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. Furious28289
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Played for a day but got bored of it real quick unfortunately. Ill try to give an honest assessment.

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

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

    PROS
    - Has potential, like in a years time when (if) copious amounts of patching has rectified many of the above issues. Wait for steam special folks, in 2 years time. In the meantime go back to Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai which is actually a much better game.
    - Campaign map looks nice, just need those performace issues addressed
    - Army stances seem nice, although i see limited use for defensive stance
    - I believe the battle speed MAY not be an issue if they can enhance the unit controls more. Mosh pit mob effect must be fixed though, roman legionaries fought with much more cohesion in rome 1.
    - City building is kinda cool    … Expand
  2. 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.
  3. lukeyboy382
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Full of bugs and multilayer is a joke when compared to shogun 2, I have been looking forward to this game for a year and I have now lost all confidence with the total war franchise now.
  4. Rikalonius
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    Beware the Nones of September. When a game receives and orgy of "best game" awards prior to release, it means some Roman-esque political machinations are going on between the developers and the gaming press.

    After a ten hours of post release play I'm ready to ask for a refund. The graphics at extreme fall well short of the advertised images. The UI is lazy. Shogun's UI was much    Beware the Nones of September. When a game receives and orgy of "best game" awards prior to release, it means some Roman-esque political machinations are going on between the developers and the gaming press.

    After a ten hours of post release play I'm ready to ask for a refund. The graphics at extreme fall well short of the advertised images. The UI is lazy. Shogun's UI was much better and much more culturally immersive. For instance I expected a full screen character sheet for my generals and my agents, but it was like something out of early 90s. It felt like a holder to be replaced by future art assets.

    The battles so far have been horrible. I'm not sure who they are making this game for, but I'm of the opinion that high strategy games should allow the player to issue commands and have units preform according to their training, not have to micromanage every aspect of a large armies movements. Don't my units have NCOs? My friend who started playing the Iceni said he lost a siege he was winning because an enemy unit took over some forest checkpoint. Does this make a lick of sense?

    The prologue was mediocre even given the bad ground AI; the sea UI was just unspeakably idiotic.

    I should have never bought this game at first release. I'm sure the game will get better, maybe, but as many are saying, this release is a bad omen for CA. We the players are going to have to start demanding more. I won't be buying another Total War game until after release and I've had a chance to read actual reviews and not hyped up gaming press reviews. They no longer have any credibility with me.    … Expand
  5. 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
  6. icemanerz
    Sep 4, 2013
    5
    Having started my Total War fascination with Rome 1, and having played every Total War from then on. I can honestly say Rome 2 is a let down. It's far from a 0 or 1 you are seeing here (overreaction), however, the game needs a lot of work. Optimization is a serious issue, as my well over recommended rig does stutter on high settings; and the visuals don't even look good to be worth theHaving started my Total War fascination with Rome 1, and having played every Total War from then on. I can honestly say Rome 2 is a let down. It's far from a 0 or 1 you are seeing here (overreaction), however, the game needs a lot of work. Optimization is a serious issue, as my well over recommended rig does stutter on high settings; and the visuals don't even look good to be worth the stutter. Computer AI is dreadful, beyond the usual bad of a strategy game AI. But my biggest gripe is the quick/non-strategic combat. If you expect anything from a Total War game, it's strategic combat. And sadly that is sorely lacking here. Combat is usually a giant ball of death that doesn't even last long. No guard stance, unit abilities don't stand true for form (phalanx not holding up to even weak charges), and archers with dreadful range (why bother?). Patches may fix this game.. eventually.. but it's far from being the release it should have been.… Expand
  7. 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.
  8. Landwulf
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    Huge dissapointment after months of excitment, too much marketing too little work, total war is one of the few strategy games that i still enjoy the most and it's going the wrong way by hyping people and then selling the beta version of the game.
  9. MrKieran
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    Disappointing. Shogun2 was ok, but this game has serious problems. The graphics may have improved, but gameplay is bad (stupid AI, useless diplomacy, unfair battle auto-resolve, confused units that ignore orders or fail to shoot and other unreliable mechanics etc...) Also game lags as hell on very good hardware. I have GTX 680 and I have about 15 fps, prologue crashed few times.

    Very    Disappointing. Shogun2 was ok, but this game has serious problems. The graphics may have improved, but gameplay is bad (stupid AI, useless diplomacy, unfair battle auto-resolve, confused units that ignore orders or fail to shoot and other unreliable mechanics etc...) Also game lags as hell on very good hardware. I have GTX 680 and I have about 15 fps, prologue crashed few times.

    Very bad experience with this game.    … Expand
  10. 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!!!
  11. URocket
    Sep 4, 2013
    9
    All of you guys are full of I have an i5, HD 7850, and 8gb of ram, this game runs smooth like butter on fully max settings. I've had no bugs, and the AI works perfectly fine. The game is epic, plays great and looks amazing. You guys want even better graphics so your computer frames drop form 5 fps to 1 fps. Give me a break, do the world a favor and go play call of duty or something.
  12. SmokeScreen
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I tried liking this game but I just don't, and it looks like I'm not the only one who feels let down by Rome II.

    The graphics look amazing on the highest setting, but for some odd reason my GTX 660 can't handle more than medium graphics which makes the game look A LOT worse than Shogun 2, Napoleon and even Empire. Which doesn't make sense right?? I have no idea why that is, but it    I tried liking this game but I just don't, and it looks like I'm not the only one who feels let down by Rome II.

    The graphics look amazing on the highest setting, but for some odd reason my GTX 660 can't handle more than medium graphics which makes the game look A LOT worse than Shogun 2, Napoleon and even Empire. Which doesn't make sense right?? I have no idea why that is, but it really takes away from the whole experience.

    Biggest issue I have with the game though is the battles. In sieges no matter if you are attacking or defending the AI doesn't move, or if they do they just run around in circles...plane and simple, yet again the AI is beyond stupid.

    I don't like where CA took the Total War series with Shogun 2, it was just too arcadish for my taste. CA promised this wouldn't be the case with Rome II, but here we are...most of my battles are over in 4 minutes and it's like watching Usain Bolt when the units are running.

    This game is big disappointment.    … Expand
  13. ConnorDavis88
    Sep 4, 2013
    8
    I've seen a lot of negativity following this game, and I understand where it's coming from. I had hoped that they'd re-use some of the awesome features/UI build from Medieval Total War 2 that I really liked but I was met with the UI a sixth grader would draw with crayons if a small child was in charge of developement. Overall, the game is kind of clunky, battles are uncomfortably fastI've seen a lot of negativity following this game, and I understand where it's coming from. I had hoped that they'd re-use some of the awesome features/UI build from Medieval Total War 2 that I really liked but I was met with the UI a sixth grader would draw with crayons if a small child was in charge of developement. Overall, the game is kind of clunky, battles are uncomfortably fast paced at times and too slow in others. There are some optimization issues, but I still run it at Ultra with relatively no problem.
    That being said, I don't think the game warrants the "zero's" it's getting. I've had a lot of fun playing it, and although I wish they would've done things differently, that's the beauty of the TW games. Every game I complain about the UI and the way progression/gameplay is run, but sooner or later I get used to it and I actually enjoy it. If you're not a huge fan of the franchise, don't spend your money on this until it sees a price cut. The biggest weakness to this installment of the franchise is how they've made the game extremely mainstream friendly, no more can you customize settlements in depth, it's basically just a few building options. Unit options are also sparse but they look and feel good so at this point it isn't such a huge deal.
    I gave it an 8/10 and I feel like that's a fair review the game is beautiful (in my opinion) and I'm enjoying it like I enjoy all TW games at release (with a serving of bugs). Very overhyped, still a solid game worth trying out if you're a fan of TW or CA.    … Expand
  14. 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
  15. 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.
  16. abramacabro
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    Unplayable. Simple waste of time and money.it just crashes 5 times every hour. Incredibly bad AI and battle interface. Not to mention the multiplayer side of the game is even worse.

    I strongly recommend to avoid this game.
  17. Creardo
    Sep 4, 2013
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am a fan of Total War series and of Rome Total War in particular for a long time... and since Empire Total War that not just me but many people expects a Rome II that would retrieve the greatness and unique masterpiece that Rome I achieved in its time. Rome II, with sadness we can say, didnt get that.

    Believe me, Creative Assembly AND SEGA, Everything on score below 8.5 is a shame for a Total War Title. Yes, we are very demanding as fans of Total War... Creative Assembly made us this way.

    I begun playing the game on release and checked the first reviews but preferred to wait, play a little more to decide and to be just, as a fan paying money for what i thought would fulfill what me and everybody were expecting, so i waited until at least 10 hours playing to make an opinion.

    We have to be just. Graphically, the game improves almost every aspect we could imagine they could improve. The historical research was well made too, at least to an acceptable point. And the positive points may not be rated bad because we dont like other things in the game. Positive points to other things too. For this reason, a give it a seven.

    But CA, what did you to gameplay? 1 TURN PER YEAR, since it was revealed, everybody is criticizing it but you didnt hear... and now you have a broken piece of a game with an old great idea that is just crap now, with this thing of 1 turn/year that disgraces since historical accuracy of events to game pace, heavily injured by this.

    Settlement manage? Hurtful, shameful, weak, boring. Taxes that you can not specify to each settlement with some special idea? Boring. The GUARD MODE button disappeared, and other simple but efficient things in battle? Bad... AI badly stupid at many moments? Bad... Glitches in Multiplayer with crashes to desktop? Ugly...

    A harm is made to the image of something that we expected greatness, not routine, standard. If CA and Sega want to fix this, they still have a way, with patches. Toilsome, but viable. But please dont put more shame on it and forget to at least try to fix this... you have a work to do, if you care with the business aspect of Total War future sales.

    SEGA, the great market power of CA is their hardcore Total War fans. They convince newcomers to play Total War franchise, not game ads. And you all hav to do better.    … Expand
  18. 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.
  19. Goose09
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    Short and sweet.

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

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

    Return to Roman setting is well appreciated

    Combo land/naval battles are entertaining and effective

    Diversity of agent options are useful without being confounding

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

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

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

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

    Final verdict: If you love Total War, Rome, and aren't afraid of a little change, then go ahead and pick this one up. All others should wait a few months to see what happens first    … Expand
  20. 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!
  21. 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!!
  22. Serivahn
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Very big disappointment.
    Game is very poorly optimized and loaded with performance bottle necks.
    Lots of application crashes due to run time errors with the software (i.e. bugs.) The user interface is awful and is definitely not AAA quality. Things the AI does do not make any sense. Battles are too short, don't feel epic. I have played every TW game ever made, this is the only one    Very big disappointment.
    Game is very poorly optimized and loaded with performance bottle necks.
    Lots of application crashes due to run time errors with the software (i.e. bugs.)
    The user interface is awful and is definitely not AAA quality.
    Things the AI does do not make any sense.
    Battles are too short, don't feel epic.
    I have played every TW game ever made, this is the only one where I don't get that excited feeling before my army clashes with the enemy on the battlefield.
    If this game had it's technical issues under control and the game was even remotely stable, it would give it a 6/10.

    In summary, it doesn't feel like I am playing a total war game made by TCA.
    It feels like I am playing a game made by some 'pretender' company that tried and failed to copy what TCA did.    … Expand
  23. hiro45
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    It is my first Total War game and I was looking forward to enjoy it very much. Oh god... this is terrible game. Not only bugs and glitches annoy me. Every aspect of the game looks unfinished. It has the dumbest AI I ever saw.

    3/10. Hate this game
  24. Ahenobarbus
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    As a long time Total War fan, I'm very disappointed with this mess. The developers have managed to mess up almost everything from their older titles and replace it with something worse.

    The UI is unintuitive, uninformative and difficult to use eg. the old Shogun2 tech tree was a full page where you could compare options, now you have a little box that shows 1 option at a time. Unit    As a long time Total War fan, I'm very disappointed with this mess. The developers have managed to mess up almost everything from their older titles and replace it with something worse.

    The UI is unintuitive, uninformative and difficult to use eg. the old Shogun2 tech tree was a full page where you could compare options, now you have a little box that shows 1 option at a time. Unit cards are not as clear at a glance as in the past. Numbers of troops in each unit is now only shown by a mouseover.

    Diplomacy on any level above Normal is absurd, friendly factions wont even accept your help when their last settlement is besieged. Trade agreements are rejected because no reason.

    Developers are clearly obsessed with fire, you have flaming arrows, flaming javelins, horse archers have flaming arrows how Artillery has explosive ammunition what ).

    I don't even want to go into the battles, suffice it to say that what everyone is saying is true. They are ridiculously fast, with no formation holding within the unit Magical abilities are annoying, luckily you probably wont have time to even use them. No skill whatsoever appears necessary to destroy enemy even when outnumbered ).

    I'm fortunate in that my machine is not one of those suffering from major lag running most on High/Very High ).

    I still give it a 4 because hidden under it all is what could be a good game, but it looks like serious work is going to be needed before it measures up to previous Total War titles.    … Expand
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. uziel
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    ehhhh.... poor graphics (ugly sometimes water, trees, commanders`s faces), poor performance, too fast foot mobile units, sometimes stupid AI. rest is good
  28. sams0knite
    Sep 4, 2013
    7
    This game did not meet m expectations but It's a good game and made improvements to the series, added features we've been waiting a while for, and overall is a beautiful and enjoyable game worth every penny spent. Sure there's some bugs, optimization is poor but you can only blame so much on Creative Assembly. The sheer scale of Rome 2 makes it very difficult to optimize for the hundredsThis game did not meet m expectations but It's a good game and made improvements to the series, added features we've been waiting a while for, and overall is a beautiful and enjoyable game worth every penny spent. Sure there's some bugs, optimization is poor but you can only blame so much on Creative Assembly. The sheer scale of Rome 2 makes it very difficult to optimize for the hundreds of current configurations, Operating System's, specifications, manufacturer's, drivers, and all sorts of other factors that come into effect when designing a game for Windows that utilizes a powerful game engine, high quality graphics, and allows you to play battles with thousands of individual units rendered at once, running countless scripts. I do believe the AI isn't bad, it's the same as Shogun 2. It's not amazing, I know, but I still think that the game provides its challenges and provides one of the best experiences in all singleplayer and cooperative strategy games out there; not to mention that Total War is just unique in its own right.

    I am disappointed by the lack of features I was hopping for and those that were promised which is really the only reason I took off appoints but other than that I think they did a good job with Rome 2 and I can't wait to see what comes next in the Total War series which has never to this day let me down.    … Expand
  29. 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!
  30. 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
  31. Matrosen
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I have played this series since 2004 and i am shocked this game is so bad.It is essentially a reskinned Shogun II that manages to run worse,look worse and feel worse even when they had a massive amount of money which seems to have went on PR and false reviews

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

    Firstly the promise of slower grittier battles never happened and battles are so fast they are over in no time at all giving the user a huge load time wait and feeling underwhelmed.Units are also quite small and unmoddable at around 160 per unit.And the unit movement speeds are just insane with horses running with wild cheetas.There is a huge ugly and intrusive UI blocking most of the up close action when you control 40 units which is supposed to be a huge new feature.    … Expand
  32. Ozil
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    Genuinely awful game. I only gave it 1 because I suppose they've done some work on graphics but clearly nothing else. The website/magazine reviews have been bought and paid for again so ignore completely. Any user giving this 5 or higher is an idiot/child/idiot child and should be ignored completely.

    This game has absolutely zero depth. The AI is rubbish of the highest order, yet you    Genuinely awful game. I only gave it 1 because I suppose they've done some work on graphics but clearly nothing else. The website/magazine reviews have been bought and paid for again so ignore completely. Any user giving this 5 or higher is an idiot/child/idiot child and should be ignored completely.

    This game has absolutely zero depth. The AI is rubbish of the highest order, yet you will still spend most of your time waiting for the game to take the AI turns, even on decent rigs. The UI is horrendous and displays info in a painful fashion. Each turn is a pointless exercise in building things that create food and reduce order, then building things that raise order and reduce food. The "tactical" aspect is laughable and battles rarely last more than 5-8 minutes and consist of a series of insta-routs. Defensive battles now have a capture point rendering all tactical thinking irrelevant.

    Total War games (and I've played them all) have never been what you would call strategy masterpieces, but CA have somehow managed to remove every single aspect of decision making and choice from this. If you enjoy strategy can I suggest you play chess or Europa Universalis IV because Rome II is crap of the highest order.

    If I can help stop even 100 people from buying this then I'll be happy. TBH, this game wouldn't even be worth pirating.    … Expand
  33. chillbrah
    Sep 4, 2013
    8
    The game is amazing, but not finished. I have played 5-6 hours as the Iceni tribe and honestly have not run into a single bug. People are crying over how over hyped and terrible this game is even though its only the 2nd day since its release. Give it some time before you give it such a bad rating. Yes, CA should of released a alpha or beta testing to the community and maybe that wouldThe game is amazing, but not finished. I have played 5-6 hours as the Iceni tribe and honestly have not run into a single bug. People are crying over how over hyped and terrible this game is even though its only the 2nd day since its release. Give it some time before you give it such a bad rating. Yes, CA should of released a alpha or beta testing to the community and maybe that would reduce the amount of problems but they didn't so quit crying. the game is not as broke as many of you say it to be.… Expand
  34. TeunisD
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Pro:
    - Great campaign map with alot of features.
    - Good foundation if it's moddable.
    - Good battle music.

    Negative:
    - Bugs, alot of bugs.
    - No music in the campaign map.
    - Battles are WAY to fast.
    - Graphics are not as advertised.
    - Very system heavy. Minimal specs are not going to make it. Bad optimilization.
    - Typical things like formation movement still not fixed.
  35. wobblydoggy
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    A bit gutted really, I obviously as others had been waiting for this release for quite some time. Initially I found the game unplayable due to the unlimited video memory option not being ticked in advanced settings. Once I had done that I could play on extreme though still a bit laggy on the campaign map. I also found the campaign to be extremely shallow... What happened to the cut scenesA bit gutted really, I obviously as others had been waiting for this release for quite some time. Initially I found the game unplayable due to the unlimited video memory option not being ticked in advanced settings. Once I had done that I could play on extreme though still a bit laggy on the campaign map. I also found the campaign to be extremely shallow... What happened to the cut scenes from medieval total war, they were great. It seems in general the serious has begun to degrade. The battlefield quality isn't anywhere near as good as I had been led to believe. I suppose I shouldn't have bought on launch day so partly to blame. Game is a bit rubbish as it stands.… Expand
  36. Paylot
    Sep 4, 2013
    8
    Terrible UI, confusing unit cards, the graphics are... well, weird. NEVERTHELESS, the game itself is very good. Lets just wait for some patches and hope they will do something with the UI, unit cards and they kick in some anti-aliasing. Meanwhile, it is still a fun game to play, although you get lost in the UI.
  37. nomisum
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Well, this might seem unfair to give 1/10. It is. But its unfair of SEGA/CA to release a game full of potential but with so many bugs it seems they havnt tested at all. Besides serious performance issues there are many bugs known of previous TW titles, like AI not attacking at all in battles, desync issues and also some fancy new ones, like frozen camera or 5min turn-time-waits in coopWell, this might seem unfair to give 1/10. It is. But its unfair of SEGA/CA to release a game full of potential but with so many bugs it seems they havnt tested at all. Besides serious performance issues there are many bugs known of previous TW titles, like AI not attacking at all in battles, desync issues and also some fancy new ones, like frozen camera or 5min turn-time-waits in coop campaign.. Some of them are gamebreaking, some of them are just annoying. Fix this game and this could be a solid 9/10, but at this state its not worth playing as frustration is imminent.… Expand
  38. Tyrius
    Sep 4, 2013
    9
    It is indeed a great game with an amazing campaign and battles! The only problem seems to be occasional bugs (nothing game-breaking as of yet) and slower performance for some computers.
  39. claptrap
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Well there is one you can say for sure: That release was quite a mess, when the forums are flooded with bug reports and complaints, you know something went wrong and that unfortenately is what happened to this game.

    I was looking forward to it so much, hadnt any download or installation issues in steam, everything went fine. I also want to admit, that my PC is quite good, not state of    Well there is one you can say for sure: That release was quite a mess, when the forums are flooded with bug reports and complaints, you know something went wrong and that unfortenately is what happened to this game.

    I was looking forward to it so much, hadnt any download or installation issues in steam, everything went fine. I also want to admit, that my PC is quite good, not state of the art high end but good enough:

    Phenom 955 Quadcore
    HD 7970 3GB
    8GB DDR2

    Every new game runs perfect on the highest settings. I didnt expect this in Rome 2 however since TW games were always poorly optimized so set my settings to Medium- High. Started the prologue at first and damn...what a lag fest. During the cutscenes my framerate was like 7-12 FPS and during battle maybe 22 FPS. However, in any other battle it definitely runs smoother. But the beautiful campaing map is a lagfest again, barely playable. Changing the settings to the lowest possible makes hardly any difference other than a game which will look like a PS2 game.

    This problem alone prevends me to enjoy this game.
    Now lets look at the AI, they seem to make their job quite well but in siege battles....oh my godness, they literaly just stand there and think "hmm, what do you think guys? should we attack if they throw javelins at us?" "i dont know dude...wheres our general btw."
    Also they are very retarted in moving their armies, they leave their cities at the borders without a real garrison and move further into their lands, maybe for a picnic, who knows....who cares

    The game also feels so unfinished in every aspect. Yeah sure, there will be patches, I know. But paying 40€ for such a mess, I cant believe I trusted so much into CA. It literally was a waste of money and I'm mad because of that, you know, not everyone of us has a donkey which can money.

    The game also went trought a lot of changes, some of the quite good but others...well they are really unecessary like armies that now only can be lead by a general. Quite a mess when it comes to managing your armies. This also leads to the problem, that you wont have any garrisons in your cities unless you place a general inside which, in my opinion, is a total waste.

    But this game has also some good stuff to offer, so a 0 would be unfair.
    The campain map, dear god, it is freakin huge and playing your campaing, you really feel like you're a small part of an epic game. You look at it and wonder "will I ever conquer?"
    There is also a lot of detail on it, the cities look more authentic and there are more choke points.
    Also there are over 100 civilizations that are controlled by the AI. Of course, ending the turn and letting the AI do their stuff can take quite a bit until you can play again.
    Some of them will be defeated quite early, some other will rise and can get your worst enemies.

    So the campaing after all, is quite epic.

    But there is a long road to Rome, and CA stands at the begining of this road. It will take endless patches until this game will be fully enjoyable and until then, I will rather enjoy other great games like GTAV     … Expand
  40. 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
  41. Milkman128
    Sep 4, 2013
    8
    Enough with the optimization 0/10 nonsense. I have a 4 year old machine that runs the game just fine. load times are slightly longer than rome1 by like 5 seconds.

    The only things that slightly bother me are AI but you know that going into any Total War game. If you haven't learned that yet its your own retardation. LUCKILY they have multiplayer go there for that. second I dont    Enough with the optimization 0/10 nonsense. I have a 4 year old machine that runs the game just fine. load times are slightly longer than rome1 by like 5 seconds.

    The only things that slightly bother me are AI but you know that going into any Total War game. If you haven't learned that yet its your own retardation. LUCKILY they have multiplayer go there for that.

    second I dont like the city management system that seems clunky. I see that they were trying to optimize the management of a large country BUT you lose immersion. Biggest complaint of the game for me. They took it an artsy direction to try and connect the user with that time period but i dont care for it.

    other than that its a solid TW game. 8 hours in, no crash, no bugs for me
    I love the fact that I can start the campaign with out having to load the game.
    I dont mind the artsy direction of the army management cards because no details were sacrificed.

    I like how battlefields represent the larger scale map. I like the new options for army movement on the strategic map.
    enough of the POO pOOO I can't run on ultra I'm an entitled child rants.
    even though the AI is bad LIKE EVERY TW GAME it seems like an overall improvement    … Expand
  42. VIET
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    Rome Total War II!
    You dissapointed me greatly. I am a big fan of the total war series and I have longed for you since God-knows-when. But yesterday, you let me down greatly. Unlike what CA showed and promised in their huge campaign, you are a mess of lots of semmingly good things. Because I love the previous total war games so much, let me leave you some comment on the 4 hours I    Rome Total War II!
    You dissapointed me greatly. I am a big fan of the total war series and I have longed for you since God-knows-when. But yesterday, you let me down greatly. Unlike what CA showed and promised in their huge campaign, you are a mess of lots of semmingly good things. Because I love the previous total war games so much, let me leave you some comment on the 4 hours I spent on you yesterday:
    - Too many unnecessary changes about the managing tabs. The back ground of the tabs is dark and unattractive. The tech tree is broken and inconvenient to use. The city management is confusing and un-focusing. If in the previous games, I know precisely what I can get from getting up a certain building and therefore can plan my strategy for each province, now I know no longer, every thing I build, I have no idea what use would it be for my strategy.
    - The management of generals is dreadful. If in shogun, your generals add a huge value to your strategy and the managing tabs look so classical for shogun, here in Rome 2, because the game pace is so damn slow and the time past so fast, no general can survive more than 40 turns which is really not a lot considering the size of the map and the number of turns it would take to conquering just 1/4 of it. This all make general insignificant and just a sad unnecessary feature plus the managing tabs looks awful.
    - Recruitment is too goddam easy and fast and it makes the game boring.
    - the agents despite the interesting marketing story made up by CA, seem insignificant.
    - The strategy side of the game is slow, energy lacking and boring,
    - the tactic side has a lot of bugs and it does not show the unique characters of each nation army. though I ve just tried rome and sparta, both of which by the way are famous for their high military disciplines, in battle they just run into enemy army like mob. my phalanx keeps un-phalanxing every sec and just charge straight ahead with their swords without even a care of keeping formation. If in Shogun II, flanking, attacking from behind and timing are so crucial to defeat the enemy and the suspense atmosphere you have in battle and the victorious feeling after defeating a legendary-army, all of which makes total war games so enjoyable, in rome II you dont have any of those feeling and brainy features anymore.
    AND THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THAT I FEEL NO CONNECTION WITH MY GAME, NOT AT ALL. CA PAYS TOO MUCH ATTENTION ON MAKING THIS GAME LOOK NICE BUT CLEARLY THEY PAY LEAST ATTENTION ON MAKING THEM NICE.
    A LOT ON MARKETING AND SHOWING OFF BUT THE REAL CONTENT IS UNDER-DEVELOPED AND CARELESSLY MADE.

    A huge let-down in general    … Expand
  43. Enshia
    Sep 4, 2013
    8
    The game is good, does it have it's problems? You bet. The AI is at the current state where Shogun2 was just after release. Which is somewhere between good and mediocre. There are optimization issues, especially with shadows, and water reflections. Baring that, I'm easily able to get an avg 35-36fps.

    What most people who say "but zomg ultra rig" are forgetting is that most games in    The game is good, does it have it's problems? You bet. The AI is at the current state where Shogun2 was just after release. Which is somewhere between good and mediocre. There are optimization issues, especially with shadows, and water reflections. Baring that, I'm easily able to get an avg 35-36fps.

    What most people who say "but zomg ultra rig" are forgetting is that most games in the FPS genre are good at non-animated semi-static flat meshes. Where as in RTS's, such as shogun 2, rome 2, and so on ever individual character is it's own mesh. That's four times as much rendering being done. And in a lot of cases, the "zomg ultra rig" is your Dell special. With a FX-6350 and a 560Ti, I have modest frames with little to no lag issues that others are reporting. With that, one of the biggest suckers on FPS is the "use all available memory" toggle, that most people are flipping on and not understanding. Using that toggle with push everything it can, and it will also attempt to push other programs from active memory to the disk in order to free up even more memory. So, if you're not using a SSD, again you're going to see serious issues.

    Really if I had one complaint, it would be the turn phase and the number of factions. It really reminds me of medieval 2, lots of factions doing lots of things, and people don't like the long turns. Once the factions begin to thin out, not so much of an issue.

    And for anyone who wants to see my forest benchmark, feel free to look up on Steamcommunity.com/id/mashiki    … Expand
  44. 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
  45. alex_dragon
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    very disapointment, stone throwers have more range than arhcers, just fail lol.

    i expect there will be a avatar conquest (This is the main reason why i bought this game)

    oh well, you CA
  46. 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.
  47. 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.
  48. rabidnid
    Sep 4, 2013
    10
    Well 12 hours in and it has been flawless to date with my old PC and XP. Map and factions are more like Rome Total Realism than Rome Total War. If it isn't working for you, it will once its patched and the mod community gets it sorted out. It is a fantastic game and even at this early stage I'm having a ball.
  49. IICRASHII
    Sep 4, 2013
    5
    crash crash crash all what i get i have coreI7 2700K 3.5GHz stock 16GB rams, Radeon HD6870 1GB and i run everything on medium and high no antialiasing no ssao and game crash alot in campaign
  50. Scottyprophet
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Really big disappointment. I don't have any of the graphical lag problems that many people are complaining. It's not like any Total war game from the series... the campaign map is actually pretty nice and an improvement on Rome 1 but the battles really let the game down.

    Firstly the AI is really bad and predictable... secondly the strategy element it gone as you just charge your men in    Really big disappointment. I don't have any of the graphical lag problems that many people are complaining. It's not like any Total war game from the series... the campaign map is actually pretty nice and an improvement on Rome 1 but the battles really let the game down.

    Firstly the AI is really bad and predictable... secondly the strategy element it gone as you just charge your men in and hope you rout the enemy army and thirdly the battles don't last more than 6 minutes most of the time and 3 minutes is your men marching which means (like point 2) there is no time for any flanking moves etc, armies don't hold formation anyway so it all ends up in a big blob of fighting.

    Won't even go into the customizing generals part because they die in 20 turns (because turns are yearly and not seasons anymore). You find yourself just giving your next general the same stuff and not really caring because he will be dead soon anyway.. rinse and repeat.

    Co-op campaign? Great idea.. sadly me and a friend waited 3 minutes after each turn for the AI to run its course on the 114 or whatever factions... over 300 turns that's a lot of time just sat there staring at circles.

    Advise: Save your money until CA can fix the game or play the Superior Medieval total war    … Expand
  51. rainofbores
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Horrible AI. Streamlining removed all things which gave depth and character, now its just A B C which stat to increase. False marketing with minimum and and recommended required specifications. The end is near for total war franchise. Played total war since Shogun, Wasted my money on Empire and this sad pile.

    Honestly, fire the AI programmers.
  52. jhonjoyojnohjn
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    I'm a huge fan of the whole series and this is an inexplicably dismal entry. My rating is relative to Shogun 2, which for me is one of the best games I've played: polished, balanced, stylish, engaging on several levels, huge without being bloated and these are all qualities which appear to have been entirely gutted from the latest instalment. I'd be willing to forgive a large number ofI'm a huge fan of the whole series and this is an inexplicably dismal entry. My rating is relative to Shogun 2, which for me is one of the best games I've played: polished, balanced, stylish, engaging on several levels, huge without being bloated and these are all qualities which appear to have been entirely gutted from the latest instalment. I'd be willing to forgive a large number of bugs, but clearly, there have also been some very bad design decisions in there. Really awful, confusing UI in places; woeful AI (maybe that's not entirely new); player decisions just don't seem important on the strategic map; un-tactical, boring battles. Maybe these things are exacerbated by each other and could be improved individually, but my overall impression is that it's just fundamentally uninteresting and unbalanced on top of being an extremely sloppy release. As a new game out of the blue, maybe this would pass for a 5 or 6, but the benchmark has been set high and this falls very short of it. Very disappointing.… Expand
  53. 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
  54. 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.
  55. Anionix
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Loving this game! Don't understand where all the hate is coming from. Running this game on full HD medium settings with around 30-35 average FPS on a Dell XPS 17 that only has a Nvidia 555m GPU to boot. Can't get more fair than that, especially for such a graphically demanding game. Everyone with technical issues need to stop throwing tantrums and patiently wait for a patch that will fixLoving this game! Don't understand where all the hate is coming from. Running this game on full HD medium settings with around 30-35 average FPS on a Dell XPS 17 that only has a Nvidia 555m GPU to boot. Can't get more fair than that, especially for such a graphically demanding game. Everyone with technical issues need to stop throwing tantrums and patiently wait for a patch that will fix most of your problems no doubt.… Expand
  56. CptCasual
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Whilst the game certainly isnt without fault, i would give it a six. Not great, but not awful. One of the major complaints seems to be that there wasnt a beta test, but that we are now the beta test. Is that not a good thing? to all those waiting until Xmas, but i bought my game 33% off on steam, i get to play the game now, find the flaws and have a part in their remedy. You complain atWhilst the game certainly isnt without fault, i would give it a six. Not great, but not awful. One of the major complaints seems to be that there wasnt a beta test, but that we are now the beta test. Is that not a good thing? to all those waiting until Xmas, but i bought my game 33% off on steam, i get to play the game now, find the flaws and have a part in their remedy. You complain at the lack of an organized beta and yet shun the opportunity for an unofficial one. That said, the AI is awful. I can assault a town with a garrison stronger than my army, defeat that, and then defeat their 1000 reinforcements.… Expand
  57. 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
  58. Machiavelli
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    My first impression of this game was a 9/10 however as I tried to delve deeper into the game I found that I simply could not, vast and very shallow a lake this is. City management has been simplified even further than Shogun 2. The immersive nature and detail of the cities in Rome 1 are gone replaced with prettier pictures but simpler mechanics. Perhaps this is the core of the issue, CAMy first impression of this game was a 9/10 however as I tried to delve deeper into the game I found that I simply could not, vast and very shallow a lake this is. City management has been simplified even further than Shogun 2. The immersive nature and detail of the cities in Rome 1 are gone replaced with prettier pictures but simpler mechanics. Perhaps this is the core of the issue, CA focused so heavily in making a gorgeous game (which it is, albeit unoptimized) that they forgot to reel the player in with detail management mechanics that while small are what ties and immerses the player in the game world in the first place. Each mechanic individually is indeed an 8 or 9 out of ten, However put it all together and try and immerse yopurself in the campaign and you find those little things that kept you playing 100 hours are no longer there. As a proper total war game it is a 3.

    This is the last time I preorder a TW game.    … Expand
  59. manchesterrocks
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Game is garbage. Many bugs and strange UI. What is the point of making these HUGE UGLY icons and buttons? Shogun 2 had pretty good interface. Why change everything so bad?

    AI is just freakin ridiculous.

    Also dear developers completely removed family tree and made army cap. What a lame decision!

    Paid 30 pounds for this casual parody of Total War games.
  60. squeax
    Sep 4, 2013
    9
    I think the main gripe one can have is that game isn't (more or less) a complete remake of the first Rome Total War. Then again, I personally loved Shogun 2 as well as its add-ons. Rome II makes me feel pretty much at home whilst there's plenty of changes in the system to make it feel like a whole other game. Yes it's buggy, there's a lot that goes in combat and those shield bearers reallyI think the main gripe one can have is that game isn't (more or less) a complete remake of the first Rome Total War. Then again, I personally loved Shogun 2 as well as its add-ons. Rome II makes me feel pretty much at home whilst there's plenty of changes in the system to make it feel like a whole other game. Yes it's buggy, there's a lot that goes in combat and those shield bearers really hurt. As for framerate, a lot of games run poorly on launch, just wait for a new driver for your graphics card. Mine runs 40~60 on ultra without SLI (680). A month after release it'll feel totally different and a lot smoother!… Expand
  61. 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.
  62. 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
  63. vovo4ka
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    I never did this before but I've had such a horrible experience with this game that I could not help myself. First and the most infuriating of all is the AI. The units are often unresponsive to your commands and when you do manage go get them to do what you want they usually have terrible pathing. Next is the optomization. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but it lags as hell.I never did this before but I've had such a horrible experience with this game that I could not help myself. First and the most infuriating of all is the AI. The units are often unresponsive to your commands and when you do manage go get them to do what you want they usually have terrible pathing. Next is the optomization. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but it lags as hell. I have pretty good rig. This game was rushed out or something but it feels unfinished and it is almost unplayable in it's current state. I will not be buying any more total war games in the future.… Expand
  64. 3THO
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    So after I played over 10 hours, I will adjust my 10/10 to a 4/10. The AI is just too stupid, a donkey i a compliment to them! I can defeat 3 armys with 1 on legendery! The AI is killing the game.. Also, i have lag... while I can run all other newest games on ultra settings! I have to tune down alot of the settings to have 20+ fps.... stupid framerate! If they fix all of this, i willSo after I played over 10 hours, I will adjust my 10/10 to a 4/10. The AI is just too stupid, a donkey i a compliment to them! I can defeat 3 armys with 1 on legendery! The AI is killing the game.. Also, i have lag... while I can run all other newest games on ultra settings! I have to tune down alot of the settings to have 20+ fps.... stupid framerate! If they fix all of this, i will change again to a 8/10! I am very sad about this....… Expand
  65. 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
  66. kycer
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Really a huge leap backwards from the Shogun era, interface usability is horrible, game depth is shallow while unit statistics have become completely silly, player interaction is much worse, multiplayer is a complete mess an maps are very unbalanced, graphics look very poor unless zoomed right in from where there is no control, very frequent crashes and low frame rates even at lowReally a huge leap backwards from the Shogun era, interface usability is horrible, game depth is shallow while unit statistics have become completely silly, player interaction is much worse, multiplayer is a complete mess an maps are very unbalanced, graphics look very poor unless zoomed right in from where there is no control, very frequent crashes and low frame rates even at low settings, what have u done in the last 2 years CA? btw I played 2000+ hrs of Shogun 2 & FOTS and really enjoyed every bit of it.… Expand
  67. 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.
  68. TomasB
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I used to play Rome Total War 1 a lot and it's an excellent game. Rome 2 however is terrible. Game looks like dirty beta or alpha because it is very buggy The game design is too plain simple and boring compared to Rome 1. UI just looks ugly. Campaign map is very casual with many things removed.

    I would like to get a refund.
  69. ChingPowWingWow
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    This is going to be a very detailed review of the game, it was a huge disappointment so far for me. For readabilitys sake this is the things that I (and most other people) hate about the game

    -Retarded AI -Capture Points, The AI will neglect your army and go to the capture points straight and even sometimes break throuh your superior forces -Graphic issues (CA has announced a patch on    This is going to be a very detailed review of the game, it was a huge disappointment so far for me. For readabilitys sake this is the things that I (and most other people) hate about the game

    -Retarded AI
    -Capture Points, The AI will neglect your army and go to the capture points straight and even sometimes break throuh your superior forces
    -Graphic issues (CA has announced a patch on that one though), soldiers faces look incredibly stupid even on ultra
    -Balance Issues (Some factions are so overpowered that there is simply no fun found in battling with or against them)
    -Formations break after a few seconds (Even in phalanx the soldiers will break out of formation and shuffle around the map weirdly)
    -Insane battle speed (The battles are over even faster than in Shogun 2, I had no battle over 10 minutes so far)
    -Immersive Feeling Lost (No family tree, Recruitable generals, etc.)
    -Bugs (Roman units can't throw pila except when attacking, Phalanx units can't attack or will go out of phalanx)
    -Ridiculously bad UI (It takes up half of your screen and is totally dumbed down, there isn't even loose formation or guard mode!)
    -The power bar is out of control, the balance of forces is totally against you on the campaign map, but on the battlefield your power bar occupies 90%, what is that?)

    Me and most other people feel this way, I was overly excited. This game stil has some potential though, as long as CA decides to get on their asses and fix all those gamebreaking things.
    I give it a 4/10 as it is right now and will look forward to future patches and user overhauls. I really hope that this game gets fixed, at the moment it is absolutely unplayable for me.    … Expand
  70. 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.
  71. CrimsonSkyDux
    Sep 4, 2013
    10
    Despite the many bad reviews, I have to say that instead the game is awsome and epic as described during this year of waiting. I can run it at maximum with no lag or issues of anysort. The problem is not related to the game but to the poor built rigs of people that pretend to play a 2013 game with so much graphical improvements on a prehistoric PC.
    I can add that the old good mods for the    Despite the many bad reviews, I have to say that instead the game is awsome and epic as described during this year of waiting. I can run it at maximum with no lag or issues of anysort. The problem is not related to the game but to the poor built rigs of people that pretend to play a 2013 game with so much graphical improvements on a prehistoric PC.
    I can add that the old good mods for the RTW I are now dead and pointless for sure as they have always been. I am confident in CA capability of releasing exstra content and add more factions and features. The usual ranters and whiners are poor childish people who will never be happy.
    I suggest to buy the game and, if not already done, a decent HW.    … Expand
  72. VladimirRus
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    This game is one big false marketing. After watching all commercial videos, I was hoping to see Rome 2 at least as good as Shogun 2. However, developers just lied to us. Optimization and visual part of the game is bad. Gameplay doesn't feel like TW game.

    Rome 2: Total War is big disappointment for me. I want my money back!
  73. 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.
  74. lysm
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    This game is a HUGE letdown.
    The game was many performance issues, since crashes, freezes, low fps on pc's above the requirements and even on some med/high end machines.
    Even without counting the performance issues, the game is a residual of the other total war games. The battle system is awful, you have a capture the flag system and you run straight into it and let the armies fight    This game is a HUGE letdown.
    The game was many performance issues, since crashes, freezes, low fps on pc's above the requirements and even on some med/high end machines.

    Even without counting the performance issues, the game is a residual of the other total war games. The battle system is awful, you have a capture the flag system and you run straight into it and let the armies fight you don't even need to care about tactics they will just pile up anyway and form a big chunk off units that appear to be deaf. The units moving on battle seem that they are running all the time and the cavalry seems like cars moving. AI is plentiful bad in battles and outside.
    There are some good points that I like, diplomacy is one of them.

    In conclusion, this game is not worth the money and seems unfinished. What is unacceptable since CA overhyped this so much, I personally feel rip off and regret completely from buying it.    … Expand
  75. Beqany
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I'm a huge fan of total war series I played this series from Shogun total war which was relished in 2001 and I played this series non stop since than. So I thought I would write MY OPINION on this game!

    I just want to say that Rome 2 is the disaster iv been waiting for this game for a long time and its a huge disappointment. Simply to say this game is NOT FINISHED! I would say that    I'm a huge fan of total war series I played this series from Shogun total war which was relished in 2001 and I played this series non stop since than. So I thought I would write MY OPINION on this game!

    I just want to say that Rome 2 is the disaster iv been waiting for this game for a long time and its a huge disappointment. Simply to say this game is NOT FINISHED! I would say that this game is between Alpha and beta stages.

    1) Bad optimization (I think Arma 2 was better optimized than this game )
    2) Stupid Ai Medieval total war 2 had better AI)
    3) Bad UI Just my opinion )
    4) This is my PC Specs i7 4770k 3.5 8gb corsair vengeance Nvidia 770GTx 4gb ssd drive 500gb, and I could not enjoy this game at any graphic settings if you lower the settings, like say medium the game looks worst then medieval total war even on the extreme settings the game still looks bad! and it lags a lot! on any graphic setting!

    5) The units move unrealistically fast when the combat starts and two armies clash at each other you won't be able to make out what is happening with your or enemy units because they just became a large moving blurb on the screen!

    6) Loading times are extremely annoying

    And the list of goes on..............

    I don't understand why people are giving a positive review on this game? this game has a big potential but at this moment it is far away from been finished. By giving it a good reviews you guys are encouraging the game developers to publish the unfinished products!    … Expand
  76. Georgissimo
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    This game failed its Total War predecessors. It is too fast paced, it´s hard to actually "feel" the game and immerse in to it, because of the new campaign, in which you just don´t give a what happens next. Diplomacy is ok but could stil use improvement (especially the trade agreements).
    But the battles! Oh my god, they suck balls. Even with high tier units, the battles tend to last at    This game failed its Total War predecessors. It is too fast paced, it´s hard to actually "feel" the game and immerse in to it, because of the new campaign, in which you just don´t give a what happens next. Diplomacy is ok but could stil use improvement (especially the trade agreements).
    But the battles! Oh my god, they suck balls. Even with high tier units, the battles tend to last at max like 5 minutes, and I am talking about 4000 against 4000 men battles. Every battle, be it an ambush, siege, or whatever, just ends in a Giant Big Blob. And the AI in siege battles, which was supposed to be really good, is freaking horrible! All the AI does is just rushes towards the Central Point. All hail the Central Point! All hail the worst game in the series! But seriously, let´s just pray for a patch. Unfortunately I believe, that there are just too many problems, that it will either take a year to be repaired, or won´t ever see the improvement.    … Expand
  77. eatsam
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    Simply not fair to charge 55 dollars for a broken game. I still give it a 4/10 because it might get better through the months.
    Some features are just bad though and not broken. Like the messy battles and arcade-like campaign. Stupid traits etc.
  78. 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!
  79. 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
  80. harry74
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    After playing all day I need to admit that this game is very different what developers promised. Optimization doesnt exist at and graphics look not great. Gameplay is very messy and many things just missing. I regret preordering this game. I was fooled by their marketing campaign.
  81. TheDukeOfSpook
    Sep 4, 2013
    9
    I honestly cannot believe the reviews that people are giving this game. Yes the game has it's flaws but it's certainly not worth a 0. You really have to be ignorant to give the game a 0. The game may not be the best in the Total war series but it's still a good game and I've enjoyed it so far. The game is well put together even though it has a few problems that will surely be dealt withI honestly cannot believe the reviews that people are giving this game. Yes the game has it's flaws but it's certainly not worth a 0. You really have to be ignorant to give the game a 0. The game may not be the best in the Total war series but it's still a good game and I've enjoyed it so far. The game is well put together even though it has a few problems that will surely be dealt with later. Rome 2 isn't at all comparable with Empire at launch and even though it has a few problems with glitches, donkey AI ext. The game is still fun and is the Total war we fell in love with. I sincerely hope that people give the game more than a few hours before calling it the worst game ever and giving it an abysmal score. Maybe play 20 plus hours before passing such a harsh judgement.… Expand
  82. Swissrock86
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I am very disappointed. It seems they removed many things from the game:

    - missing wonderful Avatar mode from Shogun 2

    - economic system very simplified and lacksdepth

    - testudo also missing, it was in Rome 1

    - no family tree means no atmospheric roleplay

    in addtion to this: tons of bugs, poor optimization, really bad AI, very poor unintuitive UI.

    Not worth $60. Poor game.
  83. Tytos
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    As a player of the TW series since Shogun1, here is my opinion.

    The good: - beautiful campaign map - nice soundtrack - lots of factions (though only a few playable) - smarter AI (still not smart enough) The bad: - no balance at all - battles are over in 3-5 minutes - no bit of realism whatsoever - very poor optimization - Multiplayer minimalized compared to Shogun2 -    As a player of the TW series since Shogun1, here is my opinion.

    The good:
    - beautiful campaign map
    - nice soundtrack
    - lots of factions (though only a few playable)
    - smarter AI (still not smart enough)

    The bad:
    - no balance at all
    - battles are over in 3-5 minutes
    - no bit of realism whatsoever
    - very poor optimization
    - Multiplayer minimalized compared to Shogun2
    - Interface
    - Drop hacking in MP still an issue
    - bugs/glitches
    - very hard to mod
    - turn timers

    Overall the worst TW release so far, this tops even the Empire TW disaster.    … Expand
  84. VotingForSticks
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Rome 2 is unfortunately a disappointment. Essentially the battles are a disorganized mess and over in 5 minutes. I don't feel I am a general in this game as victory is assured by simply clicking attack, with the scope for strategy and tactics severely limited.

    The strategy map on the other hand is quite easy to deal with, and the strategy AI certainly has improved over Shogun 2. However    Rome 2 is unfortunately a disappointment. Essentially the battles are a disorganized mess and over in 5 minutes. I don't feel I am a general in this game as victory is assured by simply clicking attack, with the scope for strategy and tactics severely limited.

    The strategy map on the other hand is quite easy to deal with, and the strategy AI certainly has improved over Shogun 2. However the user interface is a bit clunky.

    The game as a whole is fairly bug free, however it is poorly optimized. My computer exceeds the recommended specs but still struggles to run this game in the lowest graphical settings. Overall, if you are looking for a good Total War style/strategy game, don't buy this game!    … Expand
  85. Fargo56
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    This game is horrible and total disrespect to customers. Amount of bugs is terrific, graphics look much worse than Shogun 2(released in 2011 Many gameplay features were removed. Oh god.. this game look very bad even comparing with Rome 1. Shame on you Creative Assembley!
  86. supercrackpuppy
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    I have waited years for this game ever since it's announcement and i am surly disappointed we have the modern version of empire total war it sucks. Where to begin they have taken out core features of the total war franchise i can't move army's and units independent of generals on the campaign map anymore. Therefore i can not leave a garrison force in cities to protect them i have lost 2I have waited years for this game ever since it's announcement and i am surly disappointed we have the modern version of empire total war it sucks. Where to begin they have taken out core features of the total war franchise i can't move army's and units independent of generals on the campaign map anymore. Therefore i can not leave a garrison force in cities to protect them i have lost 2 cities to this already. You have a max number of armys and they all need generals the new imperium system sucks. As-long as my economy can support them i should be able to have as many army's as i dame well please. Also not mentioning the Ai is not effected bye this system at all i found myself the roman empire only able to have 4 army's while a 1 province county is sporting 6 massive army's. Now lets get to the technical stuff the game is poorly optimized. I have a 2600k i7 quad core a gtx 660 ti and 6 gigs of ram pretty standard mid range build. The optimization is so bad that i cannot run the game on anything higher than low without getting under ten frames. And get this on low i am lucky if i hold 20 to 25 frames not to mention constant lag spikes. I have had units run through enemy units and not engage there was one battle were i could not get my units to engage they were not routing they would not move. I have also experienced major texture issues and before anyone asks no my graphics card is not having artafacting this only occurs in Rome 2. Overall i am extremely disappointed and this game was over hyped and is not worth 60 in it's current state. Most of the technical issues will be fixed after a year of patches. At this point i am so fed up and want a refund. I will now go play other strategy games that surpass this like erurope universallis IV and Hearts of iron 3. Also on a side note i am a vet to the total war series i have been hear since shogun total war the first one… Expand
  87. VRoll
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This one should be called Rome II or Rome II casual war doing a cap limit and do not even let the player have the number of army he want just drop down the total war mention I do not experienced any graphical issues but doing this game for being more realistic Just moving an army into water and poping it into a boat that sound not realistic at any point just a bunch of worst thinking that casual will have a great time of non thinking anything and enjoing a Star craft II from CA.Was quite impressed by shogun 2 total war battles fast with energy with a good feel on what your armies is doing, there is nothing, men full of bronze equipement run faster than ninja and kill so fast you hadn't any time to appreciate it seriously I really hope for a mod that retunr some point of this game to a rome 1 total war i didn't paid a game to play the way developper want to, i paid a game to play it and enjoy it the way i want Seeing 10/10 make me feel they havn't never played a total war game before or they not yet found the cap limit haha More people must come here to claim their dissatisfaction spending 60 bucks in this open beta game … Expand
  88. Mreddification
    Sep 4, 2013
    9
    Probably the most fun I have had on a total war game in years, yes there are some frame rate issues and the AI can be a little underwhelming at times but if you aren't prepared it can still kick your arse. My advise would be to ignore the people giving it a 0-4 due to frame rate drops because that doesn't justify the massive scale and huge amount of work that has gone into this strategicProbably the most fun I have had on a total war game in years, yes there are some frame rate issues and the AI can be a little underwhelming at times but if you aren't prepared it can still kick your arse. My advise would be to ignore the people giving it a 0-4 due to frame rate drops because that doesn't justify the massive scale and huge amount of work that has gone into this strategic behemoth the game still improves on the many previous total war games and I have no doubt it shall continue to improve.… Expand
  89. Gandaldwqarf
    Sep 4, 2013
    10
    I have been playing the game for 10 hours now and I am still exploring the game. I can't imagine how the game will feel like in a few weeks/months when I am starting to master it.
    I have the same feeling with this game like in the beginning with Shogun II. "What am I supposed to do/build now? Whats steps should I undertake? Which faction should be my ally, which my foe?"
    I am very    I have been playing the game for 10 hours now and I am still exploring the game. I can't imagine how the game will feel like in a few weeks/months when I am starting to master it.
    I have the same feeling with this game like in the beginning with Shogun II. "What am I supposed to do/build now? Whats steps should I undertake? Which faction should be my ally, which my foe?"
    I am very excited to what the game will bring me and what I shall discover.
    I feel sad for all the poor guys who think this game sucks, they are simply not giving it a chance. I don't want a game that plays the same as Shogun II just with other units. When I buy a game I want something new. And that is what Rome II is giving us. Something new to learn and master.
    It looks great and feels immersive. The end turn time is very long when you play a coop game with someone.
    When I play single player it really only takes about 20-30 secs. I'm fine with that no problem.You must realise that it is a HUGE map with a lot more factions, it is normal. If u have a problem with it, get OVER IT.
    I find the AI challenging and surprising sometimes as well.
    It will be a game that may need some bug fixes but I will enjoy putting 400+ hours into this game as I did with Shogun 2.    … Expand
  90. Hasforth
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Huge letdown

    The Hype Train was set for the game of the year, unfortunately it was derailed by a large number of bugs, graphical issues and just plain missing content promised by the developer in their massive marketing campaign. There is absolutely no unit cohesion, units will just blob together and hack each other down, looking more like a mosh-pit fight than a battle between    Huge letdown

    The Hype Train was set for the game of the year, unfortunately it was derailed by a large number of bugs, graphical issues and just plain missing content promised by the developer in their massive marketing campaign.

    There is absolutely no unit cohesion, units will just blob together and hack each other down, looking more like a mosh-pit fight than a battle between soldiers. One of the most iconic formations of the era; the pike phalanx is downright broken, enemies will just casually stroll through the pikes and kill the phalanx like it was nothing.

    The battle speed feels even faster than Shogun II's, it is clear that Sega is trying to push their Sonic the hedgehog franchise into the Total War one, I cant wait for Mr Eggman DLC

    Even on a decent rig AMD fx 6350 HD 7870 the campaign map stutters like crazy, and framerates will drop as low as 9(!) when selecting an army on the campaign map.

    One of the main selling points was a "darker kind of war" where facial animations and soldiers calling our useful information would play a big part. Unfortunately the unit portraits are god-awful and even though you pump up AA to 16x the edges are blurrier than a pond of mud

    CA really up with this one    … Expand
  91. MrJangles
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Ignore the people with underpowered pcs! said every 10 out of 10 review ever
    I built my pc last month using brand new parts and it cost me a total of £1500 and this game still runs terrible. Not only that but the graphical bugs are extreme and the countless other problems. This really is a shame because i was looking forward to Rome 2 for years. Ether the chance of getting good     Ignore the people with underpowered pcs! said every 10 out of 10 review ever
    I built my pc last month using brand new parts and it cost me a total of £1500 and this game still runs terrible. Not only that but the graphical bugs are extreme and the countless other problems. This really is a shame because i was looking forward to Rome 2 for years. Ether the chance of getting good performance is random or there's a lot of people lying about having 5 year old pcs and i can run this on ultra with smooth fps Shame on CA. Have they learned nothing?    … Expand
  92. Issoy
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Review is based on the current release:
    Huge letdown and worst TW game ever made rolling on the hype of rome nothing more)
    Horrible UI and Layout: - too big unit cards and info windows (covers nearly 40 of the screen) - no artwork at all (looks like Windows reminds me of dragon age 2) Gameplay: - Poorly optimized waiting for turn to end ... - Poor region information on strat    Review is based on the current release:
    Huge letdown and worst TW game ever made rolling on the hype of rome nothing more)
    Horrible UI and Layout:
    - too big unit cards and info windows (covers nearly 40 of the screen)
    - no artwork at all (looks like Windows reminds me of dragon age 2)
    Gameplay:
    - Poorly optimized waiting for turn to end ...
    - Poor region information on strat map
    - No family tree system
    - Poor tech tree.
    - No Rome era immersion.
    - Next to no tactical possibilites (no guard button, units do not hold lines, super quick battles just charge and forget. Moral system seem to be related to a unit only and does not effect nearby units at all.
    Most battles end in    … Expand
  93. gulzadan
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    One word describes this game 'souless'. It's boring and you don't feel connected to anything in the game at all. Compared to the original Rome this is horrible garbage, this game is rubbish!! Waited 10 years since Rome 1 for this pile of RS 2.6 is much more enjoyable than this. Anyone who is scoring this game a 10 is either a brain dead moronic drone or paid advertising. From the start ofOne word describes this game 'souless'. It's boring and you don't feel connected to anything in the game at all. Compared to the original Rome this is horrible garbage, this game is rubbish!! Waited 10 years since Rome 1 for this pile of RS 2.6 is much more enjoyable than this. Anyone who is scoring this game a 10 is either a brain dead moronic drone or paid advertising. From the start of writing this review i have seen the positive reviews rise from around 55 to 161 in the space of a few mins, yeah right... and good on all those review sites who probably didn't even play the game who gave it a good score, Empire mark II...… Expand
  94. Mark16642
    Sep 4, 2013
    10
    Ok first thing is first. Yes there are some bugs but nothing that cant be fixed. You cant expect a game of this magnitude to come out without some bugs,. Patches will come out and fix them all sooner or later. As for the game its self well i think it is fantastic. It takes some getting used to but when you get used to it it is apparent that this game has a lot of depth. The battles areOk first thing is first. Yes there are some bugs but nothing that cant be fixed. You cant expect a game of this magnitude to come out without some bugs,. Patches will come out and fix them all sooner or later. As for the game its self well i think it is fantastic. It takes some getting used to but when you get used to it it is apparent that this game has a lot of depth. The battles are fantastic to watch and the spear and arrow effects are amazing. Give the feeling that a shield really is a matter of life and death. If you like the total war franchise then this is a must.… Expand
  95. Kenjori
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Wait at least for a year before you buy this game. Maybe -and I mean maybe!- after a couple of hundreds patches and a few dozen mods, this dumbed down bug-filled pacman fighting game will be playable. Until that day, this is a disgrace for our dear Total War Series.
  96. Petar
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I feel scammed there's no other way to say it.
    The minimum and recommended requirements are a lie. The game is unplayable. After applying community-prorposed fixes, I can now actually barely play at 10-12 FPS. Won't comment on the many disappointments which other players report battle mechanics, removed gameplay features like family trees and so on.. but I have to say this is the    I feel scammed there's no other way to say it.
    The minimum and recommended requirements are a lie. The game is unplayable. After applying community-prorposed fixes, I can now actually barely play at 10-12 FPS. Won't comment on the many disappointments which other players report battle mechanics, removed gameplay features like family trees and so on.. but I have to say this is the biggest let down I have ever experienced from an entertainment product! Such a shame!    … Expand
  97. Imod85
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    NEG: Too low morale, too fast unit movements & batttle speed, cluster-building, not keeping formations, 1-2 minutes waiting time after every turn, stupid AI. Battles hardly last longer than 4 minutes, it's a joke.

    POS: Province system, graphics, factions

    Summary: 2 points. Very disappointing
  98. athropos
    Sep 4, 2013
    5
    Horrendous performance problems on high end systems plague an otherwise average total war game.

    Running this game on:
    i7-3770k
    GTX 680 SLI
    16 gigs of ram

    There is no SLI support as of yet and performance is abysmal. There might be a good game under there but in it's current excessively rushed state this game cannot get anything over a 6/10.
  99. Sukhothai
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Long time C.A fan, a great company that is unfortunately moving backwards. This game which I'm sure by March next year might be working is sadly broken in it's present state. Testers should actually bring another laptop or tower in to work and check how this runs on different systems before release, I feel for those fools who pre-ordered this mess with the DLC, I for one will not beLong time C.A fan, a great company that is unfortunately moving backwards. This game which I'm sure by March next year might be working is sadly broken in it's present state. Testers should actually bring another laptop or tower in to work and check how this runs on different systems before release, I feel for those fools who pre-ordered this mess with the DLC, I for one will not be trusting C.A and their paid for reviews in future. Furthermore it really calls into question those publications and their credibility in future. Shogun 2 was great but the series NEEDS to take a step forward, the strategic map needs some more depth, that part of the game could take a lot out of Fallen Enchantress L.H book, some random events, depth and developing storylines could be a step forward, but C.A just keeps on simplifying things and in turn the games are becoming shallow and boring. Revolution, evolution and creative thinking seem to be lacking in their team, Empire has still got so many problems after all these years that haven't been dealt with that I wonder if this screw-up could be a serious nail in their coffin. I have a lot of respect for what they have done over the years, but they knew how busted this was as should've been put back or Beta tested before asking people to spend $60 on an unfinished product. Relying on unpaid modders and fans to make their games enjoyable, stable and playable is shockingly bad from a company with such a following and I for one am disappointed to have waited so long for this. Reading some of these reviews is just as shocking though. At the end of the day it is just a game, not the end of the world and people should not be so dramatic. I understand peoples anger at paying so much for a turkey, but you really have to learn from having your fingers burnt, don't buy the DLC, stop supporting an uncreative company, be vocal in where you want the series to go (three kingdoms please!) and they will hopefully turn things round and give us a great blockbuster to bring the fans back. If all those fanboys and sheep give this 10's when it clearly doesn't deserve them are holding the development of this series back. If we want a challenging, gripping, impressive forward step in the next game, we have to send the message that they are going backwards and alienating their fan-base. Come on C.A, step up to the plate...… Expand
  100. Keboxet
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Huge disappointment. Rome 2 is very bad game with expensive marketing campaign. Gameplay is boring and loses almost in every aspect to first Rome which was released 10 years ago!
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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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