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. LosingStreak
    Dec 25, 2014
    2
    I gave this game a year to fix itself from the terrible release state but it still has glaring problems.

    Bad UI that fails at showing you unit status whilst at the same time blocking a big part of the screen Poor optimization Confusing unit cards Stale battles due to scripted kill moves Units don't feel like they have weight when they collide Politics suck and is a useless gimmick    I gave this game a year to fix itself from the terrible release state but it still has glaring problems.

    Bad UI that fails at showing you unit status whilst at the same time blocking a big part of the screen
    Poor optimization
    Confusing unit cards
    Stale battles due to scripted kill moves
    Units don't feel like they have weight when they collide
    Politics suck and is a useless gimmick
    No avatar conquest mode    … Expand
  2. Azazl187
    Sep 12, 2013
    2
    No No No No NO! The game performs poorly on a 780 GTX, the AI is completely stupid. The release looks nothing like the Marketing screen shots and movies. CA were clearly on drugs when they sat down and made the developer vids.

    Most infuriating of all, I paid for an unfinished, rushed, unpolished game. What the hell are the industry reviewers talking about as well! 80!!! more like 40    No No No No NO! The game performs poorly on a 780 GTX, the AI is completely stupid. The release looks nothing like the Marketing screen shots and movies. CA were clearly on drugs when they sat down and made the developer vids.

    Most infuriating of all, I paid for an unfinished, rushed, unpolished game. What the hell are the industry reviewers talking about as well! 80!!! more like 40 my friends. If you have read this than read the user reviews, not the industry ones as they have clearly not played the game at all!    … Expand
  3. CommissarPetrov
    Sep 13, 2013
    2
    Disclaimer for my review:

    I created a Metacritic account simply to write a review. I have never reviewed a game before, but due to my love for the series and my utter disappointment I went through all the damned hoops to do this. I am copy/pasting my request for a refund from Steam Support, but feel that others should read it as well and interact with this review as they see fit.    Disclaimer for my review:

    I created a Metacritic account simply to write a review. I have never reviewed a game before, but due to my love for the series and my utter disappointment I went through all the damned hoops to do this.

    I am copy/pasting my request for a refund from Steam Support, but feel that others should read it as well and interact with this review as they see fit.

    Hello Steam Support,

    First of all let me apologize for not putting "Rome 2: Total War" into the Product line of the ticket, as I was unable to find it [only found Rome: Total War and didn't want to add undue confusion].

    I, among many, preordered the new Rome Total War 2 game from the Creative Assembly. As I'm sure you're aware the reception to the game has been less than positive. I feel it prudent to state that I have been a Total War fan since Medieval: Total War and have purchased and played every single game, expansion, and DLC for these games since that release.

    Shogun 2 was a masterpiece (I played over 800 hours). It was engaging, taught me a level of discipline and patience I never knew I had, and made me appreciate a culture previously foreign to me (as did all of the other previous games). The game was solid and defined, smooth, and fostered a gaming community of unparalleled cooperation.

    Rome 2: Total War, however, is a disgrace. The Creative Assembly, no doubt influenced by Sega, has pushed out a "game" that experiences critical errors, but, more importantly for me, has misrepresented itself and its product. As a stout capitalist I believe it is my duty as the consumer to humbly request a refund of this product. I will happily pay for the overhead fee I incurred while downloading the game through your relay. I additionally vow to keep the $60.00 I spent within the gaming ecosystem as a whole and will use this money to reward games and expansions that accurately represent and deliver their product (Xcom: Enemy Within, DLC for DOW Retribution, and Space Hulk). I believe it is our responsibility, mine as the consumer whose voice exists solely through the power of the dollar, and yours as the the most powerful and reliable relay in the U.S. (probably the world), to keep this issue from recurring and poisoning the digital PC game ecosystem that I know you have spent so much time protecting and promoting.

    While I admit this is a most humble plea, please know that I have never requested a refund from any product on Steam before, that I love the Total War franchise more than any other, and that I could not live my life knowing I had rewarded the sloppy mess that is Rome Total War 2.

    Rome Total War 2 is NOT the product that was advertised. We cannot reward the delivery or sustainability of this product.

    This is the most powerful message that I can send to make my voice heard as the consumer and therefore I leave this impassioned request with the sincerest plea to allow me to redistribute my investment within our beloved gaming community to games and companies that accelerate our gaming experience, not retard it.

    Humblest regards,

    Commissar Petrov    … Expand
  4. Pesti
    Sep 13, 2013
    2
    The bugs oh the bugs... At least they can be fixed with patches in the future. But there is a much larger problem with this game. it brings nothing new to the table. Even worse it actually removed a lot of the new features that shogun 2 implemented. Gone are the nice and easily accessible tech/talent trees. Now replaced with color clots of various degrees of helpfulness. But that is by noThe bugs oh the bugs... At least they can be fixed with patches in the future. But there is a much larger problem with this game. it brings nothing new to the table. Even worse it actually removed a lot of the new features that shogun 2 implemented. Gone are the nice and easily accessible tech/talent trees. Now replaced with color clots of various degrees of helpfulness. But that is by no means the only or most disheartening problem. The game has been streamlined to the point where you can't feel any of the old magic that the old games had. Even total war empire had some charm, even if that charm was full of nasty diseases that you would not wish upon your own mortal enemies. Right from the start you can feel that there is something wrong, something that does not sit right.

    That is the feeling i am left with after playing the game. That the game is just wrong, that there is no magic, no charm, no nothing it is not just a normal run of the mill strategy game. So for my part i will be heading back to shogun 2. A game that actually has something to offer in the way of actual game play.    … Expand
  5. Deadplate
    Sep 16, 2013
    2
    After playing this game for over 15 hours, I have just come to find this game way to easy. The AI just seems to be on easy mode, even thou I switched it to the hardest setting. The loading times are just way to slow, The time between turns even more so, This with other countries that will not even attack you. Units running around doing nothing, Boats going right threw everything includingAfter playing this game for over 15 hours, I have just come to find this game way to easy. The AI just seems to be on easy mode, even thou I switched it to the hardest setting. The loading times are just way to slow, The time between turns even more so, This with other countries that will not even attack you. Units running around doing nothing, Boats going right threw everything including shore, docks and everything else. This game seems as if it is still in the Beta format, and Once again. The FPS is bad, and this whole 1 year per turn is just over the top. 2/10… Expand
  6. bhndshades
    Sep 17, 2013
    2
    Rome 2: Total Waste Of My Time.
    I am a huge fan of the series so I was utterly disappointed with this game. Everything about the looks are better in this game compared to its predecessors The problem is in the game mechanics. The loading time after each turn just takes away all of the fun. Developers, you must have understood that this would create a huge negative response from the    Rome 2: Total Waste Of My Time.
    I am a huge fan of the series so I was utterly disappointed with this game. Everything about the looks are better in this game compared to its predecessors The problem is in the game mechanics. The loading time after each turn just takes away all of the fun. Developers, you must have understood that this would create a huge negative response from the gamers. Was it too late to change??? What is the point of having an extremely big Campaign World and loads of factions and neat graphics if the whole thing does not work???
    I get very annoyed reading any reviews that gives this game over 5. I am Confident that they have not played a full Campaign.
    The rest of my comments are more about details. I do not like that the only way to split an army is to having to hire a new general and transfer soldiers from one army to the other. I dont like the graphics of the unit cards in the "army bar". I would prefer miniature pictures of the units rather than the stylized contemporary art pictures.    … Expand
  7. Gruenzone
    Sep 18, 2013
    2
    As a strategic game it fails on many points:
    chaoticc user interface.
    Non intuitive user menus
    Many glitches
    The advisor looks useful but the feel of the game is that one does not know what is happening or what you are at.
    What is the point of this game?
  8. Folamour
    Sep 20, 2013
    2
    A total disappointment for a devoted Total War fan such as myself.

    Very briefly: *Broken diplomacy *Poor faction management -No family tree -Pointless politics *No event cinematics for agent actions and other important stuff. *Shallow tech tree *POOR AI *Lack of battlefield and campaign tactics due to the state the AI is currently in. *Battlefield UI is worse than the previous    A total disappointment for a devoted Total War fan such as myself.

    Very briefly:
    *Broken diplomacy
    *Poor faction management
    -No family tree
    -Pointless politics
    *No event cinematics for agent actions and other important stuff.
    *Shallow tech tree
    *POOR AI
    *Lack of battlefield and campaign tactics due to the state the AI is currently in.
    *Battlefield UI is worse than the previous titles, as I see it.
    *First day DLC(!) Come on...

    Unbalanced, broken, and incomplete. CA massively failed to meet the high expectations they have created through trailers, teasers, pre-release in-game videos and other promotional stuff. It seems they have spent more than half of their "increased budget" for marketing a bleeding carcass, that they have so professionally tricked people into buying it.

    2/10

    Keep playing Shogun 2. Do not waste your time and money on this.    … Expand
  9. IrOnTaXi
    Sep 20, 2013
    2
    I have played about 20 hours of the game.

    Let me tell my Rome 2 campaign story. Start as "British" culture. Conquer british isles as a collective in about 20-30 turns. No tough tough battles but I was still a bit nervous about getting wiped out. Spent 10-15 turns building some armies. Take my best army across the english channel to wreak havoc (or die in a wonderfully horrible    I have played about 20 hours of the game.

    Let me tell my Rome 2 campaign story.

    Start as "British" culture. Conquer british isles as a collective in about 20-30 turns. No tough tough battles but I was still a bit nervous about getting wiped out.

    Spent 10-15 turns building some armies. Take my best army across the english channel to wreak havoc (or die in a wonderfully horrible blaze of glory)

    I didnt need to worry. No one opposed my army.... ALL THE WAY TO ROME.. which I sacked and occupied. Not a single roman army came out to meet me.. and no one attacked after I sacked rome. I turned off the game.

    I got fooled again just like Empires. Son of a creek...    … Expand
  10. cptsoban
    Sep 22, 2013
    2
    This game in its current state is unplayable. The ai is mentally retarded, sieges don't work as well as naval battles. There is no functioning political system that matters and diplomacy is worse than Rome 1.

    There some amazing new ideas and if the game is ever patched into a working state buy it. Provinces and limited armies work well. But overall a huuuuuge step back from shogun 2.
  11. Xaosian
    Sep 23, 2013
    2
    I've played since the original Shogun total war loves all of them until now.

    Rome 2 is a nightmare pos of a game. The AI which was never very good to start with is horrid now, just straight retarded. Like attack a walled city and they wont put troops on the walls retarded, like do a joint naval and land assault and they just dock and off load their navy, every time. Even in field    I've played since the original Shogun total war loves all of them until now.

    Rome 2 is a nightmare pos of a game. The AI which was never very good to start with is horrid now, just straight retarded. Like attack a walled city and they wont put troops on the walls retarded, like do a joint naval and land assault and they just dock and off load their navy, every time. Even in field battles their only tactic is to form a ball and charge. Hell if they are the defender you can walk your missile units into range and just fire into them until your out of ammo then go after them with melee troops.

    Diplomacy again never very strong in the series is a joke in this one, think ADHD mixed with paranoia and a solid dose of hallucinogens. No grip on reality, no sense of deal value, no concept of friend or foe, heck not even any concept of self interest.

    Like the old family tree set up to give your generals and leaders some depth? Its gone. Politics? just a countdown to civil war and doesn't work for most of the non imperial factions. How about random event? Mostly non existent and not working, plus they seem to cut off after the first handful of turns.

    Granted those are all in game things that you might disagree with me about. Lets talk a little about performance issues and such now. A very high percentage of the player base can either barely run the game do to poor code design or can't run it at all. Think fallout 2 graphics. Massive lag both in campaign map and in battles. Game can't run more then one CPU Core, Can't run more then 1 GPU, and the coding is so poor it can't run the one core well. Not good for a game touted as next gen graphically.

    A large number of the old guard have given up on this one guys. So save your money wait for a 50-66% off sale next year and hope some of the modders have made it worth while by then.    … Expand
  12. strohl
    Sep 23, 2013
    2
    A TOTAL slap in the face to gamers everywhere!
    this game is far from what they showed in demo videos. C.A. flat out lied to the public. NEVER PRE order anything from them!
  13. Noif
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Don't buy it now, because you don't want to pay for broken/incomplete game. While CA are fixing it, I recommend use your time for other games. Maybe in future, this will be better after fixes.

    - AI is poor and stupid, pathfinding is really weak. Passive CAI and AI never declare war for you. BAI never use siege equipment, just standing and do nothing. - Diplomacy is lazy and broken -    Don't buy it now, because you don't want to pay for broken/incomplete game. While CA are fixing it, I recommend use your time for other games. Maybe in future, this will be better after fixes.

    - AI is poor and stupid, pathfinding is really weak. Passive CAI and AI never declare war for you. BAI never use siege equipment, just standing and do nothing.
    - Diplomacy is lazy and broken
    - Poorly optimized
    - Less features
    - UI too huge and bad.
    - Transport ships are op against naval fleet.
    - Performance is weak too.
    - Some normal tweaks on units are missing    … Expand
  14. Greven93
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Creative Assembly have somehow managed to misuse their franchise so badly that it has caused permanent damage to their reputation. They have pushed out a game that is not finished.

    It is a clear downgrade from Shogun 2 both technically (Graphics & performance) and in game design (Art direction, polish, features etc..). Creative Assembly seems to have pushed for a more streamlined game,    Creative Assembly have somehow managed to misuse their franchise so badly that it has caused permanent damage to their reputation. They have pushed out a game that is not finished.

    It is a clear downgrade from Shogun 2 both technically (Graphics & performance) and in game design (Art direction, polish, features etc..). Creative Assembly seems to have pushed for a more streamlined game, but in doing so they have removed core aspects that were part of the definition of a "total war title".    … Expand
  15. RhbynYew
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Gutted features, terrible AI, fast paced COD style action battles, dumbed down, they are preparing to enter console area with what this game looks like. DO NOT BUY if you are a total war fan, you will regret it. Developers in interviews and videos clearly lie, I do not even know how they sleep bluntly lying to fans like that.
  16. JackDDibs
    Oct 2, 2013
    2
    What a joke, the internet is kidding itself Just look to the left and bow down for the might of the.. (wait for it)... "Critics"!! #gotpaidmuch!?
  17. mr_cyberpunk
    Sep 25, 2013
    2
    This game was advertised as being a cinematic epic with advanced "learning" AI. This game does not live up to those claims at all. The game runs very poorly on the best hardware and looks terrible especially when compared to Rome 1 Mods like RTR, Roma Surrectum and EB.

    The streamlining in this title went too far and removes most of the challenge from the game, the veterans are    This game was advertised as being a cinematic epic with advanced "learning" AI. This game does not live up to those claims at all. The game runs very poorly on the best hardware and looks terrible especially when compared to Rome 1 Mods like RTR, Roma Surrectum and EB.

    The streamlining in this title went too far and removes most of the challenge from the game, the veterans are overpowered and remove the reward from fighting a good battle. The tactical elements have been reduced to blob warfare, where combat multipliers do not apply and in general the game feels unrealistic.. which is a shame because Total War always prided itself on being realistic at least from a tactical standpoint.

    The UI is terrible and by far some of the worst design I've seen in a long time. The UI icons are uninspired and nothing feels intuitive. At first glance I didn't even know where the techtree was.. versus Empire and Shogun 2 which I immediately understood where everything was. We're taking steps backwards.

    I played this game for about 2 weeks. Managed to get to the endgame but couldn't bring myself to complete the game out of frustraition with boring battles where all I was really doing was watching the action. There's no tactics.. you can spam town centers and win with no issues. Eventually the game reduces to auto-resolving.. defeating most of the work the developers did on the game. The seige system is broken, there's no need to build seige equipment as you can just burn down gates... and its not as if the AI knows how to use walls.

    The game crashed several times. The factions are rather dull and I didn't appreciate the Greek City States being DLC, when taking into account these being unplayable for new customers, this game lacks content.. If you install mods you're opened up to the reality that CA is cheating people, the content is in the game, its just locked.. they expect fans to pay for them yet again.

    The naval combat is unplayable... I can't figure it out but the whole thing feels boring when it does work. I've lost entire units to some pathing bugs forcing the soldiers to abandon ship.

    Environment design is dreadful, most of it you rarely see because the game is too easy.

    This game is easily a 2.. its unfinished, its barely acceptable as a Beta, I couldn't get very many hours out of this because it was too easy, every faction felt the same, there's just none of the charm their earlier games had.

    And hands down this is one of the worst games I've ever played, its not fun and its release is unacceptable, CA are a terrible developer and should be held accountable for the games they release. I'm just glad I didn't buy it.    … Expand
  18. Elodea
    Sep 25, 2013
    2
    Rome 2 is a soulless game. A dried and empty husk of terrible gameplay design and implementation that requires extensive use of community created mods to be anywhere enjoyable. The feature set has been streamlined to the point of anorexia.

    The only redeeming point in this title is it's achievement in graphical fidelity, but this rings hollow when there's not really any solid meat underneath.
  19. Lizard_man
    Sep 25, 2013
    2
    I really don't understand how people are rating this game a 10, it's unfinished, full of bugs, stripped down and boring...

    What I can't forgive is the state that this game has been released in, fix the bugs and you're still left with an unfinished and poor excuse for a game...

    CA really pulled a fast one on us. They've lost a fan, and a customer...
  20. Rodii
    Sep 27, 2013
    2
    Too many bugs to be enjoyable.
    Too many features cut out to be a fun game.
    Too rushed to be playable.
    Don't buy the game in this state!

    Wait a year to let it be patched and reduced in price.
  21. zeock9
    Sep 30, 2013
    2
    Unfinished product at best the core concept was grand, but the devs rushed it out the door with zero polish and absolutely zero play testing.
    It's full of bugs and incompetent AI behaviors that render all other good aspects of this game moot.
    Shame on them.
  22. tom_gr7
    Oct 1, 2013
    2
    Rome II: Totally Casual.

    Streamlined features, zero diplomacy, no family tree, lack of character progression, magical transports, complete lack of battle, siege and campaign AI, blob style fighting formations, 3minute battles, magical fire burning torches, zero seasons, 1 turn per year, awful performance on high end systems, monotonous and incredibly tedious campaign,
  23. smith1604
    Oct 1, 2013
    2
    wow what a horrible game this has turned out to be gone are the family tree gone are the little assassination cut scenes it has a complicated UI the AI is the dumbest i have ever seen in a video game.I have a high end PC i see some people stating get a better PC well i have one and the fps are pretty crappy.Really big disappointment.
  24. ruarz
    Oct 4, 2013
    2
    This game deserves far worse press coverage than it has received. Thumbs up to the Guardian and the users on here for letting people know the truth. Its just a shame about the reporting standards of PC Gamer and the like.

    Before the patches I would have probably given this game a 0 or a 1. It was utterly broken and reeked of rushing out an untested and unfinished game in ordered to meet    This game deserves far worse press coverage than it has received. Thumbs up to the Guardian and the users on here for letting people know the truth. Its just a shame about the reporting standards of PC Gamer and the like.

    Before the patches I would have probably given this game a 0 or a 1. It was utterly broken and reeked of rushing out an untested and unfinished game in ordered to meet a deadline. Everything in the game or not in the game points towards these guys trying to making a quick buck. Since the patches I have amended my score to 2. The game runs slightly better but it still falls way short from acceptable. Some of the bugs have been smoothed out but it is still a 'buggy' game.

    The gameplay itself remains awful. Everything is over-simplified. There is no need for a fleet as ships magically spawn for you troops at no cost when you send them into water. The public order system is unbalanced and utterly nonsensical. The UI is unnecessarily bulky, especially during joint sea and land battles.

    The graphics are dull and muddy. They look far worse than Shogun 2 yet the game runs far slower. The fonts are not crisp and are blurred at the edges.

    The diplomacy feature is fundamentally flawed by forcing the player to use a minimum of 10% of their treasury in any payment. This is fine in the early stages of gamplay but when you have 200,000 in you get hammered every turn by AI states asking you for 20,000 or 40,000 just for a trade agreement that will generate a fraction of that over the rest of your play through.

    Worst of all, both the Campaign and Battle AI are absolutely dire and seem like a massive step back from the already lacking AI in Napoleon and Shogun 2. The gameplay is incredibly easy, even on the hardest setting and gets boring very quickly. With the long AI turn times you will spend at least half the time on the campaign screen just waiting for the AI to finish their moves. Simply put, this is not a fun game. It is not a good game. It is a shameless exploitation of Total War's existing fanbase. I only hope that fanbase shrinks and these crooks get the bad press they deserve in the mainstream.    … Expand
  25. thepoomonger
    Oct 6, 2013
    2
    This game is atrocious. A very poorly optimized game. I have read around the forums and people with Core i7s are complaining about CPU bottlenecking. My FX 8150 is bottlenecking so hard that my gpu underclocks itself due to lack of load. The unit cards are very confusing and hard to tell whether the unit is attacking or being attacked. Also the button icons for special abilities are hardThis game is atrocious. A very poorly optimized game. I have read around the forums and people with Core i7s are complaining about CPU bottlenecking. My FX 8150 is bottlenecking so hard that my gpu underclocks itself due to lack of load. The unit cards are very confusing and hard to tell whether the unit is attacking or being attacked. Also the button icons for special abilities are hard to distinguish from each other. The graphics even on extreme look nothing like what they advertised in the trailers and in the alpha footage. This game regresses back to Empire Total War graphics quality (not bad for back then but bad for todays standards). The unit animations are laughable considering how much CA hyped over the motion capture technology and the realism of the game. The campaign map is fuzzy and lags extremely bad. In battle holding down the space bar to see unit formations and paths orders results in extreme lag resulting in you already low framerate being reduced by nearly half. Terrible game and i would not recommend this to anyone. If you want a good game Rome total war game go back to the orginial Rome Total War or if you want a good modern Total War game get either Napoleon Total War or Shogun 2.… Expand
  26. vardano
    Oct 8, 2013
    2
    Biggest failure of beloved game. What a shame. They cut from game best features and instead it's full of bugs and terrible design decisions. Pre-launch marketing were lies and this is disgraceful.
  27. Kulagae
    Oct 9, 2013
    2
    Have sunk about 75 hours into this game over the course of launch until today.

    Even after 3 patches, the game is still buggy. Just when they this game breaking "end-turn" crash to desktop bug I had, up comes another ctd bug whenever I click to inspect a town's stats, at which I've completely lost what hope I have had left for this game and is now currently typing this review. Game is    Have sunk about 75 hours into this game over the course of launch until today.

    Even after 3 patches, the game is still buggy. Just when they this game breaking "end-turn" crash to desktop bug I had, up comes another ctd bug whenever I click to inspect a town's stats, at which I've completely lost what hope I have had left for this game and is now currently typing this review.

    Game is not optimized, lagging horribly during the campaign map and strange unit stuttering during the battles. Its not low framerate, unlike the campaign map, since my UI and Camera during the battle is responsive, but the units are moving at 10 fps.

    Once you get past all this you then realize the game itself is poorly designed:
    Bad AI in Campaign and Battle. I have had 3 armies in an enemy's province, with 5 different agents burning buildings and doing all sorts of crap to get the enemy to start a war. Well, they never do. In battle, units have a tendency to charge your lines but right when they are about 4 seconds away they get a morale shock and retreat but after they've retreated far enough, they usually decide to charge again, and then once again they will.... you get the point (also seen in Angry Joe's review).

    Unit balancing issues. Such as an elephant general winning over a 2000-man army.

    Finally, there are also parts of the game that seems either unfinished or just pointless. Some being the faction politics system. Civil War is inevitable, much like realm divide in Shogun 2, once your imperium hits a certain level. After you have crushed the rebellion, the influence system doesnt matter anymore, at least no in my game. My ruling dynasty is forever stuck at 71%, no matter what I do. The options to assassinate political enemies and such is gone. The retainer household card system, which you gain randomly during turns also seems to just stop at a certain point. So if your game is going well into the 250th turn or so, you'll soon notice that you won't be getting anymore new retainers for your household. So eventually, your generals will just not have special stats because apparently CA didn't even intend for your game to go past 150th turn with out you winning, quitting, or crashing permanently.

    Bottomline. Don't buy it.
    People keep saying give it time to patch or wait a couple of months. Well, I'm here to say unless these patches completely overhaul some of the mechanics, it just isn't worth it, for $59.99.
    $19.99 on the otherhand, would be great, just for laughs at least.    … Expand
  28. aimonu
    Oct 14, 2013
    2
    I don't know if all the "critic" reviewers have been bribed by CA or sega or if they didn't even play the game. It's atm. Save your money, mine is already spent and will never come back.

    Because of respect for Rome1 I will give this game a 2
  29. Sexysingle
    Oct 19, 2013
    2
    Despite 5 patches, the game is still bad. I can't even get the game to run now, when I could before. AI still does stupid things, and the game that should have been outstanding at launch, is still on life support 5 weeks after release.

    What upsets me most is the games media. CORRUPT! Anyone who gives this game 8/9/10 either hasn't played it, or Sega threw them a few quid. Worst Total    Despite 5 patches, the game is still bad. I can't even get the game to run now, when I could before. AI still does stupid things, and the game that should have been outstanding at launch, is still on life support 5 weeks after release.

    What upsets me most is the games media. CORRUPT! Anyone who gives this game 8/9/10 either hasn't played it, or Sega threw them a few quid. Worst Total War game in the series and any game that has a Victory flag in the middle of a field, can't be classed as a strategy game. AVOID!    … Expand
  30. william16
    Oct 24, 2013
    2
    I have invested 10 hours and most of the points I am going to make are cons so lets get started: There are massive frame rate issues, especially when seiging a city which requires you to use battering rams or other seige equipment, lag is also a problem I can barely play the game due to the amount of lag, AI is basically stupid they show up on the battlefield and never charge, flank orI have invested 10 hours and most of the points I am going to make are cons so lets get started: There are massive frame rate issues, especially when seiging a city which requires you to use battering rams or other seige equipment, lag is also a problem I can barely play the game due to the amount of lag, AI is basically stupid they show up on the battlefield and never charge, flank or attack in general, the UI is good on the campaign but worse in battle and the whole thing feels like a beta test and the list goes on and on.

    But there are some good: Visuals are better, you can see each city expand on the campaign map, armies are now more realistic they can't move without a general, land battles and sea battles are combined to give each battle a better feel.

    But I feel like I need to add more bad points on: Enemy's never declare war on you and the game is way to easy and last but not least,sometimes your enemy will send one unit to attack a city on the hardest difficulty up against your 1000 men garrison army.

    This is why I can only give Rome 2 Total War a 2/10, I really wanted it to be good, I am a huge fan of the franchise, CA really need to step it up in the next Total War.    … Expand
  31. ThunderHawk
    Oct 25, 2013
    2
    Nothing good came from this game.

    Good things : - Better graphics (of course!) - Naval combat. The naval combat itself is fun enough. But the AI is useless. - Naval and ground combat in one map. Great concept, lackluster execution. Bad things : - Bad campaign, takes hours just to go to next turn. - Troops has really stupid AI. Enemy troops will charge at you, and break off at    Nothing good came from this game.

    Good things :
    - Better graphics (of course!)
    - Naval combat. The naval combat itself is fun enough. But the AI is useless.
    - Naval and ground combat in one map. Great concept, lackluster execution.

    Bad things :
    - Bad campaign, takes hours just to go to next turn.
    - Troops has really stupid AI. Enemy troops will charge at you, and break off at the last moment, and keep repeating it, while taking a lot of fire from your archers. Even though the enemy unit is superior, they don't want to charge you.
    - Stupid flags. Nobody wants to capture flags in the middle of the war.
    - Campaign map LOOKS great, but too bad, the campaign AI sucks.

    This game is an example of a game that put graphics above game play experience. The game has a lot of interesting new concepts, but the AI of the game (which should be a focus of a strategy game) is really really lacking. Nobody wants to look at fancy graphics and fancy ships, we want enemy AI that (at least) give a convincing fight.    … Expand
  32. xNuahs
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    Quite easily the most uninspired game of Total War. Never mind that the game launched with a beta versions worth of game-breaking problems My game worked perfectly from day one and only revealed to me as a long-time total war fan the worst Total War game I've ever played.

    CA firstly managed to fool everyone with their advertising. They talked the big talk and hyped all their new    Quite easily the most uninspired game of Total War. Never mind that the game launched with a beta versions worth of game-breaking problems My game worked perfectly from day one and only revealed to me as a long-time total war fan the worst Total War game I've ever played.

    CA firstly managed to fool everyone with their advertising. They talked the big talk and hyped all their new features. I'm in no doubt as to where the extra budget went as it never materialized in the game.

    These new features have been implemented without any thought or consideration, some of these new features are OK and Rome 2 has a few extensive improvements such as in diplomacy. But most features are so badly thought out that they killed what made past Total War games great.

    I played this game on max settings on a top rig PC.

    For example, the new mass mechanic sounded fantastic when they talked it up before release but the only thing it adds to the game is that you can force move heavier units through lighter units rather than fight. This new addition had far too steep a price/sacrifice because the mass mechanic is singularly responsible for the games tendency to devolve into 'mob combat' with individual soldiers practically on top of each other. The result of which ruins all of their claimed extensive combat animations (which I can't confirm is extensive because I can't see any of them). In past iterations of total war zooming in and watching the individual combat was one of the highlights of the game for me and Rome 2 was so bad I had to stop myself from puking.

    Similarly, a combination of the new tech paths (for higher tech units) and the way that the new army system work makes the unit pool feel very shallow. While the amount and variation of different cultures and extent of the campaign map is to be applauded you only have to spawn a few armies out of nowhere choosing from a small unit pool a few times before you realise that the extent of variation is a lie. Every cultures unit pool is essentially the same but with units that look different. One looks greek and the other look gallic but those two swordsmen units can't be told apart otherwise. It doesn't help then that the unit pool is copy-pasted for every other faction with the same culture and that unlocking every unit can be done quite early in the campaign. Seriously, play any hellenic faction and you'll get sick of Thorax Swordsmen and Royal Peltasts pretty quickly.

    While CA have proved that they can make really cool battlegrounds to fight on, they really struggle at actually getting you to have a FIGHT on those battlegrounds which use it to its full potential. Siege battles have deteriorated since Total War: Empire (although it seems like they were fixing it in Shogun) and frankly being able to sack Rome in Rome 2 by throwing torches at the gate is ridiculous. Factor in that you can only build 1 piece of siege equipment per turn (1 ladder or 1 siege tower) while taking attrition and torches become the primary method of sacking a city with giant stone walls. It might be fun to have a really big siege battle but the AI ruins attacking you with paltry forces 80% of the time, retreated from their last walled city and letting you take it 100% of the time and attempted to push through all your units after destroying the gates with torches to get to the capture points (which results in them being slaughtered) 100% of the time unless they bug out and simple stand outside the walls and don't move.

    In fact the AI is so atrociously bad in Rome 2 that the game on legendary difficulty is on par with easy difficulty in Shogun.

    CA have been hard at work patching their beta release to fix all the bugs and glitches so actually everyone who bought the game can play it. This would be great but they've f*cked up the core mechanics of the game so badly that you'd wish you were never able to run it and it would just be bugged forever.
    Unfortunately they aren't going to be fixing their core-game anytime soon (or ever really).

    If you're a total war fan avoid and go back to shogun or even the original Rome (which is way better than Rome 2 even now).

    But if you're the kind of gamer who is entertained by any game and appreciate games being dumbed down for you then you'd probably still enjoy Rome 2.    … Expand
  33. tveevers
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    When I first started playing this game I thought it was pretty good but the further I got into it I have just been left feeling bored and uninterested and consequently after about 20-30 hours of playing time I have finished with it. I have played most of the total war games in the past and enjoyed them all but this one is very poor in comparison. I even went back to the original RomeWhen I first started playing this game I thought it was pretty good but the further I got into it I have just been left feeling bored and uninterested and consequently after about 20-30 hours of playing time I have finished with it. I have played most of the total war games in the past and enjoyed them all but this one is very poor in comparison. I even went back to the original Rome game and found this far more enjoyable in comparison.

    Winning battles are way too easy and I gave up fighting them on the battlefield because after winning every battle with only the loss of about 100 men at a time I just got bored. My worst experience with this was the one and only time that one of my un-garrisoned cities was attacked by a far greater force. I decided to fight the battle to see if I could turn the odds and rather than attack me the AI simply sat on the outskirts of the city and did nothing for the 1 hour time allocation. I actually put it on very fast mode and left it to go and have some food only to find that when I returned I had won and nothing had happened!! Another consequence here is that because fighting is so easy you just don't need to bother with advanced melee units and I have found that having legionaries and a few praetorians is enough even for civil war. Oh yes that reminds me, does anyone actually know the reason(s) why civil war takes place because I don't?

    I like the way they have linked cities together as provinces as this makes managing them much easier but I really don't like the fact that you are limited to the amount of things that you can build in them once all of your plot allocations have been filled. I have some provinces that have stopped growing with no plot allocations left and I have just forgotten about these settlements.

    The use of agents is also a waste of time mainly down to the fact that it is so difficult to actually be able to assassinate/manipulate anyone so I have found that their best use is for military training, military intelligence and administration. My other issue here is that you can only have 2 of each agent to begin with and even by the time I owned 30 cities I still could only have 3 of each!? I just don't get the point of restricting these.

    As for the politics bit of the game it just seems completely detached from the game itself and seems to have no bearing on the potential final outcome. It is hard to see the point of things like gravitas, bribery, assassination and marriage with no apparent benefit to any of them. The loss of the family tree here is also a problem because it is impossible to see how you can make your party/family grow. In fact I don't even think this happens anyway which is just bizarre! Surely in reality, each party would have up and coming family members who are all jostling for power and from a gaming point of view you want to be able to develop these characters to greatness??

    At least I had the sense to wait before buying the game as most of the bugs have been removed and I bought it for less than the original asking price. Having said that if I could, I would take my money back in exchange for the game! Very disappointing!    … Expand
  34. TheMetalfreak
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    This game just just isn't fun at all. I have no idea what they did, when I got any of the earlier TW games, I always sat in my chair for hours and days and close to months to play the game. But not on this, and the game is broken in every thinkable way possible. At the start I was hyped as hell, probably as everybody else, how could CA screw this up? They couldn't! Even with 40% largerThis game just just isn't fun at all. I have no idea what they did, when I got any of the earlier TW games, I always sat in my chair for hours and days and close to months to play the game. But not on this, and the game is broken in every thinkable way possible. At the start I was hyped as hell, probably as everybody else, how could CA screw this up? They couldn't! Even with 40% larger budjet to the game then Shogun 2 TW. Apparantly they managed to do it. I think personally it has something with their policy of having the minimum demands which they always have had. But anyways, the game is broken. Especially the A.I, they give no challenge whatsoever, they are stupid tactically, invading a harbor with 1 boat, and engaging, people that won't jump of the boat, and locking them stuck in the ship, and making you lose the battle because you cannot target them and kill them. I just hope the community and the endless (but slow) patches from CA can fix it to make it atleast playable.… Expand
  35. kaput
    Oct 29, 2013
    2
    Rome 2 is boring over hyped overpriced game!!!!
    CA plan and simple lied to its fans, i would rather not see them put out another game than something like piece crap!!!
    Sad that got all that money for something so broken.
  36. Skelet0r06
    Nov 2, 2013
    2
    I honestly tried to like this game. I've been a fan of the total war series since the original medieval and have logged hundreds of hours of playtime in that and subsequent TW titles.

    The spirit of the franchise is now totally destroyed. A decline that started, for me, with empire total war has finally reached its conclusion in this nearly unplayable game:.AI turns take around 5    I honestly tried to like this game. I've been a fan of the total war series since the original medieval and have logged hundreds of hours of playtime in that and subsequent TW titles.

    The spirit of the franchise is now totally destroyed. A decline that started, for me, with empire total war has finally reached its conclusion in this nearly unplayable game:.AI turns take around 5 minutes on my mid tier system; textures load slowly or sometimes not at all on the campaign map; battles are hardly worth playing as the AI is terrible and the units are bland and nearly identical across factions (A trend that started with empire and has been brought to Rome with decimating effect.).

    The AI on the campaign map is just laughably stupid. On multiple occasions I've marched my armies towards the heavily defended capital of an enemy empire anticipating a massive battle with strategic impact only to watch the AI player move all of their forces into an adjacent territory on their next turn. The only defeats suffered are from backstabbing allies and simultaneous attacks launched by previously warring factions. The end effect for the player is that victories and defeats feel equally undeserved and unsatisfying.

    After having spent twenty hours with this game desperately trying to find the spark I found in the original games of the series I've finally admitted defeat. I feel as if I've been tricked into paying sixty dollars for a beta release.    … Expand
  37. korab
    Nov 7, 2013
    2
    Part 2:
    -Retreating units can open the gates and run away even though they do not own/occupy the gate before, but eager and standing of course they cannot as they do not own them!-totally ridiculous and same in other TW games!
    -Retreating armies can pass through boats(literally through half of boats when retreating and my elephants pursuing them too! Totally ridiculous and annoying!    Part 2:
    -Retreating units can open the gates and run away even though they do not own/occupy the gate before, but eager and standing of course they cannot as they do not own them!-totally ridiculous and same in other TW games!
    -Retreating armies can pass through boats(literally through half of boats when retreating and my elephants pursuing them too! Totally ridiculous and annoying!

    -Enemy boats have terrible route planning and get stuck in siege battles and as a rule choose farthest shore to disembark loosing valuable time...

    -No bracing of units in moments before the AI charge! Medieval and Rome 1 had this solved long ago...
    -Spears of hoplites are too short! And serve nothing. Historically they were 3 meter long and bracing shield and spears made hoplite wall very strong: much better in old Rome 1 although there spears were too long...

    -NO BLOOD. Plus idiotic animations of single combat, Shogun is a masterpiece compared to Rome 2 and medieval 2 also is much better. Terrible individual animations in battles where units kill by missing opponents and burning people die „praying on knees“ instead of screaming and rolling to put out the fire...
    -Winning unit never pursues fleeing unit but jumps like girls on the playground!? and do so exhausted and under full equipment after combat although that same unit walks with head down simulating being tired). And do so also if there are other units charging into them that very moment! In all previous TW games pursuing or not was resolved with defending or normal stance! Why did you remove this great option???

    -Exactly the same female monument and same colour(black) in both Carthage and Rome and it is well known they had totally different God families(as a matter of fact one of the most conflicting issues among them was that Carthaginians sacrificed children in terrible Baal rituals and Romans despised and hated them for that)! And they both stand in the same city center location more less in both cities?! No effort or whatsoever to make culturally appropriate monument in a particular city corresponding to actual god temple one has chosen to build or AT LEAST FACTION!
    -SUGGESTION: No random citizen people running around the city during sieges which would add greatly to the atmosphere of being under siege... For example a mother with a child runs from one house to another! Or someone runs half naked and hits some wooden stands with goods in a hurry... Much better to have this than to have stupid birds flying around which serve nothing as town looks like ghost town! At least these birds should come down and eat on dead people and/or deserted food...In all battles birds were first to feast on corpses...

    -no historical and logical correspondence of towns or whatsoever neither on the campaign map nor in battle. How is province capital of Syracuse(Greeks) and Lilybale...(Cartaghe) under Roman city in the south!? Even today in 21st century Sicily is like a different country in Italy with still strong mafia lords, not to mention 300-200bc when three different nations controlled the island... Each city HAS to be for itself and maybe only Rome and Carthage and Athens could have small satellite cities VERY close to them... OR use Empire system of small villages which are without army and cannot produce many different buildings...
    -Cities are extremely big compared to land mass and they look ridiculous when they grow...! Actually campaign map paradoxally looks small due to this although it is actually huge! The very first impression is that no attention was given to details (no world wonders, proper mountains, rivers...) and that it is a copy of civilization IV kind of maps with those growing cities... Simply disgusting and not in the spirit of other tw games...

    -Walls of every town does not have a proper end?!(to the hill or sea or rugged terrain or connecting to wall circle but it looks like enemy can pass many units around it. Totally ridiculous as old Medieval did not have such issues...
    -No multi level capital cities, easy to conquer Rome and Carthage..
    -Carthage has one front tower so destroyed that a man on shoulders of another can easily enter the tower and whole army can do that as well so it is totally unrealistic and walls look so easy to bypass on the side or through damaged towers. Carthage historically had GREAT WALLS which could be entered from below and not on the side and it took Romans years to conquer it! Not a slight historical accuracy or whatsoever...
    -With any infantry unit selected when cursor is on the wall it automatically shows positions of units on the wall as if a player wants to put them there!? In all previous TW games this occurs only when one holds left mouse button which means he does want to put units on the wall but not before!

    -    … Expand
  38. kvaroyaldo
    Nov 15, 2013
    2
    Rome 2 is quite nice to look at if you got a decent gaming rig. However, thats about it.
    I certainly do not play strategy games for their looks. Thats just a bonus for me.
    The issues with rome 2 are: -horrible ai -same ai mistakes since empire(sometimes the ai will attack your city, but they wont do anything, just stand still outside your walls) -bad ui -poor performance    Rome 2 is quite nice to look at if you got a decent gaming rig. However, thats about it.
    I certainly do not play strategy games for their looks. Thats just a bonus for me.

    The issues with rome 2 are:
    -horrible ai
    -same ai mistakes since empire(sometimes the ai will attack your city, but they wont do anything, just stand still outside your walls)
    -bad ui
    -poor performance
    -multiplayer is a gigantic letdown (co-op campaign, vs campaign and battles)
    -endgame/late game is just boring
    -the game is way too easy because the ai is quite passive(ive never run into some huge ai empire)

    I really really wanted to like this game. I really did. I even bought a friend another copy of the game so we could co-op the campaign. We have spent some 100+ hours on that bit, but we havent been able to finish it. We get desynched around 50 turns into the game. You can feel the game at that point is extremely slow. The save games stop working. All sorts of bugs ranging from ctd to bluescreenofdeath, all depending on which of the 2 of us click first when ai attacks us on the ai turn. have tried to start over 2 times, but with the same result. Unable to finish it because all sorts of bugs and glitches come around. Really painfull.
    Ive spent more time in co-op trying to get the game to work, than we have spent time actually playing it.
    The whole faction/political thing is just a realm divide. However you beat it quite easy. And from there on out it is a complete breeze. Making the last part of the game feel like a complete chore.

    Another thing which really annoys me is that some guy made a mod which basicly makes you able to play all the factions. They are all there, on your hdd. However Sega/CA seem to gone completely off the wall when it comes to dlc's. It leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

    True, some mods do help. But you shouldnt rely on the community to fix your 60 dollar game. It should be working from the second you buy it.

    The 3 different types of agents have too similar actions. The ingame wiki is painfully slow.
    The agent/general upgrades window is a mess.

    This is an overpriced game which doesnt even come close to your expectations of a Total War game.
    And I am a huge fan of the series. I got every single of them bar shogun 1.
    A real shame. This could have been so good.    … Expand
  39. dlfrutos
    Nov 17, 2013
    2
    Terrible. Worse than Total War: Rome. The only good thing are the graphics.

    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.
  40. Point_Break
    Nov 25, 2013
    2
    So as an avid total war fan I was foolish enough to fall for the hype and pre-order this game.
    Bottom line I wish I never played through half a campaign before realizing I had just wasted $60 of hard earned cash for a complete wreck of a game.
    I'll start with the good points of the game, as they really aren't many. 1: Some interesting new units. 2: The maps are alright and you    So as an avid total war fan I was foolish enough to fall for the hype and pre-order this game.
    Bottom line I wish I never played through half a campaign before realizing I had just wasted $60 of hard earned cash for a complete wreck of a game.

    I'll start with the good points of the game, as they really aren't many.

    1: Some interesting new units.

    2: The maps are alright and you can now fight on the streets in cities, kinda cool.

    3: A ton of interesting and diverse factions.

    4: Naval combat is improved by the fact that you can now move troops directly to sea and they will man their own ships. no need to pack you largest boats with a army that can't help in a fight)

    5: The new diplomatic system now lets you pick targets for your allies to focus on.

    Now everything I just mentioned is undone and completely inconsequential because of various issues.

    To clarify...
    1: All units types and differences are almost completely aesthetic, almost all units have the same stats with little to no variety. Also when armies meet to engage they are just two blobs bouncing off each other, charge bonus', and line penetration are a joke. In a fight the majority of your forces are just standing there waiting for the thin veil of active troops blandly work their way through the the opposing armies equally dull force.

    2: The maps now include capture points which pretty much ruins the AI's priorities, making city fights kind of a joke, and quite frankly broken.

    3: Again due to the units being so similar in stats across the board faction type is again purely cosmetic.

    4: naval combats is simply not fun, the AI for instance had tons of issues, for example AI controlled ships often get stuck on shore unable to unload their troops. Also when fighting in open waters they have poor AI and ship boarding almost always fails, morale breaks at sea way too easy and most battle play out feeling wrong or broken.

    5: The new diplomatic system isn't so bad but still seems lacking, causes AI to act to recklessly, and quite frankly teh whole system feels inconsequential.

    Now onto some more bad...
    6: Graphic wise this game is a total let down and they frankly lied to us with early in game footage during pre-release. IDK how lying to your customers is excusable in this day and age.

    7: Performance wise it's terrible, poorly optimized at release is understatement. I don't think computers that can handle this game even exist yet, well in the average home at least.

    8: PvP is worse than ever due to the similar and bland unit types, poor mechanics of actual fights, by that I mean your armies are just blobs of ugly little lifeless robots bouncing off each other. despite the weak differences in unit types they some how managed to sneak is some OP units, mostly on the Roman side, that further spoil any fun to be had.

    The one thing that wasn't a wreck was the Audio, it's pretty good, they added a lot of color to the troops with some context sensitive dialogue.

    I heard they fixed a lot of the AI issues and they have improved the time it takes to wait for the AI's turn to finish.
    Still I am so disappointed I never want to see this game again, wish I could get my money back, but I won't.
    So I am forced to tell others how this game is an absolute travesty and Creative Arts are no longer a respectable company deserving of our money, well mine at least.

    Shogun 2 was last good thing Creative Arts did, I will try to remember that, still I feel cheated and robbed by them now, months later.    … Expand
  41. Motcritic
    Nov 28, 2013
    2
    If you liked the previous total war games, then welcome to the children friendly version.

    My suggestion is to get the first Rome Total War and download one of the best mods for it, it will provide you with plenty more fun. I was hoping for a new Rome Total War since 2004, almost 10 years later never have I been so disappointed at a game. What were they thinking? The bugs, the AI,    If you liked the previous total war games, then welcome to the children friendly version.

    My suggestion is to get the first Rome Total War and download one of the best mods for it, it will provide you with plenty more fun.

    I was hoping for a new Rome Total War since 2004, almost 10 years later never have I been so disappointed at a game.
    What were they thinking? The bugs, the AI, omg the AI... is just so so bad, did they evolve it since 2004? I doubt it. The gameplay in general, the absolutely ridiculous battle changing general super abilities, seriously?

    The only reason someone might enjoy this game is if they never played any other total war game.    … Expand
  42. utumno86
    Dec 13, 2013
    2
    It pains me to give Rome II a bad review because the core elements of the game are actually pretty good. The graphics are great, even on my video card, and the battle AI (except in sieges) is pretty good, and probably better than in previous games. However, the smaller problems of Rome II are too many to enumerate, and I'll have to content myself with describing a few of the mostIt pains me to give Rome II a bad review because the core elements of the game are actually pretty good. The graphics are great, even on my video card, and the battle AI (except in sieges) is pretty good, and probably better than in previous games. However, the smaller problems of Rome II are too many to enumerate, and I'll have to content myself with describing a few of the most egregious.
    Crappy Campaign AI: To my mind, a Total War game has three phases: Phase I; the player uses his small starting army and province (s) to carve out a more substantial empire out of his weaker neighbors. Phase 2; the player uses his small empire in brutal wars against empires of roughly the same size that genuinely pose an existential threat. Phase 3; the players empire becomes so large that no other faction on the map can challenge him, and he rotely conquers enough territory to satisfy the victory requirements. Obviously Phase 2 is the most interesting part of the game, but it never happened in my first Rome II campaign. The AI could never get its together enough to form any decent sized empire, and I simply conquered states of one or two settlements until I became too powerful for the game to be interesting. Which transitions into

    The Campaign is too long For whatever reason, Creative Assembly decided to balance the campaign around being 300 turns, which have taken me in the neighborhood of 100 gameplay hours to complete. That is unacceptable. The 35 plus hours for the 100 turn short campaign in Empire was bad enough. The requirement of 110 settlements for a military victory is absolutely ludicrous; In my campaign as the British Confederation I was the undisputed master of the map by settlement 20 or so, and the 70 plus hours and 90 settlements it took to get from there to the victory condition was mere tedium.

    The campaign clock doesn't fast forward fast enough: The ability to fast forward the battle clock has one primary purpose: to make the time go faster when the game glitches out and your opponent either refuses to attack you in a defensive battle or you route the enemy army but the game doesn't notice (both of which happen far too often) and you have to run out the clock or concede defeat for a battle that you have won. The slow fast clock means that either of these situations can result in upwards of 45 minutes of down time to watch your army stand there waiting for the game to acknowledge their victory.

    The civil war mechanic makes no sense: The entire game I assumed that the intra-faction groups (for the British Confederation, Elder Chiefs and Other Chiefs) was important for the civil war mechanic, since that faction allegiance tab shows up every time you pick a general and the game acts as if having guys loyal to your faction is important when the other faction tries to adopt them. I assumed that all generals loyal to the Other Chiefs would join the rebellion or something. Instead, all that happened was, at the height of my military might, with some 80 settlements under my control and 12 full-sized armies, a single province changed color and sent out a few small armies to harass me. If that's all the civil war mechanic does, what the hell is the point? Why have all of the crazy faction tab stuff?

    Enemy's turns take too long: Since the map has 50 gazillion factions (as in Empire), and the game takes its sweet time pondering what to do for every single faction, every time you press that "end turn" button, you are looking at fifteen minutes of downtime. There has to be a way to streamline that.

    Normally, I would consider that all of this stuff is fixable and would hopefully be working better in a couple of patches (three of which have dropped since I started the campaign, which took the better part of two months). But the last straw for me was Creative Assembly starting to shill their Caesar in Gaul DLC. YOU, Creative Assembly. Fix your broken game I payed 60 bucks for before you start trying to gouge me for more content. What assurance do I have that the new content is any more polished than the content I already have? My advice to any Total War fans is to just play the original Rome: Total War. Its better in every way than this new mess.    … Expand
  43. Asharel
    Dec 17, 2013
    2
    One would think professional reviewers would sink some more hours into a game before giving it 7 or 8 gold stars and calling it a masterpiece, its no wonder that people are asking themselves if they have been bought of by the company in question when the game is clearly broken into shards which then got mauled by a limp bellend full of glass shards.

    Onto the game itself, Ai in the ca    One would think professional reviewers would sink some more hours into a game before giving it 7 or 8 gold stars and calling it a masterpiece, its no wonder that people are asking themselves if they have been bought of by the company in question when the game is clearly broken into shards which then got mauled by a limp bellend full of glass shards.

    Onto the game itself, Ai in the ca franchise has always been rather poor but this one takes the cake and stuffs itself into a black hole into a new dimension of horrible, made worse by capture points that are located in idiotic locations, the worst are siege battles which after 7 patches makes the ai toss torches at the gate instead of using siege equipment (wich in and of itself is buggy i might add, try the ladders i dare you)

    the next offender is the sea battles, they've made them dumber than Empire total war and that in and off itself is an achievement.

    i could go on about various other bugs and the lack of overall depth but i think i have painted a bleak enough picture as is, il leave you with a plea not to by this sham of a total war game as it will surely damp your apetite for further games this company might spew out, they did it right in shogun but this game is 3 steps back into a pit filled with     … Expand
  44. HughDangler
    Dec 20, 2013
    2
    I really wanted to love this game. But I just can't. I played all the total war games and to me this is by far the worst one. here is why.

    Politic system is boring The engine doesn't work with melee battles the multiplayer is barebones You can't siege a city if its port is blockaded ?!? The AI is no good There is no diversity between factions. Too much rock paper scissors game    I really wanted to love this game. But I just can't. I played all the total war games and to me this is by far the worst one. here is why.

    Politic system is boring
    The engine doesn't work with melee battles
    the multiplayer is barebones
    You can't siege a city if its port is blockaded ?!?
    The AI is no good
    There is no diversity between factions.
    Too much rock paper scissors game play.
    The soundtrack is boring unlike rome 1 )
    Frame Rate is no good for most computers.
    Generals die before you get to start caring about them.
    Navy battles are boring.

    The game just isn't up to par. and the fact that CA is trying to sell us more DLC instead of fixing the game makes it that much worst.    … Expand
  45. pfhbarros
    Dec 27, 2013
    2
    this doesnt have a single significant inovation and the AI is a disaster some times it is ridiculously dumb and other times its impossible to beat and its poorly optimized 2/10
  46. numerouno7
    Dec 28, 2013
    2
    like most game franchises, when the creators either A sell the rights to the series or B) decide it's time to focus more on graphics and focus less on gameplay, it usually takes a dump, and this once mighty series did just that.
  47. Z47_B
    Jan 9, 2014
    2
    After several patches the game is still poorly optimized and the ai is only slightly better. However, if you go to the Steam Workshop and download everything you may get close to what we were promised.
  48. axxiusdecius
    Jan 11, 2014
    2
    based on what it offers, I'd say: 8/10 for the battles (very well done, but just the same as in previous games),, 9/10 for the faction variety (a step forward from the Shogun 2, which was boring in lacking any variety), but 0/10 for the strategic part: the building tree and the tech tree are tiny, their descriptions are unclear and effects not felt, they were so lazy that building/techsbased on what it offers, I'd say: 8/10 for the battles (very well done, but just the same as in previous games),, 9/10 for the faction variety (a step forward from the Shogun 2, which was boring in lacking any variety), but 0/10 for the strategic part: the building tree and the tech tree are tiny, their descriptions are unclear and effects not felt, they were so lazy that building/techs don't even have pictures! the commerce is also totally undeveloped, the resources don't matter, and so on, so in the strategic map part there just is no fun in playing any more. NONE! Plus the fact that fleets now invade port cities, which is very frustrating, cause while you can afford about 3 or 4 armies and kick ass with them, you cannot afford armies in all ports, and you will constantly lose them. So an average of 5,7 based on the ratings above. but in reality for me it was a 2/10, because played it for a few days and uninstalled it forever, while TW Medieval 2 I still play now, after endless games.… Expand
  49. SovietWomble
    Jan 16, 2014
    2
    Very disappointed. If you enjoyed Shogun 2, avoid this title. Lots of little issues drown this game.

    - The AI provides next to no challenge. In battle, the AI will be massacred by a simple outflank. Once you reach a certain size you're more or less unstoppable on the campaign map. - Unstable with constant crashes, frame rate drops and unacceptable loading times even on an SSD. -    Very disappointed. If you enjoyed Shogun 2, avoid this title. Lots of little issues drown this game.

    - The AI provides next to no challenge. In battle, the AI will be massacred by a simple outflank. Once you reach a certain size you're more or less unstoppable on the campaign map.

    - Unstable with constant crashes, frame rate drops and unacceptable loading times even on an SSD.

    - Awful UI design. The tech tree is compartmentalized and unclear. Building things in provinces is unnecessarily complex and unrewarding, and you keep having to look at the encyclopedia to get basic information on future builds. And the status of units in battle is difficult to determine using the unit cards. It's simply bad UI design. And a clear step backwards from Shogun 2.

    Frustrating mechanics changes:

    - Navies are a waste of time. Since any land army automatically turns into a fleet on touching the water. Investing in a powerful navy does not protect your coast, or allow you to move units around faster than on land, since ships move at the same pace as land armies.

    - City militia forces now engage in battles far from the city itself, in a large zone of control around the city. Meaning a 1000 on 1000 battle in the hills, will be reinforced by another 1000 militia forces from a town miles away. It's a frustrating mechanic that handicaps you in the opening few turns, as these basic militia units can be a challenge for your starting infantry.

    - Armies are now entirely centered around generals. So reinforcing armies requires you to move the entire army to the recruitment province, rather than send reinforcements to the distant front. Gone are the days where you could fragment forces into smaller groups like a real army.

    For the first time in the franchise history, I'm going to be cautious before buying something from Creative Assembly again.    … Expand
  50. MyStore
    Jan 28, 2014
    2
    I find myself surprised that I'm giving this a '2', I'm not sure it even deserves that. Off the top of my head the only contribution it has made to the franchise is the legion system. That is it. And that isn't that big a contribution. NOTHING else that it did was a worthy step forward in the franchise's history; the province system was horrendously executed, the politics system was bothI find myself surprised that I'm giving this a '2', I'm not sure it even deserves that. Off the top of my head the only contribution it has made to the franchise is the legion system. That is it. And that isn't that big a contribution. NOTHING else that it did was a worthy step forward in the franchise's history; the province system was horrendously executed, the politics system was both pointless and unsatisfying, the AI is even worse than usual, the combat mechanics are AWFUL, there is NO unit collision and combat just looks disgusting, though the units fighting do not.

    I could have forgiven bugs and patchable problems. But the problems with Rome II aren't patchable; they're problems the designers created with their poor decision-making and insistence on using an engine for a task it wasn't designed for; Warscape simply wasn't designed for the 'meat grinder' hand-to-hand combat CA themselves said they were aiming for. In the words of one YouTube reviewer; if you've played Total War since the first Shogun, Medieval or Rome, then this game will only disappoint you.    … Expand
  51. Publius-Defecus
    Feb 4, 2014
    2
    This game was a complete disappointment and well beneath the capabilities of this franchise. The game on it's own and in it's current state, I would give a 6/10. HOWEVER, because this game is part of a well known and previously respected franchise I would have to give it a 2/10 as it fails miserably in doing what the previous titles did so well.

    Simply put this game is just not fun.    This game was a complete disappointment and well beneath the capabilities of this franchise. The game on it's own and in it's current state, I would give a 6/10. HOWEVER, because this game is part of a well known and previously respected franchise I would have to give it a 2/10 as it fails miserably in doing what the previous titles did so well.

    Simply put this game is just not fun. I've lost count of how many times I've played through the original Rome, Medieval II, and even Empire in the past. I sunk over 750 hours of gameplay into Empire alone, even though I considered it to be the weakest title (until now). I can understand CA trying something new and it not working as they had hoped and I could forgive it with ease but this game was simply rushed and felt completely half-♥♥♥♥♥.

    The AI has never been worse, the battles started as mobs and now consist of awkward formations, kill animations are poorly implemented as they are the only way to kill a unit and therefore result solely in 1v1 combat amongst troops. In the original games, troops were able to help one another meaning that multiple units could engage a single unit and kill it with ease whereas now we have Shogun II stand-offs where a single soldier can take forever to kill because your individual soldiers just stand around looking like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ until it's their turn to participate in a kill animation. The buildings in this game are very unimaginative and have effects that are completely illogical to the point where the CAI has no idea how to build a proper city and instead is constantly being taken over by rebels. Unit collision is FUBAR as units just clump up together, walk through each other, and feel fake as a whole making any level of immersion impossible.

    I recall seeing similar things in Empire which leads me to believe that the Rome II engine is based off of the Empire engine which is complete nonsense as the Empire engine was built for guns and not close-combat. I could go on for hours talking about how this game disappointed me and listing (in great detail) all the things wrong with it but you could go on youtube and find numerous hour-long rants on the subject.

    All in all this game is a shell of what the Total War series used to be as many great features have been stripped from it (including good music, good voice-acting, key UI and battle components, family trees, a good diplomacy system, etc). This game feels like more of a cash grab than anything else as CA seemed to only care about DLC whoring, advertising, and focusing on silly gimmicks such as facial animations as opposed to core gameplay elements. They also flat-out lied about what they were selling as the game looks NOTHING like the advertisements.

    I honestly doubt that any amount of patching will be able to fix this atrocity and even doubt that the mods will be able to keep this title alive for much longer. If this is to be the future of the Total War series than I can honestly say that this franchise is dead as it will be further turned into the strategy equivalent of Call of Duty.

    P.S.
    To all of the apologists that see themselves as the Knights in shining armor defending CA from the onslaught of "neck-beard losers" that have valid criticisms of this game and CA's business practices, I say that you are the reason that more and more game franchises are turning to DLC whoring, releasing incomplete products, and simply worse games in general because now they know that they can get away with it. They are literally crapping in your mouths and you are thanking them for it in cash. You praise CA for listening to it's community and for actively patching it's game but remain blind to the fact that it should be unacceptable for a game to be released in such a state in the first place. Moreso, this is not even the first time CA has done something like this.

    I challenge the apologists to tell me how this title improves upon the franchise in some major way.

    - Better graphics? Not really as Shogun II looks MUCH better when looked at side-by-side.
    - Better design? No, since the game is horribly optimized (if at all) and has countless design flaws (such as huge cities preventing armies from moving)
    - Better AI? Lol no. Just no.
    - Better UI? No, since most features are missing (such as family trees and general/agent trees).
    - Better Battles? Absolutely not. See reasons in review above. Also, capture-points.
    - Better Diplomacy? No, since factions can barely be reasoned with and many diplomacy features have been stripped down.
    - The addition of something new?
    - Politics system is a joke.
    - Facial animations are useless and take up unnecessary space, time, and money.
    - Units shouting during battle sound (almost comically) terrible, repetitive, and break immersion.

    I do not hate CA or the Total War series. I am a die-hard fan of this series as it has been with me since I was 12 years old. I fear that the direction CA is taking however, will lead to the death of this once proud series.    … Expand
  52. bspurlock
    Feb 14, 2014
    2
    I have always been a fan of the Total War series and wait for new releases with joy. However there seems to be a demon at work with Rome II.
    I have always considered myself as a good to decent student of strategy on the battlefield. Keeping my enemies to my front avoiding having my flanks threatened and always looking for a chance to flank my enemy.
    In Rome II it does not matter if I out    I have always been a fan of the Total War series and wait for new releases with joy. However there seems to be a demon at work with Rome II.
    I have always considered myself as a good to decent student of strategy on the battlefield. Keeping my enemies to my front avoiding having my flanks threatened and always looking for a chance to flank my enemy.
    In Rome II it does not matter if I out number my opponent or not or apparently if I even set it on easy, which I never do, I can not win a single battle. Even if I engage an enemy unit and flank it while engaged I lose the combat with my units routing from the field. I want to throw this piece of crap in the junk.    … Expand
  53. Advocatus
    Feb 19, 2014
    2
    I am very disappointed. I followed the development of this game eagerly, as I've purchased every Total War title. This is the most disappointing of the lot. The AI is terrible, the interface is frustrating and counter-intuitive, the addition of "capture points" makes any sort of coherent strategy impossible, naval combat makes no sense whatsoever (transports steamroll naval ships) and theI am very disappointed. I followed the development of this game eagerly, as I've purchased every Total War title. This is the most disappointing of the lot. The AI is terrible, the interface is frustrating and counter-intuitive, the addition of "capture points" makes any sort of coherent strategy impossible, naval combat makes no sense whatsoever (transports steamroll naval ships) and the units lose cohesion at the first sight of the enemy. There are many other problems, but I need no more words than these - I will think very carefully before buying another Total War title, and I will never buy one pre-launch again.… Expand
  54. rubanzomi
    Mar 15, 2014
    2
    this game disgraces its predecessors in almost every way possible. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone. If you want a good total war game try Rome 1 or shogun 2 but don't buy this game its a disgrace and a waste of time and money.
  55. junedragon3
    Mar 20, 2014
    2
    I find myself conflicted on whether to review this as a Total War game or as an individual game. I'll start of with the TL;DR version:

    As an individual game I'll be generous and give 2/10 As a Total War game? 0.5/10 And here's why (to call a handful out of a host of issues): Luckily I did not buy the game at launch and missed that epic disaster. All of my experience with this    I find myself conflicted on whether to review this as a Total War game or as an individual game. I'll start of with the TL;DR version:

    As an individual game I'll be generous and give 2/10
    As a Total War game? 0.5/10

    And here's why (to call a handful out of a host of issues):

    Luckily I did not buy the game at launch and missed that epic disaster. All of my experience with this game is up to date with the most current patch.

    Feature stripping: Gone is the innovative multiplayer of Shogun ii, the faction-intro videos (and most other polish of past games that lent to the overall experience), great elements of the campaign game (eg. no family tree and the turns are so long (1 year) they'll die before you can really put much work into them), and a host of other features throughout the game.

    Disappointing battles: The battles, the heart of total war games, just feel off and generally disappointing. Numerous mechanics are plainly broken (naval battles are utterly broken, cavalry/chariots routinely routs formed spearmen, unit grouping messes up all the time, especially when transitioning positions, etc.) and the battles are often flat-out boring (even in MP).

    Dreadful Campaign - It's far too easy, ridiculously dumbed-down/simplified/feature-stripped, and just in general boring. It's nowhere near as engaging as past titles in the TW series and is just not very enjoyable overall.

    DLC whoring/practices: oh boy, where to start. From charging $8 for the greek states DLC (pay-to-unlock/on-disc "DLC") which they knew people would really want (as Spartans were really popular in Rome Total War) to the debacle in which units claimed to be added-on in the Beasts of War DLC were found in pre-release advertising footage, which brings us to the next complaint...

    False Advertising: From the "screenshots" and other pre-release footage which hardly resemble the final product even on the mightiest of rigs to promises of the best AI to date (...ya...) and the aforementioned lies about DLC, the level of dishonesty displayed so far has been extremely disappointing.

    I won't even bother complaining about the host of glitches, those god-awful capture flags, the psychotic diplomacy, the atrocious optimization, and other issues that have already been complained about to death.

    Why such a low score (1.5/10) as a TW game? Because not only does it contribute nothing to the series and fall well short of quality standards set by past titles, it strips some of the great features of said past titles.

    Why not a 1/10?

    Redeeming qualities: At least they tried to add a new feature in combined land/sea battles (even though its still quite broken and the mentally challenged AI can't handle it and often end up staring at a wall for an hour - oh and ya, the AI still will stand dumbly staring at you for an hour sometimes, a brilliant strategy in ensuring their victory by making you ragequit). And... the ... um... the graphics are better I guess... Oh and at least they did fix *most* of the game breaking bugs of launch (though that never should have happened...)    … Expand
  56. Meglos
    Apr 26, 2014
    2
    As a long-term player of Rome Total War I was looking forward to this game, but it has disappointed me in the way that most strategy game sequels do. I would have been happy if they'd kept everything the same as the original game, but streamlined some of the management and made the AI less stupid in strategy, combat and diplomacy (anybody new to the franchise would probably have enjoyedAs a long-term player of Rome Total War I was looking forward to this game, but it has disappointed me in the way that most strategy game sequels do. I would have been happy if they'd kept everything the same as the original game, but streamlined some of the management and made the AI less stupid in strategy, combat and diplomacy (anybody new to the franchise would probably have enjoyed that too). Unfortunately the new game is everything that most sequel strategy games are: more pretty and more complicated. Not complicated in a puzzling, challenging sort of way, complicated in a "lots more dull things to deal with" sort of way. Hundreds of regions acand custom unit types, after the first rush of interest, are just a bore. I guess the sort of programming that requires adding lots and lots of "stuff" is easier to do than the sort that makes the computer think and act like a clever and crafty human.
    If you're the sort of person who likes auditing accounting spreadsheets, you'd probably like this game. If you actually want to have some fun, avoid it.    … Expand
  57. ninjamandela
    Apr 28, 2014
    2
    First of all I'm a fan of Total war series since the first Rome game. But this new game, although its pretty when it works most of the time its crashes because you need a high end gaming rig to play. Even then the game still is broken with lots of bugs. There are up to 12 big patches already released by CA to correct and fix their broken game but still have not iron it all out. I've paidFirst of all I'm a fan of Total war series since the first Rome game. But this new game, although its pretty when it works most of the time its crashes because you need a high end gaming rig to play. Even then the game still is broken with lots of bugs. There are up to 12 big patches already released by CA to correct and fix their broken game but still have not iron it all out. I've paid $74 when it came out and kinda regret it. I've lost 100 hrs or Rome Campaign too with one of those patches. Not being able to load it anymore. Plus all these DLC add-on that cost at least $3 should be free. I will not spend a single cent anymore on this game and any other CA release games.… Expand
  58. pajomife
    May 20, 2014
    2
    The most disappointing game I ever played,sorry,i dont play it no more,The transport ships Spam to disguise the lack of CA competence to add proper naval invasion its the ultimate ultrage,
  59. Canicula
    Jun 19, 2014
    2
    I've sat and watched the slow, grinding destruction of what was a fine, interesting and absorbing game model into this, this tablet worthy mulch that is barely worthy of being allied to the Total War name. It's still got enough little bits that make you remember what CA used to produce, but the bulk of the game is simplified, dumbed down, rationalised. It's not a good strategy gameI've sat and watched the slow, grinding destruction of what was a fine, interesting and absorbing game model into this, this tablet worthy mulch that is barely worthy of being allied to the Total War name. It's still got enough little bits that make you remember what CA used to produce, but the bulk of the game is simplified, dumbed down, rationalised. It's not a good strategy game anymore. It's got big bits missing that have to be added with mods, which while always the case with CA games, thinking of Medieval 2 and the dire coding that contained, but the basis of the game was worthy, it inspired people to mod it because they wanted to get to the back of the game and have what they could see it would match up to.

    This is a mirage of a game, it's literally made to be played on tablets, it's one step up from the pretty flash game.    … Expand
  60. bastianravenx
    Jun 19, 2014
    2
    HUGE disappoint when you play total war shogun and switch to this game like angel from heaven going to hell UI like crap. I played almost 20 hours just to find myself how bad this game
    such a let down people
  61. lareth
    Aug 14, 2014
    2
    So many negatives compared to the positives.

    + The fight and movement system is alright. (except for sieges) Graphics are not as good as they said, but they are alright. - Streamlining is the worst thing in this game, and it covers everything from techs, politics to battle. Release was horrible, but with all the patches the game didn't become good in the end. It is almost    So many negatives compared to the positives.

    +
    The fight and movement system is alright. (except for sieges)
    Graphics are not as good as they said, but they are alright.

    -
    Streamlining is the worst thing in this game, and it covers everything from techs, politics to battle.
    Release was horrible, but with all the patches the game didn't become good in the end.
    It is almost unmoddable, not counting making new units and stat changing. So it can't get any better.

    They released this to get money. That's it, and no amount of PR and lies can change that.    … Expand
  62. Dirtdice
    Sep 5, 2014
    2
    terrible game
    is a light RTS for those that want spectacle with little depth.
    The AI is terrible, something that the developers keep saying they improve but each new tittle added to franchise shows them for the charlatans this company has become. They falsely advertise their games since medieval total war. Multiple patches later have fix nothing of worth except some bugs here and there,    terrible game
    is a light RTS for those that want spectacle with little depth.
    The AI is terrible, something that the developers keep saying they improve but each new tittle added to franchise shows them for the charlatans this company has become. They falsely advertise their games since medieval total war.
    Multiple patches later have fix nothing of worth except some bugs here and there, but the core game still remains broken. Unfortunately there seems to be a market for those that prefer strategy with little challenge so I doubt any fallowing tittle will see an improvement.    … Expand
  63. ESKIMUZ
    Sep 29, 2014
    2
    I don't understand how such an experienced team like this could fails so hard in understanding what the fans wanted and to delivery. The only thing that makes this playable are mods, and they are made from Fans. I hope that the director, Tim Heaton, got fired for this failrure, he and his idic "90 metascore". Look where it brought you, fool.
  64. scarfake
    Jan 8, 2016
    2
    low fps, bad ai, bad diplomacy, complicated interface, unnecessary country, too much turning time, boring and nonsencial details... i think rome 1 is better than this. also dlc scams exploit you
  65. Bushido95
    Sep 27, 2021
    2
    Невероятно разочаровывающая часть игры после которой я поставил крест на серии.. я буквально не мог узнать свою любимую серию игр. Тут само собой напрашивается "Look how they massacred my boy"
  66. Megatanis
    Sep 10, 2013
    1
    eheheh reviews average score: 8.1
    user average score: 4.0
    I hope this is the final word on the "are official reviewers biased or are they not" issue. Rome total war 2 on release is unplayable, simple as that. I am using a 2.7ghz dual core, 4gb ram and 1gb video card (specified RECOMENDED requirements on the box, not minimum) at medium graphics (options are from low to ultra high,    eheheh reviews average score: 8.1
    user average score: 4.0
    I hope this is the final word on the "are official reviewers biased or are they not" issue.
    Rome total war 2 on release is unplayable, simple as that. I am using a 2.7ghz dual core, 4gb ram and 1gb video card (specified RECOMENDED requirements on the box, not minimum) at medium graphics (options are from low to ultra high, medium is 2/5). Loading times are unbearable. Whole thing is glitchy as hell, on this same rig I could play Shogun 2 at decent graphics and reasonable loading times.
    Really, do they test this stuff before release, or do they think we all have a 2000$ last gen pc?
    So, not able to judge game (the few things I saw are nothing special compared to previous iterations) since it is literally unplayable.
    Needless to say I play total war series since shogun 1..oh well I guess I'll have to find a better job so I can afford a rig that can run RTW2.
    I'll give it a 1 because of the latin quote at the end of the cool (but nothing special) intro     … Expand
  67. dominionator
    Sep 25, 2013
    1
    This game is broken beyond belief. So much lag with the lowest settings so its obviously not the computer its the game. ITS BROKEN. To legally be able to release a game and charge $60 for something broken just makes me wonder what this world is coming to. Stay far away from this game, you will be less frustrated doing so. Wish I did
  68. kalimah
    Nov 6, 2013
    1
    Was it the CEO that apologized for all the bugs in the game when it was released? He knew all along this was going to happen. If he didn't know, he should be fired. POS game..
  69. Viljanen
    Sep 5, 2013
    1
    The game is laggy and ugly even on my relatively good computer. I'm not going to play it until it is patched and hopefully optimized and I can't recommend it to anyone. I feel sorry I preordered this unfinished game.

    At the moment it is the ugliest Total war game ever. The graphics look like they are 10 years old.
  70. tarq
    Sep 5, 2013
    1
    Terrible release, full of bugs and incredibly questionable game mechanic decisions..Diplomacy and battles AI are broken, game code in unoptimized. they removed several features from previous games and dumbed it down for no apparent reason.Some stuff will be fixed by community and/or CA but other things (like flag points in battles are not possible to remove and they are killing the game.Terrible release, full of bugs and incredibly questionable game mechanic decisions..Diplomacy and battles AI are broken, game code in unoptimized. they removed several features from previous games and dumbed it down for no apparent reason.Some stuff will be fixed by community and/or CA but other things (like flag points in battles are not possible to remove and they are killing the game.

    Wait till it's fixed and in bargain bin, not worth full price att    … Expand
  71. Xenophon
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.
  72. Exfan
    Sep 14, 2013
    1
    I had high hopes for this game considering how finished product Shogun 2 was. Sadly same problems that plagued Empire:total war are in this game too. Seems like they just copied same engine from Empire:total war. Game has same kind of fps problems in late game, large battles. It becomes dia show and haven't got anything to do with graphics options. Game is poorly optimized and terriblyI had high hopes for this game considering how finished product Shogun 2 was. Sadly same problems that plagued Empire:total war are in this game too. Seems like they just copied same engine from Empire:total war. Game has same kind of fps problems in late game, large battles. It becomes dia show and haven't got anything to do with graphics options. Game is poorly optimized and terribly slow paced because waiting for all AI turns in game (turning of show AI movement won't help anyway). Considering that they are atm beta testing patch it seems rushed product.… Expand
  73. RogerWilco2099
    Sep 10, 2013
    1
    What should have been a massive improvement has turned into a massive disaster All the improvements that were promised and boasted about simply don't exist, in fact they have been streamlined to the point its unplayable. There are some great ideas and nice features but these are overshadowed massively by everything that is wrong. The epic battles of old are gone. Small skirishes that lastWhat should have been a massive improvement has turned into a massive disaster All the improvements that were promised and boasted about simply don't exist, in fact they have been streamlined to the point its unplayable. There are some great ideas and nice features but these are overshadowed massively by everything that is wrong. The epic battles of old are gone. Small skirishes that last 3 minutes are now the norm. Graphic issues and screen tears are constant. The game speed and sense of urgency in conflicts has been increased way to fast, the devs seemed to have got lost their direction. In its current state. Not only is the game current price not worth it in its current state, the devs have the nerve to offer day one DLC to content that should clearly have been included. Cashing in yet again. In addition this game has a bigger budget then any other Rome game and I have no idea where its gone. I swear they accidentally released the Pre-Alpha build, its scary how wrong things have gone. The sad truth is that even with numerous patches, the new direction with combat and its style will mean this series will no longer what it will be. The fact the many numerous patches will be needed to make this playable is quite frankly pathetic. Shameful display!… Expand
  74. femmefatal
    Sep 3, 2013
    1
    to counter the silly 10's being thrown around out the wrongfully I had to give this game a 1. It's not worthy of a 10 and everyone knows itl It's not worthy of a 1 but we have to even things out. Right now it has some intuitive issues and crash issues and diplomacy issues and I saw them. Figuring out how to build took about 3 turns and having to have a plat form before one builds is justto counter the silly 10's being thrown around out the wrongfully I had to give this game a 1. It's not worthy of a 10 and everyone knows itl It's not worthy of a 1 but we have to even things out. Right now it has some intuitive issues and crash issues and diplomacy issues and I saw them. Figuring out how to build took about 3 turns and having to have a plat form before one builds is just more micromangement the game doesn't need. Diplomacy is silly in that no one wants a simple trade agreememt or non aggression pact. Crashing is a big issue with me because I rarely have them but this game crashed on the very first battle. a bad one too reset my whole computer and did a hard reboot. I'm sure there will be more issues like the AI is pretty easy too but hopefully that is because of these early factions I've encountered if it gets better without mods I'll up my score until then it gets a 1… Expand
  75. Druganov
    Dec 11, 2013
    1
    After 2 hours of playing i returned this game. poor graphics, dumbed down, no decent economy/management, horrible AI, crazy system requirements. this is an abomination compared to the original
  76. Garganfunker
    Sep 17, 2013
    1
    A slap in the face of all Total War and strategy game fans. This game is a disgrace. Creative Assembly just lost all its core audience by dumbing down gameplay for console release.
  77. Kluge
    Oct 4, 2013
    1
    Hey look another CA Total War game, with all the same caveats poor computational optimization, lack of unit diversity, only masochists play naval combat manually, AI turn times which progress about as fast as a legless donkey, useless combat AI which stands around while you slaughter them (it's been such a long-running problem, I'm starting to think CA believes AI you massacreHey look another CA Total War game, with all the same caveats poor computational optimization, lack of unit diversity, only masochists play naval combat manually, AI turn times which progress about as fast as a legless donkey, useless combat AI which stands around while you slaughter them (it's been such a long-running problem, I'm starting to think CA believes AI you massacre effortlessly is a selling-point because the player's supposed to feel like a bad*ss, instead of cheated), a boring and unengaging "metagame" (campaign map play), and sadistic camera settings which don't let you really grasp everything going on without breaking flow to move the camera and see all the different engagements while the game's paused (seriously there's no excuse for this. If I wanted "realism," or whatever it is they're going for, I'd just keep the camera zoomed in). Modders rush in to fix the many deficiencies of the game, and do a fair job with it but I'm not going to take mods into account when vanilla gameplay is so awful, I uninstalled the game after less than 5 hours of play. In defense of CA itself, however check out Extra Credits Extra History, which CA's marketing division funded. I imagine it's the most fantastic history lesson on the Punic Wars ever given.… Expand
  78. Fenarid
    Sep 8, 2013
    1
    The game is broken. Tons of bugs, very bad AI, the lack of true garrisons in cities is retarded. Just as armies that can only exist and move with general. I recommend buying EU IV or Shogun 2 TW, not this crap.
  79. Ayreos
    Sep 8, 2013
    1
    Total War: Rome II does one thing right. It allows you to see which professional reviewers don't play the games they review for any significant amount of time or deliberately lie about their experiences playing them. This game is a hastily thrown together beta, and at least one year of full development away from being playable. The other comments cover the issues in exhaustive detail.Total War: Rome II does one thing right. It allows you to see which professional reviewers don't play the games they review for any significant amount of time or deliberately lie about their experiences playing them. This game is a hastily thrown together beta, and at least one year of full development away from being playable. The other comments cover the issues in exhaustive detail. Thank god i got to try it before purchasing. For anyone who did purchase it, i recommend asking a refund whenever applicable. Even though Steam policy doesn't support refunds, many European countries legally require a refund option regardless of agreements. For now, it's back to playing the first Rome: TW, with mods of course.… Expand
  80. socialperson1
    Sep 14, 2013
    1
    Well Rome II will need some heavy patching if not mods to make it playable for me. This game will need another year people, so give it some time and save your money, for now, you aren't really missing anything.
  81. Vigil
    Sep 16, 2013
    1
    This is a massive downgrade from Creative Assembly's last entry, Shogun 2. Rome 2 is absolutely worse in every aspect than it's predecessors;
    - awful, clunky, intrusive UI
    - baffling interfaces which require you to use the in-game Encyclopedia (which contains information about mechanics cut from the game, no less) - severe graphical issues - half of the unit features from the original    This is a massive downgrade from Creative Assembly's last entry, Shogun 2. Rome 2 is absolutely worse in every aspect than it's predecessors;
    - awful, clunky, intrusive UI
    - baffling interfaces which require you to use the in-game Encyclopedia (which contains information about mechanics cut from the game, no less)
    - severe graphical issues
    - half of the unit features from the original Rome: Total War
    - completely broken unit AI
    - broken maps
    - awful naval combat
    - no politics
    - no family trees
    - no diplomacy (factions will ALWAYS demand a monetary payment for diplomacy actions)
    - no unit variety
    - horrifically overpowered Roman melee units

    I'd go on, but others have said the rest, probably. Phenomenal disappointment. I'm not sure what happened to CA, but they've lost the plot. Avoid this entry in the Total War series at all costs. It is not worth your money.    … Expand
  82. karvala
    Sep 14, 2013
    1
    Dear oh dear oh dear. What a complete shambles. It's not that there are bugs in this game; sadly that's par for the course these days. It's not that the turn ends take far too long; in fact, everything takes far too long, for too little benefit. It's not even that it's lost a lot of the attractive features of previous games in the series in the name of streamlining; change has toDear oh dear oh dear. What a complete shambles. It's not that there are bugs in this game; sadly that's par for the course these days. It's not that the turn ends take far too long; in fact, everything takes far too long, for too little benefit. It's not even that it's lost a lot of the attractive features of previous games in the series in the name of streamlining; change has to happen and that's fair enough. It's that the end result is a complete, unplayable, mess.

    Bad AI? Check. Poor performance? Check. Dire documentation? Check. Poorly designed new features? Check. Lack of balance? Check. Lack of usability? Check. This game is a textbook example of how NOT to design a game. That they took such a good series and somehow turned it into this deserves some sort of award. Preferably the sort that involved unemployment.

    Don't bother buying it now; wait a couple of months and you'll find it in the bargain basement at $5, which frankly would still be overpriced.    … Expand
  83. Nogard123
    Nov 15, 2013
    1
    Go play Rome 1,it's a far better game then this.
    The AI was never very good in these games but in Rome 2 is just one big joke.
    Also the day one dlc leaves a bad taste and lets not talk about the horrible UI.

    I though it wasn't possible but this is even worse then Empire.
    So people,do not pre-order ....Ever and don't support these greedy weasels.
  84. VendettaBB
    Nov 22, 2013
    1
    I really would not trust these high reviews that are coming up now praising CA for patching the game and "fixing it" in their eyes. Most of these people are just advertising blood and gore ("oh my blood and gore dlc is so amazing it makes the game so fun") really? like do you have family at CA or what? Give me a break. And no they did not give us "a bunch of free dlc" like some of theseI really would not trust these high reviews that are coming up now praising CA for patching the game and "fixing it" in their eyes. Most of these people are just advertising blood and gore ("oh my blood and gore dlc is so amazing it makes the game so fun") really? like do you have family at CA or what? Give me a break. And no they did not give us "a bunch of free dlc" like some of these phoney reviews are pointing out to. What... some uninteresting factions that were cut from the original game is somehow supposed to win me over now? Of course they couldn't sell it as DLC they would just look like a bunch of morons like they are for marketing the blood and gore pack and then having the audacity to call that Patch 6. lol, oh and the state of the game you might ask? Again don't believe these fraudulent reviewers that have been attempting to raise the score. The game is still poorly optimized for high end machines and patch 7 has gone live. (I have AMD FX 8350 8 core, GeForce GTX 670 and 8 GB ram and the campaign map is still stuttering very noticeably, aka low frame rates). The UI is as ugly as it was at release (the pre-alpha looking ui), the trivial design decisions are still in the game armies cannot be merged as effectively (general has to be in an army), armies can instantly turn into ships, no seasons and 1 turn per year, broken politics system that has no use replacing the family tree, ai is still horrible and lackluster (still much worse than previous entries) after CA has attempted to patch it, battles are still very non-strategic (capture the flag, broken siege battles, broken formations and on and on), truthfully the game is so painfully broken compared to shogun 2 that I actually don't even have the urge to engage in battles let alone even play past several turns (I always go back after patches hoping it might be the one to at least fix some problems but I've been disappointed for over 2 months now). The game is not even in a beta state, now going on 3 months after release, CA has completely sold out and basically robbed us of our money, people telling you otherwise are flat out lying or are completely unaware or ignorant of what constitutes quality. I've poured over 500 hours into Shogun 2 and that was the pinnacle of the total war series. Rome 2 still does not even come close. I'm being as honest as I can after having my heart broken (this was my most anticipated game of the year).… Expand
  85. RDonnell
    Sep 3, 2013
    1
    I have played this series since 2004 and i am shocked this game is so bad.It is essentially a reskinned Shogun II that manages to run worse,look worse and feel worse even when they had a massive amount of money which seems to have went on PR and false reviews

    Firstly the promise of slower grittier battles never happened and battles are so fast they are over in no time at all giving the    I have played this series since 2004 and i am shocked this game is so bad.It is essentially a reskinned Shogun II that manages to run worse,look worse and feel worse even when they had a massive amount of money which seems to have went on PR and false reviews

    Firstly the promise of slower grittier battles never happened and battles are so fast they are over in no time at all giving the user a huge load time wait and feeling underwhelmed.Units are also quite small and unmoddable at around 160 per unit.And the unit movement speeds are just insane with horses running with wild cheetas.There is a huge ugly and intrusive UI blocking most of the up close action when you control 40 units which is supposed to be a huge new feature.

    Horrible AI also seems to plague the series again with dumb beach landings forcing the player to wait for every unit to dis embark before being allowed to give orders while the enemy attacks for disembarking forces.

    The game lao seems so fast paced and dumbed down with so many flashing icons and instructions you would think it was designed for a ten year old.The game also lacks any kind of historical accuracy with laughable roman testudo formations and unrealistic phalanx formations.The massive unit spacing between soldiers means the testudo has huge gaps and paltry shield protection.And on the topic of shields the new hitpoint system now means that shields only act as a HP increase and once low a slingers stone can kill someone even behind a shield.Units also never seem to die in one hit due to this system.You must also be prepared to witness men flying in the air when hit by horses and chariots giving the whole game a messy and arcade feel which is devoid of grit or accuracy.

    The performance is also shameful on high end computers and a note of caution SLI DOES NOT WORK and might never work.This game is single cards only and seems to barely use available GPU power.Only 70% load on a GTX 680 and sub 30 frames per second is simply unacceptable.

    This is but a small fraction of issues listed so i gave them a score of one due to the over rated reviews and need to balance the metacritic score so people know just how much of a failure this game has been and how much money was wasted on PR instead of game development and high quality programmers.    … Expand
  86. Praetorian_bgx
    Sep 5, 2013
    1
    As someone that is following TW franchise from first release, i was unpleasantly surprised with RTW2. Past experience with Warscape engine sent clear warning many times. I guess i believed that they can't let their biggest title fail in such a horrible way. Rome Total war was a game that allowed them to expand and experiment with rest of sequels. MTW2 followed that line on great level andAs someone that is following TW franchise from first release, i was unpleasantly surprised with RTW2. Past experience with Warscape engine sent clear warning many times. I guess i believed that they can't let their biggest title fail in such a horrible way. Rome Total war was a game that allowed them to expand and experiment with rest of sequels. MTW2 followed that line on great level and combined with mods its one of the best games ever.

    Problems started with Warscape engine. Empire Total War. There is no need to talk about this product. It was a clear example how not to make an rts. Warscape is probably one of the most unfinished and strategy unfriendly engines ever. It was bad presenting gunpowder units but much worst in melee combat.

    After few more titles released in the last couple of years, they managed to pull the best of this software. It was far away from perfect, but Napoleon and Shogun were much better. They mastered the look of campaign map. New role-play elements with Generals and agents were welcomed by all fans.

    In all Warscape titles, one thing was heavily missing to make those games worthy successor of RTW or MTW2. Battles. From the very start, its was clear that this engine cannot produce interesting and fun battles. Not on the level that previous one could. Not even close. Every melee battle looked like hooligan street fighting after a very bad derby. No tactics. No Strategy. Just a mess with a lot of movement and different colors.

    What CA did is that instead of working on new engine, they decided to build Ancient RTS on engine that doesn't support melee combat and strategy at all. Complex formations like Phalanx or Cohort pilum attack that were made 10 years ago now don't exist. This software simply can't follow ancient warfare. Basic rts elements like "guard mode" are erased from game. There is no flanking with cavalry cause flanks don't exist no more. Everything is over in a 3 minutes.

    I will not even enter into bug/crashed/freezes subjects. They exist, and game is far way from finished.

    Once again, CA repeated same story. They exploit warscape so many times with different set of models and textures that they didn't feel any guilt to do this again. They perfectly calculated that investing in marketing branch and recycling the old stuff cost much less that building new engine. Then, as always before every major release, Laurel and Hardy shows their funny faces, hyping you to death with fake images and gameplay shots. Material that's always somehow deleted from official game cause it didn't fit. They are actually presenting that as they did a favor to fans cause it would hurt gamplay or make game unstable, bugged....

    Total War Rome 2 is a school example of false advertising and CA fraud.

    After this one, I just hope that the franchise is done and they're finally done milking the title that made them great many years ago.

    Rating 1 Just because campaign map still looks beautiful    … Expand
  87. sowingsadness
    Feb 22, 2015
    1
    Broken onslaught.
    No diplomacy.
    Strange boring stylistic.
    Very useless generals in battle.
    To strange power of veterans. Do not affect to the battle.

    Do not buy this game.
  88. jesterx7769
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    The new studio has ruined this game.

    -Graphics: I have a newly updated gfx card and good system that I can run every other game on highest settings like Grid 2, however in Rome 2 I get 20fps, seriously? This may be worth it if the gfx were good but the textures and gfx are horrible. Each unit is unique which isn't worth the sacrifice. The world map is also horrible I have no idea why it    The new studio has ruined this game.

    -Graphics: I have a newly updated gfx card and good system that I can run every other game on highest settings like Grid 2, however in Rome 2 I get 20fps, seriously? This may be worth it if the gfx were good but the textures and gfx are horrible. Each unit is unique which isn't worth the sacrifice. The world map is also horrible I have no idea why it looks so bad compared to games like Crusader Kings 2 or EU4.

    -The voicing and character models is bad

    -AI and such is the same as always, so is gameplay.

    Sadly it is just the graphical performance that makes this game completely unplayable. Another new studio has ruined a good franchise they are just using the name to get sales    … Expand
  89. sonofdiablo48
    Sep 3, 2013
    1
    Needs work it has a lot of issues right now. crashing, diplomacy, AI, intuitive gameplay. Graphics are good though I wouldn't give it a 10 but we have to be fair about this 7.5 is closer to home it shouldn't get a 10 just because it's CA and RTW2
  90. psychoravin
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I wanted to like it but in this state I cant. I cant beiieve the differnce in scores of the pro reviewers and the fans such broad spread you know something is up when all the pro reviewers think so much of a game. wonder how much they got paid on prop up one of those streamlined games as such. I had two crashes and I've never had crash problems before with any game. I actually after aI wanted to like it but in this state I cant. I cant beiieve the differnce in scores of the pro reviewers and the fans such broad spread you know something is up when all the pro reviewers think so much of a game. wonder how much they got paid on prop up one of those streamlined games as such. I had two crashes and I've never had crash problems before with any game. I actually after a short session wanted to play something else like The Sims 3 how terrible. I even thought of playing the origional RTW but remembered how bad the ai was in that one and all the rest up to Shogun 2. I'd play Shogun 2 but I don't like asian games that much, but I do like challenge so I'd play SPARTAN or SACRIFICE. This one didn't make my interested list though I wanted it to so bad. Needs lots of work.… Expand
  91. N1kke
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I have been waiting this game for a while but what i get Broken game, i have super rig and my FPS is 15-25-fps i luv total war series but why release buggy game i don't wanna play low settings or medium because i know my rig can do better than that and EVEN medium settings lag is terrible..
  92. wolverine101
    Sep 3, 2013
    1
    It could have been better much better. All the crashing is terrible just terrible. I hope they patch it soon as these many issues just won't do nor these lying scores it's dejavue all over again with the origional RTW the game does not rate 100 or 90's and that's all these jerks can give just to be like the other lemmings or smurfs. Quit lying and give it the score it deserves because ofIt could have been better much better. All the crashing is terrible just terrible. I hope they patch it soon as these many issues just won't do nor these lying scores it's dejavue all over again with the origional RTW the game does not rate 100 or 90's and that's all these jerks can give just to be like the other lemmings or smurfs. Quit lying and give it the score it deserves because of performance and gameplay.… Expand
  93. Ryuzaki
    Sep 7, 2013
    1
    I wanted to enjoy this game, but i couldn't. This game has so many problems, i'm thinking they didn't even test this game before release.

    First problem is the AI, horribly programmed, doesn't attack and it can't defend worth sh*t Second problem: The units you're controlling cant stay in a f*ckin formation. Overall this game feels like a beta, not worth full price..if they want a    I wanted to enjoy this game, but i couldn't. This game has so many problems, i'm thinking they didn't even test this game before release.

    First problem is the AI, horribly programmed, doesn't attack and it can't defend worth sh*t

    Second problem: The units you're controlling cant stay in a f*ckin formation.

    Overall this game feels like a beta, not worth full price..if they want a 10/10 they would have to wake up and come out with a HUGE patch..but they probably wont, they robbed us.    … Expand
  94. stern
    Dec 8, 2013
    1
    It's an incomplete game, buggy, with design flaws, and worst, a broken hard-coded core. This is something that not even modders will be able to change or improve, because it's the mechanics of Total War in the end.
    They should decide if they want to make a tactical real time battles game or if they want to make a strategical turn based map-based war game. As it is now, they try both and    It's an incomplete game, buggy, with design flaws, and worst, a broken hard-coded core. This is something that not even modders will be able to change or improve, because it's the mechanics of Total War in the end.
    They should decide if they want to make a tactical real time battles game or if they want to make a strategical turn based map-based war game. As it is now, they try both and fail utterly.
    If you paid for this game I feel sorry for you, I sure grew out to Paradox games many years ago so I wasn't expecting any different from CA. Whoever played Medieval know what pain is.
    One wonders the appraisal this game has from "professional" reviewers. Were they paid?    … Expand
  95. greview
    Sep 13, 2013
    1
    Finally the day is here Rome Total War 2... I couldnt wait ..have been a great Total War series veteran started with the original Medival Total War game in 2003 and bought every single one of the series after.i have had hundreds of enjoyabale hours playing Rome 1, medieval 2, Shogun 2 and Empire some of the best. they can all range from 8 to 10 stars, as a History buff i would say theFinally the day is here Rome Total War 2... I couldnt wait ..have been a great Total War series veteran started with the original Medival Total War game in 2003 and bought every single one of the series after.i have had hundreds of enjoyabale hours playing Rome 1, medieval 2, Shogun 2 and Empire some of the best. they can all range from 8 to 10 stars, as a History buff i would say the ancient romans would be watching over this game as a disgrace to they greatness, with retarded mentally challenged AI,plenty of glitches lots of waisted time waiting to download even on an high end PC. not all the ancient tribes exist as they should they should read plutarch and lots of history before launching this game. Total dissapointment or Total greed and failure should be the title of this one. what a great opportunity wasted for a 10 star game this should have been ,given the PC evolution since TW Rome 1, I would not advise any one spending $60 on this one rather play cheaper earlier TW games. Rely on user reviews other than "Critic" reviews whom share profit from this overpriced not fun to play game. 1 star i gave only because I like the History of Ancient Rome whom deserves a game matching its glorious past.… Expand
  96. Irrelevant
    Sep 13, 2013
    1
    Over 60 hours now and I just can't take it any more. I tried to be a good little fanboy but this game is sh*t in its current state. SHAME on sega and SHAME on ca for taking advantage of a loyal fan base.
    -Battles are now capture the flag
    -AI is the most broken its ever been. Set the battle timer to 20 minutes because they wont even attack half the time and youll end up just waiting out a    Over 60 hours now and I just can't take it any more. I tried to be a good little fanboy but this game is sh*t in its current state. SHAME on sega and SHAME on ca for taking advantage of a loyal fan base.
    -Battles are now capture the flag
    -AI is the most broken its ever been. Set the battle timer to 20 minutes because they wont even attack half the time and youll end up just waiting out a battle, suicide AI charges
    -Super streamlined. No politics, no family, no senate, no Factions Ranking scroll, cant base taxes on a city to city basis only faction-wide, units replenish in 2 turns
    -Glitchy graphics, poor AI pathfinding, poor unit responsiveness
    -FLAMING JAVELINS
    -On "legendary" difficulty enemy agents have 99% succes rate, yours have 10%, which doesn't make it hard but unfair
    -NO AGENT CUT SCENES
    -Armies make a fleet automatically by entering water. Those fleets of transports easily defeat the "real" fleets of warships
    -Random lag on campaign map and battles
    DO NOT BUY DO NOT BUY DO NOT BUY wait several months for the 9,875,889,785 MB of patches that have to go through this game    … Expand
  97. Brosman
    Sep 10, 2013
    1
    I know its not a real review. But just warning to people wanting to buy this game, Im pretty sure 90% of the critics on the left side there have been paid off. 100/100, really?
  98. YoungR
    Oct 19, 2013
    1
    Disappointed by Total War, they just get worse and worse simpler by each release. I miss the likes of Medieval and Empire. In love with Europa Universalis now!
  99. Abolfazl3007
    Sep 9, 2013
    1
    Where do i begin ?!

    Visuals looks way worse than shogun 2 in almost every way !! Performance is Horrible ! With a Rig that runs shogun 2 at maximum i cant even get a descent frame rate lag free game at medium-low setting !! Absolute Technically broken all the way ! The most stupid AI ever ... Thousands and Thousands of different bugs and glitches everywhere !    Where do i begin ?!

    Visuals looks way worse than shogun 2 in almost every way !!

    Performance is Horrible !

    With a Rig that runs shogun 2 at maximum i cant even get a descent frame rate lag free game at medium-low setting !!

    Absolute Technically broken all the way !

    The most stupid AI ever ...

    Thousands and Thousands of different bugs and glitches everywhere !

    Unplayable

    BROKEN PRODUCT    … Expand
  100. xXChronosXx
    Sep 3, 2013
    1
    -----------Vote this game down----------

    If you have ever been a fan of this series it is your obligation to vote this game down so CA understands that we are no longer going to put up with --consistently-- broken products that take upwards of 6 months to fix. -And the AI still sucks? 10+ years later? Hundreds of millions in revenue later? You still cant hire someone competent enough    -----------Vote this game down----------

    If you have ever been a fan of this series it is your obligation to vote this game down so CA understands that we are no longer going to put up with --consistently-- broken products that take upwards of 6 months to fix.

    -And the AI still sucks? 10+ years later? Hundreds of millions in revenue later? You still cant hire someone competent enough to make a game more challenging than pong? Modders can do it but your entire development team cannot?

    -It only takes 30 seconds to create an account through your email but the damage you can do to CA's sales will last a lifetime. Make them think twice before they try to pull this ONCE AGAIN. A game that has any flaws does not deserve a 10/10! Not one bug!
    -Take a stand against this kind of robbery
    You can drastically impact CAs revenue by voting games down on metacritic.

    -----Vote this down!-----    … Expand
Page:

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 »