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. pajomife
    May 20, 2014
    2
    The most disappointing game I ever played,sorry,i dont play it no more,The transport ships Spam to disguise the lack of CA competence to add proper naval invasion its the ultimate ultrage,
  2. pinkklashinov
    May 19, 2014
    10
    End Turn time takes so long to start a new turn .. that's so poring i suggest to put option in the settings to skip the far away nations from being showed in every turn only to show the nations that i have borders with it .. but in general i love the series of TOTAL WAR
  3. scorpiangamer27
    May 17, 2014
    10
    This game is VERY fun. I think it's better than Sid mires civilizations 5. And if u guys don't agree o well DEAL WITH IT! (I AM NoT talking to the crictics)
  4. carsal
    May 14, 2014
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After 12 patces and 6 dlcs the game is still unplayable. The worst of the whole series. Biggest fraud in video game industry that I ever see. There is no way to preorder a game of CA ever before… Expand
  5. ilovelamp12
    May 13, 2014
    0
    Total War: Nope

    Seriously though, all CA has to do is look at the mods for rome 1 and medieval 2 to see how to make these games awsome. Anyone who has played total war realism or stainless steel knows what I'm talking about. This game is as far from those mods as it can get. Bring on the mods people!
  6. KillaBadg3r
    May 3, 2014
    9
    this really isn't that bad. I feel like the original is a 10/10 and this is 9/10 for a few confusing things, but overall its great. I think everyone just expects so much from Creative Assembly. I haven't experienced anything major in the way of problems
  7. Th3UniQu3
    May 3, 2014
    0
    Biggest pile of trash I've ever played in my entire life. **** mechanics, **** graphics, terrible AI, repetitive shallow campaign map gameplay, there are no positive things to say about this steaming pile of slag.
  8. Mitzu
    May 1, 2014
    4
    Can't give this more than 4/10. Played all total war games since Rome 1. It feels weird when a game 10 or so years older has better AI and unit colission than it's much newer counterpart. I bought it when it came out and was able to play a game as Rome. Stopped playing for a while and started it up again and just fount it as sad as it was before. Can't play it anymore, I guess i'll justCan't give this more than 4/10. Played all total war games since Rome 1. It feels weird when a game 10 or so years older has better AI and unit colission than it's much newer counterpart. I bought it when it came out and was able to play a game as Rome. Stopped playing for a while and started it up again and just fount it as sad as it was before. Can't play it anymore, I guess i'll just install shogun 2 and medieval 2.… Expand
  9. ninjamandela
    Apr 28, 2014
    2
    First of all I'm a fan of Total war series since the first Rome game. But this new game, although its pretty when it works most of the time its crashes because you need a high end gaming rig to play. Even then the game still is broken with lots of bugs. There are up to 12 big patches already released by CA to correct and fix their broken game but still have not iron it all out. I've paidFirst of all I'm a fan of Total war series since the first Rome game. But this new game, although its pretty when it works most of the time its crashes because you need a high end gaming rig to play. Even then the game still is broken with lots of bugs. There are up to 12 big patches already released by CA to correct and fix their broken game but still have not iron it all out. I've paid $74 when it came out and kinda regret it. I've lost 100 hrs or Rome Campaign too with one of those patches. Not being able to load it anymore. Plus all these DLC add-on that cost at least $3 should be free. I will not spend a single cent anymore on this game and any other CA release games.… Expand
  10. Meglos
    Apr 26, 2014
    2
    As a long-term player of Rome Total War I was looking forward to this game, but it has disappointed me in the way that most strategy game sequels do. I would have been happy if they'd kept everything the same as the original game, but streamlined some of the management and made the AI less stupid in strategy, combat and diplomacy (anybody new to the franchise would probably have enjoyedAs a long-term player of Rome Total War I was looking forward to this game, but it has disappointed me in the way that most strategy game sequels do. I would have been happy if they'd kept everything the same as the original game, but streamlined some of the management and made the AI less stupid in strategy, combat and diplomacy (anybody new to the franchise would probably have enjoyed that too). Unfortunately the new game is everything that most sequel strategy games are: more pretty and more complicated. Not complicated in a puzzling, challenging sort of way, complicated in a "lots more dull things to deal with" sort of way. Hundreds of regions acand custom unit types, after the first rush of interest, are just a bore. I guess the sort of programming that requires adding lots and lots of "stuff" is easier to do than the sort that makes the computer think and act like a clever and crafty human.
    If you're the sort of person who likes auditing accounting spreadsheets, you'd probably like this game. If you actually want to have some fun, avoid it.    … Expand
  11. Ronaldus7
    Apr 24, 2014
    10
    TW: Rome II is a perfect game with mods. For me is it the best game of the series. (I have spent 200 hours in this game) Only AI is bad, but if you want all achievements, its hard enough :)
  12. SmoothCriminal
    Apr 19, 2014
    0
    This game was the most disappointing and boring game in a long line of Creative Assembly disappointments It was not worth the £30 tag and I was galled I couldn't get a refund only recommendation however shrill would be to look up the previous game and play that instead . The much toted graphics and AI were poor and broken even on my gaming laptop this game was grudgingly drawn out and slowThis game was the most disappointing and boring game in a long line of Creative Assembly disappointments It was not worth the £30 tag and I was galled I couldn't get a refund only recommendation however shrill would be to look up the previous game and play that instead . The much toted graphics and AI were poor and broken even on my gaming laptop this game was grudgingly drawn out and slow this has to be the worst game I've played on PC, not in terms of its not Rome 1 ergo its bad, It was bad because it was slow, boring and too long like all the bad parts of Empire total war without the fun of any previous TW games. Its a shame because I looked forward for years for this (I was a child playing Rome 1 and a fan) and once again creative assembly disappointing and doesn't deliver.This however, is the straw that has broken my resolve I am no longer a fan of CA and when they release another TW I cannot say I will trust them to make it good or at least playable. P.S. this game was dismal and poorly optimized at best and the most nice thing I can say is that I don't know how they managed to release this without also releasing an apology as well 2nd P.S. I still cant believe they withheld so much content for a game so bareboned and sold it for a tenner the day after I bought 3rd P.S. (AND A WARNING OF GRAPHIC LANGUAGE) **** you Creative Assembly you traitorous thieving **** how dare you sully your name and my trust in you I'm going somewhere else for my conquering fix next time( you had a golden chance to rekindle my love for the TW franchise with this you could have just released a HD remake and wallowed in old ground nostalgically but no) tip for CA sometimes nostalgia is neither good or bad as a well for ideas it is just the ideas which are good and bad like, oh i don't know criminally retarded AI or picking on new ideas the food and happiness balancing act which... sigh I cant actually think of a worse idea in the entire total war series which is incredible its like this game can only be compared with the worst Nicholas Cage movie. Definitely the worst game I have ever played on anything I.e. I'm actually trying to think of something worse and I cannot so well done CA in that field you've made my jaw drop like you did for Rome 1 but for the exact opposite reason. 4th P.S. hahah so many of these but seriously I am a fan of TW and CA I've liked Rome, Medieval 2 but I am not completely blind I.e. I thought Empire started **** but got good later and the sort same for Shogun and Napoleon however this game really scares me because I cant believe how bad it is I cannot phrase it in words or letters. I can only say what has gone wrong here? and hope someone at CA will take notice I know this is constructive criticism however I want it to be destructive instead I don't think there is a way so save this game I just want CA to not make anything with the ideas from this game for It is all bad and irredeemable and should instead be a model for how we can fail for CA. ( CA stands for Creative Assembly and TW stands for the Total War franchise)… Expand
  13. Alaric88
    Apr 16, 2014
    10
    I'm one of many who hasn't experienced any problems with this game. Sure, it's not perfect, but no game will be until we all have better, more advanced technology. Many of these reviews are disappointed fanboys with outdated tech with unattainable expectations exaggerating the games' release time faults. This is a big game, if you don't have a very good PC, you won't be able to play theI'm one of many who hasn't experienced any problems with this game. Sure, it's not perfect, but no game will be until we all have better, more advanced technology. Many of these reviews are disappointed fanboys with outdated tech with unattainable expectations exaggerating the games' release time faults. This is a big game, if you don't have a very good PC, you won't be able to play the highest settings.
    Rome II has undergone significant patching since release, and while at first it lacked substance and wasn't very absorbing; it now it vastly improved. CA have been very supporting of their fanbase and they appear to have acknowledged the design flaws which they are continuing to fix. It's only going to get better!    … Expand
  14. usmanali
    Apr 13, 2014
    7
    overall the game was not bad although it has some features that needs to be improved regarding the details.AI does not play so bad but it is also not convincing.overall a good game.
  15. gjgfjgfjgfjjgfj
    Apr 8, 2014
    0
    Utterly and entirely disappointing experience . A broken game months after release. The product released 10 years ago by the same developers was 10 times better. This is such an abysmal product its hard to put into words.
  16. Kazakdum
    Apr 7, 2014
    5
    Nostalgia was the greatest selling feature that this game had going for it. To compare the first to the second, witnessing how far the gaming industry has come in a decade of innovation and development. What was actually received from Creative Assembly, bought from paying customers, was a game that was broken, mechanically flawed and had unsuitable computer expectations from the averageNostalgia was the greatest selling feature that this game had going for it. To compare the first to the second, witnessing how far the gaming industry has come in a decade of innovation and development. What was actually received from Creative Assembly, bought from paying customers, was a game that was broken, mechanically flawed and had unsuitable computer expectations from the average consumer. Months later and the game is still getting ridiculously large patches to fix gameplay issues that should have been resolved in Alpha. Consumers have the right to high expectations from a developer who have: 1. high experience in the creation of games; 2. Have worked on TW games for over a decade and should be developing, innovating and perfecting the genre; 3. Have released a game that was broken, awful mechanic decisions (1v1 fighting) and have further released DLC that was already in the game.

    Disgraceful move on the developers part, and i hope they are ashamed. I will buy into the next TW game, but if it follows the way Empire, shogun and now rome 2 went, I shan't ever again. And that is not my fault, but purely Creative Assembly's for their awful state of releasing games to gain a profit before 4th quarter.

    Its positives? This is a Total War game, and in the end they are fun. I just feel that this game has frustrated me now, beyond return. Will seriously have to consider whether to buy one in the future. And don't get me started in pre-release DLC. Cause that is another post WAITING to happen.    … Expand
  17. Lunaheal
    Apr 6, 2014
    0
    The game is completely broken.A lot of bugs.AI dead. Diplomacy is completely awful. Battle is worse than in Rome one. Music is 10 times worse than in Rome one.
  18. JonMetacritic74
    Apr 1, 2014
    7
    The game is far from flawless, but it is no junk as most of the users say. With the latest patches Creative fixed the game and it rather enjoyable to play. It was a shame to launch the game with such a poor AI. However, they tried to improve the game and answer the fans' demands. It is a must if you like the Total War series.
  19. Matteo21
    Mar 30, 2014
    4
    only new players of Total War saga are going to like this game, this is the worst, too much advertising and not programming enough. i'm am italian and this game is not translated in italian, but CA wrote on the pack "All in Italian". bad for a Total War fan!
  20. greycat
    Mar 27, 2014
    10
    Good game after 11 patches. Don't expect to run game at high fps but neither does original. Game has a lot of content with DLC for future playing. Game has improved much from the original release.
  21. D73
    Mar 26, 2014
    9
    O jogo esta muito melhor do que estava quando foi lançado. A companha é ótima com novas boas diplomáticas apesar de não haver mais algumas como trocar territórios.
  22. Raskol
    Mar 26, 2014
    0
    I bought this game at launch worked till decemeber, since then doesent work, keep getting the sam CTD. So I recommend wait 2-3 years for the modders to fix it, this is just a store platform for CA to sell buggy crap. I even made a complaint to my local consumer protectio agency as this people are scammers.
  23. IGNsus
    Mar 26, 2014
    0
    I am at a loss why Creative Assembly wanted to ruin their reputation with this pile of trash. It's also inexplicable how Total War: Rome II is made by the same studio that made Shogun II, an excellent successor to the original Shogun. The game betrays every single Total War fan. It is so casualized I felt like I was playing a tablet game. Some lamentable design decisions include no familyI am at a loss why Creative Assembly wanted to ruin their reputation with this pile of trash. It's also inexplicable how Total War: Rome II is made by the same studio that made Shogun II, an excellent successor to the original Shogun. The game betrays every single Total War fan. It is so casualized I felt like I was playing a tablet game. Some lamentable design decisions include no family tree, no attrition, no AI aggression, and my personal favorite: fire torches for gates. Then of course you get the expected technical issues of a CA game. But wait. This isn't your typical CA technical mess. It's much, much worse. On a nice computer you would be lucky to get more than 30 FPS on the campaign map. Do you like to wait 5 minutes at end turn? This game offers that. The biggest joke of this joke is unit AI, where units clump up together like a mosh pit and run randomly in all directions.

    Heh, I actually told people how great this game was going to be. Good job using misleading footage, CA.

    P.S. When your game is absolute trash, you might not want to anger your fans by releasing DLC.    … Expand
  24. Chunderfield
    Mar 24, 2014
    7
    Total War has a long, illustrious history. The pinnacle of which was Empire: Total War. That's is about as fine as they come. Since Empire we've had Shogun 2 and now Rome 2. I found Shogun to be underwhelming and now with Rome 2, the downward spiral into obscurity continues.

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

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

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

    Conclusion:
    Rome 2 stays true to its Total War heritage. I jumped in and it felt familiar and comfortable. It's a weak and unworthy successor to the original Rome though. The resource management is basic, and the empire building is rather shallow. Empire: Total War felt deep. I felt invested in that masterpiece. I feel very little with Rome 2 other than disappointment at wasted potential. It's a big budget game that's worth no more than $30.    … Expand
  25. ben14edwards
    Mar 23, 2014
    1
    Unfortunately, this game is dreadfully oversimplified. I suspect that the developer is attempting to replace its longtime fanbase with a new breed of teenage gamers. That is to say, this game will be extremely fun if you have never played a Total War game before, and overwhelmingly disappointing if you are familiar with these games.

    Rome II, despite being visually impressive, takes a    Unfortunately, this game is dreadfully oversimplified. I suspect that the developer is attempting to replace its longtime fanbase with a new breed of teenage gamers. That is to say, this game will be extremely fun if you have never played a Total War game before, and overwhelmingly disappointing if you are familiar with these games.

    Rome II, despite being visually impressive, takes a step down from its predecessors in terms of game mechanics. Everything that you loved about empire-building, city construction, dangerous wars, and important decisions are replaced with redundant, repetitive gameplay. The AI is a tremendous failure and poses no challenge, even on legendary difficulty. The only thing that higher difficulties do is increase the number of enemies (so that each miniature little tribe is unrealistically hosting two thousand armed men).

    Strategy is non-existent, so look elsewhere. This game only has repetitive sieges that mean nothing. If you lose your army due to a bad mistake, you can simply recreate it in one turn. Therefor, the game does not punish the player for mistakes like it should.    … Expand
  26. Murphmeister
    Mar 21, 2014
    6
    Really bad launch but good support from CA are now getting this game back on track. The reviews here just go to show why it's important that a developer be given time to finish and polish their product rather than release early just for the sake of hitting a deadline.
  27. junedragon3
    Mar 20, 2014
    2
    I find myself conflicted on whether to review this as a Total War game or as an individual game. I'll start of with the TL;DR version:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Why not a 1/10?

    Redeeming qualities: At least they tried to add a new feature in combined land/sea battles (even though its still quite broken and the mentally challenged AI can't handle it and often end up staring at a wall for an hour - oh and ya, the AI still will stand dumbly staring at you for an hour sometimes, a brilliant strategy in ensuring their victory by making you ragequit). And... the ... um... the graphics are better I guess... Oh and at least they did fix *most* of the game breaking bugs of launch (though that never should have happened...)    … Expand
  28. Spedattack
    Mar 20, 2014
    5
    I have very much enjoyed the Total War series especially when I played Empire. However, I am really starting to get tired of the almost broken AI both on the Campaign and Battlefield. I have tried for months to give this game a chance to kick in, but it just isn't working. There are times that I enjoyed the game, but most of the time it was just frustrating at how difficult it is to playI have very much enjoyed the Total War series especially when I played Empire. However, I am really starting to get tired of the almost broken AI both on the Campaign and Battlefield. I have tried for months to give this game a chance to kick in, but it just isn't working. There are times that I enjoyed the game, but most of the time it was just frustrating at how difficult it is to play the campaign when the AI is so bad. The game definitely looks good, but it lacks the enjoyment of its predecessors. Creative Assembly needs to stop trying to add new features that aren't needed and fix the AI that has been a problem since the beginning of the series. There is no longer an excuse for the AI to be this terrible and I hope Creative Assembly has the sense to address these issues before adding new features.… Expand
  29. ZombieZleeping
    Mar 15, 2014
    9
    I have to agree, the game was horrible on release, but with the patches and DLCs, it is without a doubt the best grand strategy game of 2013. Why I gave it 9 instead of 10 is because some features have been stripped, the most noticeable is the family tree. But if I look past all that, the game is a masterpiece.
  30. Cioby
    Mar 15, 2014
    9
    People really have a bad memory, the first Rome had a lot of bugs and issues even after years of patching. I played Rome 2 since the first day it got released. I was captured by it's beauty. A few bugs here and there but that's nothing new to the gaming industry, the only games that lack release bugs are those stupid action/cartoon(ish) games, mainly because those type of games leavePeople really have a bad memory, the first Rome had a lot of bugs and issues even after years of patching. I played Rome 2 since the first day it got released. I was captured by it's beauty. A few bugs here and there but that's nothing new to the gaming industry, the only games that lack release bugs are those stupid action/cartoon(ish) games, mainly because those type of games leave nothing to the player's freedom or imagination.
    The AI now is almost too good on higher difficulties, I can play on maximum settings with my new PC, the combat realism is much better than the old game or any other strategy game I have played. I don't get how a crappy game like Medieval 2 has a higher rating.
    The multiplayer is still kind of poor, though they implemented the one thing I always wished since the first Rome Total War, yet they fixed it and it works perfectly. You can even join in the fights when it's not your turn, this is something games like Heroes lacks. Waiting for your friend/enemy to play is a lot more enjoyable now.
    There are still a few issues, for example Spartan elite troops are weaker than before, the game is unbalanced a bit by this. The economy system could be better. Yet there are thousands of mods that can customize the game to your likes + they are still patching and fixing stuff. People should give them more credit for the work they are doing.
    I recommend this game to anyone with a decent PC and a passion for war or strategy games.    … Expand
  31. rubanzomi
    Mar 15, 2014
    2
    this game disgraces its predecessors in almost every way possible. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone. If you want a good total war game try Rome 1 or shogun 2 but don't buy this game its a disgrace and a waste of time and money.
  32. Leapchild
    Mar 14, 2014
    0
    Features in Rome II:
    - horrible performance optimization and blurry graphics
    - every infantry unit can use torches to destroy walls, crippling attrition when besieging, no battering rams or siege towers until researched, no tunneling under walls (sapping). - very few build options and always limited by research, town management reduced to nothing, no option to build walls or roads, no    Features in Rome II:
    - horrible performance optimization and blurry graphics
    - every infantry unit can use torches to destroy walls, crippling attrition when besieging, no battering rams or siege towers until researched, no tunneling under walls (sapping).
    - very few build options and always limited by research, town management reduced to nothing, no option to build walls or roads, no built buildings visible in battle,
    - no easily accessible build trees or unit trees or ability trees, useless, slow and inaccessible encyclopedia that doesn't support mods
    - no fire at will for all units with missiles, cannot use pilums or javelins defensively
    - no guard mode and loose formation for units, units cannot hold formation
    - one year turn and no seasons, causing generals and agents to die of old age
    - no family tree and an unfinished and useless system for internal politics and completely random civil wars that are not fought against other families but generic "senate loyalists"
    - no restrictions on high tier units, meaning low tier units become useless in lategame
    - slave system that's barely manageable with very few options
    - useless diplomatic AI, useless battle AI, useless siege AI, the AI battle AI has never been strong in Total War but at least it wasn't completely useless and broken, you'd think after 10 years they would be improving the AI, not make it worse, at least the multiplayer campaign is playable
    - limits on how many armies you can use on the campaign map, require a general to move a small force
    - unhistorical naval battles that always ends with ramming and boarding and no option to board a ship with more than one of your own ships
    - no historical events or historically timed natural disasters
    - no ability to manually reinforce or merge damaged units and no unit experience loss when reinforcing with fresh recruits
    - no engaging or immersing music, just generic music that give no feel to the game whatsoever, should have hired Jeff van Dyck to rehash the Rome 1 music
    - parts of the game cut out and added pay to play DLC on day 1 even though the game was 80 dollars at start for an incomplete mess of a game
    - automatic transports meaning that regular navies are less useful
    - pikemen have no visible pikes until they use them, so you can never know what to expect until they pull out a 5 meter spear right in front of your troops
    - abilities give magical stat boosts instead of actual formations and attacks
    - no beta testing and after several months of patches little has been remedy all the problems or add any of the missing features, instead only DLC mongering, demanding money for DLC even when the game is unfinished and doesn't have half as many features as Rome 1 is appalling, to call it a sequel is a joke

    Making the game accessible and removing nearly all of the total war features are two completely different things. Performance and AI worse than any other Total War game. 10 years after Rome 1 and the first game is still far superior. A sequel should be adding and improving features, not removing and reducing them.    … Expand
  33. slumpy
    Mar 12, 2014
    0
    garbage game is still garbage. 10 patches later and it's still god awful. Nothing has been fixed. Not one. avoid this title. this is a waste of hard drive space (not to mention 60 bucks) and you are FAR better off playing Rome 1 or Medieval 2 for your TW fix. CA is clearly not the same company it once was and now seems rife with incompetence and under a publisher that does not give agarbage game is still garbage. 10 patches later and it's still god awful. Nothing has been fixed. Not one. avoid this title. this is a waste of hard drive space (not to mention 60 bucks) and you are FAR better off playing Rome 1 or Medieval 2 for your TW fix. CA is clearly not the same company it once was and now seems rife with incompetence and under a publisher that does not give a single **** about the customer.

    I would not buy this game at even half its current cost. At most, Rome 2 is worth about 15-20 dollars if you're feeling particularly generous.    … Expand
  34. GYOME
    Mar 11, 2014
    1
    This game is just an embarrassment, nothing works in this game. The alpha stage of the game looked much better than the actual game and how that happened is beyond me. Poor perfomance, crap settings and horrible AI compared to the first rome game.

    Do not buy this!
  35. GermiyanBey
    Mar 8, 2014
    10
    People put downgrading ratings or wrote bad reviews because of the condition of Rome II's initial release; but after the game is patched, you will witness the Best Total war Game ever!

    I started to play the game after patch 7 and I don't know the level of condition to play the game which that was badly graded by reviewers. So I suggest to players who still think the game with its early    People put downgrading ratings or wrote bad reviews because of the condition of Rome II's initial release; but after the game is patched, you will witness the Best Total war Game ever!

    I started to play the game after patch 7 and I don't know the level of condition to play the game which that was badly graded by reviewers. So I suggest to players who still think the game with its early condition to revise their opinions about the game and start to play it again.

    For the newcomers who have not played Rome 2 before, I strongly suggest Rome 2 with its strategical environment which has so developed diplomacy, different elements of warfare (such as raid, fortify, forced march), and trade that are all having large impact on the game. After latest patches, it is certain this will become your favorite totalwar game if you played and enjoyed previous ones.    … Expand
  36. evild4ve
    Mar 7, 2014
    8
    I had no bugs but on a relatively high-end PC. I started off playing as the Seleucids on Normal difficulty and it held my interest for about 200 turns spread over several weeks. There are loads of design flaws, but on the occasions when the whole package comes together and you have a really tense, satisfying battle it's awesome. I haven't played any of the other Total War games but came toI had no bugs but on a relatively high-end PC. I started off playing as the Seleucids on Normal difficulty and it held my interest for about 200 turns spread over several weeks. There are loads of design flaws, but on the occasions when the whole package comes together and you have a really tense, satisfying battle it's awesome. I haven't played any of the other Total War games but came to them after being disappointed with the King Arthur one, and I found the basic mechanics pretty similar to Graftgold Games' Realms (1991) or Myth: The fallen lords.

    Too many battles in Rome II have an immediately obvious outcome because they have already been determined at the strategic/economic level. Too many of them are repeated sieges of the same cities, and can be won by putting a couple of pikeman/spearman units on the wall to hold off the ladders and then sticking them in front of the gate while the bulk of the enemy forces blunder into the gatehouse's rapid-fire, instantly-lethal, completely non-historical boiling oil, and infinite-ammunition, heat-seeking arrow towers. If they had had some of that stuff in 55BC, Julius Caesar would never have gotten out of Cisalpine Gaul.

    Ambushes play out exactly as you'd expect if the enemy's ambush was carried out in the middle of a desert with 20-mile visibility in all directions, by a 2,000-strong force with brightly-coloured tribal shields. "Centurion, I think I can see 2,000 warriors massing on the horizon to ambush us tomorrow!", "hmm. they must be planning to put all their archers on one side of the road, and all their spears on the other, and they don't have any cavalry at all. It must be Saturnalia - let's kill them all!"

    But just occasionally the ordinary battles in a big field, or defending an unwalled settlement, more than make up for all the rubbish battles in between. Stragglers from depleted units having to overwhelm an elite pike unit quickly enough that they can get in swords-reach of the archers behind them who are whittling them down, or cavalry having to cross the entire battlefield unsupported to take out the enemy's giant ballistas on the flanks before they pulverize the infantry.

    On the strategic scale, it's similar. Most of the time consists of settlements rebelling because they didn't have a big enough temple. "Centurion, the slaves in Brundisium have yet again revolted and formed 18 precisely-organized military units many of whom have extremely expensive equipment and training, especially the cavalry." "Ha! Fools. We will push four of those units off the walls using some cheap spearmen, and then proceed to cover the rest in boiling oil at the front gate like we did in twenty previous years". But then there are times when Carthage are holding out impressively on one side of the map, and then the Roxolani and the Scythians form a "Horde of the Steppes" and start sweeping in from the other side of the map.

    Every part of the game mechanics is flawed - but in a way that every couple of hours throws up brilliant, unexpected jewels that wouldn't be found anywhere else. It's worth lumbering through this game for that.    … Expand
  37. RobbieJones85
    Mar 5, 2014
    0
    Absolute Garbage. Purchased on Steam, can't play as it keeps randomly crashing. I wish I'd read all the reviews about bugs before buying. Can't get any sense from the support, the support forums are useless, and can't speak to anyone about a refund. CA have literally stolen my £30. I used to love Total War. I will never again give CA or the total war series my money. Unbelievable.
  38. wilm210
    Mar 4, 2014
    6
    Hello, this is my first review I've ever done on Metacritic and on any Review aggregator site for that matter. I'd like viewers to take note that while this is my first public review of a game, it is no less sincere.

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

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

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

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

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

    All in all, Rome 2 is a decent strategy game it's just buried beneath pointless and shallow features and simplification. With the help of mods, the game becomes much more enjoyable. I'm just so disappointed with the game, even with a smaller budget, Shogun 2 achieved much more than Rome 2.    … Expand
  39. Reamus1205
    Mar 4, 2014
    1
    There is no way I am pre-ordering any Creative Assembly game again, and apparently I can't rely on reviewing organizations to weed out the bad seeds for me. This game has been a failure in almost every way; it looks terrible, the music is boring, the battles are boring, the campaign is boring and stripped down, and ultimately it is a game full of undelivered promises. It's developers alsoThere is no way I am pre-ordering any Creative Assembly game again, and apparently I can't rely on reviewing organizations to weed out the bad seeds for me. This game has been a failure in almost every way; it looks terrible, the music is boring, the battles are boring, the campaign is boring and stripped down, and ultimately it is a game full of undelivered promises. It's developers also seem more interested in trying to milk DLC rather than address the very real issues plaguing the game.… Expand
  40. toni_li
    Mar 4, 2014
    3
    Esta nota se la doy tirando por lo alto, por que me da vergüenza que un juego que lo ponen por las nubes y lo lanzan en pre venta por 55 euros y los cuatro primeros meses el juego practicamente sea injugable no lo veo normal, cuando ademas utiliza la base de todos los Total War ¿alguien me puede decir que han hecho durante todo este tiempo? ¿en que han gastado el dinero? simplementeEsta nota se la doy tirando por lo alto, por que me da vergüenza que un juego que lo ponen por las nubes y lo lanzan en pre venta por 55 euros y los cuatro primeros meses el juego practicamente sea injugable no lo veo normal, cuando ademas utiliza la base de todos los Total War ¿alguien me puede decir que han hecho durante todo este tiempo? ¿en que han gastado el dinero? simplemente decepcionante y probablemente para mi el fin de la saga.… Expand
  41. Chatterly
    Mar 2, 2014
    4
    Ever been in a chocolate shop and seen a delightful confection that looks like it will melt in your mouth in a gush of warm chocolaty goodness and sweet cacao bliss? You buy it and bite down and for a moment it is everything you might hope until you get to the flawed burnt out husk of bile and hatred that lies at the center.

    This is that game. It's as if someone took a QA list of their    Ever been in a chocolate shop and seen a delightful confection that looks like it will melt in your mouth in a gush of warm chocolaty goodness and sweet cacao bliss? You buy it and bite down and for a moment it is everything you might hope until you get to the flawed burnt out husk of bile and hatred that lies at the center.

    This is that game. It's as if someone took a QA list of their bugs, packaged them up as a game, and shipped it out with pretty box art. It bluescreens, it hands, it has an almighty memory leak that could suck down the 7th fleet, units behave unpredictably, rather than embark your armies will take a world tour, and that's just the short list.

    We want Creative to make good games, but they don't. They make early access games that might be patched into something playable. The concept is great, but it's the same concept from ten years ago and their quality and testing only get worse with each new release.

    tl;dr: Give it a pass.    … Expand
  42. Hivoltage
    Mar 1, 2014
    10
    Amazing in every way. The amount of stupidity from people hating on this game because it had glitches when it came out is unbelievable. These bugs have been fixed. This game is among the best I've ever played, would recommend it anytime.
  43. teh_reverend
    Feb 28, 2014
    0
    It's sad that one is not able to give a negative score, this game totally deserved a score on the negative side. I am a huge fan of the TW series. I have spent more hours in TW than I have playing any other game. And Rome has been my favorite of the lot. However I should have known where the series was going after Shogun 2, compared to any of the earlier releases Shogun 2 was for me aIt's sad that one is not able to give a negative score, this game totally deserved a score on the negative side. I am a huge fan of the TW series. I have spent more hours in TW than I have playing any other game. And Rome has been my favorite of the lot. However I should have known where the series was going after Shogun 2, compared to any of the earlier releases Shogun 2 was for me a disappointment.

    But when they announced a second Rome I was hoping for today's graphics with yesterdays gameplay, a perfect combination. Upon release I bought it on steam, I installed it and found it horrendous - hence Uninstall was the next step.

    Around Christmas with days of work I decided to give it another go. Not my cup of tea yet, but still the devs had done something. I was hoping for the best, so I uninstalled it again deciding to have another go a couple of months later. A couple of days ago I decided to try again. No way. This is not TW, the only thing TW about this game is the name, and it stops there. This game is so flawed and even 9 patches later, I would boldly say that even first release of Windows 95 seemed more stable and a more complete product.

    My recommendation to the public pondering about buying this game or not, don't bother, there is a slim chance that you might like it, but chances are bigger that you will hate it.    … Expand
  44. Escobar
    Feb 28, 2014
    8
    Yeah this game was not "perfect" at the time of release, not even close it. But now, after many months they have published patch and as an result this game is playable now. Campaign is good old same and graphics are awesome! This is quite heavy game so you`re gonna need good PC if you want to play it with max graphics..
  45. Wazzer
    Feb 25, 2014
    8
    Earlier on, sure, this game was very buggy. The campaign sucked because of bad AI and there were bad system/graphical bugs too. But it has become a much more polished game with consecutive patches and an excellent modding community. OK initially the game was a problem but now it is quite an alluring game all things considered. Loving the multiplayer and the campaigns are now much moreEarlier on, sure, this game was very buggy. The campaign sucked because of bad AI and there were bad system/graphical bugs too. But it has become a much more polished game with consecutive patches and an excellent modding community. OK initially the game was a problem but now it is quite an alluring game all things considered. Loving the multiplayer and the campaigns are now much more challenging (and varied with all the scenario mods).… Expand
  46. BigDegs29
    Feb 24, 2014
    6
    All these 0/10 ratings are ridiculous. This is a game flawed on many levels, but still enjoyable.

    Pros: (1) A deep strategy game that combines turn-based strategy with real-time tactics. Has the potential to be great, if not for the below cons. (2) Gorgeous on ultra. I haven't had any problems with frame rate, though I admit my computer is relatively powerful. Cons: (1) Naval    All these 0/10 ratings are ridiculous. This is a game flawed on many levels, but still enjoyable.

    Pros: (1) A deep strategy game that combines turn-based strategy with real-time tactics. Has the potential to be great, if not for the below cons. (2) Gorgeous on ultra. I haven't had any problems with frame rate, though I admit my computer is relatively powerful.

    Cons: (1) Naval combat is frustrating as hell. Whenever there's a joint naval/land battle, I always immediately dump my troops on land. (2) The AI. I don't mean the skill of the AI components (that seems to be relatively good post-patch), but the system's response to your own actions. Often I'll be issuing orders and the units will either ignore me, or do something else instead (especially naval in naval combat). (3) The UI could be a lot more intuitive; it's incredibly confusing for newcomers.    … Expand
  47. Advocatus
    Feb 19, 2014
    2
    I am very disappointed. I followed the development of this game eagerly, as I've purchased every Total War title. This is the most disappointing of the lot. The AI is terrible, the interface is frustrating and counter-intuitive, the addition of "capture points" makes any sort of coherent strategy impossible, naval combat makes no sense whatsoever (transports steamroll naval ships) and theI am very disappointed. I followed the development of this game eagerly, as I've purchased every Total War title. This is the most disappointing of the lot. The AI is terrible, the interface is frustrating and counter-intuitive, the addition of "capture points" makes any sort of coherent strategy impossible, naval combat makes no sense whatsoever (transports steamroll naval ships) and the units lose cohesion at the first sight of the enemy. There are many other problems, but I need no more words than these - I will think very carefully before buying another Total War title, and I will never buy one pre-launch again.… Expand
  48. PittLord
    Feb 18, 2014
    3
    After playing this game and trying desperately to like it, I find myself with only one thought --- what the hell happened? How did a company that's put out a whole string of games that upped the bar for the Strategy genre time and time again, with each incarnation finding a way to improve over the last, put out something this appallingly bad. Appalling. I have never used that before toAfter playing this game and trying desperately to like it, I find myself with only one thought --- what the hell happened? How did a company that's put out a whole string of games that upped the bar for the Strategy genre time and time again, with each incarnation finding a way to improve over the last, put out something this appallingly bad. Appalling. I have never used that before to describe the shape of a video game because I have never encountered a game that was so profoundly inept and utterly disappointing. Let alone a game named as a sequel to one of the most well received strategy games of all time.

    Don't get me wrong, there are games that are worse than this, much , much worse, but none so utterly in-congruent with its name sake. If I didn't no better I would think that this game was an outsourced abomination and not a product of the same developer who crafted all other games bearing the Total War banner.

    The AI is awful, the difficulty erratic and unfair, the graphics somehow don't seem as good as the last couple iterations. Why this is, I do not know, it may be that they are technically better, but optimized so poorly that even the most advanced of systems will inexplicably encounter performance issues. The loading times are....well let's just say I hope you have a nice chair to doze off in. I'm just at a loss to explain why so many things just don't work, are bug ridden, and/or only work sometimes.

    The worst of it all is how they have decided to make the game more difficult. You may remember the concept of spies/assassin's/saboteurs/etc from previous incarnations, where there seemed like there was some kind of formula allowing a result based on factors that felt at least some way fair. Well that is no more. Your "agents", as they are called in Rome II, are a collection of the dumbest individuals of all time who have about as good of chance of succeeding on a mission as a bull has to going through a china shop without causing damage. The CPU however, has the opposite problem. They can send ONE, ONE agent who can singlehandedly cripple your city in such a way that it is utterly decimated for 20-30 years...yes I said years. And this one agent can roll up to your largest, most experienced army, lead by your best general and kill him literally 19 out of 25 times. Your chances with identical circumstance --- 4 our of 25.. Those are the numbers I got. I know its not an scientific result and I don't have any proof to post it, but when I had an experienced general with a full army assaulted by a singular agent, then reloaded it to see how it would play out again. I did the same thing when I faced a fully stacked enemy army with a leader of comparable level and an agent with the same novice level abilities that the CPU agent had. I give it a 3 because sometimes it is genuinely fun, but honestly its not fun enough to elevate it above the level of "fun" that comes along when you are super drunk and you throw up after which you feel a little better.

    Thats' all I've got to say. Caveat Emptor my friends, caveat emptor.    … Expand
  49. Sholman
    Feb 18, 2014
    9
    I am a pretty big fan of the Total War series, and I do not see why so many people are giving this game less than a five. I have personally experienced only a few glitches and some minor lag. Besides the minor technical problems, the actual game itself is very entertaining and expansive. The map is huge, there are dozens of different, unique faction, including several you can play as, andI am a pretty big fan of the Total War series, and I do not see why so many people are giving this game less than a five. I have personally experienced only a few glitches and some minor lag. Besides the minor technical problems, the actual game itself is very entertaining and expansive. The map is huge, there are dozens of different, unique faction, including several you can play as, and the battles are detailed and fun. I understand if it is not worth in the $50-60 range for some people, but it is definitely a quality game.… Expand
  50. libno
    Feb 17, 2014
    3
    Well I, like many, formerly gave this one a good review at first. But after 90+ hours of gameplay, I cannot stand this game anymore. Initially, even before patches, I enjoyed the game. Any quarrels I had could be easily remedied with the Radious mod. But after putting one and half campaigns' worth of time into it, its lack of depth has truly killed it for me. I'm not going to rip on unitWell I, like many, formerly gave this one a good review at first. But after 90+ hours of gameplay, I cannot stand this game anymore. Initially, even before patches, I enjoyed the game. Any quarrels I had could be easily remedied with the Radious mod. But after putting one and half campaigns' worth of time into it, its lack of depth has truly killed it for me. I'm not going to rip on unit cards or the UI. I actually think those are fine. What I will say is that this Total War requires far less brain function than previous installments, as if it was streamlined and dumbed down to appeal to a wider audience. Gone is the family tree, which sadly rid the game of both its personal touch and its risk. My general fell in battle? That's okay, there are three more just as good waiting to be instated. It's not like we have to worry about faction leaders or heirs anyways. Control over resources is now an afterthought. There are no trade posts to acquire monopolies as in Empire and they don't aid in construction as in Shogun 2. They're just trade goods, on the off chance that the AI will actually accept trade with you. There was a great chance for trade posts in the form of the Silk Road, but I guess CA had other interests in mind. Instant transports mean that you no longer have to wait years, amassing forces and planning an over seas invasion. You just swim over now, which really takes away one of Total War's rewarding and accomplishing feelings (or brutal and dismal defeat). This also makes no sense, but I suppose we had to suspend disbelief when we accepted "Imperium" as a model for how many troops we could raise, instead of just simply being able to afford them population and money-wise like in previous installments. Not only is "Imperium" probably the dumbest thing that has happened in the series' history, but it also makes the game the most annoying thing to manage in the late game. This isn't strategic depth, this is CA saying "we're gonna dumb down the game and then give you the finger while we're at it." Because of this I can no longer maintain public order as I please and can hardly protect my border settlements. In addition, "Imperium" has allowed the AI, down to its last city, to simply spam stacks around a poor village, preventing my one or two stacks, that should have been sufficient, from actually wiping them off the map.

    3/10 for better graphics and not completely tearing down the franchise's gameplay.    … Expand
  51. eieio
    Feb 17, 2014
    10
    The game is worth every penny i spent on it. I love it. i PreOrderd it and i did not have any of the problems others where having so i have never had a negative feeling towards it.
  52. TrueReview01
    Feb 16, 2014
    1
    This game is best described as a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. Sega has managed, in partnership with Creative Assembly, to put out a bug filled game full of promises of BUG FIXES THAT HAVE NOT HAPPENED.

    A game which touts variety, but in reality has very litter variety at all. Each faction is almost exactly the same, they've just put different skins/clothes on the units and then say it    This game is best described as a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. Sega has managed, in partnership with Creative Assembly, to put out a bug filled game full of promises of BUG FIXES THAT HAVE NOT HAPPENED.

    A game which touts variety, but in reality has very litter variety at all. Each faction is almost exactly the same, they've just put different skins/clothes on the units and then say it has variety. It's another marketing statement that is full of no truth what so ever. Don't fool yourself into thinking its a great game just because you enjoy Roman history.
    THIS GAME DOES NO JUSTICE TO HISTORY, AND IS NOTHING LIKE THE ADVERTISED MATERIAL USED TO SELL THE GAME.

    Its now February at the time I'm writing this review and the game still has bugs, ai issues, compatibility issues, and lacks basic optimization for many systems. The only people on the internet that say its a good game are most likely Public Relations for company being paid to say its good when its actually not.
    BUYER BEWARE.    … Expand
  53. Maniacmajic
    Feb 16, 2014
    6
    Despite the fixing of several bugs this game rapidly turns into a serious grind to even reach an ending... graphical errors still plague gameplay as does severe slowdown during siege battles...
    Taking away the family tree just further removes the player from being immersed in the game. Battle speeches and videos are tacked on afterthoughts..
    Final verdict.. get it cheap if you have    Despite the fixing of several bugs this game rapidly turns into a serious grind to even reach an ending... graphical errors still plague gameplay as does severe slowdown during siege battles...
    Taking away the family tree just further removes the player from being immersed in the game. Battle speeches and videos are tacked on afterthoughts..
    Final verdict.. get it cheap if you have hours and days to spend... oh and bring a book..    … Expand
  54. 2d_beanbag
    Feb 15, 2014
    5
    I'm writing this short review as of patch 9.

    This is no remake of Rome 1. Rome 2 significantly differs from Rome 1 in many ways such as you can no longer: Build and upgrade roads (no idea why they got rid of this feature) Build and upgrade walls: Walls are preset in the game (around capitals namely) and there is no choice for the player to construct walls around his smaller towns    I'm writing this short review as of patch 9.

    This is no remake of Rome 1. Rome 2 significantly differs from Rome 1 in many ways such as you can no longer:

    Build and upgrade roads (no idea why they got rid of this feature)

    Build and upgrade walls: Walls are preset in the game (around capitals namely) and there is no choice for the player to construct walls around his smaller towns which is kind a sad.

    No more family tree (this never really bothered me, but a lot of people have complained about this).

    Build watch towers with your generals

    Micromanage each settlement individually: This means that instead of managing each single city/settlement as in Rome 1, in Rome 2 you manage provinces (between 2 to 4 settlements). This waters down the strategy side of the game greatly as you can no longer set a different tax rate for each settlement, and whereas in Rome 1 where happiness was indicative of certain buildings being built in that particular city, In Rome 2 building say a temple in any of your provinces will increase happiness over the entire province. Personally I think this over simplifies the game and quickens the pace of the game.

    You no longer recruit troops in your settlements, First you pay to train a general, then you can recruit troops by clicking on your general and the troops available to you is down to what military buildings you have built. This is good in some ways, since you can move your lone general around your province and still recruit troops, but in other ways its annoying because now you can't train troops unless you have a general present - and there is a limit to how many generals you can recruit! So remember when you could train a single cohort of Hastati and merge it into an army? Well you can't do that now. Heck you can't even have an army without a general!

    With every military building built (dependent on its type) it automatically assigns a number of garrisoned troops inside that settlement. And you can find out which troops are garrisoned by hovering your mouse over an icon (I would have preferred a panel showing me what soldiers were garrisoned but as of patch 9 nothing). Again I feel this takes away more control from the player. I would much rather decide which troops to garrison inside my settlement rather than have some troops automatically assigned.

    There are many more examples that make Rome 2 feel watered down like this.

    Now a note about the graphics. It looks nothing like the pre-alpha footage. I can set the graphics on Extreme settings and they are still horrendous! The colours are bright and sharp, the water unrealistic. I'm amazed that CA have on their website screen shots that are no way indicative of the actual gameplay; in fact they look Photoshoped. CA seriously have questions to answer since what they showed us pre-release is nothing to what we got. Also there is no proper AA support; the only option you have is on or off - which is ridiculous.
    Sometimes I play BF3 and Skyrim and wonder how on earth Rome 2's graphics are that bad.

    The UI is so so and the unit cards I think are over simplified, plain and similar looking to the other factions.

    Trait cards are many and confusing. They are just presented to the player in an uncategorized fashion which therefore forces you to hover your mouse on each one to see what bonuses they are concealing. Really annoying since you will discover that there are many trait cards with the same bonus only with different looking drawings on the card. Stupid.

    Apparently there is a cultural and political system but to be honest I seem to be able to play the game without even noticing it so it does make me wonder how important it is.

    This game looks, feels and plays like a cross between a beta and a port and the more I play Rome 2 the more I am convinced that this game was further developed for Modding. If you want good graphics, get a mod. If you want better unit cards, choose a mod... Why should we fork out for a game only for it to be right we have to get it modified?! If the modders can make the graphics work why can't the developers at CA??

    A lot of people have rated this game between 2- 3 I think this is harsh. After 9 or so patches the game is so much more playable now stability wise. I give it 5 simply because I still believe it is an unfinished product and that it is very much watered down in many instances. This game is a huge disappointment.    … Expand
  55. Dizzybra
    Feb 14, 2014
    10
    As a long time fan of Total War, I must say I really enjoyed this game. Yes it was a little buggy when first released. But all the new features are great, the town building though easier, is much more intuitive and is necessary when you control over 100 settlements. Controlling whole provinces is awesome as it gives you an incentive to conquer more. The army system is cool as well, as itAs a long time fan of Total War, I must say I really enjoyed this game. Yes it was a little buggy when first released. But all the new features are great, the town building though easier, is much more intuitive and is necessary when you control over 100 settlements. Controlling whole provinces is awesome as it gives you an incentive to conquer more. The army system is cool as well, as it means u have to position your armies properly rather than just raising new forces everywhere, also means that there is a real point to having a general. I play on a macbook pro which is bootcamped and it runs fine, so im not sure what people are complaining aboout (even better now that a few pathces have been released)

    My biggest complaint however is with the campaing AI, running away from settlements, creating crappy unit compositions etc. It has gotten a lot better with patching though

    Althought I dont think this game is worth a 10, I'm going to give it one, as it is a joke that people are giving this game a 0. Even if you thought it was a dissapointment surely it deserves a 6 or more. It's not unplayable, and the battles are awesome! people still complaining about Empire Total war in their comments, wtf. That was one of the coolest games in the series once it was patched up a bit.    … Expand
  56. BadIdeas
    Feb 14, 2014
    0
    No, I didn't play it, just counter balancing all their paid for voters. Also still upset at the BS they released that was called empire total war. I said I would never purchase a total war game again after I got that half off, and felt cheated out of my money. Only played it an hour or two tops and in one battle, I saw the ai kill its own general with its first barrage of canon fire, thenNo, I didn't play it, just counter balancing all their paid for voters. Also still upset at the BS they released that was called empire total war. I said I would never purchase a total war game again after I got that half off, and felt cheated out of my money. Only played it an hour or two tops and in one battle, I saw the ai kill its own general with its first barrage of canon fire, then had a unit completely freeze, and then watched the ai abandon its cannons to charge my fort with its cannoneers.

    Well, I did buy shogun total war, when it was 85% off, and still felt it wasn't worth it. Within 10 turns I had by far the strongest faction, and within 30 I controlled a quarter of japan, and I wasn't playing on easy. Diplomacy was completely broken, I would attack a faction, then make then pay me insane amounts of tribute for peace, then rinse and repeat. It was supposed to be their best release in the last few years, and yet I found it boring, easy, and less complex than the original shogun total war. I felt it wasn't worth it, at 85% off.

    IMHO, Creative Assembly needs to rename their total war series Total CRAP, which would be more fitting for their dumbed down glitchfests, which they try to sell for triple A prices after they pay for positive reviews. They managed to keep empire at an average of 90 from critic review, which has told me a lot about who not to trust for accurate reviews.    … Expand
  57. bspurlock
    Feb 14, 2014
    2
    I have always been a fan of the Total War series and wait for new releases with joy. However there seems to be a demon at work with Rome II.
    I have always considered myself as a good to decent student of strategy on the battlefield. Keeping my enemies to my front avoiding having my flanks threatened and always looking for a chance to flank my enemy.
    In Rome II it does not matter if I out    I have always been a fan of the Total War series and wait for new releases with joy. However there seems to be a demon at work with Rome II.
    I have always considered myself as a good to decent student of strategy on the battlefield. Keeping my enemies to my front avoiding having my flanks threatened and always looking for a chance to flank my enemy.
    In Rome II it does not matter if I out number my opponent or not or apparently if I even set it on easy, which I never do, I can not win a single battle. Even if I engage an enemy unit and flank it while engaged I lose the combat with my units routing from the field. I want to throw this piece of crap in the junk.    … Expand
  58. mmclaug
    Feb 14, 2014
    3
    I was really excited to get this game with all the hype (of course), but soon found it to be lacking a lot of the qualities that the former Total War series games had. I didn't like the campaign map graphics at all; in fact, even without all of the latest graphics, the former games had more of an appeal. The one good thing is the gameplay graphics and smoothness of it, but it's all theI was really excited to get this game with all the hype (of course), but soon found it to be lacking a lot of the qualities that the former Total War series games had. I didn't like the campaign map graphics at all; in fact, even without all of the latest graphics, the former games had more of an appeal. The one good thing is the gameplay graphics and smoothness of it, but it's all the small things that took away from what could have been a good game. The thing that bothered me the most was that you can't zoom out very far to see the campaign map -- this is a feature that just amazes me as to why it was removed. Players like to see their accomplishments, especially on the campaign map where one can zoom out and see all the lands under his/her control. Also, I miss the portraits of generals rather than the 3D full-body captures. Overall, I just wasn't at all excited about this game. Why is it that every game company, especially Creative Assembly, feels like they have to significantly change things that obviously gave them good ratings to begin with? Do yourself a favor next time and ask your consumers what THEY want to see in the game.… Expand
  59. Drugoi
    Feb 13, 2014
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Even though Rome 2 really put my PC to the test, the newest Total War game managed to convince me thoroughly. Its battlefields are as tactically deep as they are going to get, prettier than I would have dared to dream about and the new tactical options by land and sea are a welcome twist to this superb and quite welcoming strategy title.… Expand
  60. VerriusLucius
    Feb 11, 2014
    1
    This game has left me vastly disappointed. I was a long time fan of the series, and eagerly awaited this release - even going as far as buying a new GFX card to enjoy it.

    It was a waste of a GFX card, and a waste of considerable time. My multiplayer campaigns were/still are barely playable, with desyncs and bugs stopping myself and friends from 'enjoying' the game. When we can play    This game has left me vastly disappointed. I was a long time fan of the series, and eagerly awaited this release - even going as far as buying a new GFX card to enjoy it.

    It was a waste of a GFX card, and a waste of considerable time.

    My multiplayer campaigns were/still are barely playable, with desyncs and bugs stopping myself and friends from 'enjoying' the game.
    When we can play the game, the Campaign AI (CAI) is passive, even on legendary difficulty, with very little in the way of challenge beyond simply refusing any trade agreements.
    The Battle AI (BAI) is a joke. We can capture cities by sneaking around, fights are not tactical or immersive, but simply short, arcade style battles that offer little in the way of challenge of fulfilment. That is when the AI acts as it is supposed to, without just simply failing to attack or just retreating.

    The graphics and stability of the game are horrendous compared with what was initially marketed. Even on the best graphic settings, it looked nothing like was original advertised.
    The marketing campaign involving the AI was simply peddling fallacies, and I feel deeply betrayed as a loyal customer. Seeing the AI developer talk about how complex and astounding his AI creation was, yet being left with a twitching mess after release leads me to feel nothing but contempt for the developers.

    It feels evident that there was little to no testing before release and the number of subsequent patches simply confirm this - not confirming the developer's 'dedication', but their sheer unwillingness/inability to provide pre-release quality controls.

    There have been improvements after the patching process, this is true - but they are improvements that should have already been within the game, that was marketed as a wholly finished, polished & accomplished product, which this was not.

    Compared to the previous release, Total War: Shogun 2, this has been shown wanting.
    Many popular features found within the previous titles have been removed, much to the detriment of the overall game. Some, have been added, yet they provide little relief when confronted with a game that is, to borrow a term, an omnishambles.

    Factional politics has little relevance to a game, and it has taken the developers 5 months to write a simple, two page guide explaining this feature - something that had been promised for some time. There is no connection or investment in generals or agents, as they are too short lived.
    The attributes they have are confusing, badly explained/laid out and add very, very little to overall gameplay.
    Unit cards are confusing and all very similar. I understand they were attempting to keep to an artistic style, but seem to have forgotten that the ancient world was also home to coloured paints, beyond the red/black figure vases from Classical Hellas.
    Battle deployment controls lack the fluidity and accuracy of previous titles.
    Naval combats offer little fun or diversity, and are simply unplayable for the most part, or utterly excruciating to try to control.

    The DLC is simply a slap in the face. Many of the 'factions' released, were already within the game, and unlockable through modding - they even had the voice overs, in many cases. All it is, is simple gating of content already in the game, for those whom would pay for it. Aside from the 'Caesar in Gaul' "expansion", they add very little into the game beyond opening factions that should have already been a part of the £30 price of the game. Whether they were initially free or not is of no issue - they are now charged for, and this is a horrible marketing tactic in my view.

    The game in itself, I would rate a 3/10. The overall score, given the actions of the developers, the sheer inaccuracies thrown up by the pre-release marketing and the gameplay compared to earlier releases, stands for me at a meagre 1/10.

    I feel I've wasted time and a considerable amount of money on this game. And simply, have been left with a sour taste by the developers.

    No amount of apologies will grant me my money returned, or my time back.    … Expand
  61. gabailey2
    Feb 9, 2014
    4
    This is an astonishingly mediocre game. They took everything that made the other Total War games great, turned it on its end and removed core features. Don't get fooled by the score. It's not so-bad-it's good. It's just boring. I almost feel bad saying this as you can tell effort has been put into making the game, but in the wrong areas. I could forgive glitches if the base game wasThis is an astonishingly mediocre game. They took everything that made the other Total War games great, turned it on its end and removed core features. Don't get fooled by the score. It's not so-bad-it's good. It's just boring. I almost feel bad saying this as you can tell effort has been put into making the game, but in the wrong areas. I could forgive glitches if the base game was excellent. It's not. 9 patches in, it's still astonishingly poorly optimized, plenty of DLC already, and all in all not worth anyone's time and money.… Expand
  62. BillNyeTheScien
    Feb 8, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Rome 2 total war... What a sad time for TW fans there are plenty of flaws that ruin this game. first of all These critics well most of them are paid off. what is ridiculous. Anyways about the game. Horrible UI. Crashes every 2 seconds. Mentally retarded AI. Acting is nothing compared to the original rome. The music system: Ahh Most people don't talk about the music system the music in rome 1 made you feel like you were with the soldiers. For example If you moved soldiers there would be marching music. If 2 units were fighting there would be intense music. Last of all If you were doing nothing you would only just hear the sound of an occasional bird chirp and harp. Back to more flaws. Mp campaign is extremely hard to play without a crash. Framerate is horrible. all you need in your navy is just a bunch of transport ships and diplomacy is extremely retarded your requests almost never get accepted. This game has no potential. Just like the rest of CA's Total war games. They just do a few patches then just all of the sudden stop patching.… Expand
  63. dinakos
    Feb 6, 2014
    6
    After the ninth patch the game runs way better. Still the siege mechanics are bad the political system needs further optimization. But the game does not deserve a 4/10 as before but rather a 6/10.
  64. Publius-Defecus
    Feb 4, 2014
    2
    This game was a complete disappointment and well beneath the capabilities of this franchise. The game on it's own and in it's current state, I would give a 6/10. HOWEVER, because this game is part of a well known and previously respected franchise I would have to give it a 2/10 as it fails miserably in doing what the previous titles did so well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    I do not hate CA or the Total War series. I am a die-hard fan of this series as it has been with me since I was 12 years old. I fear that the direction CA is taking however, will lead to the death of this once proud series.    … Expand
  65. frestor94
    Feb 4, 2014
    0
    Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,HorribleHorrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible Horrible,Horrible,Horrible,Horrible !!!!!!!!!!!!!… Expand
  66. dmastri
    Jan 31, 2014
    1
    5 months, 9 patches, still garbage game. Creative Assembly is officially dead to me. You have only yourself to blame if you buy their terrible games anymore.
  67. arsen301
    Jan 29, 2014
    0
    So I bought RTWII in CD in Turkey. Steam says you cannot install the game in this country. I was somehow ripped off. Then with all my naivete I tried my chance in the UK once again. To my utter diasppointment steam says you cannot install the game in this country. In total I paid more than 200 USD for this game, purchased it twice and was robbed twice. I am outraged, just go to hell steam.
  68. MyStore
    Jan 28, 2014
    2
    I find myself surprised that I'm giving this a '2', I'm not sure it even deserves that. Off the top of my head the only contribution it has made to the franchise is the legion system. That is it. And that isn't that big a contribution. NOTHING else that it did was a worthy step forward in the franchise's history; the province system was horrendously executed, the politics system was bothI find myself surprised that I'm giving this a '2', I'm not sure it even deserves that. Off the top of my head the only contribution it has made to the franchise is the legion system. That is it. And that isn't that big a contribution. NOTHING else that it did was a worthy step forward in the franchise's history; the province system was horrendously executed, the politics system was both pointless and unsatisfying, the AI is even worse than usual, the combat mechanics are AWFUL, there is NO unit collision and combat just looks disgusting, though the units fighting do not.

    I could have forgiven bugs and patchable problems. But the problems with Rome II aren't patchable; they're problems the designers created with their poor decision-making and insistence on using an engine for a task it wasn't designed for; Warscape simply wasn't designed for the 'meat grinder' hand-to-hand combat CA themselves said they were aiming for. In the words of one YouTube reviewer; if you've played Total War since the first Shogun, Medieval or Rome, then this game will only disappoint you.    … Expand
  69. Smelliestelm
    Jan 28, 2014
    8
    The game is a very good game besides some minor bugs. I my self have never encountered any bugs and have clocked in well over 6 hours. The game is not as good as Empire total war for sure but the game is still a great game.
  70. Smissen
    Jan 28, 2014
    0
    I'm / I was a loyal Total war fan. I played it since Medieval total war and throughout the years I got a certain feeling while playing a total war game and to my surprise this feeling got bombed away when I first played Rome 2. Besides the horrible UI, confusing unit cards, ****** poor diplomatics, poorly optimised graphics.... where was I ?, Yes. I don't recognise Total War in this game.I'm / I was a loyal Total war fan. I played it since Medieval total war and throughout the years I got a certain feeling while playing a total war game and to my surprise this feeling got bombed away when I first played Rome 2. Besides the horrible UI, confusing unit cards, ****** poor diplomatics, poorly optimised graphics.... where was I ?, Yes. I don't recognise Total War in this game. The camera angle differs compared with Empire/Nap/Shogun 2 total war, where I could easily watch over the battlefield and could look close to my units. Now I can't look at the battlefield nor my units for a nice overview. There are also too much details on both the campaign map as the battlefield. I can't even overview I battle because I can't even see what's what or where's where. The 'colour' under the units blend in with the ground so I can't oversee the unit's strength as in previous total ware games. As on the campaign map. I like details and Napoleon and Shogun 2 Total war are excellent examples of it. But in Rome 2 there are so much details that I can't even concentrate on what I'm doing anymore. I also can't move army properly. Once my army was besieging a neighbouring city but too badly a small army passed through my lines and sieged my city. My city had a decent garrison but could use some extra units to defend it. I can't even move 2 units from my army to my city because it needs a goddamn general to do anything. In previous total war games I could easily recruit some extra units and I could quickly move them. Now it isn't possible any more. This games is too much different compared with previous titles.....

    I can even write I book about what I dislike about Rome 2 and I really hate to say but CA really disappointed me and tricked me into buying this piece 'o **** If the next total war game is also going to be this way, then Rome 2 total war is the last game total war I bought.    … Expand
  71. jasper6333
    Jan 28, 2014
    10
    yes the game had some problems in it's release! but all of those problems are gone. nowadays there are only some small bugs. the game is really good,the map is great i love the UI! one conclusion they Nailed it!
  72. total
    Jan 27, 2014
    6
    First off I am a big fan of the Total War series so it hurts me to say this. Sega stop putting Betas out on steam for at full price. you did it with Empire Total War and now you did it with this game. I am going to give this a 6 just because going back to that time time period is so much fun by it self.
  73. mark4ca
    Jan 25, 2014
    3
    This game is a dilution of what other Total War titles established. The campaign game is quite confusing, with a User Interface that looks right out of the Civ III ... 10 years ago! ... Faction leaders keep their "faces" on the UI, similar to the Civ's ones - which is basically the same face no matter which of your own generals you pick. No character development, no family trees. Even theThis game is a dilution of what other Total War titles established. The campaign game is quite confusing, with a User Interface that looks right out of the Civ III ... 10 years ago! ... Faction leaders keep their "faces" on the UI, similar to the Civ's ones - which is basically the same face no matter which of your own generals you pick. No character development, no family trees. Even the voice acting was cheapened. Whereas Rome I has some epic discourses from the Roman Generals, now it's so ridiculous - a weak voice and lame lines - that you feel sorry for the pixelated soldiers waiting to enter battle. And battle ... lol ... what a joke it is! ... With a battle engine seemingly rehashed from Empire TW ... the most powerful units on the battlefield are the ranged units! ... You can destroy lines of hastati with javelin throwers, and because the range of the units are different ... the hastati just stand there under the sun ... awkwardly realigning their ranks. Troops movement are downright retarded ... with whole armies chasing a group of slingers throughout the city ... like a crazy police cruiser chasing a car in GTA. I was pissed ... because the game looks like nothing from the videos that had been shown before. Pretty pissed that I shelled fifty bucks for this game. Shame on CA and Sega ... :( .… Expand
  74. Sukvirus
    Jan 21, 2014
    0
    Where should i start? The huge overrated price? 55 f**** EUROS???? for a piece of s*** i can't even play??? my freaking computer crashed and needed to get FIXED 2 TIMES because os this stupid game! i just played 2 times and my computer need to be repaired because of THIS?? you need a badass computer to actually enjoy the graphics! and i have a really good computer, i can run far cry 3 inWhere should i start? The huge overrated price? 55 f**** EUROS???? for a piece of s*** i can't even play??? my freaking computer crashed and needed to get FIXED 2 TIMES because os this stupid game! i just played 2 times and my computer need to be repaired because of THIS?? you need a badass computer to actually enjoy the graphics! and i have a really good computer, i can run far cry 3 in the maximum graphics! and the performance is still awful! But thats not the worst! Oh no, that's not the f**** worst. The only 3 battles i manage to fight were Rome VS Etruscan League. Their soldiers just standed there while i pepper them with javelins!!!! the lag, THE F*** LAG!!!!! oh right and i didn't preorder. so basically "F*** you! give me 8€ so that you can play as SPARTA. i freaking wanted to play as Sparta. they cutted the game and selled it to pieces! F*** you!!! dont buy this piece of crap! dont do the same mistake as i did! BAD AI. FREAKING MOSH PITS (you can't see the fighting animations) BADLY OPTIMISED. and to add insult to injury:the DLC whoring. oh my god. the game was cutted to pieces and selled. dont buy this just yet. wait 1 year and THEN buy it.on a steam sale.… Expand
  75. sb123
    Jan 21, 2014
    9
    Don't listen to the negative reviews, the game certainly had a rocky start, but 9 patches in and the game works great now. Combined with user mods the game is the gem it should have been on release.

    I've played 285 hours and i'm still totally addicted. There are certainly some aspects of the game that I don't particularly agree with, like the removal of family trees and such, but    Don't listen to the negative reviews, the game certainly had a rocky start, but 9 patches in and the game works great now. Combined with user mods the game is the gem it should have been on release.

    I've played 285 hours and i'm still totally addicted. There are certainly some aspects of the game that I don't particularly agree with, like the removal of family trees and such, but overall the game is still amazing. Both graphically and game play wise.

    People come on here and give the game a 1 out of ten because of one or two features that they don't like. They are reactionary titbags who think every game should cater solely to them and are only able to focus on the stuff that they don't like, rather than see the game as a whole and admire all the good thing about it.

    Play on the hard difficulty or more and the game is truly a mental challenge that requires intelligence and good strategy, just like a good strategy game should.    … Expand
  76. PCgamesreviewer
    Jan 20, 2014
    6
    As a long time fan of the series i was extremly hyped for the release for Rome 2 and never have i been this disappointed with a total war game. Luckily i didnt pre-order at the time because of a holiday in england. The shock that hit me when i checked metacritic at release day was enormous. I could'nt believe what i was seeing. Never have i seen a total war game with such a low score!As a long time fan of the series i was extremly hyped for the release for Rome 2 and never have i been this disappointed with a total war game. Luckily i didnt pre-order at the time because of a holiday in england. The shock that hit me when i checked metacritic at release day was enormous. I could'nt believe what i was seeing. Never have i seen a total war game with such a low score! Despite the warning i bought the game in the steam winter sales. While the lag and crashes seem to be fixed the ai and game mechanics are broken. The only thing that stops me from giving this game a 3 is the modding scene that has done a wonderful job to try to fix the game with some exellent improvements. All-in all only get the game if your a fan of the series and can cope with the horrendous ai and broken campaign mechanics.… Expand
  77. gdwitt
    Jan 19, 2014
    4
    Uhhh. I played the game before I read the reviews.
    I bought all the DLC's before trying it.
    I didn't encounter too many battle bugs because I autoresolved due to graphic issues. I believe CA knows everywhere it's broken. The campaign map is awesome, a wonderful work of programming and graphics. I would urge then to loosen up the city-province options and let us empire build. All the    Uhhh. I played the game before I read the reviews.
    I bought all the DLC's before trying it.
    I didn't encounter too many battle bugs because I autoresolved due to graphic issues.
    I believe CA knows everywhere it's broken.
    The campaign map is awesome, a wonderful work of programming and graphics.
    I would urge then to loosen up the city-province options and let us empire build.
    All the new petty restrictions break the game.
    Penalize unhappy civilizations like CIV5.
    Let us leave standing armies.
    Just let this game be like Medieval 2TW.
    Please don't give up yet.    … Expand
  78. The_Shamwow
    Jan 19, 2014
    6
    I have logged just over 100 hours in Rome 2 and I have played at least once every other total war game. I have to say this is not the worst I have played but it certainly is not the best. I have owned the game since its launch date pre-ordering out of my extreme excitement for it but found myself disappointed, if asked then I would have given it a 3 at best but with the patches itI have logged just over 100 hours in Rome 2 and I have played at least once every other total war game. I have to say this is not the worst I have played but it certainly is not the best. I have owned the game since its launch date pre-ordering out of my extreme excitement for it but found myself disappointed, if asked then I would have given it a 3 at best but with the patches it certainly has improved but still not enough to be the game it should have been. Though the diplomacy is still shoddy and honestly the AI has marginally improved the look of the game graphically and the fact that the AI does have it's moments still makes this a decent game but nothing else. Personally I would have still gotten the game BUT I would have to play it mod heavy much like I have for the last month.… Expand
  79. Caly5000
    Jan 19, 2014
    0
    I am an angry fan
    Who has forever lost faith in all the new CA games So long as I ever see any one of the wankers from the rally point episodes Especially the ginger one or the Head programmer or head of communication.. LIERS! ….Heard of prince of Macedon ? Well for those that have he is a sell out… and still can’t help but admit privately to players that he is Disappointed with how    I am an angry fan
    Who has forever lost faith in all the new CA games So long as I ever see any one of the wankers from the rally point episodes Especially the ginger one or the Head programmer or head of communication.. LIERS! ….Heard of prince of Macedon ? Well for those that have he is a sell out… and still can’t help but admit privately to players that he is Disappointed with how Rome 2 turned out and they paid him to promote it … did a terrible job when showing the actual game there is not much to work with in the ways of good points… compared to previous TW titles with less budget.. He spends more time on Rome I now. Sega and C.A .. Spent more money on promotions and bribing reviewers and critics that certainly have rather low grade brain cells.. to make false positive vague reviews with no real detail on how it’s any good… apart from saying its based in ancient times and it’s a Strategy… NO **** Sega And C.A THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN US!    … Expand
  80. siamoinballo
    Jan 19, 2014
    0
    It's a superficial game, without any history connections, without any sense. It has a lot of bugs, the artworks (expecially in diplomacy) come directly from the last century. With an i5 4670k oc+ gtx770 2gb oc the graphics in battle still sucks, but you need to install it on ssd if you don't want to wait 2 minutes when you pass the turn. The worst total war ever. Rome 1 is better, believeIt's a superficial game, without any history connections, without any sense. It has a lot of bugs, the artworks (expecially in diplomacy) come directly from the last century. With an i5 4670k oc+ gtx770 2gb oc the graphics in battle still sucks, but you need to install it on ssd if you don't want to wait 2 minutes when you pass the turn. The worst total war ever. Rome 1 is better, believe me friends. It's not a game for the total war community, it's just a s**t..… Expand
  81. Saratosa75
    Jan 18, 2014
    4
    So, after numerous patches and Steam offering 50% off, I decided to get it.
    I've read user reviews so I kept my distance until now.
    So here is what I think after some crucial patches: Perhaps the first 30 turns are enjoyable and the it gets very boring. Almost like a job with no paycheck . First, the turns. Clicking the turn button is when you could go and Get yourself a sandwich or    So, after numerous patches and Steam offering 50% off, I decided to get it.
    I've read user reviews so I kept my distance until now.
    So here is what I think after some crucial patches:
    Perhaps the first 30 turns are enjoyable and the it gets very boring.
    Almost like a job with no paycheck .
    First, the turns. Clicking the turn button is when you could go and
    Get yourself a sandwich or take care of other things at home.
    Since you probably have uncovered almost the whole map, you gonna have
    To wait a lot for the AI do it's turn.
    Once you clicked turn , you gonna spend an hour just to be sure
    That your provinces aren't rebeling or nobody sent some agents to your territory.
    This is what is going to be 80% of your "gaming".
    The battles will get boring, especially sieges, since they are still have bugs.
    You gonna try to auto solve both the sieges and the naval battles, because they are just simply awful.
    The game still looks nothing like they advertised it.
    It runs slow and you gonna hear your computer fans spinning up,
    While graphics wise, the game just don't look to good.
    If you have to turn down the graphics, it looks like a game
    10 years ago.
    The AI is bad, probably worse than the first rome total war.
    So you may play 30-40 turns and then you gonna forget about it.
    It's not worth a full retail price, that's for sure.
    As a bargain bin title, it may be worth about 15 dollars.    … Expand
  82. ttjwoon
    Jan 18, 2014
    1
    CA not getting behind Multi player community, horrible bugs/AI making poor single player, maddening replay errors, gutted! Where was the promised sequel to the great Rome 1?
  83. Zuloni
    Jan 18, 2014
    8
    Not the best of the Total War games (which would be Shogun 2 imo) but it's a refreshing take and certainly better in every way than Empire and Napoleon. A bit unbalanced (Suebi's units are completely worthless on all difficulties) but still fun and immersive.
  84. M8ass
    Jan 16, 2014
    4
    In my opinion it should be criminal to post false advertising and lie on the game cartage and intentionally misguide the costumer. Rome total war 2 is one of those games, the squeal to one of the best total wars game that exists, Rome total war.

    In short its a rushed, unfinished game, full with bugs, and bizarre game play elements. I recommend waiting a while till the game drops in    In my opinion it should be criminal to post false advertising and lie on the game cartage and intentionally misguide the costumer. Rome total war 2 is one of those games, the squeal to one of the best total wars game that exists, Rome total war.

    In short its a rushed, unfinished game, full with bugs, and bizarre game play elements. I recommend waiting a while till the game drops in price and gets most of its bugs fixed before investing into this.

    unlike other games on the market its playable, and you can get some fun out of it, but there are better and cheaper games out there.    … Expand
  85. SovietWomble
    Jan 16, 2014
    2
    Very disappointed. If you enjoyed Shogun 2, avoid this title. Lots of little issues drown this game.

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

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

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

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

    Frustrating mechanics changes:

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

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

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

    For the first time in the franchise history, I'm going to be cautious before buying something from Creative Assembly again.    … Expand
  86. Kellie
    Jan 14, 2014
    8
    While its launch was a little rough, they have put in a work with patches and have improved the game greatly, they still continue to patch and improve the game along with bringing out a new expansion (that is fantastic) and new factions. Very much enjoying it, do wish that in co-op I could take my turn at the same time as my partner however, maybe have a pop up to view your friends battlesWhile its launch was a little rough, they have put in a work with patches and have improved the game greatly, they still continue to patch and improve the game along with bringing out a new expansion (that is fantastic) and new factions. Very much enjoying it, do wish that in co-op I could take my turn at the same time as my partner however, maybe have a pop up to view your friends battles if they start one in the middle of your game play that you can then click that would take you to the current options to spectate.… Expand
  87. CerealMonster
    Jan 14, 2014
    10
    To those who read the other reviews on release date, they did not have access to the free DLC (Nomadic tribes, Baktria) and all the patches they put out. The loading speeds are much faster, the game crashes less and the AI are smarter. The game is great now and all should buy it.
  88. Vespa
    Jan 14, 2014
    3
    This game has so many bugs its unreal. But first we should mention that a gamer should have the right to expect a certain standard of a game, from responsive AI, acceptable graphic, Good UI, adaptive Diplomacy ect. well this game fails at all the above. The AI is left wanting its like playing a retro 80's game, AI doing the same stuff over and over, no aggression at all, unfair programmingThis game has so many bugs its unreal. But first we should mention that a gamer should have the right to expect a certain standard of a game, from responsive AI, acceptable graphic, Good UI, adaptive Diplomacy ect. well this game fails at all the above. The AI is left wanting its like playing a retro 80's game, AI doing the same stuff over and over, no aggression at all, unfair programming for minor and major nation (I mean its called Rome 2 Total war, you expect Rome to survive till at least the player meets them in battle but dont be surprised when u find them destroyed by northern Gallic tribes around turn 100, well its happened to me 6 out of 6 times when i was playing as the Iceni tribe). Moving on,The graphics well, one word "joke", I personally would have accepted Shogun 2 style graphics but instead you get blurry effects and poor visuals. The UI on the other hand took a step back from Shogun 2 and well, just sucked, you don't even get to see the trait chose tree like in shogun 2, so you can plan your levelling up of general ect, there is much more wrong with the UI I couldn't tell you all here. But the thing that pissed me off the most was the Diplomacy, nations would declare war on you when you were no where near them and they had no way of attack you, for example Seleucid empire declaring war on the Iceni tribe in Britain, (please Google the nations and see for yourself). Also nations would fight 5 or 6 wars at once leading to them being destroyed out right, know one would do something like that, but the AI would. in short the game is so bad they have to bring out patch after patch to fix the crap game they are on patch 8.1 out of a minimum of 9 patches more will probably need to come out, I wouldnt be surprised if they have to bring a total of 15 patches. But if you like easy to win AI then this game is for you, but if you want a challenge DON'T BUY!!!!!
    Personally I find it had what the critics ever saw in this game are they blind or just stupid and out of touch with the gaming community, or are they just pleasing creative assembly so they don't get fired (giving head more like it), on steam it says 76 meta score well its really 41 meta score from the gamers themselves. so YOU deicide who to believe.    … Expand
  89. poovadol
    Jan 14, 2014
    0
    this game is really worse to buy it. after i played 100. only i get from this crap was increase my hate for the game even im fancier of this series. I will not preorder again in my life. that s all i will gave to CA
  90. omonrise
    Jan 13, 2014
    1
    first, it is just offensive that in 10+ years of the franchise, the game mechanics hardly advanced at all. look at europa series - each new game, TONS of new stuff. here? not so much
    second, those gushing "professional" reviews make me sick. it just shows that there is no independent gaming press. seriously "I had difficulties in [insert here]" and then a 88 score?
    third, the game itself    first, it is just offensive that in 10+ years of the franchise, the game mechanics hardly advanced at all. look at europa series - each new game, TONS of new stuff. here? not so much
    second, those gushing "professional" reviews make me sick. it just shows that there is no independent gaming press. seriously "I had difficulties in [insert here]" and then a 88 score?
    third, the game itself is a beta, but even when it's patched, it will be a dumbed down version of shogun2, which was imho a dumbed down version of medieval 2.    … Expand
  91. JohnM1338
    Jan 12, 2014
    9
    I've been a fan of the series for 10+ years. This game was pretty much almost everything I hoped it would be. I'm a fan of the bigger campaign maps, and felt somewhat hindered by the size of Shogun 2. This game lets you build a massive empire. Since purchasing the game, I have had 0 crashes, and with the patches the CPU turn times have been greatly reduced to the point where they don'tI've been a fan of the series for 10+ years. This game was pretty much almost everything I hoped it would be. I'm a fan of the bigger campaign maps, and felt somewhat hindered by the size of Shogun 2. This game lets you build a massive empire. Since purchasing the game, I have had 0 crashes, and with the patches the CPU turn times have been greatly reduced to the point where they don't bother me. The one thing with this game is that you need a strong gaming CPU to handle it. Most of the complaints here are from people who simply just don't have a good enough CPU to run the game so they blast it because they feel cheated or something. The battles against the CPU could be tougher, but honestly, it's not that big of a deal. I really think most of the people who rated this game outrageously low are the same people who complain every time a new Total War game comes out. As a long time Total War fan, this game is a must have.… Expand
  92. Jingo
    Jan 11, 2014
    7
    I gave this game 4 when it first came out. But now that it's up to build 1.8 it's time for a re-review. It is much better now! Still the AI is hopeless, particularly on settlement defence mode. That is simply not a challenge. All you need to take an enemy settlement is long range units. Line them up, and the enemy will line a target up for you, one after the other until they're all gone.I gave this game 4 when it first came out. But now that it's up to build 1.8 it's time for a re-review. It is much better now! Still the AI is hopeless, particularly on settlement defence mode. That is simply not a challenge. All you need to take an enemy settlement is long range units. Line them up, and the enemy will line a target up for you, one after the other until they're all gone. They will never charge out to get your slingers or catapults or whatever.

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

    The VERY HARD and LEGENDARY difficultly modes give the other factions enormous bonuses, but their AI in the settlement defence battles is the same. It's a poor way to make things difficult.    … Expand
  93. Madskillz99
    Jan 11, 2014
    0
    If i were being fair, RTW2 would probably score 4 - offering bugged and messy battles (even after months of patching), infantile diplomacy, stroke victim AI and the removal of TW core concepts such as a family tree and seasons, leaving you with a very ordinary and somewhat boring army hack. Having said, CA churning the piece of crud out that I have waited eagerly for over the last 10If i were being fair, RTW2 would probably score 4 - offering bugged and messy battles (even after months of patching), infantile diplomacy, stroke victim AI and the removal of TW core concepts such as a family tree and seasons, leaving you with a very ordinary and somewhat boring army hack. Having said, CA churning the piece of crud out that I have waited eagerly for over the last 10 years, buying a 4k PC just for it's release and 'somehow' getting all the mainstream reviewers to give it 10/10 - WASNT FAIR EITHER. For making me die inside - RTW2 gets 0.… Expand
  94. fredgwatkin
    Jan 11, 2014
    0
    I was so frustrated with this addition to the franchise, that I set up my own independent survey which 4,000 people have responded to. Just to check that I wasn't alone. And NO I WASN'T. 72% of people rated the game between average and abysmal, with a majority rating it towards the negative end of the scale. What does that tell you?

    It is an utter abomination when compared to its    I was so frustrated with this addition to the franchise, that I set up my own independent survey which 4,000 people have responded to. Just to check that I wasn't alone. And NO I WASN'T. 72% of people rated the game between average and abysmal, with a majority rating it towards the negative end of the scale. What does that tell you?

    It is an utter abomination when compared to its predecessors. All they had to do was reskin Rome I. Instead they have sucked the life out of it and released it with the majority of features either broken or just so poorly designed they're not even worth paying attention to.

    The worst part is, we're 9 patches in after 4 months and there's no sign it going to get anything near the radical overhaul it needs. CA and Sega have frankly just insulted their fans with this game and there's little chance they've won many new ones.

    A disgraceful shambles of a game that should have been an epic. So atrocious that people deserve to lose their jobs over it. CA have really dropped the ball badly with this one. The Total War franchise is a dead as the dodo and that's a crying shame.    … Expand
  95. Binbag
    Jan 11, 2014
    1
    Yet another company thinking they can sell incomplete games, and everyone will just hang in there and wait 6 months until they get it right.

    Played the original, what 10 years ago I think, which was brilliant. Expected much more than this. It looks, feels and plays the same to me. I'm sure there's something there that's actually improved. Just b******d if I can see it. Save your    Yet another company thinking they can sell incomplete games, and everyone will just hang in there and wait 6 months until they get it right.

    Played the original, what 10 years ago I think, which was brilliant.
    Expected much more than this. It looks, feels and plays the same to me.
    I'm sure there's something there that's actually improved. Just b******d if I can see it.

    Save your money and get the original on fleabay for a couple of quid.    … Expand
  96. axxiusdecius
    Jan 11, 2014
    2
    based on what it offers, I'd say: 8/10 for the battles (very well done, but just the same as in previous games),, 9/10 for the faction variety (a step forward from the Shogun 2, which was boring in lacking any variety), but 0/10 for the strategic part: the building tree and the tech tree are tiny, their descriptions are unclear and effects not felt, they were so lazy that building/techsbased on what it offers, I'd say: 8/10 for the battles (very well done, but just the same as in previous games),, 9/10 for the faction variety (a step forward from the Shogun 2, which was boring in lacking any variety), but 0/10 for the strategic part: the building tree and the tech tree are tiny, their descriptions are unclear and effects not felt, they were so lazy that building/techs don't even have pictures! the commerce is also totally undeveloped, the resources don't matter, and so on, so in the strategic map part there just is no fun in playing any more. NONE! Plus the fact that fleets now invade port cities, which is very frustrating, cause while you can afford about 3 or 4 armies and kick ass with them, you cannot afford armies in all ports, and you will constantly lose them. So an average of 5,7 based on the ratings above. but in reality for me it was a 2/10, because played it for a few days and uninstalled it forever, while TW Medieval 2 I still play now, after endless games.… Expand
  97. nenaza
    Jan 10, 2014
    0
    It is Total War game: +10
    Still bugs and horrible AI in patch 8.1 : -3
    Headless chicken patching policy. (for example formation attack button is a joke): -2
    Steps in game mechanics in the WRONG direction and unfinished/unpolish features: -5

    Total Score: 0
  98. Mako
    Jan 10, 2014
    0
    The AI is still completely broken! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME YET!!! It is practically impossible to loose any battles in this game! The game provides no challenge what so ever. If you want to play total war games stick to Shogun 2 instead!
  99. Maslopup636
    Jan 9, 2014
    1
    Штурмов нет. Стратегической части нет. Морские бои мало того что унылы, они не имеют никакого отношения к античности. Интерфейс заслуживает отдельного слова, такого малоинформативного, страшного и запутанного убожества не видел уже давно Оценка 1.Штурмов нет. Стратегической части нет. Морские бои мало того что унылы, они не имеют никакого отношения к античности. Интерфейс заслуживает отдельного слова, такого малоинформативного, страшного и запутанного убожества не видел уже давно Оценка 1.
  100. Z47_B
    Jan 9, 2014
    2
    After several patches the game is still poorly optimized and the ai is only slightly better. However, if you go to the Steam Workshop and download everything you may get close to what we were promised.
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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