's awesomeness set in Europe, but I feel a downgrade. It's still a fun game to play though, the only thing I really want fixed now is BLOOD. I don't care I have to pay for that anymore, I just want it released SOON, not year after I stopped playing the game. I like watching them fight, but without blood it's really dull. At least the "kill captives" and "raze city" options have returned.

    Pros:
    - very comfortable province management
    - great skirmish map choice
    - huge map
    - very pretty gfx and good audio

    Cons:
    - awful technical issues right after release, bad performance
    - no more depth in multiplayer
    - long wait between turns
    - still no blood    … Expand
  88. Flam1ng
    Sep 8, 2013
    6
    The game started out with poor graphics and iffy AI but with a good friend it can be alot of o fun, the single player is fine but naval combat is very weird and Seriously underdevolped
  89. Lord_Slop
    Sep 9, 2013
    6
    I pre-purchased the game, first pre-purchase for me ever. I'm also an old TW player since the days of Rome, started in 2004 more or less.

    The game has one keyword, potential. There are a lot of possibilities for the game, but they're mostly not working or buggy. Pros: 1. Very nicely made campaign map overall. 2. The new province system is an improvement. 3. Unit roster from the    I pre-purchased the game, first pre-purchase for me ever. I'm also an old TW player since the days of Rome, started in 2004 more or less.

    The game has one keyword, potential. There are a lot of possibilities for the game, but they're mostly not working or buggy.

    Pros:
    1. Very nicely made campaign map overall.
    2. The new province system is an improvement.
    3. Unit roster from the few factions I've played seems diversified.
    4. Replayability is high, given the number of playable factions.
    5. The limit on the number of armies and agents you can field depending on your empire's size adds a lot of depth and strategic planning to the game.

    Cons:
    1. Waiting time between turns is simply too long, starts with around 30 seconds at the start of the campaign and goes as far as 3 or 4 minutes around turn 50 as more of the map is revealed (While disabling the show AI movements option).
    2. Naval battles are broken, the units won't obey commands when told to board unless you babysit them and re-issue the command, even then it might not work.
    3. Land battles turn into a brawl once the initial cross fire is over and it's down to melee. The units seem to congregate in the center losing any semblance of being anything than angry mobs fighting it outside a tavern.
    4. The game is laggy, both on the strategic and battle views.
    5. Diplomacy needs improvement, they won't agree to most negotiations (Including trade agreements) unless you're way stronger than the AI faction you're negotiating with.
    6. Region resources don't add any bonuses as far as I could tell,
    7. Land armies can traverse oceans by turning into transports, which makes fleets rudimentary if not obsolete.
    8. Campaign AI is too passive, not to mention that the game seems to be cheating, even on easy, I've seen one province factions fielding 3 full stacks, regardless of the impact of upkeep.

    So, overall, the game has a lot of options to explore, provided they patch up the errors. Given proper patching and fixes, the game could be brilliant. But in its current state, it's nothing really special.    … Expand
  90. ymakushin
    Sep 10, 2013
    6
    I was very excited for this game as many were, but after finishing the main campaign things have changed.
    So here are a couple of things wrong:
    AI doesn't care about anything. It either goes for the flag behind you even in retreat or doesn't even attack. The graphics are horrible in today's standards. Lots of cool features were stripped out. Fps drops Though despite all those    I was very excited for this game as many were, but after finishing the main campaign things have changed.
    So here are a couple of things wrong:

    AI doesn't care about anything. It either goes for the flag behind you even in retreat or doesn't even attack.
    The graphics are horrible in today's standards.
    Lots of cool features were stripped out.
    Fps drops

    Though despite all those features I quite enjoyed the game so from me it gets a 6/10.    … Expand
  91. manyacy
    Sep 13, 2013
    6
    Who is playing Rome II as his first Total War game, maybe this could be a 8/10 game. BUT who has played at least Rome 1, this is a boring sequence that brings nothing notable beside improved UI design (which is normal) and some upgraded mechanics of the campaign map. Worst part is that I don't know if I'm gonna like the game more after they patch it to perfection and eliminate all the bugs.
  92. Stewchops
    Sep 13, 2013
    6
    Very meh when compared to previous titles in the series. Did someone important leave the studio or did they just stop giving a It feels like a step back from the work of art that is Shogun 2. Frankly the $60 price tag is insulting. Even if it were a $40 game I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I valued as a friend as they might think I was nuts.
  93. Fredwitt
    Sep 16, 2013
    6
    Rome 2 is a disappointment, however not a travesty. All those giving it 0's and 1's are just in the heat of the moment about how much of a disappointment it was. I can play this game for 66 hours, because i want to experience Rome like i experienced it all those years ago. It doesn't bring anything new to the game, it is just a streamlined new looking box, with the content being hollow andRome 2 is a disappointment, however not a travesty. All those giving it 0's and 1's are just in the heat of the moment about how much of a disappointment it was. I can play this game for 66 hours, because i want to experience Rome like i experienced it all those years ago. It doesn't bring anything new to the game, it is just a streamlined new looking box, with the content being hollow and annoying. Please don't give this game a extremely low score because if you compare it to, for instance, ride to hell redemption, i would play Rome any day of the week over it. Rome can be saved here with patches, but its going to leave a nasty scar… Expand
  94. furkann
    Sep 20, 2013
    6
    Oyunun piyasaya henüz tam hazır olmadan sürüldüğü çok aşikar.Hatta beta aşamasında sürülmüş izlenimi veriyor... Total War serisine neredeyse aine neredeyse aşk ile bağlı olan bir çok oyuncuyu dahi CA bu hamlesiyle kendisine küstürmüştür. Rome 2 ile çok büyük bir Pre-Order hasılatı yapmalarına karşın bu amatör hamleleriyle önümüzdeki bir kaç oyunundan kesinlikle ciddi bir Pre-Order hasılatıOyunun piyasaya henüz tam hazır olmadan sürüldüğü çok aşikar.Hatta beta aşamasında sürülmüş izlenimi veriyor... Total War serisine neredeyse aine neredeyse aşk ile bağlı olan bir çok oyuncuyu dahi CA bu hamlesiyle kendisine küstürmüştür. Rome 2 ile çok büyük bir Pre-Order hasılatı yapmalarına karşın bu amatör hamleleriyle önümüzdeki bir kaç oyunundan kesinlikle ciddi bir Pre-Order hasılatı yakalayamacağını düşünüyorum. Tek güzel yanı yönetim kurulundan olan insanların oyunun arkalarında olduklarına dair açıklama yapmaları ve hakikaten de, neredeyse haftada bir patch yayınlayıp oyunu daha stabil ve oynanabilir bir hale getirmeleridir.… Expand
  95. Kipman2000
    Sep 24, 2013
    6
    Both good and bad aspects in this game. I personally like the new campaign map, how the regions and the provinces are done and how you must balance the food, squalor/happiness, growth and economics of it.

    On the downside the new politics system is shallow and feels half-way done. The graphics are all right, but I've experienced some bugs through my time playing. UI is not good and some    Both good and bad aspects in this game. I personally like the new campaign map, how the regions and the provinces are done and how you must balance the food, squalor/happiness, growth and economics of it.

    On the downside the new politics system is shallow and feels half-way done. The graphics are all right, but I've experienced some bugs through my time playing. UI is not good and some features feels half-done and rushed.

    Gameplay wise there are some features which have been added which are not good and upsets the balance during battles and other features which worked very well in previous TW games are removed for no apparant reason.

    No more than a 6 on the scale from me, even though the game is fun and entertaining it feels half-done and rushed. Worth playing if you like the TW series and the era of Rome, but you can also live perfectly well without this game.    … Expand
  96. wilm210
    Mar 4, 2014
    6
    Hello, this is my first review I've ever done on Metacritic and on any Review aggregator site for that matter. I'd like viewers to take note that while this is my first public review of a game, it is no less sincere.

    Now as for Rome 2, not a terrible game by any means, but certainly a step backwards from Total War's previous entry, Shogun 2. Putting aside the rocky launch that Rome 2    Hello, this is my first review I've ever done on Metacritic and on any Review aggregator site for that matter. I'd like viewers to take note that while this is my first public review of a game, it is no less sincere.

    Now as for Rome 2, not a terrible game by any means, but certainly a step backwards from Total War's previous entry, Shogun 2. Putting aside the rocky launch that Rome 2 had, it is a visually stunning and decent Strategy game. The campaign map is huge, the faction roster is plentiful and diverse, and the visuals and animations are outstanding. This is where my praise of the games ceases.

    Where Rome 2 falters are in it's far too streamlined gameplay and underdeveloped features. To start off, the new Political System is "Needless" to say the best. The 3 agents variants are redundant as they can all perform the same tasks. Magic boats make the game too trivial .Skill/tech trees are skimp and simplified from Shogun 2. While I am in favor of the new province system, managing settlements have been scaled much too far (i.e. no longer can you build roads or even simple wall defenses such as palisades, buildings trees are skimp and choices are very limited). Wall's are null and void thanks to the ridiculous torches. Multiplayer is very bare-bones in comparison to Shogun 2 and it's general avatar feature. The idiotic decision to add flags in open battles ( I know they have since been remove, but it was such stupid decision I had to bring it up). Abundance of "Magic" abilities for units is also ridiculous.

    A lot of the little details from previous Total War games are completely gone or skimped out on. General speeches are now only 2 brief lines of dialogue. Mini-movies for agents, unit recruiting, faction intros, and events are largely absent. The UI is very generic and uninspired in comparison to previous Total War games. Historical events and info tidbits during the campaign are gone aswell.

    As for Technical issues, the A.I. is extremely incompetent in both siege and field battles and in campaign. Unit-blobbing is still existent as well as optimization issues (the game run just fine for me, but I do not doubt others who have run into performance issues with the game and have adequate machines).

    All in all, Rome 2 is a decent strategy game it's just buried beneath pointless and shallow features and simplification. With the help of mods, the game becomes much more enjoyable. I'm just so disappointed with the game, even with a smaller budget, Shogun 2 achieved much more than Rome 2.    … Expand
  97. Pandasareevil
    Oct 15, 2013
    6
    Did not give me that same feeling as previous Total war Games. The UI is terrible, the release was far below average, though I do quite like the unit cards, once the optimization issues were fixed the game was playable-ish.
  98. VOP2288
    Nov 5, 2013
    6
    As the game stands now I would've given it an 7 or even an 8 but since I bought it on release I have to dock it down to a 6 for its less-than-stellar launch.

    First and foremost I just want to throw out there that this game doesn't deserve its current 3.9 user score. 75% of the reviews giving this game under a 5 are nothing more than butt-hurt children and/or man-children who got caught    As the game stands now I would've given it an 7 or even an 8 but since I bought it on release I have to dock it down to a 6 for its less-than-stellar launch.

    First and foremost I just want to throw out there that this game doesn't deserve its current 3.9 user score. 75% of the reviews giving this game under a 5 are nothing more than butt-hurt children and/or man-children who got caught up in the hype and truly believed that Rome 2 was going to be an absolutely (and unrealistically) flawless game that was going to cater to every single one of their personal fantasies and desires.

    Truth is Rome 2 isn't actually that bad of a game, in fact it's easily one of the better strategy games out there on the market right now and I'd be willing to say that it's also one of Creative Assembly's better Total War installments. Don't get me wrong though, the game has its flaws and its launch issues and apparent lack of proper testing was a travesty but by now they've squashed the most significant issues and fixed/tweaked a lot more.

    I honestly could gone on for quite some time about the game but in the interest of being straightforward I'll just list off the game's positives and negatives.

    Pros -

    - Fantastic looking campaign map that really captures the scope and size of the ancient world.
    - Noticeably different culture-based faction groups that each have their own strengths/weaknesses and play styles (economically and militarily).
    - Individual soldiers are no longer carbon copies of one another and feature different faces, hair colors/styles, clothing/armor types, and other small differences that make them feel like actual people.
    - The changes to city-building and introduction of the province/region system adds a nice layer of strategic depth in how you grow and maintain your empire.
    - The new military tradition system.
    - Though disliked by some, the army/navy limit puts greater emphasis on how you use your military forces, adds gravity to your victories and defeats, and for the most part keeps the TW AI's long running disposition towards force spamming in check.
    - Battle maps are large and vary in environmental details, the cut-and-paste city siege maps are thrown out and replaced by unique ones that actually feel like true urban environments.
    - A LARGE assortment of unit types spread out amongst all the factions.
    - Battles have never looked better in a TW game.
    - Slightly better consistency between campaign map and diplomacy AI (was a BIG issue in all past TW games).

    Cons -

    - Units tend to rout too easily in battle, leading to some battles taking no longer than 3 or 4 minutes.
    - Ranged units (Slingers, Archers, Javalinmen, etc) are just as overpowered as they were in Shogun 2 and some battles can be entirely won with three or four units of them.
    - Naval battles are simply broken. Seems to be a massive bonus granted to the AI during sea engagements even when you're fighting a fleet of the same size and composition. Too much micromanaging needed and ships can be unresponsive much of the time.
    - AI in general can be at times too passive, too aggressive, and just all-around quirky in general. Pretty much a common factor in ALL Total War games that CA has yet to really master and perfect.
    - Absolutely terrible manual and tutorial that only explains the very basics of the game but NOT the list of small and large changes made to the gameplay, reminds me of Paradox tutorials...
    - The "War Target" feature just plain doesn't work very well (you're supposed to be able to target enemy military forces but you can only target settlements).
    - The politics aspect is broken and unfinished. A true shame as it could've brought even more strategic depth to the game.

    I'm not going to bother mentioning the little bugs and glitches b/c CA has been cleaning those up pretty consistently since launch as well as the more glaring performance issues. And that's another thing that I'm not going to acknowledge performance issues given that TW games have ALWAYS been GPU and CPU hogs that will just plain not run or look its best on release unless you have a top of the line PC (which many incorrectly presumed they had).

    Overall Rome 2 is the not the disaster that many here have claimed it to be (it's also not the pristine 10/10 that many "professional" critics painted it as either). Much of its significant launch issues have been tackled by now and CA continues to clean up the smaller bugs. Fact is, this game is definitely a good time and one of the best current strategy games out there.    … Expand
  99. sir_langan
    Oct 29, 2013
    6
    While there are a lot of problems, a hell of a lot, this is still a good game. One of the problems this game has is that the bar was set so high after all the previous titles in the series. Without that as a comparison this would be a great game.

    But there is the comparison. Streamlining isn't something the fans of this series want. This game was streamlined in so many ways it is    While there are a lot of problems, a hell of a lot, this is still a good game. One of the problems this game has is that the bar was set so high after all the previous titles in the series. Without that as a comparison this would be a great game.

    But there is the comparison. Streamlining isn't something the fans of this series want. This game was streamlined in so many ways it is ridiculous. Hopefully it has a long redevelopment life.    … Expand
  100. Ender1183
    Nov 13, 2013
    6
    I would figure I would finish a Campaign before I made a recommendation. I just didn't know it would take 80 hours to finish. If you a fan of the Total war series chances are you have already have this game and have either been blinded by your fandom or the hype that this would be the best TW to date. It didn't take me long to quickly realized this was a rushed game, put out several monthsI would figure I would finish a Campaign before I made a recommendation. I just didn't know it would take 80 hours to finish. If you a fan of the Total war series chances are you have already have this game and have either been blinded by your fandom or the hype that this would be the best TW to date. It didn't take me long to quickly realized this was a rushed game, put out several months before it was ready. I can only imagine that CA was forced by Sega to get the game out before some of the other big titles of the holiday season got out. There are several features that where in previous TW games such as the political and family system that where not even half as complete in past games. I completely didn’t care what happened to my family if someone was being bribed or shamed, I just didn't care. I was really happy when I won my civil war and could be an empire so I would not be bothered by the family bs.
    As for the campaign map you end up building the same 3 builds to have enough food and keep public order under control. This makes it almost impossible to upgrade your army or economy and very boring since you can't specialize a providence until late in the game. I'm sure if I started a new campaign I would have an easier time but since there is no building tree that is easy to compare buildings, even of the same type, there is a lot of trial and error before you can get the balance right. An other problem I ran into was that the auto resolve doesn’t seem to take into account the quality of your units. There where several battles where I would lose in the auto but crush the AI in a battle. The research is also out of balance even after 200 turns unless you focus on one tree you can't even upgrade to the best builds. Which is also impossible because you will have bad pubic order of lack of food because you ignored those trees. Over all I would say once you beat your civil war that is a good place to stop. After that it is a steam roll over the AI who is to passive or has so horribly manage there own providence they are starving to death. Its too bad there weren’t options to have a short campaign and start later so you could see some of the late builds and units when they would matter.
    It has been a common theme that the AI in the TW series has always been bad but this game takes it to a new level. Don't bother with sieges just auto resolve. The AI will run to there death when attacking or sit there and get pounded by your artillery until they are so softened up that sending in a few units in will make them rout. After been told that is was going to be the best AI yet it is actually worst then any other. There have been some improvements with the patches but it is still easy to beat the AI in a battle and on the campaign map... unless you play on a harder setting but all that does is buff there morale, armor and income.
    Tried a few MP battles but it seems that is has come down to who can macro the fastest and press a units special ability buff the most. There is no chance to sit back and watch the units fight it out or use much more of a strategy then rush your units in spamming the special ability and flanking your cav around to the back to make units rout. Well it was fun to play against friend and make your own rules you can't really do that against pubs.
    Overall I did enjoy the era and the workshop looks like it is starting to fill up with some interesting mods and tweaks. Hopefully CA can patch up this game but I have a feeling they will save any changes for the expiation pack. If you haven't played TW before I would look and see if you can pick up Empire up for cheap before getting this game. If you are a fan and just held off buying(good for you) I wouldn't pay more then 30 bucks. By then it maybe patched up enough to make it enjoyable and with the workshop there maybe a few decent mods to fill in the games.    … Expand
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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]
See all critic reviews »