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. Fedozzo
    Sep 10, 2013
    0
    This game is commercial garbage.
    Unplayable, graphics and gameplay simplified, arcadized and NO tactic at all.
    Capture point? WTF is this, a hsitorical strategy serious game or a arcade-console-casual game?
    It's pure it's the worst abort I everseen in my gaming life, is the biggest delusion of the year.
    DON'T BUY THIS ALPHA-ARCADE-PIECEOF**** and install Rome I.
  2. ILoveKitKats
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Have a 780 GTX, i7 3770k, 16GB RAM. Can't run on extreme/ultra at all, in battles it drops to 10 FPS. I put it between medium and very high and I manage stable 30 FPS in fights. Disappointing. Campaign map has FPS drops consistently also. Using Xsplit I was above to see that after an hour I'd dropped over 10,000 frames. Without Xsplit I have the same FPS issues.

    Tried all fixes    Have a 780 GTX, i7 3770k, 16GB RAM. Can't run on extreme/ultra at all, in battles it drops to 10 FPS. I put it between medium and very high and I manage stable 30 FPS in fights. Disappointing. Campaign map has FPS drops consistently also. Using Xsplit I was above to see that after an hour I'd dropped over 10,000 frames. Without Xsplit I have the same FPS issues.

    Tried all fixes configurations possible, doesn't work and the game has no release SLI support. New UI is bloated, pretentious and non-informative. Non-decipherable Egyptian icons for every button leave you hovering over every button to know what it does. Lack of information bad space management leave it frustrating.

    In battle UI, unit cards take up 30%+ of the screen and use the same bad Egyptian art-style, makes the game unplayable.

    Also false advertisement, the two game play YouTube videos released compare nothing to the game, highest settings don't reflect what you can pull even with a 780 GTX or a titan. Perhaps with SLI support you can but dual SLI titans to run this game on highest settings? I can max out any other game on the market...

    Shambles of a game, suspect it's still in beta and we're just doing mass testing. I've played nearly every other total war and the UI is just a game ruining feature, Shogun 2 kept all the information correct while having their "Stylistic" UI that they wanted. They should have kept the same thing, nobody complained so why fix what isn't broken.

    I'd recommend you save your money if you can, they've claimed they'll patch the game but that doesn't excuse releasing and incomplete game.

    0/10: Avoid at all costs.    … Expand
  3. ShimazduRio
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    So far the biggest disappointment of 2013. Instead of improving and adding new features to the game, CA made everything more casual. I don't understand all these talks about huge budget, this game is lame shadow of old TW games.

    People don't buy this game. It is very bad!
  4. wowocobi
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    For the love of god DON'T BUY IT! This game is a failure on so many levels.

    As a Total War veteran (have bought and extensively played other games starting from first shogun), I really could not be more disappointed.
    Every developer has had a big miss, and CA has their first huge miss. In my opinion, even Empire was far better game.
  5. Lokomoko99764
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    It's a buggy mess that's literally unplayable for people like me in its current state (Hence the 0: unplayable). This was the first and last time I'm pre-ordering a TW game. I thought they had gotten over the terrible releases ever since Empire.
  6. Bonifazo
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This would have been a great game if they'd finished developing it. Buggy, crash prone, and utterly unplayable. Don't buy it for at least a few months the fact that they're apparently using fans of the series to do play testing rather than doing it themselves is frustrating, to say the least.
  7. Peju2003
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The official review score is a total shame. The gamer's review score is closer to reality and it should even be a much lower score. Same old philosoply coming from Sega is a real disappointment. Selling an unfinished product is totally unacceptable. The game is a bug in itself. It will mess up your computer and slow down anything you do with it.

    I can't even finish a prologue because    The official review score is a total shame. The gamer's review score is closer to reality and it should even be a much lower score. Same old philosoply coming from Sega is a real disappointment. Selling an unfinished product is totally unacceptable. The game is a bug in itself. It will mess up your computer and slow down anything you do with it.

    I can't even finish a prologue because games crashes. UI looks horrible.    … Expand
  8. thenewking
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I was so exited to play this game for ages and its a serious let down for me.
    The visuals and graphics are very nice but that's about it.
    I hate the whole new campaign system its simply horrible and not enjoyable, it feels like your not apart of the game. Everything i love about the whole building your empire is gone, you cant see the buildings in the menu as they have been changed to    I was so exited to play this game for ages and its a serious let down for me.
    The visuals and graphics are very nice but that's about it.

    I hate the whole new campaign system its simply horrible and not enjoyable, it feels like your not apart of the game.
    Everything i love about the whole building your empire is gone, you cant see the buildings in the menu as they have been changed to awful avatars/icon cards along with the troops. Why make a massive change like this when it was perfect? was it because CA couldn't be bothered to create detailed buildings and unit cards.

    Battles are just way to fast its like playing c&c you can not even enjoy a battle and watch your men fight like the good old days as its just to fast paced.

    Overall of a game i was expecting to brilliant and Rome 2 compared to the other Total War games.

    if its not broke do not change it!
    This is by far the worst Total War game to date!    … Expand
  9. rvm33
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    A well orchestrated PR campaign (congratulations on that CA!) and promises of a game well made and an incentive of 1 additional free DLC and people buy the game. Then, fans (me) complain it is different and broken, so some patches and a ton of paid DLC's later CA is far more income sturdier than just issuing a game upfront properly.

    CA is completely capable of making their games    A well orchestrated PR campaign (congratulations on that CA!) and promises of a game well made and an incentive of 1 additional free DLC and people buy the game. Then, fans (me) complain it is different and broken, so some patches and a ton of paid DLC's later CA is far more income sturdier than just issuing a game upfront properly.

    CA is completely capable of making their games playable, modders like dartvader proved they can do it on their own but it is not a good business proposition. There is no development to be done anymore. And development means income and jobs. Tell me again, why do it properly and then be out of a years to come long business?! Unfortunately for me, only now I fully realized this.

    Turning now on the PR campaign we have been promised graphics outstanding with soldiers faces showing horror as enemies attack. This is not the case. Will be though ...a DLC later. We have been expecting some blood and wear and tear of armor and weapons after the battle as seen in the pictures of their PR campaign and as we read in reviews. Again, it is not yet the case, but will be... a DLC later.
    Right now a soldier looks the same before and after the battle.
    We know Romans had archers but there are no archer units in Rome 2 rooster. We all want them as it is stupid to fight with stone slingers in a fiercesome war machine ...a DLC later.

    Got the point?

    For this reason CA bolstered that Rome2 is a huge platform with unlimited potential for the future. And it is truly a cash making machine as long there are fans. I'm gone.

    Believe it or not, the people actually programming the game are not fans of the series. They do not understand the subtleties of the game and this is proven by the fact that they invested in graphics a lot more while "simplifying" the game play and micromanagement, making thus the game dull. To them it seems normal an unmanned tower is raining arrows on the attacking force?! Realism?
    They did not see the point of the defensive position in the unit's orders and just took it out. Why? Because the programmer who did this in the previous series isn't working or in charge of that particular development and the new guy did not see the point anymore. Or, maybe it is pointless for consoles.

    We have to take into account that CA evolved in the last 10 years also. Many new people came and old ones went. This team is not the one who launched Medieval 2 and the previous games. It was visible from the launch of Empire where the bugs started piling up, to this date. It seems they do not play the games they are programming.

    Now, back to us, the fans. We have also evolved. Many of us are fans of the series since Rome 1 or Shogun 1. This was say back in 2004 and we were then 18. That makes us 28 years old now. We don’t play games like then.
    We like to think, use strategy and want to see realism and feel it. We don't like fast and easy battles won. We like positions and tactics and planning an empire right. We like BAI and CAI that is challenging, diplomacy that makes sense, we like to develop our regions, muster armies (as many as we like and afford) and to be challenged. We need for that an immersive game in both strategy and game play.
    Here lies the subtlety that CA did not grasp.

    We also like stunning graphics and can afford top notch PC's. We can spend money if we feel we get what we want.

    But right now, I don't. I feel tricked by a PR campaign promising everything there was in the series and more and delivering... a different and broken thing.
    Deceiving your customers is generally bad bussiness practice, may work here and now but not on the long run.

    Looking at the above, my feel is that CA cannot deliver the game play we want anymore. They can create a platform but that's it. For that reason modders like darthvader appeared and made from a jerky, fort lagging and stupid humpty dumpty style Empire a nice playable game. Same goes for Napoleon and Shogun 2. The crowning achievement of the modding community is Shogun 2 darthmod. From here, looking down on Rome 2 seems a huge step back.

    There are so many issues to be addressed speaking about the game from a game play perspective like armies cannot be split up, armies embarking on nonexistent ships transports, reduced tech tree, UI non intuitive, melees extremely fast, units routing extremely quick one has no time to zoom in to see the fight, not holding formations etc. that it makes no sense to write all here. Just read the posts on Metacritic or Steam.
    Forget the technical problems, they will be fixed eventually but concept issues will not.

    This game will be playable for us maybe in 1-2 years from now when modding people like darthvader and the many others will have corrected some of the game play issues if they will exist for this game.

    From my perspective I am truly sorry to have bought this game now, because I supported this strategy CA is implementing and I destroyed my hopes of a great game. A dumbed down game it is.    … Expand
  10. MAXOH
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I played 8 hours so far and I think this game is mess. Awful performance, lack of gameplay features, boring economic system, broken AI.

    I paid 60 dollars for this game and I feel scammed. SEGA marketing department just robbed me.
  11. legoras
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    One big disappointment, AI stiupid like donkey I attack 3 enemy units [2x spears geneal], first they wait when I will shoot some ot them them by pillums?, then I attack this two spear units [general do nothing 10? meters near], after kill this two spear units, general [10 meter near] still waiting]. Wtf? Optimization does not exist.. I good remember when CA LIES about "great OptimizationOne big disappointment, AI stiupid like donkey I attack 3 enemy units [2x spears geneal], first they wait when I will shoot some ot them them by pillums?, then I attack this two spear units [general do nothing 10? meters near], after kill this two spear units, general [10 meter near] still waiting]. Wtf? Optimization does not exist.. I good remember when CA LIES about "great Optimization for Rome 2".. Army morale.. units flee like chicken (just like in FOTS..) Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards. One big disappointment.    … Expand
  12. Beowulf1066
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I've been a huge fan of the entire Total War series since 2003 and understand that most of their games are released a little too early and often have some medium to serious bugs to be fixed.
    Having said that, I feel like I deserve a refund for this game. I understand they wanted to go a different route with the campaign side (politics, no family trees, building armies with generals (not    I've been a huge fan of the entire Total War series since 2003 and understand that most of their games are released a little too early and often have some medium to serious bugs to be fixed.
    Having said that, I feel like I deserve a refund for this game. I understand they wanted to go a different route with the campaign side (politics, no family trees, building armies with generals (not cities), revamped tech screen, and the use of regions) but the changes they made were not improvements. I find them distracting and unnecessary. I would also like to take the time to go into how horrible it was to implement one year per turn, not having a family tree, diplomacy horribly bugged, etc... but I want to focus more on the core of any Total War game COMBAT.
    Combat is Rome II: Total War is too fast and chaotic. Tactics don't have much of a roll to play anymore. Units will only engage one another for a minute or two before routing. That gives you no time to set up flanking and ambushing maneuvers. The enemy will now send their entire force (which is 70% slingers in my Suebi game for some reason) into a mass brawl in the center of the map. Battles are no longer won by tactical skill, no, they're won by bringing tougher units with higher morale and having them go one-on-one with another enemy unit until they route. Don't even get me started about capture points!
    I want to write more, but it would just make me even sadder. This game is horrible and has tainted my love of the previous Total War games. The original Rome was in my top 5 games of all time and this horrible excuse of a game (Rome II) isn't even a shadow of its predecessor. I'm so very disappointed in Creative Arts, SEGA and the entire Total War team. I won't be duped again.    … Expand
  13. Tornadium
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The game simply isn't finished. It's not even the extremely poor technical issues that kills the game for a lot of people. They've cut so many corners, the gameplay has been mashed together, alpha build features were cut out that really should have been in the game.

    It needs MAJOR overhauling.
  14. qurkad
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    A real step backwards in gameplay compared to Shogun 2. The new features do not compensate for what was lost from the old game. It seems that CA wanted to sell this game to casual public.

    Whats with all the bugs? i loaded everything, downloaded the steam account like it said, downloaded all of the necessary updates. I have all of the system requirements, but game lags and crashes.    A real step backwards in gameplay compared to Shogun 2. The new features do not compensate for what was lost from the old game. It seems that CA wanted to sell this game to casual public.

    Whats with all the bugs? i loaded everything, downloaded the steam account like it said, downloaded all of the necessary updates. I have all of the system requirements, but game lags and crashes.

    Biggest disappointment of 2013 for me. Total Mess    … Expand
  15. GamerGaz
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Possibly the worst AI in the series, and a buggy,laggy unplayable mess. Also filled with horrible design choices, a boring campaign and in incomprehensible UI.
  16. FightingSlug
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I give this a zero because right now this game is unplayable for me. I Have 3 HD 7970's and an I5-4670K processor and my frame rates are in the 20's with huge drops and there are major graphics issues. I have spent several hours trying different fixes and no success. I will update once the game becomes playable.
  17. sonnet
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Hugely disappointed: other than the various bugs and poor performance, what's really disarming is the AI.
    Worst AI ever seen in a TW game. I can hardly imagine CA fixing that.
    Money totally wasted
  18. hastati
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Probably one day in the future after tons of patches and mods this game will be great. However at current states this game is one big disaster.

    Five reasons why I will give it a zero score: 1) Very bad optimization and many bugs. Game lags on top configs. 2) Notable lack of content. No Avatar mode. Only 4 historical battles! 3) Many important features from previous TW games are    Probably one day in the future after tons of patches and mods this game will be great. However at current states this game is one big disaster.

    Five reasons why I will give it a zero score:

    1) Very bad optimization and many bugs. Game lags on top configs.

    2) Notable lack of content. No Avatar mode. Only 4 historical battles!

    3) Many important features from previous TW games are missing.

    4) Interface is ugly and dull. Unit cards are terrible and battle UI is not informative

    5) Fantasy unit rosters and historical inaccuracy. Testudo looks like terrible crap    … Expand
  19. blueslug121
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Sorry to do this CA but I feel I am obligated, now I'm not going to whine about all the bugs/AI/UI/Graphics/diplomacy/all that other crap since everyone else has that covered. I have to say that the game fails for me in some of the things it tried to do and make the game much worse. For one there is an annoying army cap and to try to transfer units between armies requires both being nextSorry to do this CA but I feel I am obligated, now I'm not going to whine about all the bugs/AI/UI/Graphics/diplomacy/all that other crap since everyone else has that covered. I have to say that the game fails for me in some of the things it tried to do and make the game much worse. For one there is an annoying army cap and to try to transfer units between armies requires both being next to each other making it a huge hassle. Also the generals all have the same stats and even if one dies he gets replaced immediately so there is no worry if your heir or entire family for that matter gets slaughtered as they will be quickly replaced by people out of thin air equally as good. Next sieges are a huge pain as the attackers take attrition loses (and sometimes the defenders, huh? so your besieging units overall are weaker and then the enemy's garrison force which is usually quite large. All of that would be okay if it weren't that when they come to attack you have to defend a flag out in the middle of a field and you can lose a match that you'd otherwise win (as you routed 90% of the enemy) but lose just because of a flag. Which in turn creates an arcade style game with the force with more people usually winning. Additionally with as fast as units move battles are over within 5 min or so usually, and your reinforcements rarely make it in time to help defend that flag. Now enough of my the game does succeed in having cool land/sea battles, the capture points in cities are cool, and I like the diverse factions all with really different units, but with all the other faults and half -baked ideas I just don't much care for it. I would personally give it a 6/10 but to more impress the point and to counteract the 10's (you can't give a ten to a game with glaring bugs even if you know they'll be fixed, you're reviewing it as is). So please CA I still believe in you, make a game I would like to play...

    P.S. Just a little thought if you want another strategy game that actually is good out of the box and definitely will get better, try paradox's EU IV, it's sad when paradox a company known for half-baked games latest game came out so much better.    … Expand
  20. Necromonger
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Extremely disapointed and i see revieuws of this game scoring 9 and 9.5
    Do game revieuwers get payed these days ?
    This game isnt even in Beta stage, seriously what an abomination... I got a beast of a system and it runs crap, crashes, textures bugs, politics what politics ? insane wait times per turn... I wait a few months to the modders can fix this game as the originel is    Extremely disapointed and i see revieuws of this game scoring 9 and 9.5
    Do game revieuwers get payed these days ?

    This game isnt even in Beta stage, seriously what an abomination...

    I got a beast of a system and it runs crap, crashes, textures bugs, politics what politics ?
    insane wait times per turn...

    I wait a few months to the modders can fix this game as the originel is just to bad to play.    … Expand
  21. DanielKw
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This is a really bad game. I bought it, and I was all excited, but there are so many bugs and the gameplay is boring. Very disappointing game to actually play. Crashes all the time for me as I get into the middle stages of the campaign game. The AI is silly.

    I don't want to play it anymore. Give me back my money SEGA!
  22. Mont
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Buggy piece of crap is all this is. I just hate buying a game that gets ratings of 10's from major magazines and sites only to find out the game is less fun than checkers. AI is HORRIBLE and too many bugs for me. anyone that says different is a fanboy because Rome 2 is BUGGY as heck for EVERYONE. AVOID!!
  23. RichDE
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I paid 55 euros for horrible beta with tons of bugs? Nice. Ok, I can handle that, not first time.

    But wait.... why they removed tons of thing such as: Avatar mode, Family Tree(minor thing but fun), WALLS, normal economy??? An UI is UGLY.

    0/10. Shogun 2 is way better game!
  24. TNT
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Piece of junk!!! Looks nothing like the quality of the game we see in the trailers. The game is clearly unfinished. The textures look absolutely awful even on extreme settings, the AI is even worse.
  25. ConorEngelb
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Rome 2 is a dumbed down version of Rome 1. The UI is a mess and the whole game feels gawky to me. Sure the graphics are nicer but I prefer original Rome gameplay.
  26. jkaiser
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Terrible not even playable, i get 4 FPS and i was able to run shogun on ultra. The game badly needs optimizing and the limitations on armies is stupid and a step backwards for the franchise
  27. Hector
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The game won't even launch on PCs. A huge step down from the first game Total War: Rome regarding user-interface, computer A.I., campaign length and graphics even!!!
  28. mlampa
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The foundation for a great game is there. But the state of the game as of today is just horrible. There is lots of bugs and it runs really bad even on very good computer setups. I guess it will be a good game after some patches and some community mods.
  29. metem51
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Probably the worst total war I ever played (I play TW games since the first shogun!)

    Graphically the game is ugly (shogun 2 was far better) I don't like to eat pixels that much especially when I play in 1080p. The color choice is at best very inappropriate and depressing. There are too many factions (it takes forever between each turn) and the game performs very poorly despite my    Probably the worst total war I ever played (I play TW games since the first shogun!)

    Graphically the game is ugly (shogun 2 was far better) I don't like to eat pixels that much especially when I play in 1080p. The color choice is at best very inappropriate and depressing.

    There are too many factions (it takes forever between each turn) and the game performs very poorly despite my configuration (GTX 680 4go, etc.).

    The game is not fun, not difficult, not good at all. I'm disgusted. Last TW I buy.    … Expand
  30. sergez
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Fails of the Year 2013.
    What a disappointment, I really have nothing good to say. Worst game design. Looks worse than Shogun 2.
    Horrible UI, AI, textures, unit cards.
    Patches will not help.
    Poor game.
  31. Thijsor
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Never been this disapointed in a game in my life. Been a fan of the series for 8 years but this is just a slap in the face. I don't even think it is fixable, at least not for me.
  32. Kazuya
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Don't buy into the hype of this game, it's completely broken. This game has no redeeming qualities, sub-par in all aspects. Game doesn't even detect my graphics card, the UI is confusing, battles last 2 minutes. Rome 1 is 100x better than this junk.

    I feel cheated, i regret buying this.
  33. RalexSteele
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I have enjoyed a lot of the TW games in the past, and I have some very fond memories of some of my campaigns. The battles were always exciting, and I felt like every decision I made had a huge effect on the outcome. At times, I even won battles where I was outnumbered 10:1 with tactics and luck.

    Rome II takes that all away. The battles are chaotic, and controls seem sluggish,    I have enjoyed a lot of the TW games in the past, and I have some very fond memories of some of my campaigns. The battles were always exciting, and I felt like every decision I made had a huge effect on the outcome. At times, I even won battles where I was outnumbered 10:1 with tactics and luck.

    Rome II takes that all away. The battles are chaotic, and controls seem sluggish, unresponsive, and ultimately pointless. You fair just as well by sending your troops on a full frontal assault as a tactical skirmish.

    Multiplayer... it's broken. Desyncs, problems with spectating, and save game problems.
    I have a beast of a PC and this game is so badly optimized that my gpu jumps 20 degrees C on menu screens, and runs at 97% load during the game in any screen. Meanwhile, I can run BF3, Crysis, and Metro and stay under 30% load and not have any heat spikes. Not to mention rome 2 seems to like tormenting cores 1 and 7, but refuses to use 2,3,4,5,6, or 8 for more than 2-5%

    The gameplay doesn't save it either: spend 30 seconds managing your empire through ugly buttons in the clunky AI, then end turn and wait 4-10 minutes for the AI to finish up all the turns for the other nations. (Keep in mind, that's 4-10 minutes on a top of the line machine I don't want to guess how long on a mediocre or aging system)

    Spend your money elsewhere hell, buy a nice dinner, you'll enjoy that more and longer.    … Expand
  34. Dumdas
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's very simple...the game simply doesn't work for a lot of people! Currently more than 7000 people seems to be unable to even launch the game (based on the amount of views on this thread in the official forum). CA seems to be in the woods as they have not posted a single reply or comment on this thread yet. Not even a confirmation that they are looking into it...It's like buying a car that doesn't start and then being ignored by the car saleman...would you put up with this?
    I just want my money back....    … Expand
  35. tech99
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I have played the Total War series since the first Shogun, and this series is becoming the Madden of strategy games. It seems CA focuses more on graphics and gimmicks rather than creating a better game engine and improving basic game mechanics. Battles turn into huge balls of chaos instead of soldiers keeping their formations, and if the enemy routs they will just stand there doing nothingI have played the Total War series since the first Shogun, and this series is becoming the Madden of strategy games. It seems CA focuses more on graphics and gimmicks rather than creating a better game engine and improving basic game mechanics. Battles turn into huge balls of chaos instead of soldiers keeping their formations, and if the enemy routs they will just stand there doing nothing instead of engaging a nearby enemy. Battles are far too fast, many features like the family tree from previous TW games are gone, and overall the game is an unpolished mess. I feel robbed because the Total War series has been one of my favorites for such a long time, and it was always the pinnacle of PC gaming for me. I am done with this series and will never purchase another Total War game again.… Expand
  36. JoshW
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I've played it for 8 hours before uninstalling it but I really tried to like the game. It should be called Total Wait: Rome II... Seriously, ending turns takes somewhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Terrible AI, boring gameplay. It's got nothing to do with Shogun 2. I've actually played all games, since the original Shogun and it felt like Activision bought this franchise (BlizzardI've played it for 8 hours before uninstalling it but I really tried to like the game. It should be called Total Wait: Rome II... Seriously, ending turns takes somewhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Terrible AI, boring gameplay. It's got nothing to do with Shogun 2. I've actually played all games, since the original Shogun and it felt like Activision bought this franchise (Blizzard someone?). This game has disappointed me as much as Diablo 3 did. Total Waste of 60 bucks...… Expand
  37. Kagemaru
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I'll start out by saying this game will most likely disappoint the majority of people who play it whether old fans or new. Beyond that, I'll just stick directly to the point when stating SOME of the problems. Key word being "SOME."

    No MSAA compatibility anymore despite having it for ages in Total War series. Terrible graphics options. No DX11 options found in Shogun 2. No SLI/Crossfire    I'll start out by saying this game will most likely disappoint the majority of people who play it whether old fans or new. Beyond that, I'll just stick directly to the point when stating SOME of the problems. Key word being "SOME."

    No MSAA compatibility anymore despite having it for ages in Total War series. Terrible graphics options. No DX11 options found in Shogun 2. No SLI/Crossfire support for you PC enthusiasts out there. AI is more mentally handicapped than they were in Shogun 2 without mods. Units do not hold formation pretty much ever once they clash with an enemy. Just try the Spartan Phalanx. It's a joke unworthy of the name Phalanx. I imagine the Roman one doesn't fare much better.

    All the unit cards are terribly close to identical in appearance and name. Most of the stats for said units are too close, making you wonder if they just ran out of ideas or were lazy and simply duped units, slightly changed stats and then changed the suffix to their unit name. The new lighting effects are a joke and glitchy as all hell. I've seen children in the comfort of their homes make better lighting effects for existing games with post processing effects. Creative Assembly is pitiful.

    Back to the problems though Crazy broken bugs like ships sailing right onto land, skating across the landscape and running over your troops. That last one might actually be hilariously entertaining, but it won't distract you from the fact this game runs anywhere from 50% to 30% of the frames of Shogun 2 despite having 20%-25% the graphics quality of Shogun 2 in DX11. It's pitiful that this is the best they could do 2 years later. It literally resembles more so Empire or Napoleon graphics. in some cases Napoleon looks better than this game when it comes to texture work.

    If you think you can have a high-end PC, buy the game, and have it look like it does in the trailers, your optimism will quickly be crushed by the reality of it all. The only way to get this game to look that way is to lower certain settings in the game, or turn them off completely, downsample a higher resolution than the game supports like 1440p/1620p (Good luck keeping fluid frames with 1 GPU there) and then tweaking a SweetFX setup for it on top of that to get some better HDR/Bloom/AA/and shading overall. Even then you'll still find jaggies riddling everything, and inferior graphics quality for what is a game released in 2013. TLDR? "Shameful display." That's all you need to take from this.    … Expand
  38. chivo88
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This game need serious patching and modding because at current states its just a garbage. I don't understand what SEGA and CA were thinking releasing it now.

    Zero score for such poor performance. Sorry guys but I cant give anythyng higher than this because it is not the first time. Empire was same crap.
  39. gladiatorus
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Incredibly bad, nearly non existent AI ensures this game will get a very low score from me. Optimization is a shame. My powerful gaming PC can not run properly this game because GPU load is only 57%. Also game doesn't support multi-core processor. SHAME
  40. BongoAch75
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    After I played 10 hours I would say:

    -Bad AI,
    -Little armies,
    -Awful user interface.
    - Boring campaign
    -LAGS

    55€ on steam is absolutely joke.
  41. Goldeus
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    After 10 hours of game play, I am very dispappointed with the game. First of all the optimization. What a shame that my computer can't run the game well with a 7970 Vapor-X 3Go, i5-3570k @4,3Ghz, 16Gb RAM. There's also a problem of CTDs, at any moment of the game (campaign map, battle map, changing options...). And I am not the only one with those problems. Didn't they test their gameAfter 10 hours of game play, I am very dispappointed with the game. First of all the optimization. What a shame that my computer can't run the game well with a 7970 Vapor-X 3Go, i5-3570k @4,3Ghz, 16Gb RAM. There's also a problem of CTDs, at any moment of the game (campaign map, battle map, changing options...). And I am not the only one with those problems. Didn't they test their game with differents configurations before releasing it Apparently not. And that's why, mostly, the 0 stands for. And it's unaccetpable for me.

    After that, some points of immersion are missing such as cutscenes of speeches (even if the general still say something if we look at him at the beginning of a battle), spie's and assassin's videos... Next, AI is not as brilliant as the developpers are saying. Particulary during sieges and still (like others TW) with diplomacy. I also feel (maybe improperly) that the campaign is too easy. I'll have to try with harder modes. Finally, the graphics are not that beautifull. A bit more than Shogun 2, but it's faaaar from the screenshots of CA during the development.

    Sorry for my imperfect english, but I wanted to express my frustration with a game that I was waiting for since years... In need of a patch or some drivers updates, and fast     … Expand
  42. WALTY
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I am absolutely not happy with all gameplay changes CA implemented. Capture points are awful. Lack of siegable cities on campaign map and simplified economic/building system make gaming experience quite boring. UI is wow horrible design. Shogun 2 was better game in almost all spects.
  43. maca
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Disappointing performance from CA. I waited this game so long and now I feel scammed by its shiny marketing. Too many bugs, too many bad things in this game. It seems they made this game for kids and casual players. Stupid.
  44. kostarico
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Once again we see the same story... official critics from game magazines got paid and write a good reviews on a terrible game. I wished i never bought it actually.

    Total War: Rome II is terribly bad.... i played Total War Shogun 2 recently, Empire Total War and other games of the series, i was always a fan of it. this game is a serious step back from previous games of the series.    Once again we see the same story... official critics from game magazines got paid and write a good reviews on a terrible game. I wished i never bought it actually.

    Total War: Rome II is terribly bad.... i played Total War Shogun 2 recently, Empire Total War and other games of the series, i was always a fan of it. this game is a serious step back from previous games of the series. Terrible graphics, terrible UI, awful AI and etc. I can't believe that the same company actually did all the other games of the series before.

    Shogun 2 was a real breakthrough for the series... how we got ripped off for $30 for a poorly done game with terrible user-friendly interface and hilarious quality. Just try it out by yourself company Shogun 2 (a real masterpiece) and Rome 2 (real crap).    … Expand
  45. yozabo
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The Game has so many bugs, glitches, & crashing problems it's a joke. I personally have crashes in prologue & I have a more than adequate system. I have been all over the forums & to say the problems are widespread would be an massive understatement. Until then, save your money.
  46. Touton
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I made a metacritic account just for this review. I have a monster PC and the game is simply unplayable, I can max BF3 but in Rome 2 the ground is flashing black grids, the screen is constantly tearing and the animations are nonexistent.

    I did not pay to get into a beta, I paid to play the game, and the game is simply unplayable.
  47. Omghaibuttonz
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I should have known, thats all I keep telling myself. I am not one of the people having performance issues, I mean despite the large time spent looking at load screens it all works and functions. I knew when they switched philosophies from the days of TW:Medieval to the style of Shogun and Napolean... I knew in the back of my mind that TWR2 was going to be revamped TWR1 with all the terridI should have known, thats all I keep telling myself. I am not one of the people having performance issues, I mean despite the large time spent looking at load screens it all works and functions. I knew when they switched philosophies from the days of TW:Medieval to the style of Shogun and Napolean... I knew in the back of my mind that TWR2 was going to be revamped TWR1 with all the terrid idealogies of Napolean and Shogun. I am an idiot.

    Ok the pros
    -Battles look good, albeit quick.
    -Pathing is marginally (and I mean marginally) better.
    -The way cities build although revamped from Napolean and Shogun, is still a huge improvement. I still really miss the style of Medieval and TWR.
    -Armies can recruit from the field
    -Agents are more fun, spies in particular

    Cons
    -10 years to take a damn turn. I dont think I spent as much time on my turn as I did waiting for my next one. Holy good god
    -Prologue would be fun if I wasnt forced to sit through and manage the battles. Some people just like the autoresolve button... stop forcing us to to manage these battles if we dont want regardless of it being just the prologue.
    -It doesnt matter what graphics setting your on, the game still overall looks like crap. NOTHING looks trailer quality, in fact much of it looks quite worse
    -Ai DERRRRRRP
    -Release day DLC.... what a dirty ploy for a $60 game.
    -Navies USELESS
    -Anyone try to split an army yet? Its as about as fun as going to the dentist.
    -This idea of provinces and capitals is stupid. The idea that I cannot garison units in the cities without a general is even dumber.
    -Generals required to have an army.... seriously.
    -Functional multiplayer anyone?
    -Tech tree.... holy good god thats bad
    -Cant wait to spend time crouched down to look really closely at that SMALL INFORMATION WINDOW
    -Back to graphics, turn them on ultra.... tell me if you can tell your armies from the blobs of shadows apart. that just looks TERRIBLE
    -General Character Management is wonky at best.

    I feel scammed of my $60 and really really dumb for having bought this game on release. I KNEW I should have waited to read reviews first. Dont make my mistake if you havent purchased this game yet.    … Expand
  48. sergioccc
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The game is really a 0, with high end pc core! 7 and a 7970 edition ghz 15-25 fps in battles. Do not understand how someone can throw the worst game ever and what reviews are scoring high, when it really does not work and is 0
  49. Wheeler711
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Played a good 6+ hours and I can tell you now do NOT buy this game. It is unfinished. The battle of Carthage looks nothing like the demo that they showed. Its a much smaller battle. The campaign map is laggy. The UI and AI are terribly done. Loading screens take forever. When you end your turn you are going to have to wait even longer. This is all with the following PC specs on myPlayed a good 6+ hours and I can tell you now do NOT buy this game. It is unfinished. The battle of Carthage looks nothing like the demo that they showed. Its a much smaller battle. The campaign map is laggy. The UI and AI are terribly done. Loading screens take forever. When you end your turn you are going to have to wait even longer. This is all with the following PC specs on my computer. GTX 680, Intel i7 2600k cpu, 8gb of RAM. Please do not listen to the fan boys that are out to fool you into buying it. Do yourself a favor and wait for patches if they manage to fix it.… Expand
  50. Samze
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    They messed it up, the AI is horrible, the interface sucks and the pc opt is just terrible, and the graphics looks like they took a step back, and what's up with the 1 general cap
  51. ZarKo
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This game is broken, don't bother, wait until they get it fixed. Game crashes when you attack towns, game crashes when you enter enemy territory, game crashes when you do nothing. I don't like new UI which looks ugly and for some reason they removed normal city building mechanics.

    This game is not playable in its current state. Will it ever be playable? Probably yes after they will    This game is broken, don't bother, wait until they get it fixed. Game crashes when you attack towns, game crashes when you enter enemy territory, game crashes when you do nothing. I don't like new UI which looks ugly and for some reason they removed normal city building mechanics.

    This game is not playable in its current state. Will it ever be playable? Probably yes after they will patch this game.    … Expand
  52. Izay
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    CA should be ashamed. Releasing a broken product that is not fit for purpose. This is literally grounds for Class Action and I sincerely hope someone takes the initiative. We paid GOOD money to get a working product and I can't even break 20FPS with my 2500K@4.7GHz&680.
    THIS IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.
    You just lost a loyal customer. I would not normally rate anything 0 because    CA should be ashamed. Releasing a broken product that is not fit for purpose. This is literally grounds for Class Action and I sincerely hope someone takes the initiative. We paid GOOD money to get a working product and I can't even break 20FPS with my 2500K@4.7GHz&680.
    THIS IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.
    You just lost a loyal customer.

    I would not normally rate anything 0 because there is ALWAYS some form of entertainment to be found, but when I can't even get my game running it deserves a 0.    … Expand
  53. Pikko79
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    One of the biggest fails in gaming industry this year. I preordered this game and was hoping to enjoy it. However, this game doens't play as good as Medieval and Shogun. CA removed many things such as city management and family tree. I loved these features and now the are gone. Interface looks not so good indeed. I will continue to play because I paid money, but I really dislike this game,
  54. Aquilifer11
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Sorry this game is a complete disappointment. I've played first Rome and it is one of my favourite games of all time. Now this one plays like it is written by a completely different programmer team. The design and interface is awful, gameplay is dumbed down. Waste of time and money!
  55. LT_sigerius
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Terrible game, both in terms of historical validity, and in terms of gameplay and unit stats, special abilities. Poor optimization and the imbalance in every moment. DONT BUY THIS GAME
  56. Davido1
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Made an account just to get this off my chest, this game is a do not buy if you love the series. If you buy this game you are only encouraging more of the same and we will never see a decent game from these guys again. There is no tactical combat in this game, the turns take too long, there is not much to do when your turn is even up.

    It is not even in the same league as other games of    Made an account just to get this off my chest, this game is a do not buy if you love the series. If you buy this game you are only encouraging more of the same and we will never see a decent game from these guys again. There is no tactical combat in this game, the turns take too long, there is not much to do when your turn is even up.

    It is not even in the same league as other games of the series. The game has lost it's soul, some say they are trying to appeal to casuals...I don't know but in the end it appeals basically to no one.    … Expand
  57. ROME2BETRAYAL
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Terrible performance even in high end rigs (4670k @4.4, z87saber 16gigs and 770 lighting).

    No beta testing carried in this game whatsoever (CANT EVEN FINISH PROLOGUE, WTF?) Many good features that were great in Shogun 2 were removed like being able to guide your faction leader/general through a unique military career, now every general is disposable and you get an infinite pool of    Terrible performance even in high end rigs (4670k @4.4, z87saber 16gigs and 770 lighting).

    No beta testing carried in this game whatsoever (CANT EVEN FINISH PROLOGUE, WTF?)

    Many good features that were great in Shogun 2 were removed like being able to guide your faction leader/general through a unique military career, now every general is disposable and you get an infinite pool of them.

    SEGA forced CA to rush this unfinished "videogame" and invested more in ADVERTISING the game than actually MAKING IT.

    A.I. IS TERRIBLE. WORST THAN ANY TW GAME SINCE ROME 1. Unbelievable.

    Avoid this game AT ALL cost until SEGA apologizes for such a colossal up and fix all the they DIDN'T ****ING BETA TEST.

    I'm very frustrated and angry at a videogame that was supposed to be THE VIDEOGAME. If you played it, you would understand.    … Expand
  58. Midgetsmasher
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I feel shamed that i bought this. I shouldn't have listened to all the marketing. They made us think this game was a state of the art version of Rome I. Well as you may have noticed.. it is not and you should avoid it.
  59. zionis24
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Bugs, I can handle, I can wait for the patches... But what I can't stand are some ridiculous fantasies presented in this game. If you have any knowledge of history--or dare I say, commonsense?--you would find some things represented in this game immature and disturbingly retarded.

    When I see half-naked men on steroids marching toward me in drilled line formations I start to wonder if    Bugs, I can handle, I can wait for the patches... But what I can't stand are some ridiculous fantasies presented in this game. If you have any knowledge of history--or dare I say, commonsense?--you would find some things represented in this game immature and disturbingly retarded.

    When I see half-naked men on steroids marching toward me in drilled line formations I start to wonder if CA is insulting my intelligence or if they were just trying to out do Hollywood.

    Campaign map is very innacurate. Embarrassing.    … Expand
  60. vodafak
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Terrible performance issues, looks worse then Rise/Fall of the Samurai, crashes, quite a lot of bugs. Land battles are too fast, almost pointless, while naval battles are terrible. AI is terrible, even user interface is one of the worst I've ever seen. Waiting for AI turn to finish takes forever. There are bunch of balance issues as well...etc.
    I don't think they got one thing right with    Terrible performance issues, looks worse then Rise/Fall of the Samurai, crashes, quite a lot of bugs. Land battles are too fast, almost pointless, while naval battles are terrible. AI is terrible, even user interface is one of the worst I've ever seen. Waiting for AI turn to finish takes forever. There are bunch of balance issues as well...etc.
    I don't think they got one thing right with this game. It's a failure of epic proportions.
    Worst of all, CA clearly lied about the performance requirements and I can't even get a refund on Steam.    … Expand
  61. aRussian
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I see many giving 10's saying this is "normal" for CA. It's time to demand more because this is horrifying. I won't make excuses for CA even though Rome 1 brought me on board and I enjoyed most of the other games in the series.

    This was a gigantic PR campaign just to rustle up some dough for a largely disgusting product. Like, I feel like I stuck my hand in a toilet from just handling    I see many giving 10's saying this is "normal" for CA. It's time to demand more because this is horrifying. I won't make excuses for CA even though Rome 1 brought me on board and I enjoyed most of the other games in the series.

    This was a gigantic PR campaign just to rustle up some dough for a largely disgusting product. Like, I feel like I stuck my hand in a toilet from just handling it and being part of it. They got that much right.

    As for the game:

    This is one of those "click master" games. The battles are so terribly fast that it's a big step back from ANY game in the series. Some complained Shogun 2 was fast but I felt that it wasn't too terribly bad in sieges and with skirmishes prior to clashes. Rome 2... There is no point in moving around the field maintaining formation. As soon as the armies clash, you get the same thing. A big blob. No maintaining ranks like the good old Rome. And worse, the units will automatically go running after whatever unit they are attacking when they rout after a hundred men fall in half a second. It's a glorified matching game of rock-paper-scissors. You click the rock unit to go attack the scissors unit while avoiding the paper unit. That's all. Hitting rock on scissors will blow the unit up near instantaneously. Where are my fire at will, loose formation, and guard buttons??? And what is will all these stupid "abilities" that makes everything seem so arcade? There is an ability for everything! Generals have multiple and units have their own. So it's a key-smashing endeavor of rock-paper-scissors... Not total war.

    I expected there to be factions more powerful than others, but you've got balance issues with some "super factions" popping up. I did expect this as I do in most games so won't complain so readily here.
    The diverse units claim is probably an utter sham as some units look rather familiar and like a copy-past-smear job. The only thing that differs are the names for some. While I expected it somewhat given that there probably wouldn't be the number of unique units they claimed, it was saddening to see that you have barbarian units, hellenic units, roman units, and eastern units that only "diverge" on name. I haven't seen nearly all but it seems to me that you have 4 set types of units with different names.

    And the AI everyone is so fond of... I'm not even sure I want to discuss it because even after cranking the difficulty ALL the way up, I still found myself easily being able to dispatch armies I had NO business dispatching. The enemy will not defend walls and is preoccupied with amassing giant blobs on capture points within the city. Walk into city meeting little resistance other than those magical unmanned arrow firing towers (step backwards from Medieval 2 and Shogun 2) and having to order your blob to attack their blob and wait an entire 5 minutes for several thousand troops to be dead. I think only a giant microwave could kill that many so quickly...
    The "reactive AI" they love to show off really doesn't vary much. It goes with that rock-paper-scissors approach and a rock unit will chase a scissors unit waaaaayyyy out of place until you can throw a paper unit at their rock unit with no problem. No matter the difficulty. It's like the AI has tunnel vision and just zooms in on one unit it wants to take out with this unit of its and chases it to the moon.

    I was lucky in that I don't seem to be experiencing the crashes as often as most. The diplomacy, however, is just freaking frustrating. I know the original Rome was a bit lax in trade acceptance. Ceasefire and then offer trade. Deal. Bit too easy. This game it is an absolute chore to procure trade relations. Like, learn how to do handstands, juggle, and sing all at the same time. It's a joke. I just gave up for the most part and concentrated on my borders.

    Moving an army to water creates a super navy capable of murdering ACTUAL navies. So what is the point of trying to get naval superiority when a super navy can just march right off the land and into the water? Isn't naval superiority about denying forces the ability to land at X? I actually haven't had much battle time with navies so I'm afraid I don't have too much of a legitimate complaint other than those spontaneous super navies from an army deciding to grow sea legs.

    Since I'm approaching the max, I suppose I just have to thank people for actually reading if they did and am sorry I didn't get to positives. Graphics were good on mine, although faces looked... errrr, off. Please wait to buy, you are only supplying the monster and enabling this disgusting behaviour of releasing unfinished material because people will by it. Demand better. Save yourself the despair until they fix it. If you were looking for Rome II, you'll be disappointed. this product is more like Rome RTS. It's a sad day after so much excitement...    … Expand
  62. knightsbore
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    So sad to see how quickly they fall. When you look deep into this game you can see how they really tried to get some of their old problems right. The problem is they completely lied on so many things, made a HORRIBLE UI, and pretty much killed the series for me. I loved every single previous game, they had their problems but I wanted to work through them, because the game when it workedSo sad to see how quickly they fall. When you look deep into this game you can see how they really tried to get some of their old problems right. The problem is they completely lied on so many things, made a HORRIBLE UI, and pretty much killed the series for me. I loved every single previous game, they had their problems but I wanted to work through them, because the game when it worked was so much fun. This game is not fun, I end up just charging my infantry at highest difficulty head on because if I try to implement a strategy it wont work. The campaign controls are clunky and impossible to understand. This game is so many steps back from even Shogun 2 its sad. Sega seems to now like to copy what happened with aliens colonial marines, as I can honestly compare it to this.… Expand
  63. cableguy221
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This game still sucks even if you take out all of the bugs. Everything is oversimplified, the politics make zero sense, public sentiment is the AI sucks, you can have magical navies via your army.... the list goes on.
  64. anomaly47
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    I've played every single Total War game and had been following Rome 2 for quite some time. I've been excited about its release for months. Paid $70 bucks for it plus the expansion on Steam and rushed home to play it tonight after work. (Like many of you I'm sure). I wanted this to be everything it was built up to be. Every play through and trailer made it look better and better.

    It    I've played every single Total War game and had been following Rome 2 for quite some time. I've been excited about its release for months. Paid $70 bucks for it plus the expansion on Steam and rushed home to play it tonight after work. (Like many of you I'm sure). I wanted this to be everything it was built up to be. Every play through and trailer made it look better and better.

    It unfortunately is not. I wanted it to be more than anything. I mean ROME! Hello!

    Issues:
    - The campaign map is a slow nightmare that just won't wake. Its performance is horrendous. Low frame rates, slow animations, UI issues... I can put up with this for a while.

    - 60 second turns (if that) and quite literally 3-5 minute waits between turns while the hundred or so AI states do their thing. Some turns you don't have anything to do and so it turns into a 8-10 minute wait while you "play" the game. I have better things to do with my time. Laundry?

    - Naval battles seemed janky. Boats get hit once and immediately explode.

    I can't play this game as is, and I have a HIGH tolerance for pain. Sad sad sad day in gameland.

    I hope this improves.    … Expand
  65. andrucks
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    This is game is in a pre-beta state. Constant freezing and/or crashes, with huge performance issues.
    The AI is non existing and the UI in both on world map and on the battlefield is messy. There is no excuse for this. Avoid
  66. penguen2013
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Terrible beta release. Apparently CA does not care about the fun base any longer. Full of bugs. Constant ctds, horrible optimasation, terrible ai, game breaking features...
  67. KebabRemover
    Sep 26, 2013
    0
    So I've selected "Very High" graphics just to make sure game runs smoothly and hoping to increase it later but I was incredibly surprised seeing graphics equality of Rome I with lags. My specs are: X4 955/6950 2gb/8gb ram. I'll wait for a patches but for now this isn't how surprise fans Creative Assembly!
  68. graduation
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    They released the first patch and that made things a lot more worse. Shame on you CA, shame on your heads.
    I mean you cant be serious... Red Skies? WTF
  69. blaugrana
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    The biggest disappointment in the total war series. The battles are extremely fast paced and arcade and lack any strategical depth. Both campaign and battle ai are terrible.
    I know it is my fault for pre ordering because while I didn't expect the game to be perfect on release, I never expected such a disappointment. If you haven't bought it yet, wait until they have fixed it to get it    The biggest disappointment in the total war series. The battles are extremely fast paced and arcade and lack any strategical depth. Both campaign and battle ai are terrible.
    I know it is my fault for pre ordering because while I didn't expect the game to be perfect on release, I never expected such a disappointment. If you haven't bought it yet, wait until they have fixed it to get it dirt cheap, or better still, go play real strategy games like Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings.    … Expand
  70. pallepumpgun
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Well, where to start. This game is as big a disappointment as inviting a bunch of orphans for my birthday; it sounded like a great idea on paper, but ended up taking all my resources and the payoff was pathetic.

    I'm a vet of this genre. I'm a critical one, but I am; I've taken over feudal Japan twice in both Shogun I and II, likewise with Europe in MEI and II, the same goes for Rome I    Well, where to start. This game is as big a disappointment as inviting a bunch of orphans for my birthday; it sounded like a great idea on paper, but ended up taking all my resources and the payoff was pathetic.

    I'm a vet of this genre. I'm a critical one, but I am; I've taken over feudal Japan twice in both Shogun I and II, likewise with Europe in MEI and II, the same goes for Rome I and Empire and NTW; all with all applicable expansions. I know this genre, and I know how there is a dangerous precedence where CA has buggy launches. But that, bugs are one thing, gameplay's another. Especially when it's missing. After playing a 10 hour campaign with Sparta so far, I've come to the following conclusions:

    Even on very high quality, the textures look like a spastic three year old with a crossdiagnosis of Parkinson's went nuts in Paint, it's a detail compared to gameplay.
    The battles are predictable and repetitive: The A.I. will just ****ing stand there. When charging a full stack-defended settlement, line your army up in front of the enemy, then take your general's unit to the side of the enemy: The A.I. will completely disregard it. I got 1300 kills with my general alone by plowing through everything from the flank. Every battle is like this. Or move artillery or missile units in position and blast away till the enemy is routed. They do nothing. Also, I haven't had a single field battle yet; the lack of armies sees to that. No minor faction or other empire will have more than two armies at any given time, and these are always defending settlements. So you'll get boring sieges and that's that. Hurray.
    Also, due to the lack of armies, you'll never get attacked. Sure, there are enemy agents to harass you, but since Generals are a dime a dozen and have no uniqueness to them and die off after a couple of turns (seems like it, anyway), you won't mind getting a couple assassinated.
    Despite "unit variety" with a couple hundred differently named units, they're all just reskins, and they play the same.
    There's no diplomacy. People either love you or hate you. If they don't love you, just give up on ever trading or getting peace. But hey, being at war with everyone; they're not going to attack you anyway, so why would you care?
    Technology is tiresome and seems a chore to do rather than an accomplishment to get done.
    The same goes for province management as well as the partial goals under your objective-page; seriously, total war games are supposed to be open ended. There shouldn't be rewards for fixed objectives forcing your gameplay.
    Turn times are excessive. Even on a decent rig. Who the figured 144 factions was a good idea? Just call 'em rebels and be done with it.
    The UI is without charm or personality and takes up too much space as well. As for agents: What are all those ****ing attributes? I don't mind that they're there, just ****ing explain them. At last there's a bit of complexity to this dumbed-down cluster**** of a botched up release, and then you won't tell us about it? Ingenious, CA. Plain ingenious.

    Ultimately, I don't feel for this game. It runs slow, it's ugly to look at (compared to what we were promised), it's dumbed down and most actions seem pointless. There's no action; it's a Total WAR game, for ****s sake: Someone attack me already! Even with numerous fixes and patches, this game won't be a 10 or even an 8. It might be a 6, but currently it's a 3,5. I'm still giving it a 0, though. Primarily for wasting my time and my money, but mostly because CA said you, man," and I intend to back. If, in the process, I counter the equally meaningless 10's, I won't feel bad, because they will prompt people to do as I and countless others and waste money on this steaming pile of ****

    Cheers everybody!    … Expand
  71. rcassar
    Sep 13, 2013
    0
    I played this game for a couple of hours and felt a huge sense of disappointment. It felt like Empire: Total War all over again. I have been waiting eagerly to play this game for years but everything seems to be worse than it was in the now 10 year old Rome: Total War. As the other reviewers pointed out; graphics, AI, bugs, user interface, the campaign mode itself, the music, everything! II played this game for a couple of hours and felt a huge sense of disappointment. It felt like Empire: Total War all over again. I have been waiting eagerly to play this game for years but everything seems to be worse than it was in the now 10 year old Rome: Total War. As the other reviewers pointed out; graphics, AI, bugs, user interface, the campaign mode itself, the music, everything! I cannot find a single redeeming point.

    I ended up throwing this pile of garbage away and installing Medieval II: Total War and it was so much better. That game is fun and interesting. I feel that this game is so broken that no patch will fix it and make it enjoyable. I cannot understand how they managed to ruin such a game in this way. I cannot understand the ratings of the professional reviewers either. It's all sad, very sad.    … Expand
  72. Affiliator
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    If one would somehow extract the residue of gold atoms in the sweat of my arm pit and make a tiny gold nugget out of it, it would be worth more than the value of this game right now.

    I am a sweaty man.
  73. Affiliatorz
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    bro this game sucks BIG TIME BRO. u all got scammed. GG

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  74. Muskelsteffen
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    This game seems like an empty shell of a Total War game. Beautiful (yet horrible demanding) graphics and animations but no strategy content. In the battles you can win with nearly nothing against anything because of the dead AI that can't attack without destroy itself or defend without doing only stupid things. At this stage it seems like luck that the battles are so ugly fast you have toThis game seems like an empty shell of a Total War game. Beautiful (yet horrible demanding) graphics and animations but no strategy content. In the battles you can win with nearly nothing against anything because of the dead AI that can't attack without destroy itself or defend without doing only stupid things. At this stage it seems like luck that the battles are so ugly fast you have to come up with a very clever strategy to have battles longer than 10 minutes. And such longer battles would be nice because the loading time you have to invest every single time is really long!
    On the campaign map you are left alone to conquer anything with again nearly nothing because of the dead AI that only leaves it's towns only with max 3 unit armies that can be beaten with every garrison army with ease. The towns may look nice but they are empty because there is nothing to manage despite burning a little bit of the tons of money the game provides even the most prodigal player. Playing on the campaign map is like walking through a dead post-apocalypse town, overthrowing cardboard cut-outs of enemies.

    The release version of this game is not a strategy game. It is a good looking, brain dead Blondie. It is a empty nutshell and everybody, who has seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory knows, what is to do with empty nuts.    … Expand
  75. Chomie
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    There is just too many things that are wrong. Right now i am going to try to forget that i bought this game and return to it once it is finished, polished and made into a game worth the money we payed. If you don't own the game i recommend you wait. One day it might become good.

    My low score is a punishment for CA for giving us a beta.
  76. Halberd12
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Poorly optimized excuse for mastered rome 1. Almost half of the new features are either broken or not working properly, they've also screwed around with the AI so they just run at you and flee, that's your new generation of Artificial Intelligence. The best you get out of this is a beta which you have to pay for, some might argue it is still in alpha stage.
  77. Manshack
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    The stupid AI, loading times, graphical errors, poor performance, unreasonable diplomacy, only being able to recruit with generals, having a limit to your amount of military forces, having to read a small wiki page each time you want to know what a unit does because why not have that on the tool tip?. The unit cards not giving you enough information and whatever else I am forgetting makesThe stupid AI, loading times, graphical errors, poor performance, unreasonable diplomacy, only being able to recruit with generals, having a limit to your amount of military forces, having to read a small wiki page each time you want to know what a unit does because why not have that on the tool tip?. The unit cards not giving you enough information and whatever else I am forgetting makes this a very poor total war game.

    Avoid until fixed.    … Expand
  78. DilonBello
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Total War: Rome 2 deserves nothing more than 0/10 because of a simple fact: it is broken. Unplayable. You have two options of play; a lag-fest of high settings, or a lag-fest of a map looking like a glazed doughnut. My computer well meets the specs, playing Shogun 2 at highest flawlessly, but this game ruins all the progress CA has made beyond Empire. With a bigger development time andTotal War: Rome 2 deserves nothing more than 0/10 because of a simple fact: it is broken. Unplayable. You have two options of play; a lag-fest of high settings, or a lag-fest of a map looking like a glazed doughnut. My computer well meets the specs, playing Shogun 2 at highest flawlessly, but this game ruins all the progress CA has made beyond Empire. With a bigger development time and budget this is the best they can do?

    Until the game leaves early beta, which I expect will take a good few months for people with graphics card that are incompatible which is most of them DO NOT BUY. Rome 2 is a broken mess. Repeat: a broken, unplayable mess that squanders its potential and says 'FU' to all fans like myself    … Expand
  79. Chamber
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    I have played every Total War game since Medieval. My favorites are Rome and Medieval between which I logged in over 1000 hours (including mods) of gameplay.

    I feel compelled to share what I have experienced playing Rome II. What follows is a short summary of my 19 hour-long campaign thus far from installation (steam) through my last turn (85) playing on HARD/HARD mode as Rome, the    I have played every Total War game since Medieval. My favorites are Rome and Medieval between which I logged in over 1000 hours (including mods) of gameplay.

    I feel compelled to share what I have experienced playing Rome II. What follows is a short summary of my 19 hour-long campaign thus far from installation (steam) through my last turn (85) playing on HARD/HARD mode as Rome, the House of Julii.

    The game installs without a hitch. I'm glad given how anxious I felt after having read so many negative reviews. The optimist in me feels vindicated.

    The intro plays and while I feel underwhelmed I do not care. After all, I want to play a strategy game and not watch pretty rendered videos.

    I jump into the campaign as the House of Julii and then I see the campaign map with Roma at its center in all its glory. I get giddy with excitement at what's to come.

    Everything looks good but it lags a bit, running at 20-22 fps. I look at video options and the graphics are set at “Extreme” by default. Curious, I think, that this would be the default. I dismiss it as a quibble and proceed to change it to “Ultra” just so that I can get 30 fps. I still get the same performance despite lowering the settings. Even if I lower the settings to "High" (And I have a semi-monster rig) the fps in the campaign map remains at 20-25 fps at best. So I keep it at "Ultra".

    Oh well, it's not a big deal. I decide to accomplish the given objectives by taking out the Etruscan League. I proceed to attack one of their cities and a battle ensues.

    My first battle in Rome II. Oh, the anticipation, the excitement, the folly of hope! It happens to take place at dusk and everything looks very brown and very dull. But the my army is amassed before me and I must lead them. So I look at them. Maybe I drank the Kool-Aid for too long, but I am shocked to see that the models still look like clones of each other. It doesn't matter, I think to myself, let's see them march. Interesting, the sound of marching is not in-sync with their motion. Oh well, not a big deal.

    I look at my control options and I see that I cannot set them to "Guard" which I find odd. I start the attack and follow my units with the new cinematic option just so that I that I can take it all in. I await the fruit of a "40% higher budget than Shogun 2" and "50% more animations" with joy. One minute and 34 seconds the battle is over. Say what?

    Yes, Rome II's battles give a new meaning to Caesar's famous remark: I came, I saw, I just paid $60 for this!

    I'm getting ahead of myself. There was a full minute and 34 seconds of glorious fighting to describe. Two perfectly formed and organized armies make contact, disintegrate into a blob of hard to distinguish clones each attempting to perform a ridiculous animation that in no way relates to what each unit is doing. And this at an incredibly fast pace where it is almost impossible to appreciate the nuance of the bloated animations.

    I decide to auto-resolve battles as much as I can from now on, although from my experience with other TW games I know that is not very smart, especially early on. In fact, on Hard mode it was impossible to get anywhere in past TW games if you just auto-resolved battles before the mid-game.

    I'm on turn 85 and I have auto resolved every single battle except 4 including that first battle. If this fact by itself is does not prove that the AI is ridiculously bad then I don't know what does. But moving on.

    I like the campaign map despite its low fps so I stick to that. I quickly overrun ever Etruscan League city in Italy without a challenge. Their last city is in Corsica so I worry about building a transport. No need, my troops can just walk on water a la Jesus.

    They have 2 large armies stationed there and I think to myself, "Well, I think I'm gonna have to fight this battle. This is too important to leave up to auto-resolve, however effective it's been."

    I land and then during their turn the Etruscans move their entire 2 armies into the sea. Oh well, I take over their city with, you guessed it, auto-resolve.

    They then suicide by attacking Rome with ONE ARMY at a time. Man, no wonder no one talks about the Etruscans --history is written by those who are not mentally challenged.

    By now I am very frustrated with the game, but I keep playing. Why? Because I am a true fan, I set aside this week to do so and I still believe in the glory that is Rome. (Or maybe the hype machine really did a number on me, who knows?"

    So I keep playing. I get acquainted with the UI which is a bit frustrating because the Encyclopedia which explains the building orders is not user friendly. Nor in some cases even helpful. For instance, no where does it say that you have to build a Training Field in your Province Capital. Nor is attrition and food explained in detail anywhere. Eventually you understand it but you cannot read up on it like you used to.

    I actually like the concept of attrition and food a lot and I think that it was a good design choice. The fact that all your regions' food supplies are linked into one unified supply is clever. Also, linking your army's replenishment rate to your food supply is intuitive and makes it important to maintain a good food supply. This is one of the few things in the game that matter because they have actual consequences. Around turn 30 I lose of my men due to attrition. It feels good because it hurts.

    Now, let me talk about public order. Never mind that it is a complete mystery knowing why it goes up or down (I don't feel like qualifying this statement but if anyone challenges me on it, I will), it has no consequences and it's therefore thrash. Now this I must qualify. So there is an imminent threat of a slave revolt in Magna Graecia despite my attempts to avoid it and the next turn a cinematic comes on. Oh it's Spartacus(not really)! is about to get real!

    Unfortunately, the slaves driven to cast off their chains by the cruelty of their masters get ready to bring about a Mexican standoff lasting 10 or 12 turns, until I decide to attack them just to raise my general's stats.

    I have since experienced 11 slave revolts and they never, ever attack my cities. Nor do they have a measurable adverse effect on my economy or diplomacy or anything. They just stand there. Endlessly.

    When I do crush them I get this other video. I actually like both videos and I guess I better because 85 turns in they are the ONLY in-game cinematics I've seen. So by around turn 40, I start to ignore public order altogether. It is broken and it means absolutely nothing.

    I also face many, many non-slave rebellions and only once was one of my cities attacked. Of course, it would be more accurate to say that only once did the rebels suicide against my impregnable walls.

    I cannot emphasize how disappointing this is. When playing Rome, that masterpiece which now shines brighter by comparison, I used to dread rebellions. They could undo your conquests, they could outright end you. They definitely meant something. Now they mean nothing. They are a joke. By the way, let me take this opportunity to address something else. AI turns take way too long to complete. By turn 40, they can take up to 3 minutes; by turn 80 they can take up to 5 minutes. And campaign fps even at HIGH” on a great rig lags down to 7-8 fps. Ultimately, that is why I stopped playing. I couldn’t put up with it anymore. There are other things to address such as diplomacy a joke) and internal politics which has to be the single most disappointing thing about this game. In a few words, it's not a feature to speak of, it's a whole lot of nothing. It's a pre-alpha concept that was not developed. It's a slap on our collective face is what it is. I'm too tired now. I'm going to bed. Perhaps in my dreams I will play the Rome II that I envisioned. Maybe I'll just play Rome I before going to sleep. A sad day, indeed.    … Expand
  80. declates
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    The release of this bugged game is just sad.

    - Bad Performance Why the game works smoother on higher settings than on low? ) - AI just behaves like crap.( Ships not boarding/ramming ships, own units are no attacking other enemy units after theyre routing and so on. ) - Battlespeed, YES Battlespeed. 2-4 Min Battles, what the heck is that? Where is are the tactics when the units    The release of this bugged game is just sad.

    - Bad Performance Why the game works smoother on higher settings than on low? )

    - AI just behaves like crap.( Ships not boarding/ramming ships, own units are no attacking other enemy units after theyre routing and so on. )

    - Battlespeed, YES Battlespeed. 2-4 Min Battles, what the heck is that? Where is are the tactics when the units are bashing each other arcade-style? Maybe one find it good, but yeah... for me its a no go.

    - Whole core game is total unpolished and mainstream optimised.

    Im a big fan of the Total War games but this one is just a mess, a disaster. Creative Assembly has reached its zenith and now its going down like the mighty roman empire    … Expand
  81. Krakenzzz
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    60 bucks? For the copy of this? Really? Terrible performance, insane battle speed, it feels even faster than in Shogun2, same casual-oriented primitive campaign, now with a new CA`s top decision as ridiculous 1 turn 1 year. Crappy dlc politics, with cutted greek states, expect a of others. Thats the first impressions.
  82. Jaymiec1
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    The game is poor quality to begin with, however the problem gets much worse. After turn 60 or so the game simply won't load and crashes to the main menu. This is a common problem and many people have reported it, yet there seems to be no solution.

    So just to cap off: 1. UI is awful. You can't see what unit is what and the game can get confusing. 2. Awful AI. 3. Poor city    The game is poor quality to begin with, however the problem gets much worse. After turn 60 or so the game simply won't load and crashes to the main menu. This is a common problem and many people have reported it, yet there seems to be no solution.

    So just to cap off:
    1. UI is awful. You can't see what unit is what and the game can get confusing.
    2. Awful AI.
    3. Poor city management; almost everything you do makes your people unhappy.
    4. The game simply won't load after a certain amount of time. Nothing you do can fix this.
    5. Navy battles are awful, you have the option to ram, board, throw things and that's it. You can't have a plan or strategy, you simply tell your ship to attack and can then sit there and do nothing.
    6. Your army often has trouble marching places or gets stuck. If an agent is standing near an enemy army, your army simply can't find a way to attack the enemy.
    7. The campaign map lags awfully. If you select an army or agent the game will simply almost freeze, with FPS of around 5. This has nothing to do with my computer and is the same for everyone.
    8. The game doesn't even look good. The graphics you see in the trailers aren't the same ones you'll see in the game; I have everything on max and the game still looks fairly ugly and dark and gloomy. It's not a pretty game.    … Expand
  83. Zippygeorge
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    For people giving it good reviews and say 'oh it's fine, they'll fix it'. YOU ARE A JOKE. You should review as you get it now, not how you think it'll be in 12 months time after several patches.
    At this moment in time the game is completely broken, AI is terrible and graphics are even worse. I've played all total wars since the first shogun and this is by far the worse.
  84. EchelonEffect
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Shame on everyone involved in the production of this game, and shame on the publications that were obviously paid handsomely by Sega to give it positive reviews. Charging 60 dollars for what amounts to a game that could barely be considered to be in its beta stage, and THEN throwing in day 1 DLC on top of it is absolutely reprehensible. A GTX Titan, which will run you 1,000 dollars, isShame on everyone involved in the production of this game, and shame on the publications that were obviously paid handsomely by Sega to give it positive reviews. Charging 60 dollars for what amounts to a game that could barely be considered to be in its beta stage, and THEN throwing in day 1 DLC on top of it is absolutely reprehensible. A GTX Titan, which will run you 1,000 dollars, is barely capable of running this game. Unless you've got a NASA supercomputer, avoid this pile of trash like the plague.… Expand
  85. gilly93
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    The games should never have been released in its current state for the following reasons:
    - Poorly optimized
    - Removal of popular features for no good reason e.g fire at will for infantry, guard mode, tight/loose and no family tree. - CA have simplified the game for the masses in terms of game play and UI, it looks like they have consoles in mind e.g tech trees and less facts and    The games should never have been released in its current state for the following reasons:
    - Poorly optimized
    - Removal of popular features for no good reason e.g fire at will for infantry, guard mode, tight/loose and no family tree.
    - CA have simplified the game for the masses in terms of game play and UI, it looks like they have consoles in mind e.g tech trees and less facts and figures
    - AI is useless, armies made up of skirmishers and the AI has tactical awareness above rushing the flag or standing still
    - Game play is arcadey in terms of 2 minute battles because of game speed, also stupid magical abilities and the units lose all tactical cohesion breaking formation and forming a large blob
    -Worst idea is the frustrating capture points which remove any strategy in battles as I'm forced to defend an open field and can lose a battle despite having 20units left to the AI's 1, IMO this addition is just a cheap way of simplifying the AI path finding as it forces both armies to a single spot
    - Many many glitches on both campaign and battle maps
    - Most annoying aspect is many of the problems are clear to gamers within a few hours of playing so this shows CA are either completely inept and haven't tested their game or consulted their core fan base or they knew of the problems and released the game regardless either way next time I wont be buying the game on day one or per-ordering as I'm not interested in paying CA to be their game tester.    … Expand
  86. AlexWizz
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    I would like to get my money back because of false advertising. Shogun 2 was a great game, but this one is crappy mess. So many things are missing: family trees, walls in minor cities, old building system and population numbers. UI is terrible! Worst game of 2013!
  87. Robert_Capu
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Honestly this game deserves 4 out of 10 but I will give it a solid zero. Why? Because I am tired being CA beta tester which pays 60 euros for unfinished product. I am tired that developers from CA make each new TW more simple and casual than old games. I am tired of terrible AI which is absolute embarrassment. SEGA and CA are big fat liers!
  88. iopuge
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    i would love this game if only the price would be 5 dollars. No way I will pay 80 bucks for this glitchy crap.

    This horrible game has serious problems:

    - AI is not working properly

    - UI is retarded

    - Optimization was lost somewhere in CA office

    -Only 4 historic battles. WTF? Lazy developers!

    -Graphics are awful

    WANT MY MONEY BACK!!
  89. Kante
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Quake 2 like graphics due to untweakable bugs, dummy AI, strange stuttering? (Benny hill sensation).
    Seems a bit rushed to release but it could have good potential if improved. Lot of tweaking/optimization needed.
    Maybe it will be fixed someday, i'd suggest waiting on buy, you could have a better experience at a lower price.
  90. Selcer
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    I want to start out with: This game works fine on my system. The sad fact is they took my favorite title in the franchise and turned it into a shambling patchwork abomination of bad ideas. They have added nothing to the original franchise. They have only stripped everything great about a total war series game and replaced it with a game that looks like it could be played on facebook inI want to start out with: This game works fine on my system. The sad fact is they took my favorite title in the franchise and turned it into a shambling patchwork abomination of bad ideas. They have added nothing to the original franchise. They have only stripped everything great about a total war series game and replaced it with a game that looks like it could be played on facebook in flash or a web browser.

    Without going into major detail the game has been simplified into basically a really bad RTS game. No longer will you weight the consequences of capturing a settlement with a lacking economy or raiding outlying buildings of your neighbor. Everything has been lumped together and simplified without any thought to the imbalances between factions this could cause. The battles themselves (which is all you'll be doing) end up as a blob of troops fighting where the opposition breaks and runs early regardless of odds. And like running your enemies down for xp afterwards? Hope you enjoy scanning the map for each individual troop because there is no mini map. I could go on and on but I will sum it up as this:

    Even when this game works flawlessly (which it doesnt for many), it is still an incredibly simple and boring game lacking all the details that makes a total war game unique.

    This game is a crime against nature only to be enjoyed by 12 year olds on their parents ipads.    … Expand
  91. MDLion
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    we all know the issue by now. the game is a stripped down console version and total war is dead. the critic reviews are total garbage and flat out lies.

    how can you mark a game so highly when its literally a broken game that's unfinished as well as missing all of the series features.

    shame on you all for that. shame on you.
  92. XxMetalMartyrxX
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    What a broken game this is! I'm packing an ATI Radeon 7970 3GB and the game pre-selects "Extreme" for the graphics settings, and I get around 10fps on the campaign map. WHAT A JOKE! Oh, might I also add that the Roman legions are RIDICULOUSLY OP. I can defend an entire city with 200 Legionaries against thousands and I'll walk out with maybe 5 of my own dead. I know the Romans were tough,What a broken game this is! I'm packing an ATI Radeon 7970 3GB and the game pre-selects "Extreme" for the graphics settings, and I get around 10fps on the campaign map. WHAT A JOKE! Oh, might I also add that the Roman legions are RIDICULOUSLY OP. I can defend an entire city with 200 Legionaries against thousands and I'll walk out with maybe 5 of my own dead. I know the Romans were tough, but heck they weren't THAT TOUGH.

    Regardless, what a rip off this was. Next time delay your game if it's still in pre-alpha...    … Expand
  93. wud9
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    1. The game is way too simplified, only fun for dumb youths.
    2. My 6 months old chihuahua is 9 billion times smarter than the AI.
    3. The battles are just mini-games with fancy graphics. 3 things that make up for a real Total War game. 3 most important things that the dev should have focused on. 3 most disappointing things from this game. I'm a fan of this series. I've been    1. The game is way too simplified, only fun for dumb youths.
    2. My 6 months old chihuahua is 9 billion times smarter than the AI.
    3. The battles are just mini-games with fancy graphics.

    3 things that make up for a real Total War game.
    3 most important things that the dev should have focused on.
    3 most disappointing things from this game.

    I'm a fan of this series. I've been playing them since I was a teenager.
    I will never ever buy another Total war series.
    You've fooled me with your misleading previews. Well done CA PR team This one goes to you !
    40% more budget than the last game? 140% more advertising and hyping.
    CA is not the only one I'm disappointed at. It's the game reviewers too.
    really? 100, 95, 90 for this game? I will not only trust CA anymore but also these stupid reviewers.

    Thanks. But no thanks.

    PS.. CA may have made cash with this one. But remember CA, that not many customers get fooled twice or three times or four times or another time. Hahahahaha.    … Expand
  94. MoonCheese
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Compared to previous TW games this is a huge step in the wrong direction. Plus it barely runs and I have higher than recommended specs--so they lied to me. Even if you can run it, the gameplay is pretty bad. Can't believe I paid $60 bucks for this. Don't buy this game, Creative Assembly needs to learn its lesson and start to actually listen to its customers and given them what they want.Compared to previous TW games this is a huge step in the wrong direction. Plus it barely runs and I have higher than recommended specs--so they lied to me. Even if you can run it, the gameplay is pretty bad. Can't believe I paid $60 bucks for this. Don't buy this game, Creative Assembly needs to learn its lesson and start to actually listen to its customers and given them what they want. Also would it have hurt them to properly beta test. For the sake of future Total War games please don't buy this game...

    A long list of complaints (a little unformatted--sorry):
    • Serious performance issues
    o needs to run faster
    o worst of any TW games I have played in terms of performance
    o one would need a supercomputer to run this at extreme settings
    o can barely zoom in on cities, units, or trees without stuttering
    o when opening diplomacy map, strategic map, and tactical map stuttering occurs
    • Sometimes black squares appear in the ground on both the campaign map and battle map
    o I think turning on veg alpha improves this issue
    • Ground when moving around on the campaign map the ground takes time to load
    o not everyone has a solid state drive, most people don't
    • Draw distance needs to be greatly improved
    o can't tell whether a unit is in phalanx or not without zooming in to check
    • The AI is just ****ing retarded
    o I don't know where to begin on this one but I know the AI can't handle these capture points--get rid of the ****ing capture points
    o also, while the line of sight is good on multiplayer, I don't think the AI can handle it so the AI shouldn't need line of sight
    • What happened to building roads/highways?
    • There are barely any pitched battles on the map
    o Next time the AI should be deployed OUTSIDE the settlement at startup
    • Too much of my screen is taken up with panels
    o unit panel, map panel, advice panel are all too big and need to be made smaller
    • Unit sizes are too small
    o I would rather have huge armies with the unit detail of Rome 1 than tiny armies with realistic details (my computer agrees with me on this)
    o I don't need to see ****ing facial expressions--its a strategy game!
    • There is hardly any need for unit formation and 'strategy' because it's just bash and smash
    • Character portraits are ****ing ugly for anyone running on anything other than extreme (and even then they are ugly)
    o drawings would have been better than computer generated images
    • The music is boring, repetitive, and I swear some of the music is recycled from Empire
    • The UI is cluttered, confusing, and isn't centralized around any particular buttons
    • Ram/board button is broken for navel battles    … Expand
  95. HaZZarD88
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    waited years and paid lot of bucks for what a F**kin BETA ????

    the other sad thing is that the worst total war ever made is also the one in my favorite era ....

    thanks CA and SEGA

    you really deserve my ZERO
  96. Joker85
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    This game is simply a disaster. Words don't describe what an utter and complete disappointment and failure Rome 2 is. Throughout the process CA has obfuscated, dissembled, and outright lied in order to conceal this trainwreck.

    Total war has been turned from a compelling, fun, historical sandbox into a crappy starcraft wanna-be console port. At least a dozen major features that have been    This game is simply a disaster. Words don't describe what an utter and complete disappointment and failure Rome 2 is. Throughout the process CA has obfuscated, dissembled, and outright lied in order to conceal this trainwreck.

    Total war has been turned from a compelling, fun, historical sandbox into a crappy starcraft wanna-be console port. At least a dozen major features that have been in EVERY SINGLE TOTAL WAR for the past decade have been removed without even a peep of warning during the year+ long marketing phase.

    Not only have they removed features for no other reason than to attempt a horrid console cashgrab, but the features that DO remain have been dumbed down, broken, or ruined.

    Shogun2 was a highly polished, tight, competent game. This is a disheveled debacle.

    The UI is absolutely dreadful. From the menu in a menu in a menu design to the god awful transparent black border to the horrid, 1998 3d portraits. Every single thing that they removed or attempted to "improve" on from shogun2 has been an unmitigated failure.

    There are at least 15 major features that have simply disappeared. Just gone. If they had spend a quarter of the time they spent on their incompetent, ugly facial animations and "the face of war" hype and instead put it toward maintaining the features that its fans have grown accustomed to, perhaps this wouldn't be the worst total war in the history of the franchise. Perhaps those people about to be fired for this disaster in the coming months would still have jobs.

    This game has certainly earned its spot among the Diablo 3s, Simcitys, CoH2s, and Dragon Age2s of franchise killing debacles.

    Oh by the way, the game shipped with no anti-aliasing and no SLI/CF support. That's right. In 2013 an AAA released with no true AA and no multiple GPU support. That's the level of care and concern that went into the development of this farce.    … Expand
  97. Coeurdacier
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    What a fail....
    The battle are too fast, the graphism are like cartoons, my generals die always after three or two turn.
    The troops are all Usain bolt, they run very very fast.
    This game is not finish.
  98. PerfectJayDread
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    I am heart broken, I have been playing for 13 hours and it just keeps getting worse and worse... horribly imbalanced. NO optimization of any kind, interface. Everything we knew and loved about Total War has been stripped away and dumbed down. The battles are dreadful, the AI would be better if it wasn't even there to begin with and the balance, OH THE BALANCE. There is none in essence.I am heart broken, I have been playing for 13 hours and it just keeps getting worse and worse... horribly imbalanced. NO optimization of any kind, interface. Everything we knew and loved about Total War has been stripped away and dumbed down. The battles are dreadful, the AI would be better if it wasn't even there to begin with and the balance, OH THE BALANCE. There is none in essence. Blobs, spam, broken units... thats how far CA went for Rome 2.… Expand
  99. wjf83
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    No Family tree, yet the faction panel has limited marriage options as long as its not your family getting married
    No more portrait art
    No more thumbnail art for buildings, uses stupid tiles the encyclopedia looks like it was copy and past from windows note pad and no art work a lot of cities are missing battles end way too fast its like CA took total war and tried to repackage it as    No Family tree, yet the faction panel has limited marriage options as long as its not your family getting married
    No more portrait art
    No more thumbnail art for buildings, uses stupid tiles
    the encyclopedia looks like it was copy and past from windows note pad and no art work
    a lot of cities are missing
    battles end way too fast
    its like CA took total war and tried to repackage it as a game for casual gamers.
    general and family member progression is just lame, rome 1 formula was better people change as they age and from there experiences and the way rome did it reflected that this game does not
    how dare they try and pass this off total war.
    I don't have the words...    … Expand
  100. BruceWayne
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    Mechanics dumbed down, battles are too arcade-ish, performance is BAD, FPS on campaign map take a hit from 40/50 to 15 whenever UI appears on screen i.e selecting units, cities, agents. I have pretty capable gaming PC that was able to play Shogun II with a stable frame-rate. If you wonder that game is for you, hold your horses for at least 3 or 4 months. At the moment this game is inMechanics dumbed down, battles are too arcade-ish, performance is BAD, FPS on campaign map take a hit from 40/50 to 15 whenever UI appears on screen i.e selecting units, cities, agents. I have pretty capable gaming PC that was able to play Shogun II with a stable frame-rate. If you wonder that game is for you, hold your horses for at least 3 or 4 months. At the moment this game is in "unofficial beta stage" publisher and CA lied it's not finished yet.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 71
  3. Negative: 7 out of 71
  1. Worth Playing
    Nov 18, 2013
    74
    The game is far less polished than Shogun 2, and a few more patches will help, but Rome II is still a flawed game that is underwhelming when compared to previous titles in the franchise.
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  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.
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  3. PC PowerPlay
    Oct 28, 2013
    40
    If you will play literally anything featuring Total War and Rome in the same title and don't value your time, this is for you. [Nov 2013, p.80]
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