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. VendettaBB
    Nov 22, 2013
    1
    I really would not trust these high reviews that are coming up now praising CA for patching the game and "fixing it" in their eyes. Most of these people are just advertising blood and gore ("oh my blood and gore dlc is so amazing it makes the game so fun") really? like do you have family at CA or what? Give me a break. And no they did not give us "a bunch of free dlc" like some of theseI really would not trust these high reviews that are coming up now praising CA for patching the game and "fixing it" in their eyes. Most of these people are just advertising blood and gore ("oh my blood and gore dlc is so amazing it makes the game so fun") really? like do you have family at CA or what? Give me a break. And no they did not give us "a bunch of free dlc" like some of these phoney reviews are pointing out to. What... some uninteresting factions that were cut from the original game is somehow supposed to win me over now? Of course they couldn't sell it as DLC they would just look like a bunch of morons like they are for marketing the blood and gore pack and then having the audacity to call that Patch 6. lol, oh and the state of the game you might ask? Again don't believe these fraudulent reviewers that have been attempting to raise the score. The game is still poorly optimized for high end machines and patch 7 has gone live. (I have AMD FX 8350 8 core, GeForce GTX 670 and 8 GB ram and the campaign map is still stuttering very noticeably, aka low frame rates). The UI is as ugly as it was at release (the pre-alpha looking ui), the trivial design decisions are still in the game armies cannot be merged as effectively (general has to be in an army), armies can instantly turn into ships, no seasons and 1 turn per year, broken politics system that has no use replacing the family tree, ai is still horrible and lackluster (still much worse than previous entries) after CA has attempted to patch it, battles are still very non-strategic (capture the flag, broken siege battles, broken formations and on and on), truthfully the game is so painfully broken compared to shogun 2 that I actually don't even have the urge to engage in battles let alone even play past several turns (I always go back after patches hoping it might be the one to at least fix some problems but I've been disappointed for over 2 months now). The game is not even in a beta state, now going on 3 months after release, CA has completely sold out and basically robbed us of our money, people telling you otherwise are flat out lying or are completely unaware or ignorant of what constitutes quality. I've poured over 500 hours into Shogun 2 and that was the pinnacle of the total war series. Rome 2 still does not even come close. I'm being as honest as I can after having my heart broken (this was my most anticipated game of the year).… Expand
  2. Galather
    Nov 22, 2013
    10
    Although at launch the game was dismal and completely unplayable the developers truly have made efforts in trying to fix their mistakes and even offered a lot of free DLC for those who stuck with them despite their failings.
    A lot of the game's previous errors have been fixed and the game is now enjoyable, especially the campaign. Granted there are some flaws to the game but not so much    Although at launch the game was dismal and completely unplayable the developers truly have made efforts in trying to fix their mistakes and even offered a lot of free DLC for those who stuck with them despite their failings.
    A lot of the game's previous errors have been fixed and the game is now enjoyable, especially the campaign. Granted there are some flaws to the game but not so much that I would degrade their score.

    Keep up the good work CA!    … Expand
  3. ghostwarrior30
    Nov 21, 2013
    9
    In today's world, where so-called "eye-gasms" have become the defining norm, CA & Sega have bucked the trend and put strategy back into RTS. Gone are the days of mindless button-spamming games (Age of Empires, anyone?) and created a game to make people think for once. This is not for everyone, even those who have countless experience with previous Total War titles. This is TW: RTSIn today's world, where so-called "eye-gasms" have become the defining norm, CA & Sega have bucked the trend and put strategy back into RTS. Gone are the days of mindless button-spamming games (Age of Empires, anyone?) and created a game to make people think for once. This is not for everyone, even those who have countless experience with previous Total War titles. This is TW: RTS Stereotypes Redefined. Yes, the interface can be confusing. Took me 10 hours to learn. Patience is key. If you're having trouble learning the game, start with Empire:TW and move up from there. That should give a better understanding of the game (much less interface). Blood & Gore DLC is fantastic! Reminds me of Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

    I have not a single issue regarding graphics. Pre-ordered the game and had no issues from day one. AI has been extremely challenging (especially with increased difficulty); learn how to use units properly and shouldn't be too hard. That said, Rome is over-powered; I recommend the Nomadic or Barbarian tribes for maximum challenge. I have yet to see a video game, console-based or not, with better historical accuracy. The research done was extensive (history major, FYI). Zoom in on units for conversation fun and each member's unique face.

    Blood & Gore DLC is fantastic! Reminds me of Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

    Specs: iBuyPower i-Series 301 Quad-Core w/ATI Radeon 7750 (non-integrated), 16gig ram, 1tb memory.    … Expand
  4. MoonUnit
    Nov 20, 2013
    10
    I have played most TW games starting with Shogun1. Love this type of game. I missed Rome1 so was ready for Rome2. Bought it a couple weeks after release and am so glad I did. Started playing campaign as Gaule. Having a blast. Camera view in battles in great fun seeing the chopping up close with the blood pack. Next campaign I will try elephants. So many cool nations to play.I have played most TW games starting with Shogun1. Love this type of game. I missed Rome1 so was ready for Rome2. Bought it a couple weeks after release and am so glad I did. Started playing campaign as Gaule. Having a blast. Camera view in battles in great fun seeing the chopping up close with the blood pack. Next campaign I will try elephants. So many cool nations to play. Barbarians are best. Have not had any bugs, just some lag sometimes on campaign map. I play on Ultra settings. Gotta roll now and continue conquering.… Expand
  5. hansoner
    Nov 19, 2013
    3
    Loved Rome 1. Rome 2 has too many glitches. Senate serves no purpose and just gets in the way. Game CONSTANTLY freezes (which is extra annoying after waiting 10 minutes for it to load). Fun when it works properly, but lately it has froze on more turns than it hasn't for me. Spend your money elsewhere. The frustration is not worth the cost.
  6. Onebadbasterd
    Nov 19, 2013
    5
    At this point 2 months and a few days after it's release it's beggining to be ''playable''. (Thanks to some mods also)

    I was one of those who DID pre-order this game and sadly was deceived by SEGA and CA that made false promises and false advertisement...But that is another story. Buy the game at your own risk because it's the Stripped Feautures,DLC Whoring and ''X'' number of bugs    At this point 2 months and a few days after it's release it's beggining to be ''playable''. (Thanks to some mods also)

    I was one of those who DID pre-order this game and sadly was deceived by SEGA and CA that made false promises and false advertisement...But that is another story.
    Buy the game at your own risk because it's the Stripped Feautures,DLC Whoring and ''X'' number of bugs that are killing the game.

    Thanks SEGA for making our greatest expectation this year become our worst deception ever.    … Expand
  7. Theta_Sigma
    Nov 19, 2013
    8
    After 7 patches from release, I can now give this game a much better rating. There's still work to do, but the myriad problems that faced the game on release that made it unacceptably poor have been much reduced, and the game has been both fixed and also overhauled and expanded with both patches changing balance and mechanics, as well as numerous Free-LCs.

    The AI still suffers, the    After 7 patches from release, I can now give this game a much better rating. There's still work to do, but the myriad problems that faced the game on release that made it unacceptably poor have been much reduced, and the game has been both fixed and also overhauled and expanded with both patches changing balance and mechanics, as well as numerous Free-LCs.

    The AI still suffers, the simplification from previous titles is never going to go away, but now it is, finally, a good game at least. At any rate, still work to be done.    … Expand
  8. lesith006
    Nov 19, 2013
    3
    No cut-scenes ,
    no family tree or a working politic system ,
    too modern UI feel more like supreme commander than Rome total war ), battle too arcade like just take a group of the best units and right clicks like if you were playing diablo WIN ), stupid BAI and CAI with many path-finding problems both on the campaign map and in battles, even the music is not appealing and not    No cut-scenes ,
    no family tree or a working politic system ,
    too modern UI feel more like supreme commander than Rome total war ),
    battle too arcade like just take a group of the best units and right clicks like if you were playing diablo WIN ),
    stupid BAI and CAI with many path-finding problems both on the campaign map and in battles,
    even the music is not appealing and not culture specific rome as the same music as the averni or parthia )
    Generals pop up from no where and you have difficulties to recognize them as the portraits diversity is really poor !

    Well, to sum up still a Total failure patch 7     … Expand
  9. armo62
    Nov 18, 2013
    8
    I have waited 2 months for this game to reach its potential and it has. I was extremely disappointed in CA's rush to output this game and have lost a lot of respect for the Total war franchise. That being said they did stick to their word of patching and continuing to path until this game is golden. Finally after two months we are about there. AI still needs some work. IF rome 2 hadI have waited 2 months for this game to reach its potential and it has. I was extremely disappointed in CA's rush to output this game and have lost a lot of respect for the Total war franchise. That being said they did stick to their word of patching and continuing to path until this game is golden. Finally after two months we are about there. AI still needs some work. IF rome 2 had released in the current state it is now I would give this game a 9/10 but since im a patient fellow I waited to see what the devs would do with the broken game until giving it a fair review.… Expand
  10. DarkMandalore
    Nov 18, 2013
    7
    After 90 hours I can say I like the game quite a bit although I'm somewhat disappointed in it. They made a bold move trying the new system's out but some have come out tedious or limiting by quite a bit. I miss that in the first Rome you could have as many troops as you could afford and split them into as many "armies" as you liked general or no general, the only limitations were did youAfter 90 hours I can say I like the game quite a bit although I'm somewhat disappointed in it. They made a bold move trying the new system's out but some have come out tedious or limiting by quite a bit. I miss that in the first Rome you could have as many troops as you could afford and split them into as many "armies" as you liked general or no general, the only limitations were did you have enough available population and do you have the income to sustain your armies. I also miss being able to fully develop cities and towns with all upgrades based on population rather than having 3-6 slots to work with total. In most towns you can't have any walls, not even a simple defensive palisade. There are definitely some nasty bugs, though the worst I've personally encountered is when the enemy is coming from the sea they tend to have at least one ship lock up where your forces cannot hit it without siege weaponry. Troops cannot board vessels on the shore to go and deal with them even if the ship in question is one they themselves came ashore on. The AI has been really tame in the world map and is purely driven by capture points in many battles. The AI will regularly try to run right through multiple phalanx formations to go right for the capture points making battles no longer about the fight so much as watching your troops murder hundreds of unthinking AI troops hell bent on taking that point regardless of what's in the way. The food and squalor system is somewhat obnoxious. You'll have entire town building sets dedicated to one or the other. There's a command console, but it doesn't do anything aside from closing the game when you type "quit". The AI has a nasty habit of demanding money from you for ALL diplomatic agreements, even for non-aggression treaties to keep you from attacking them, yes, that's right, they want YOU to pay THEM to keep you from attacking and conquering them. Auto-resolve can be quite inaccurate on occasion, some battles you'll walk up to say you would lose almost all your troops but then you fight it and lose almost none of your men while others put you in favor when the enemy actually has a notably superior force. That doesn't happen often but it does happen enough to be mentioned. There is no demand surrender button in battles for use when you've got a notable upper hand, only "Concede Defeat" meaning that if you have a bug like I mentioned earlier and no battle timer then you cannot hope to win courtesy of a stupid glitch.

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

    If there was one major addition I'd like to see it would be something along the lines of a big continent expansion allowing you to play all of Africa and Asia as well as Europe complete with local factions of the time. I hope with the future they can fix the issues I've listed and put out some awesome expansion grade content at the same time. The game will take work to be perfect, but it's not bad. It's not a typical Total War game, but it's still one I'd recommend.    … Expand
  11. gobble-de-goop
    Nov 17, 2013
    1
    I really wanted to like this game and have now played it quite a bit and it is terrible, big waste of money and because i bought it through steam I can't get a refund which just adds insult to injury.
    -no guard mode
    -skirmish mode occasionally works, but most of the time involves babysitting every skirmishing unit and totally takes the fun out of the battle -most battles become a great    I really wanted to like this game and have now played it quite a bit and it is terrible, big waste of money and because i bought it through steam I can't get a refund which just adds insult to injury.
    -no guard mode
    -skirmish mode occasionally works, but most of the time involves babysitting every skirmishing unit and totally takes the fun out of the battle
    -most battles become a great big scrum, with little chance of using tactics and are over far too quickly
    -unit card is way too big, and very hard to differentiate between your different unit groups
    -little variation in units between different factions
    -AI is still too dumb
    -can't split your armies up as there always has to be a general in the army
    -armies can have there own ships making navies pointless
    -naval battles are rubbish, little room to maneuver and controls don't work properly, i fought the first few but after much frustration i just auto-resolve now.
    -graphics aren't much of an improvement from the original Rome
    -1 turn per year so no seasons, and not that much movement considering your turn spans an entire year
    -when you do anything with your various agents you can't move them anywhere else in the same turn, even if you only moved them a short distance in the first place
    -projection of the campaign map is distorted

    Really to make this a fair review I should mention the good points of this game, of which there a few, but as CA can't be arsed to release a properly working game and instead have come to rely on the lovely modders to make their games awesome, I can't be arsed to write about the good points. I came, I saw, I got pissed off.    … Expand
  12. Fyeris
    Nov 17, 2013
    4
    I REALLY wanted to like this game. The trailers made it look exciting and action packed, but a lot of the game mechanics seem wrong or broken. Most of the factions seem to play the exact same, and the game focuses more on simply smashing your troops head long into those of the enemy, as opposed to previous games focusing on flanking and positioning. Overall, while I wanted this game to beI REALLY wanted to like this game. The trailers made it look exciting and action packed, but a lot of the game mechanics seem wrong or broken. Most of the factions seem to play the exact same, and the game focuses more on simply smashing your troops head long into those of the enemy, as opposed to previous games focusing on flanking and positioning. Overall, while I wanted this game to be great, it landed somewhere in the "meh" range. Not worth the $45. Would buy again for $10.… Expand
  13. dlfrutos
    Nov 17, 2013
    2
    Terrible. Worse than Total War: Rome. The only good thing are the graphics.

    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.
  14. texasyankee2002
    Nov 17, 2013
    0
    No seasons? The AI is dumber. SLOW to load SLOW to take a turn. 1 YEAR turns. Tactical battles are a useless, as you have no real control over when your units fire or not. No defense button? Groups that's all you got. Groups. No improvement in GFX and it seems that was the major focus. I am uninstalling, and going back to Rome Total War 1. WAYYY more enjoyable. At least I canNo seasons? The AI is dumber. SLOW to load SLOW to take a turn. 1 YEAR turns. Tactical battles are a useless, as you have no real control over when your units fire or not. No defense button? Groups that's all you got. Groups. No improvement in GFX and it seems that was the major focus. I am uninstalling, and going back to Rome Total War 1. WAYYY more enjoyable. At least I can tell what the unit cards are, and what faction I am playing. UGH.… Expand
  15. DatGamingCritic
    Nov 17, 2013
    5
    Rome II... A good game but first one is the better of the two. In this TW you can only choose I think it is 12 factions from what I remember. In the old one it was 24. However the graphics are stunning but the gameplay is lousy. It's just basically troops go there. They attack for 2 minuets. In the old one it's more Troops go there. Wait fall back! Because there are like 400 odd troops onRome II... A good game but first one is the better of the two. In this TW you can only choose I think it is 12 factions from what I remember. In the old one it was 24. However the graphics are stunning but the gameplay is lousy. It's just basically troops go there. They attack for 2 minuets. In the old one it's more Troops go there. Wait fall back! Because there are like 400 odd troops on the other side. I don't know. This one just seems a bit meh to me.

    Overall
    -Amazing Graphics
    -Not enough Factions
    -Easy gameplay
    Score 57/100    … Expand
  16. Liteit
    Nov 17, 2013
    4
    Great franchise which i liked since the first Rome. But this game is terrible. they just made out a raw game, which is practically unplayable with its poor optimization and crashes. Obviously they would fix everything but the first impression is ruined. Hope next time they won't treat their fans like that.
  17. wwaattttss
    Nov 16, 2013
    8
    Rome Total war 2 is the most up to date Total War and it has almost perfected the series. They have toned down the micro management that cluttered the last game. This game is about fighting and it is wonderful at it. Each unit has its own ability's and strengths and weakness and the game makes you feel like every unit is different. Although the brilliant strategy this game has it dose haveRome Total war 2 is the most up to date Total War and it has almost perfected the series. They have toned down the micro management that cluttered the last game. This game is about fighting and it is wonderful at it. Each unit has its own ability's and strengths and weakness and the game makes you feel like every unit is different. Although the brilliant strategy this game has it dose have it problems to, the AI can sometimes do stupid and suicide moves and the auto resolve battles can be a bit overpowers as it lest you win some battles you may not normal win. Overall this game is a strategy Gem and is very fun to play, you will spend hours fighting for your land.… Expand
  18. AlexCe
    Nov 16, 2013
    0
    Jeux pas fini: bug, synchronisation aléatoire en multi, unité débile (on pose l'échelle, on regarde l'échelle, et on attend de crever), icône des bâtiments très moche, interface largement inférieur celle de Shogun II. Bref un formidable bon en arrière
  19. cucconet74
    Nov 16, 2013
    4
    I'm a great fan of the TW series but this game has been released unfinished and, after 6 pathes, is still unfinished.
    The IA is really stupid and unchallenging, the game is souless and boring
    DON'T BUY IT!!
  20. Nogard123
    Nov 15, 2013
    1
    Go play Rome 1,it's a far better game then this.
    The AI was never very good in these games but in Rome 2 is just one big joke.
    Also the day one dlc leaves a bad taste and lets not talk about the horrible UI.

    I though it wasn't possible but this is even worse then Empire.
    So people,do not pre-order ....Ever and don't support these greedy weasels.
  21. Serene86
    Nov 15, 2013
    4
    All I can say after forcing myself to play for 43 hours since release, it's not me. The game isn't fun. It looks great on my machine. It's just not fun. And I don't want to force myself to play a game I am not enjoying. Back to Minecraft until something good comes out.
  22. andreagr
    Nov 15, 2013
    9
    Non ho trovato nessuno dei difetti menzionati. AI non perdona gli errori, grafica assolutamente accettabile, UI identica ai vecchi giochi con in più la possibilità di nascondere tutto. In più una mappa enorme, moltissime fazioni e assedi finalmente giocabili degnamente, come nel primo Rome. Forse sotto Empire ma anni luce avanti Shogun2
  23. kvaroyaldo
    Nov 15, 2013
    2
    Rome 2 is quite nice to look at if you got a decent gaming rig. However, thats about it.
    I certainly do not play strategy games for their looks. Thats just a bonus for me.
    The issues with rome 2 are: -horrible ai -same ai mistakes since empire(sometimes the ai will attack your city, but they wont do anything, just stand still outside your walls) -bad ui -poor performance    Rome 2 is quite nice to look at if you got a decent gaming rig. However, thats about it.
    I certainly do not play strategy games for their looks. Thats just a bonus for me.

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

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

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

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

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

    This is an overpriced game which doesnt even come close to your expectations of a Total War game.
    And I am a huge fan of the series. I got every single of them bar shogun 1.
    A real shame. This could have been so good.    … Expand
  24. sirxchrish
    Nov 15, 2013
    5
    The game isn't bad but it's not good either and it certainly can't hold a candle to it's predecessor Rome 1. So here are a couple of things I liked and didn't like. This is just my opinion, so it's all debatable.

    Thing's I didn't like- -Dumbest AI. (Self-Explanatory.) -Shallow Campaign and Questionable In-game Design. (No Family Tree, Bare-boned Political System, Meaningless    The game isn't bad but it's not good either and it certainly can't hold a candle to it's predecessor Rome 1. So here are a couple of things I liked and didn't like. This is just my opinion, so it's all debatable.

    Thing's I didn't like-

    -Dumbest AI. (Self-Explanatory.)

    -Shallow Campaign and Questionable In-game Design. (No Family Tree, Bare-boned Political System, Meaningless Objectives/Victory Conditions, No cut-scenes or unique transformations with agents, Too many unplayable factions make conquering the world a very tedious task, Bland User-Interface, Unnecessary limit on how many generals or agents you can have, No general's speeches, etc.)

    -Inferior Music Score. (It's predecessor, Rome 1 had a way better soundtrack.)

    -Horrendous Multi-player. (No avatar system, Constant Crashes and Desynchronizations.)

    Things I liked-

    -Custom Battles. (Gives me the option to fight where I want, with the units I want.)

    -The Blood and Gore DLC. (I'm sanguinary.)

    -Military Traditions/Edicts/Expanding Cities in Campaign. (I loved making each of my individual armies unique with it's own traditions which add bonuses to their fighting ability. I liked the edicts cause they saved my men from starving to death with the Bread and Games edict. I also loved that animation where the city changes in appearance before your very eyes while on the campaign map.)

    -The Modability. (The Best Part of Total War Games are the creations that it's fans come up with.)    … Expand
  25. Lopsang
    Nov 14, 2013
    5
    Rome 2 has an awesome concept and I've been a fan of the series for a long time. Unfortunately, SEGA wanted the devs to rollout the game maybe some 6 months to a year too early. As a result, the game is incredibly slow for no purpose, and bugs are rife. Buy this game during a sale.
  26. generalryan
    Nov 13, 2013
    0
    Have been playing total war since the original medieval total war and I have to say even months post release this game is still a sore sight. I hope CA's image is destroyed enough so they release quality games again. This company has gone from quality to trash very quickly. Their getting greedy off the fat cash cow they have created.

    For those who says "they will fix the game soon".    Have been playing total war since the original medieval total war and I have to say even months post release this game is still a sore sight. I hope CA's image is destroyed enough so they release quality games again. This company has gone from quality to trash very quickly. Their getting greedy off the fat cash cow they have created.

    For those who says "they will fix the game soon". When I buy a game I expect my money's worth. For a game to cost me 60 dollars I have some expectations. I don't expect to be waiting months after launch to have the game playable. I don't care how hard their working to fix it right now I care that I got an unfinished game they decided to sell me. I am a fanboy of this franchise and I for one can tell you that I will personally not buy any more total war games for a long time. After very very careful observation after launch will I even consider buying any new releases.

    Shame on CA what they are doing to their franchise. Hopefully people wake up and stop patting them on the back for their mistakes. I'm not being impatient when I say this game is crap and their still release patches. They released the game, it should be solid upon release as a costumer that is my expectation.

    Either way stay away I lost my $60, no reason you should too.    … Expand
  27. Ender1183
    Nov 13, 2013
    6
    I would figure I would finish a Campaign before I made a recommendation. I just didn't know it would take 80 hours to finish. If you a fan of the Total war series chances are you have already have this game and have either been blinded by your fandom or the hype that this would be the best TW to date. It didn't take me long to quickly realized this was a rushed game, put out several monthsI would figure I would finish a Campaign before I made a recommendation. I just didn't know it would take 80 hours to finish. If you a fan of the Total war series chances are you have already have this game and have either been blinded by your fandom or the hype that this would be the best TW to date. It didn't take me long to quickly realized this was a rushed game, put out several months before it was ready. I can only imagine that CA was forced by Sega to get the game out before some of the other big titles of the holiday season got out. There are several features that where in previous TW games such as the political and family system that where not even half as complete in past games. I completely didn’t care what happened to my family if someone was being bribed or shamed, I just didn't care. I was really happy when I won my civil war and could be an empire so I would not be bothered by the family bs.
    As for the campaign map you end up building the same 3 builds to have enough food and keep public order under control. This makes it almost impossible to upgrade your army or economy and very boring since you can't specialize a providence until late in the game. I'm sure if I started a new campaign I would have an easier time but since there is no building tree that is easy to compare buildings, even of the same type, there is a lot of trial and error before you can get the balance right. An other problem I ran into was that the auto resolve doesn’t seem to take into account the quality of your units. There where several battles where I would lose in the auto but crush the AI in a battle. The research is also out of balance even after 200 turns unless you focus on one tree you can't even upgrade to the best builds. Which is also impossible because you will have bad pubic order of lack of food because you ignored those trees. Over all I would say once you beat your civil war that is a good place to stop. After that it is a steam roll over the AI who is to passive or has so horribly manage there own providence they are starving to death. Its too bad there weren’t options to have a short campaign and start later so you could see some of the late builds and units when they would matter.
    It has been a common theme that the AI in the TW series has always been bad but this game takes it to a new level. Don't bother with sieges just auto resolve. The AI will run to there death when attacking or sit there and get pounded by your artillery until they are so softened up that sending in a few units in will make them rout. After been told that is was going to be the best AI yet it is actually worst then any other. There have been some improvements with the patches but it is still easy to beat the AI in a battle and on the campaign map... unless you play on a harder setting but all that does is buff there morale, armor and income.
    Tried a few MP battles but it seems that is has come down to who can macro the fastest and press a units special ability buff the most. There is no chance to sit back and watch the units fight it out or use much more of a strategy then rush your units in spamming the special ability and flanking your cav around to the back to make units rout. Well it was fun to play against friend and make your own rules you can't really do that against pubs.
    Overall I did enjoy the era and the workshop looks like it is starting to fill up with some interesting mods and tweaks. Hopefully CA can patch up this game but I have a feeling they will save any changes for the expiation pack. If you haven't played TW before I would look and see if you can pick up Empire up for cheap before getting this game. If you are a fan and just held off buying(good for you) I wouldn't pay more then 30 bucks. By then it maybe patched up enough to make it enjoyable and with the workshop there maybe a few decent mods to fill in the games.    … Expand
  28. jeanluq
    Nov 13, 2013
    1
    This game is just plain boring, turns still taking forever after all these patches. Will give it 1 because CA marketing spend a lot of money to bribe critics for positive reviews, also 10 reviews by users showing up on the top, does not make sense. This game true score is about 4. Never been this disappointed with a TW game.

    - Battle deployment is clumsy, armies too far away,    This game is just plain boring, turns still taking forever after all these patches. Will give it 1 because CA marketing spend a lot of money to bribe critics for positive reviews, also 10 reviews by users showing up on the top, does not make sense. This game true score is about 4. Never been this disappointed with a TW game.

    - Battle deployment is clumsy, armies too far away, invisibility is not cool at all, AI still dumb as heck, no pleasure, strategy whatsoever.
    - Turns are painfully slow, diplomacy messages pop-up and ask for double confirmation, very very very annoying.
    - Unit cards are Greek looking instead of Roman, and it is nearly impossible to distinguish among similar units.
    - Gladiators, Praetorians need more power, need to be more expensive, elite units, not marginal.
    - Battle and diplomacy speeches are very annoying and repetitive, someone yelling and screaming all the time while you are playing this game makes it total ****.
    - Music is total mood-killer, sad, pity tunes, no excitement even during battles.
    - Fast forward does not work with large armies, we only need normal and fast forward, not 5 freaking different useless speeds.
    - Now, one of the biggest disappointment is an introduction of "magic", general super-powers, heroes etc. not going to even comment on having to assign different trait to generals every turn, and lack of family tree. Nonsense.
    CA, Sega Why did you mess up this game so much, and how did you manage to mess up every freaking aspect that was working well in the previous TW games???    … Expand
  29. JasonDaCritic
    Nov 13, 2013
    3
    This is a long waited sequel for the hit game Rome Total War I'm a total war fan myself. But what I see in this game is a big disappointment. The A.I is horrible they charge randomly not at my army but in other directions I was really disappointed at this but it's not just the A.I but also there are a few bugs that I found in this game but it could be patched. The UI is really confusing IThis is a long waited sequel for the hit game Rome Total War I'm a total war fan myself. But what I see in this game is a big disappointment. The A.I is horrible they charge randomly not at my army but in other directions I was really disappointed at this but it's not just the A.I but also there are a few bugs that I found in this game but it could be patched. The UI is really confusing I don't know what the hell am I doing. It also has tons of lag and when your processing "next turn" you wait longer more than your playing longer. But there are good adjustments to this game like the graphics have improved. Overall 3/10… Expand
  30. Eagleslb
    Nov 13, 2013
    1
    Rome 2 is the self claimed top notch project of ca(Creative assembly), with the biggest development budget ever, regardless, its a major setback to the series ,the ai is beyond dumb utterly useless ,i ve never been declared war on with two finished campaigns IN LEGENDARY ,Campaign lacks depth with an oversimplified research and build tree ,no family tree ,the FPS is infernal for someRome 2 is the self claimed top notch project of ca(Creative assembly), with the biggest development budget ever, regardless, its a major setback to the series ,the ai is beyond dumb utterly useless ,i ve never been declared war on with two finished campaigns IN LEGENDARY ,Campaign lacks depth with an oversimplified research and build tree ,no family tree ,the FPS is infernal for some (with recommended specs) ,and the Multiplayer is a hive of cheaters with a useless ladder where the top 1 had already over 100 Victories in the end of the release week with a couple hours of game plug cheat over9000000000, and if you think this is bad enough do hear this :after the patch 4 they made those that press the admit defeat button or simply exit the exe be awarded with a draw making the faithful side look like idiots this made the cheating epidemic to the point the MP (battle) becoming unplayble .with no fix in sight only vague promises like this is a very complex problem ,a problem they created themselves with patch 4 ,they care not ,the money from these poor creatures that pre ordered or bought at a usuary price of 54 euros was already harvested .

    No balance whatsoever ,Spam pike units and oathsworns/ galatian guard /elite unit and you are done ,good game if your opponent didnt leave/admited defeat/o the unplug the net cheat which is unlikely.
    They sold us all kinds of lies :Best ai ever ,an optimized game regarding your rig capabilities ,Balance, best Tw ever historical accuracy all lies. They supressed the loose/tight button ,the guard mode ,fire at will button only in certain units with missiles not all ,the players are dumb they must play how we tell them to play(thinks the CA),Surprisingly they have introduced an historical discovery: Celts used pillum!!! Suebic/iceni(iceni lmfao)/arveni /galatians/thorax all do throw pillum! how proud must the roman be!.

    It seems like im angry, why should i be This is such a splendid game loool

    Oh wait i forgot the magic powers now our guys can run arround the field 4 or 5 times and the by pressing the secound wind the general will surpress their fatigue ,or by pressing the shout button the general will shout so loud that the nemy will flee! OMG OMG    … Expand
  31. MarcusManus
    Nov 12, 2013
    5
    I originally gave this game a 10 after 14 hours....
    I need to revisit that score and now give it a solid 5.
    Too many errors and design flaws to list here, please review the official forums for more information, or better yet, angryjoe. AI is the primary concern, along with stripped down features that make this game sad. Very sad. Breaks my heard. I uninstalled it until they do some    I originally gave this game a 10 after 14 hours....
    I need to revisit that score and now give it a solid 5.
    Too many errors and design flaws to list here, please review the official forums for more information, or better yet, angryjoe.
    AI is the primary concern, along with stripped down features that make this game sad. Very sad. Breaks my heard. I uninstalled it until they do some serious work on it.    … Expand
  32. Trivial2
    Nov 12, 2013
    0
    I am not gonna write all problems.To many of them.
    Game dosent feel like Total War.
    One thing shows what this game is: MAGIC FLAGS!!!!! Realistic Total War games are dead. Wtf is this crap? MAGIC FLAGS in a battle? Alexander the Great beat the persians at Gauglmela by charging to the MAGIC FLAG. Not by using strategy.No. SEGA and CA say it was with MAGIC FLAGS!!! SEGA and CA i    I am not gonna write all problems.To many of them.
    Game dosent feel like Total War.
    One thing shows what this game is:
    MAGIC FLAGS!!!!!
    Realistic Total War games are dead.
    Wtf is this crap?
    MAGIC FLAGS in a battle?
    Alexander the Great beat the persians at Gauglmela by charging to the MAGIC FLAG.
    Not by using strategy.No.
    SEGA and CA say it was with MAGIC FLAGS!!!
    SEGA and CA i will never,ever buy anything that you make.    … Expand
  33. larek
    Nov 12, 2013
    7
    A lot better now, they released a free dlc and have fixed some of the major bugs. Now perhaps worth the money, before it wasn't by far. Yet it still is laggy, even with superior rig.
  34. vansoldier5000
    Nov 12, 2013
    9
    Ok, things got a bit better now by the patches, a lot more playable. Before playing a battle was impossible all lagged co-op as well, now u can play.
  35. DylanMBlaine
    Nov 11, 2013
    1
    Terrible game in every sense; 1/10. The game is worse than its predecessors and yet it was developed with a larger budget. The AI system is horrible to the point where if it were the only problem, which it is not, it alone would be a game breaking feature that earns the game a score of 0/10. This artificial "intelligence" provides no form of challenge to the player on even the highestTerrible game in every sense; 1/10. The game is worse than its predecessors and yet it was developed with a larger budget. The AI system is horrible to the point where if it were the only problem, which it is not, it alone would be a game breaking feature that earns the game a score of 0/10. This artificial "intelligence" provides no form of challenge to the player on even the highest difficulty level (when playing as Rome, the faction that the game is named after and pretty much about). I could go on and on about the AI, such as how it is unable to use siege equipment (YES! That's right, the AI doesn't even know how to use siege equipment, so you either auto-resolve or play the battle and feel like you cheated), but as I said it is not the only problem and the others deserve a mention. Other problems like the game not launching, AI turns taking so long that a multiplayer campaign is nearly impossible to endure, and the fact that the AI sends all their troops into small divisions and sails them around just asking to be sunk while you steamroll through their cities on the hardest difficulty, I know I promised to move on from the AI but it's just so pathetic! Every employee that even touched the AI in development should be fired and shunned from the PC gaming industry. Let them go develop the next COD for xbox, at least there they won't be found out for the fraud that they are because the children that are their customers won't even realize that they've been scammed for years to come.… Expand
  36. americ
    Nov 11, 2013
    0
    I cant believe I'm taking the time to write a review on this, but I've been a huge fan of total war since their original releases. I've noticed that major releases since Empire Total war were released being completely broken. I think that it's unfair of CA to ask people to pay to Beta test their games, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt each time they released something new it wasI cant believe I'm taking the time to write a review on this, but I've been a huge fan of total war since their original releases. I've noticed that major releases since Empire Total war were released being completely broken. I think that it's unfair of CA to ask people to pay to Beta test their games, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt each time they released something new it was the same thing. We're paying to Beta test.

    I'll give high marks for this game crashing infrequently for me, that's better than many other of their releases. I'll take away all those marks since this shouldn't be something that we are impressed with. It's really that sad to say, but CA once again has dropped the ball.

    I'll give low marks for everything else:

    Economy Terrible. City management is based on tiles, of which you rarely upgrade past level 2 since the cost benefit simply isn't worth it. This makes city management boring and brain dead.

    Turn based AI The AI is terrible at developing itself so economically and in terms of it's armies it's crippled. The only bright spot I can think of here is that it can be decent at times with army stacking to pressure you

    Battles A complete joke, not worth my time other than when the auto win battles show that I'll lose. When I do a manual battle I get a "heroic victory" where all I did was click one unit, click one of theirs... and move on down the line. There is no management required really. What the hell was CA thinking releasing this?

    Agents actually, I liked the 3 different paths you can take for your agents based on zeal, cunning, and authority. It gives the rock, paper and scissors game a less predictable endeavor.... until you have a few of each all hanging around each other along your battle front killing everything they see.

    Overall, this game feels like a cash grab. It's non engaging and not worth my time. CA, you've finally done it. I will NOT be buying any DLC nor will I be buying any of your subsequent releases. I'll give it 1 out of pity for the kind of franchise this used to be.    … Expand
  37. thecoon
    Nov 10, 2013
    0
    I'm giving this game zero because I think anyone would be disappointed playing it. This is especially true due to how the game was portrayed by its creators vs. how it actually plays on your computer.

    The biggest drawback is that its graphic engine is highly inefficient and runs badly at low settings while looking bad.
  38. Pa23kings
    Nov 10, 2013
    0
    DO NOT BUY!!! This game is so bad. Waited till it went on sale thought with all the bad ratings might be ok with the sale price, boy was I wrong, Not worth anything. Can't seem to be able to make my towns happy spend all my money just trying to keep them happy but what can you do when it is 58 unhappy and the largest your army can get is 40 which by the way breaks you if you go thatDO NOT BUY!!! This game is so bad. Waited till it went on sale thought with all the bad ratings might be ok with the sale price, boy was I wrong, Not worth anything. Can't seem to be able to make my towns happy spend all my money just trying to keep them happy but what can you do when it is 58 unhappy and the largest your army can get is 40 which by the way breaks you if you go that route.bad graphics really considering, the date it was put out, should have been better then Empire. Cannot really think of one good thing to say about this game worst $45 I have ever spent. I really do not know what steam can do about it but I will not be buying another game from steam again till they start screening these games… Expand
  39. dcee
    Nov 10, 2013
    3
    This game is a MASSIVE let-down, i have played and mostly loved all of the total war games, my favourite being Medieval 2.
    Where to begin on what makes Rome 2 such a huge disappointment!,each installment in the franchise has been an improvement, until now!!! They had the opportunity to make one of the greatest games of all time, the hype, the adverts, the trailers, the anticipation,    This game is a MASSIVE let-down, i have played and mostly loved all of the total war games, my favourite being Medieval 2.
    Where to begin on what makes Rome 2 such a huge disappointment!,each installment in the franchise has been an improvement, until now!!! They had the opportunity to make one of the greatest games of all time, the hype, the adverts, the trailers, the anticipation, Cleopatra, allure, intrigue et al!
    I pre-ordered, and looked forward to playing the game at long last.
    What the hell happened????
    Ok, the battles work ok after the patches were installed, but the campaign gameplay?!!!!
    In order to sit through the machinations of every roman era tribe during the endturn phase, the hours spent developing provinces that facilitate the raising of elite armies, you need to be able to empathise with/have an interest in the characters in the game, ie generals. There is no family tree, this is too myopic for this genre of game! Oh and if you do manage to find a general young enough to build up, it is highly likely that your own side will assassinate him, for no good reason. This is due to the unexplained internal politics system, no matter what you do, eventually your internal position deteriorates!

    And then there is the online content, again what happened here? Totally stripped back, no ranking system, regressive!

    To hype a game with such vigour, showing RPG elements (ie Cleopatra) in the trails, and then deliver a game that has completely lost the balance between simulation and gameplay, is astonishing!

    This game is simply not enjoyable, the brief moments of battlefield brilliance, do not compensate for hours you will spend maintaining a dull campaign map that often transcends common sense.

    I can only hope that if they make Medieval 3, they follow this simple process :

    - Look at Medieval 2, well done, you made a great game

    - Make Medieval 3 just like 2, only with better graphics/engine    … Expand
  40. WebMonkeys
    Nov 10, 2013
    3
    I pretty much agree with everyone else that this game is I'm running AMD 6x CPU 3.4Ghz GTX 560 TI, 8GB Ram and SSD and the game still plays terrible. Now its not really the game play that bothers me that much it's the waiting for my turn that really pisses me off. And because of that i rate this game 3/10. For me to wait over 1:30 2 minutes maybe even more sometimes is unacceptable.I pretty much agree with everyone else that this game is I'm running AMD 6x CPU 3.4Ghz GTX 560 TI, 8GB Ram and SSD and the game still plays terrible. Now its not really the game play that bothers me that much it's the waiting for my turn that really pisses me off. And because of that i rate this game 3/10. For me to wait over 1:30 2 minutes maybe even more sometimes is unacceptable. Plus all the frame rate issues along with the MP having problems.

    Again i don't have much to say cause its all been said. but in simple terms fix your Don't release something that doesn't work. And iv'e downloaded the patches and i'm still having issues.    … Expand
  41. gandalf55
    Nov 9, 2013
    0
    Best my game Empire Total War and Shogun Total War
    Rome 2 Total War not normal total war its another game. I am very disappointed that I bought the game.
  42. Dogtanian81
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    Major dissapointment. Magic abilities, way too easy etc etc. No guard mode. You cant plan skills for your generals. UI is terrible. I could go on and. Campaign map is nice though.
  43. TGMode
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    I am a huge fan of this game series and have played all the others to death. What happened to the AI? It's unplayable, I have tried and tried but I can't play it. I really hope this is fixed.
    Who gave these high scores? Have you actually played this game or for that matter any game?
  44. Grieferbastard
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    What a painful thing this was. It's one of those situations that just makes you want to blame society. Total War: Rome II just feels like a cash-grab in the end, a pandering offering to the lowest denominators of gaming and it's thrown an incredible brand and IP up on the alter for sacrifice.

    The graphics are probably better than RTW 1 but it's hard to tell the game is so poorly    What a painful thing this was. It's one of those situations that just makes you want to blame society. Total War: Rome II just feels like a cash-grab in the end, a pandering offering to the lowest denominators of gaming and it's thrown an incredible brand and IP up on the alter for sacrifice.

    The graphics are probably better than RTW 1 but it's hard to tell the game is so poorly optimized. A new Crysis game comes out and I expect performance to be crushing but on an RTS? They're not that good. Not good enough to warrant the stutter it creates.

    The UI is an abomination and from the moment you start will likely spend a lot of time going 'Why... what the.... why THERE? I can't see anything! What does this mean? When did this seem like a good idea? Is this layout optimized for playing with a steering wheel and foot pedals?'

    The AI is so incompetent that it feels more like you're supposed to just be Leonidas and his Spartans, out killing Persian auxilliaries. The original Shogun: Total War released 13 years ago quite literally had a better AI.

    Stripped features too numerous to mention. If it had depth, meat and crunch in the original RTW it's cut out of RTW 2. Maybe they'll let you buy it as DLC later.

    I'm relatively forgiving of bugs. They're fixable and represent simple mistakes. The design choices, the removal of depth, feature and character from the game and turning an excellent franchise into a flat out humiliating cash-grab though is harder to forgive.

    I've talked several people out of this game and will continue to do so. If you buy this game you deserve to feel duped.    … Expand
  45. genesix32
    Nov 9, 2013
    0
    Rome 1 is one of my highest rated game, and there I was anticipating for how godly Rome 2 would be after the trailer with the graphics, but I spend 60 USD for this bloody piece of junk that is even worser than it predeccessor for almost everything.

    (-) First of all, the AI is outrageously dumb for the campaign as each faction does not try to expand and tries to make alliance which is    Rome 1 is one of my highest rated game, and there I was anticipating for how godly Rome 2 would be after the trailer with the graphics, but I spend 60 USD for this bloody piece of junk that is even worser than it predeccessor for almost everything.

    (-) First of all, the AI is outrageously dumb for the campaign as each faction does not try to expand and tries to make alliance which is useless as when I attack one of them, the rest does not help. Also there are times when I attacked a faction with last city with only the garrison troops, making the most important aspect of the game crappy. Initially when they released the tutoberg forest trailer, I was expecting the campaign to have short cutscenes and evens such as the forest ambush.

    (-) Next, the building and economic. Rome 1 building and layout was simply beautiful (Amphitheather, Cohort Barracks) with each aspect to building being really realistic when gave me a sense of building a great empire, Rome 2? Step 1, Building the god damn farm followed by town temple economy building which seems like I am playing a small kids game. The province system sucks especially which completely robs away the empire building fun.

    (+) The only thing that was good in rome 2, The graphics for the campaign map, the campaign map for Rome 2 really uses high-end graphics, however the trade off would be how realisticness of the distance of city as each city is only 1 turn far away from each other and upon expanding it is even easier to invade a nearby city. Just a little bit of tweaking would make it perfect.

    (-) I'm not a battle crazy fan so I wont go into details, firstly when zoom out the units looked more like bunch of black ants running across my screen than armies, I rather they used Rome 1 unit collision. Next is the siege where the same bug requires all units to climb the ladder before they are able to move properly.
    one improvement to be made for the siege could be to have AI controlling a part of the army to assault another wall to take advantage of multiple capture points, also multiple ladders should be able to assault the same walls and all tower should have peasant to should (killable) as the tower is like a complete rape.

    Seriously this game seems like created by a bunch of who cant make game as I am able to list out all these problems in the game. Its like being promised to see heaven yet was given hell.

    CA really needs the help of modders to save this game by giving them the power to mod the game. As for the AI this is my opinion that a randomising engine can be added to the game code in complement to the possible actions AI may take (lets say skirmishing has 40% success rate while going all out has 60%, the engine may choose skirmishing and further randomising causes the butterfly effect where AI uses a good tactic.

    I am really interested in help this game become better but I do not have any programming skills, my strengths would be coming out with ideas to help improve the game, if I can be of any help do PM me    … Expand
  46. Capshaw
    Nov 8, 2013
    3
    This game is wait and more wait. So much marching. Only did one mission and i was fed up. Great graphics, easy enough to play though. If you REALLY like strategy games, this probably is right up your ally. But for me it just became to boring.
  47. JamesGHarris
    Nov 8, 2013
    1
    This is by far the most disappointed I've ever been about a game. I expected a game that would stand tall along side Shogun 2 and the original Rome total war. I sure that with this game we'd forget the horrors of Empire and Napoleon. But alas, that;s not what we got. This game was ultimately broken on release, and even now it still doesn't run as it should... The UI is terrible, the AI isThis is by far the most disappointed I've ever been about a game. I expected a game that would stand tall along side Shogun 2 and the original Rome total war. I sure that with this game we'd forget the horrors of Empire and Napoleon. But alas, that;s not what we got. This game was ultimately broken on release, and even now it still doesn't run as it should... The UI is terrible, the AI is somehow worse than previous games, and most of the factions 'unique' units are just re-skins of a basic skirmisher or whatever with slightly buffed stats. This game is probably the worst total war game of the lot, I could at least (maybe) see the appeal of Empire and Napoleon but there's no reason to play this over the original Rome total war, or any other total war, or even game for that matter. This is just garbage, and if you defend this game, you're a shameless fan boy.

    Seriously though where did the budget for this game go, it's a mess. It does not even compare with it's predecessors or games like Europa Universalis IV (which had a tiny budget by comparison.

    I guess they spent all the money on porn and top quality tissues.    … Expand
  48. jsijason
    Nov 8, 2013
    3
    Graphics took a big step backwards since Shogun 2, the AI is unbelievably terrible, making terrible choices, it's pointless to have military allies and set combined points of attack. Which is a disappointing advantage to someone looking for a challenge: you can always count on the AI to screw up and give you the clear upper hand.

    The bulk of the voice acting is embarrassing and lame.    Graphics took a big step backwards since Shogun 2, the AI is unbelievably terrible, making terrible choices, it's pointless to have military allies and set combined points of attack. Which is a disappointing advantage to someone looking for a challenge: you can always count on the AI to screw up and give you the clear upper hand.

    The bulk of the voice acting is embarrassing and lame. All the special character units basically do the same things, nothing to truly distinguish them and make them interesting individually.

    I give it a 3/10, mainly on nostalgia for excellent predecessors.    … Expand
  49. Hellmut34
    Nov 8, 2013
    5
    Been a fan of TW games since the first Shogun came out. Although i have enjoyed this more than Empire TW i just can't justify giving the game a decent mark.
    So much about it is done badly and i can't for the life of me understand why the dev's would have ever have thought that it was the best direction for the game to go.
    I worry for the upcoming impending Warhammer Total War now. For me    Been a fan of TW games since the first Shogun came out. Although i have enjoyed this more than Empire TW i just can't justify giving the game a decent mark.
    So much about it is done badly and i can't for the life of me understand why the dev's would have ever have thought that it was the best direction for the game to go.
    I worry for the upcoming impending Warhammer Total War now. For me i play Shogun 2 again, its much much better than this.    … Expand
  50. Sarrix
    Nov 8, 2013
    2
    Hahaha the people have spoken and I could not agree more. This is the biggest failure I have seen in a while. I WAS a devoted Total War fan until CA decided to bring out this husk of a game to slap me in the face. I really do not understand what was going through their heads... Do they actually play their own games? They dumbed this game down so much I felt like C&C had more strategyHahaha the people have spoken and I could not agree more. This is the biggest failure I have seen in a while. I WAS a devoted Total War fan until CA decided to bring out this husk of a game to slap me in the face. I really do not understand what was going through their heads... Do they actually play their own games? They dumbed this game down so much I felt like C&C had more strategy involved in it.

    Also have a look at the critics im sure they can be bought out for a high score any day by the looks of it. Good work all on the HONEST reviews. With the exception of the dim wits giving it 10 out 10. Most likely work for CA or just have no idea.    … Expand
  51. aoetje
    Nov 8, 2013
    0
    A perfect example on how NOT to treat your customers...

    Releasing unfinished game that looks worse than previous instalment but boasts the opposite? Ridiculous approach. Very poor optimization...the campaign map...waiting for other factions movement takes up 90% of your time...we did not pay to sit around waiting to play... Multiplayer desync problems. Avoid...unless you are    A perfect example on how NOT to treat your customers...

    Releasing unfinished game that looks worse than previous instalment but boasts the opposite? Ridiculous approach.

    Very poor optimization...the campaign map...waiting for other factions movement takes up 90% of your time...we did not pay to sit around waiting to play...

    Multiplayer desync problems.

    Avoid...unless you are very patient and loaded...    … Expand
  52. Thedipwad
    Nov 7, 2013
    0
    It won't even let me play it all it does is just crash it's a pice of that's what it is shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt let me reframe that it is major shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit what the sega
  53. korab
    Nov 7, 2013
    2
    Part 2:
    -Retreating units can open the gates and run away even though they do not own/occupy the gate before, but eager and standing of course they cannot as they do not own them!-totally ridiculous and same in other TW games!
    -Retreating armies can pass through boats(literally through half of boats when retreating and my elephants pursuing them too! Totally ridiculous and annoying!    Part 2:
    -Retreating units can open the gates and run away even though they do not own/occupy the gate before, but eager and standing of course they cannot as they do not own them!-totally ridiculous and same in other TW games!
    -Retreating armies can pass through boats(literally through half of boats when retreating and my elephants pursuing them too! Totally ridiculous and annoying!

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

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

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

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

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

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

    -    … Expand
  54. pirate108
    Nov 7, 2013
    0
    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.

    2/10 for releasing.

    Glad I paid 60$ for beta testing.
  55. Ghrimy
    Nov 7, 2013
    10
    Hello. I would first like to put that I bought the game the day it came out. No problems, the AI was a little shaky, mostly because they would fall for my pike traps every time. I watched all the reviews, and since playing most TW games since the first Rome, I found there to this to be one of the best total war games I have ever played
  56. SneezeJunky
    Nov 7, 2013
    3
    Sad to say that this is THE WORST Total War game i've ever played. Game is not optimized. Gameplay is dull and boring. Ai doesn't work properly.

    It really hurts giving it such a poor score. Since I really love total war series. But this game is a Complete joke.
  57. Rohiron
    Nov 7, 2013
    9
    I have over 120 hours on the game, the campaign is quite an improvement compared to te previus tittle' s, CA is also working hard on the bugs and stuff, the only problem i have with te game is the multiplayer mode, WTF happend to avatar conquest? Now they just gave us the same there was in any previus TW exept for shogun 2 ofcourse. i also hate how i paid 54 euros for it and now 2 monthsI have over 120 hours on the game, the campaign is quite an improvement compared to te previus tittle' s, CA is also working hard on the bugs and stuff, the only problem i have with te game is the multiplayer mode, WTF happend to avatar conquest? Now they just gave us the same there was in any previus TW exept for shogun 2 ofcourse. i also hate how i paid 54 euros for it and now 2 months later its the weekend deal on steam for 41 euro' s thats just bull****.… Expand
  58. Bandicot123456
    Nov 7, 2013
    0
    The game sucks as hell.Total War is dead with this game.
    CA what did you do?
    Magic flags?
    I am done.
    Going back to Shogun 2 and Rome 1.
    Goodbye CA
    Rating:
    0
  59. NobbyNobbyBoy
    Nov 7, 2013
    5
    I dearly wanted to love this game. I have enjoyed every Total War so far (except Empire and Napoleon that wouldn't work on my computer!) and especially Shogun 2. I felt as if this game might bridge the gap between the dated but undeniably fun Rome and the beautiful, tactical game that Shogun 2 is.
    Unfortunately, the failure to release this game in a playable state has ruined the fun for    I dearly wanted to love this game. I have enjoyed every Total War so far (except Empire and Napoleon that wouldn't work on my computer!) and especially Shogun 2. I felt as if this game might bridge the gap between the dated but undeniably fun Rome and the beautiful, tactical game that Shogun 2 is.
    Unfortunately, the failure to release this game in a playable state has ruined the fun for me. I can see the potential and I fully expect this to be a great game in a year or so. But, (and this is a big but) you cannot release games in such a poor state and not expect a customer backlash.    … Expand
  60. Hcosa
    Nov 6, 2013
    0
    I rate 0 just to counterbalance the people who rating 10 this is not a 10 game but neither 0, he has a score around 5 to 6, is still a bad game when compared to shogun
  61. kalimah
    Nov 6, 2013
    1
    Was it the CEO that apologized for all the bugs in the game when it was released? He knew all along this was going to happen. If he didn't know, he should be fired. POS game..
  62. VOP2288
    Nov 5, 2013
    6
    As the game stands now I would've given it an 7 or even an 8 but since I bought it on release I have to dock it down to a 6 for its less-than-stellar launch.

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

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

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

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

    Pros -

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

    Cons -

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

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

    Overall Rome 2 is the not the disaster that many here have claimed it to be (it's also not the pristine 10/10 that many "professional" critics painted it as either). Much of its significant launch issues have been tackled by now and CA continues to clean up the smaller bugs. Fact is, this game is definitely a good time and one of the best current strategy games out there.    … Expand
  63. Necrotaur
    Nov 5, 2013
    8
    I bought Rome 2 on release and it was pretty buggy and underwhelming. The patches released since then however have done a lot to redeem it, and currently it's a pretty good game though there is still some work to do. The graphics are fine, though I apparently am one of the few who has no problem running it on ultra (even at launch). If you're coming from Shogun 2 you'll find a lot ofI bought Rome 2 on release and it was pretty buggy and underwhelming. The patches released since then however have done a lot to redeem it, and currently it's a pretty good game though there is still some work to do. The graphics are fine, though I apparently am one of the few who has no problem running it on ultra (even at launch). If you're coming from Shogun 2 you'll find a lot of welcome unit and play style diversity among the factions. The campaign AI feels fairly robust, and I was able to forge some pretty solid game-long alliances with them. Once, some enemy troops slipped past my army and headed toward an undefended city, but an allied AI planted an army to deny them movement pretty cool. Battle AI is a liiiittle less stellar, as is common in all TW games.

    My biggest unresolved gripe has to do with the politics system. The gist of it is, every once in a while, you make a decision about some political event and something good or bad happens. In practice, it's extremely anemic, feels tacked on and you can totally ignore it because it's basically a coin toss. The in-game encyclopedia is buggy and lacking a lot info and flavor about units (all celtic swordsmen have the same unit descriptions, for example). The tech trees at first glance feel very weak, but every culture has different research items so maybe it can be forgiven. UI doesn't bug me, but the lack of seasons (something I LOVED in Shogun 2 and earlier titles) does.

    Anyway, I'm enjoying it quite a bit at this point and I don't regret getting it. I feel like Rome 2 is a pretty solid entry though maybe not the best in the series.    … Expand
  64. MrZanyGaming
    Nov 5, 2013
    4
    Not a bad game, but there was so much more they could have done, not to mention the marketing campaign that blatantly lied to all the fans of the series. It's dumbed down, so if you're a fan of simple games that make you feel smart, then buy it. If not, then I would advise you to avoid Rome 2.
  65. True_Insanity13
    Nov 5, 2013
    3
    Very sad, but Total War: Rome II failed. I expected a lot of from this game, but a see only one thing- failure. The game has very good graphics, but very bad optimisation. Bad AI, that make game quite boring. In my opinion- pure waste of money
  66. SaintJames012
    Nov 4, 2013
    5
    Coming off of Shogun 2, the only word you can use to describe Rome II is utter disappointment. This game took out a lot of what made Shogun 2 so fun. There are bugs that cause it to become just an annoying PoS, and overall after about 10 hours you will stop having fun. the game feels more like a chore than a fun strategy. Family trees and rulers have become completely irrelevant and whenComing off of Shogun 2, the only word you can use to describe Rome II is utter disappointment. This game took out a lot of what made Shogun 2 so fun. There are bugs that cause it to become just an annoying PoS, and overall after about 10 hours you will stop having fun. the game feels more like a chore than a fun strategy. Family trees and rulers have become completely irrelevant and when one of your generals dies the game just spawns another one almost equal to what your last general's stats were. victory is too easy and battles seem to be rushed as I have run into epic battle of 1500+ armies win in 15 minutes flat. The only thing I think the game added that is useful is auto pilot. There is a move you can do in battles where you can tell specific units to attack an enemy unit, then that unit will be set on auto pilot and attack the unit you ordered, once the enemy is killed the auto pilot unit will then go and attack another enemy where it is needed. This is nice as it allows for you to set a couple units to autopilot and eases the burden of running a massive army in battle, as you can set some units to auto pilot then set them back to manual once you need them. Other than that Rome II is a major step back and not worth the $60 pricetag. Game is worth a $20 tag maybe, but beware, this game sucks. Go back to Shogun 2… Expand
  67. HONDOMAN
    Nov 4, 2013
    4
    I want to know what game the critics were playing, because it certainly wan't this one. This game is rampant with bugs. It is flat-out broken. The A.I. is horrendous. I don't even know why the game was released. It needed at least six more month's. Absolutely no polish, because the game wasn't even finished to begin with! Why i everything red as well? It looks like you're playing on Mars.I want to know what game the critics were playing, because it certainly wan't this one. This game is rampant with bugs. It is flat-out broken. The A.I. is horrendous. I don't even know why the game was released. It needed at least six more month's. Absolutely no polish, because the game wasn't even finished to begin with! Why i everything red as well? It looks like you're playing on Mars. An utter disappointment, especially after the beauty that was Total War: Shogun 2… Expand
  68. CensedPie
    Nov 4, 2013
    0
    Total Rome 2 is not worth money at all. Find other ways to play it if you really care to play it, because the game is just plain horrible all around. I have a pretty good computer with 780 GTX and it lags and has low FPS and the UI is horrible, the AI is retarded and there is no Anti Aliasing at all. If you watch the trailer, its the opposite of what they say and show. It looks nothingTotal Rome 2 is not worth money at all. Find other ways to play it if you really care to play it, because the game is just plain horrible all around. I have a pretty good computer with 780 GTX and it lags and has low FPS and the UI is horrible, the AI is retarded and there is no Anti Aliasing at all. If you watch the trailer, its the opposite of what they say and show. It looks nothing like what they said was pre Alpha. Monkeys and even cavemen can make better video games. A ridiculous game not worth it at all.… Expand
  69. Username2
    Nov 4, 2013
    10
    Down-vote me all you want, this game is a commercial success and there's nothing you can do about it 800,000 units sold This game deserves it success.
  70. frosbique
    Nov 4, 2013
    10
    nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.nice game. i like.
  71. troj2002
    Nov 3, 2013
    4
    Sadly the game is broken in many ways, was rushed out and is disappointing after all the anticipation.
    Battle Ai is broken still to date especially in sieges, where they suicidally rush your lines towards the ''holy'' capture point, an entire army disintegrating and rushing to their death just to reach the siege capture point.
    Not worth buying your money is better spent on purchasing    Sadly the game is broken in many ways, was rushed out and is disappointing after all the anticipation.
    Battle Ai is broken still to date especially in sieges, where they suicidally rush your lines towards the ''holy'' capture point, an entire army disintegrating and rushing to their death just to reach the siege capture point.
    Not worth buying your money is better spent on purchasing previous iterations of the franchise    … Expand
  72. TheGamer31
    Nov 3, 2013
    5
    They up this game so bad. Quite possibly the most disappointing game this year. Let us talk about how this game was disappointing, hm? Horrible in game character face models compared to the screen shots, laughable face animations, atrocious AI, painfully stressful loading times for both the single player campaign and multiplayer campaign with the more than 100 factions in the game, andThey up this game so bad. Quite possibly the most disappointing game this year. Let us talk about how this game was disappointing, hm? Horrible in game character face models compared to the screen shots, laughable face animations, atrocious AI, painfully stressful loading times for both the single player campaign and multiplayer campaign with the more than 100 factions in the game, and unbalanced units. I could take ONE group of twenty-four elephants and wipe out an opposing army of 2000 TROOPS!!! Yet I LOVE this game! Why? Because... it's Total War.… Expand
  73. avangelice
    Nov 2, 2013
    0
    How on Earth did some people provide a score of near 100 when it is obvious this game was not ready to be shipped to us? I am sorry CA you just killed one of your long standing customer here.
  74. Skelet0r06
    Nov 2, 2013
    2
    I honestly tried to like this game. I've been a fan of the total war series since the original medieval and have logged hundreds of hours of playtime in that and subsequent TW titles.

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

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

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

    After having spent twenty hours with this game desperately trying to find the spark I found in the original games of the series I've finally admitted defeat. I feel as if I've been tricked into paying sixty dollars for a beta release.    … Expand
  75. Kcin14
    Nov 2, 2013
    0
    Terrible AI, Game-breaking bugs, confusing UI, and terrible battles. This game clearly was not ready for release and everyone who bought it paid $60 for Alpha testing. Huge Disappointment.
  76. Lumo999
    Nov 2, 2013
    0
    Five patches later still a mess, Have played total war since the original Shogun, but no more after this mess. IF you accidentally hit the auto resolve battle even if the sides are 50-50, and you loss you army gets wiped out no survivors. The game is still full of bugs, I spent 3 hours attacking a city when the max time was meant to be 20 minutes, the game was stuck in mega slow motionFive patches later still a mess, Have played total war since the original Shogun, but no more after this mess. IF you accidentally hit the auto resolve battle even if the sides are 50-50, and you loss you army gets wiped out no survivors. The game is still full of bugs, I spent 3 hours attacking a city when the max time was meant to be 20 minutes, the game was stuck in mega slow motion even though it was in fast forward. The number of crashes is still real bad, this was the worse game I have every purchased by far.… Expand
  77. AncientAcid
    Nov 2, 2013
    3
    This game was broken. Features removed.. it's a gross over exaggeration of hype. The flag on the field of battles was worthless... no fortresses or detail put into the flag zone... just a flag in the field for nothing.
    The infantry units turned navy.. is pointless.. family trees removed... AI can't siege.. nor build siege towers or anything else. This game has been pretty much stripped of    This game was broken. Features removed.. it's a gross over exaggeration of hype. The flag on the field of battles was worthless... no fortresses or detail put into the flag zone... just a flag in the field for nothing.
    The infantry units turned navy.. is pointless.. family trees removed... AI can't siege.. nor build siege towers or anything else. This game has been pretty much stripped of most if not all of the best of Total War.

    They failed to improve upon the existing formula that has been in the game and put in some of the worst design decisions I've seen in years. Medieval Total War 2 was GOLD compared to this. Shogun2 is mind blowingly superior to most of the titles.. and this plain old FAILS to deliver on better and superior content than the old Rome Total War. On the plus side. There are a lot of factions in the game. Cities really don't look bad to me and are nicely detailed. I like a lot about the game.. but plain old stripping out what defined the previous titles in place of this clunky non intuitive GARBAGE UI makes the game TERRIBLE. This game was the most disappointing release of the DECADE,

    Been playing since Medieval total war and Shogun didn't have much to do with the latter. But man oh man was Shogun 2 worth all the wait. This is GARBAGE. It has literally fallen FLAT ON ITS FACE AT LAUNCH. The point is.. it's a reskinned Empire Total War you can see right through it. The most definitive review of this game is the Angry Joe Show's review.

    Everything that made Total War standout is in Rome Total War 1, Medieval Total War 1/2 & Shogun Total War 2 was the BEST in the entire series. Everything else is garbage. Creative Assembly is going to have a hell of a time picking up after this slop of a title. They simply refuse to keep improving what works.    … Expand
  78. Skilled_Seeker
    Nov 1, 2013
    10
    Don't understand the hate for this game whatsoever. I don't think it deserves a 10, more like an 8.5 but given the ridiculous number of 0's, I will give it a 10 to balance things out no matter how futile it is.
  79. sablesoilwork
    Nov 1, 2013
    0
    Huge fan of the series stunned they could go so far backwards in AI, UI, battles and campaign mode.

    Game doesn't deserve the current rating of 76 on metacritic and it's disgusting to see so many review sites posted positive reviews at release. Never trust paid critics folks.
  80. Pandakiller984
    Nov 1, 2013
    6
    Well lets start off by saying this game has a TON of potential.....and I'm sure that it could be delivered if the game was actually finished...which it is clearly not. The reason this horribly unfinished game a whopping 6 is because it has obviously given us a lot things such as simpler city management, Cool battle animations with a sweet camera, and various other things such as buildingWell lets start off by saying this game has a TON of potential.....and I'm sure that it could be delivered if the game was actually finished...which it is clearly not. The reason this horribly unfinished game a whopping 6 is because it has obviously given us a lot things such as simpler city management, Cool battle animations with a sweet camera, and various other things such as building unique armies and navys and having a lot of various things to do within your faction.....But boy oh boy is this game flawed with an enormous amount of glitches and bugs, the game's AI is LAUGHABLE some of the dumbest I have ever seen, and I said the city management is simpilar but it gets rid of so much control that we loved in the first Rome Total war, While the battles are cool the graphics and UI are a little bad considering the 40% bigger budget than all the other games. There is many more Cons and a few Pros I missed as well but I hope this gets you to think about possibly waiting until the price drops or the game is actually...Finished… Expand
  81. leoriela
    Nov 1, 2013
    5
    Total ripoff. Developers did not complete the game but released a bunch of DLC expecting us to pay what should have been in the game in the first place. This is the last TW game i am going to buy
  82. Mynameispingu
    Nov 1, 2013
    2
    Like most reviewers here, I was once a very big Total War fan.
    But since this installment I am no longer. For;
    1. The state it has been released is just a diabolic mess 2. The AI is a diabolic mess 3. It feels really lazily made 4. What happened to the soul? I felt this dying when Shogun 2 came out. 5. All of this pointless DLC that's already in the game, but you want us to pay more    Like most reviewers here, I was once a very big Total War fan.
    But since this installment I am no longer. For;
    1. The state it has been released is just a diabolic mess
    2. The AI is a diabolic mess
    3. It feels really lazily made
    4. What happened to the soul? I felt this dying when Shogun 2 came out.
    5. All of this pointless DLC that's already in the game, but you want us to pay more than your already AAA title release price. I mean honestly in the previous installment of Rome, once you conquered a faction, you could play as them in a campaign. This is no longer the case, for you basically have to purchase half the factions at an incredibly unreasonable price (for e.g. 3 factions cost you £5.99).
    so my advice to people wishing to purchase this game, wait for an ultimate edition with all the DLC, that way you'll save money and your hair.
    My advice to SEGA and CA, please sort out your no more pointless DLC, no more 5 minute battles, do what you did for your old multiplayer that was way funner, and iron out the bugs before release.

    ALSO DO NOT LISTEN TO THE 'REAL' CRITICS
    Who just are seemingly paid under the table to write relatively nice things.
    The game's a f*cking disaster.    … Expand
  83. Stewhammer
    Oct 31, 2013
    9
    Release was horrible but patches have fixed most problems. AI still needs some work but for the most part the game is fantastic! I can understand people giving bad scores at release but they have no right to give 0's at this point or anything below a 7.
  84. Razgriz44
    Oct 31, 2013
    0
    Agree with avaspara, horrible AI, Sluggish graphics, Poorly optimized Lacks any of the soul of other Total War games. An abysmal launch that is characteristic of Creative Assembly.

    Paid reviewers got paid to give this game high marks. The average joe who had to spend $60.00 on this got taken advantage of. Avoid at all costs!
  85. HeresyX
    Oct 31, 2013
    1
    I have many times promised myself "I'll never buy a Total War game again!" The release versions have been too unpolished for my taste, sometimes outright broken. However, I've always been won back. I pre-ordered Rome 2, and my expectations were very high. The previews and hype gave the impression of a superb game. The truth, was honestly quite underwhelming. First of all, the performanceI have many times promised myself "I'll never buy a Total War game again!" The release versions have been too unpolished for my taste, sometimes outright broken. However, I've always been won back. I pre-ordered Rome 2, and my expectations were very high. The previews and hype gave the impression of a superb game. The truth, was honestly quite underwhelming. First of all, the performance is awful. My computer vastly exceeds the recommended specs, but I can still barely play on medium-low settings. The AI is terrible. I easily win every battle, with minimal losses. The between-turn loading times are too long. Naval battles are a total joke why did they destroy the functional naval battles from Empire or Shogun 2? Some game play elements like the senate and the tech tree are useless or odd at best. Worst of all they already started selling DLC, even though the game in itself is hardly finished. In summary: An unfinished game, and atrocious marketing. Wait a year untill this game is in the budget bin, and buy a pack with all DLC included. Maybe then you'll get a finished game.… Expand
  86. tutevukantabu
    Oct 31, 2013
    10
    La majorité des bugs ont été corrigés, le jeu est stable graphiquement, les développeurs sont l'écoute et modifient le jeu en fonction des critiques sur les forums.
    La plupart des notes négatives ne sont plus valables vu qu'elles se basent sur des bugs qui n'existent plus. Le jeu en lui même est plaisant, le travail sur les unités et peuples de l'antiquité est juste couper le souffle.    La majorité des bugs ont été corrigés, le jeu est stable graphiquement, les développeurs sont l'écoute et modifient le jeu en fonction des critiques sur les forums.
    La plupart des notes négatives ne sont plus valables vu qu'elles se basent sur des bugs qui n'existent plus. Le jeu en lui même est plaisant, le travail sur les unités et peuples de l'antiquité est juste couper le souffle. Les graphismes sont inégalés. La difficulté est la surtout en légendaire. Les nouvelles fonctionnalités donnent un coup de jeune la série.
    En temps normal j'aurais mis 8 pour certaines fonctionnalités bâclées mais vu le nombre de trolls sur ce site, le 10 s'impose    … Expand
  87. JJJMMM1
    Oct 30, 2013
    3
    Unit AI and overall enemy AI in battles is worse than in Empire or Napoleon. Let that statement sink in before I say anything else.

    I've played the game for about 20 hours and I've had enough. I won't touch it again, even if a DarthMod is implemented. I'm saying this because the AI is beyond repair and there's no challenge. Enemy unit behavior in battles is consistently nonsensical and    Unit AI and overall enemy AI in battles is worse than in Empire or Napoleon. Let that statement sink in before I say anything else.

    I've played the game for about 20 hours and I've had enough. I won't touch it again, even if a DarthMod is implemented. I'm saying this because the AI is beyond repair and there's no challenge. Enemy unit behavior in battles is consistently nonsensical and there's never an illusion that the army is unified under one general.

    What happens when you lose a battle? I can't say, since I've never lost one. This is partly because the campaign AI feeds individual units to me one by one, but mostly because all of the battles are autowins. I've been up against armies twice as strong as mine many times, but never felt challenged in the least.

    I believe these are things that cannot be fixed by tweaking variable values or iterating on the current AI engine. The whole thing needs to be redesigned from scratch in a future TW game, using completely different principles.

    Units also move faster than ever which makes the game feel arcade-like. Battles quickly turn into zergling clashes instead of great historical battles which is lame. This change probably takes away the fun of multiplayer as well the one thing that is not by default ruined by the lack of AI.

    The game improves on just about nothing apart from the graphics, which are at this stage very buggy.    … Expand
  88. CommonConsumer
    Oct 30, 2013
    0
    I loved the first Rome total war, I enjoyed it so much and put upwards of +100 hours into it.
    So as you can imagine when i heard Rome 2 was coming out i was very very very and very excited.
    You know when you buy a game and you think, well this can only go 2 ways, Good or Bad" well thats not the case here, The creators have taken pre order and new purchase of games to a whole new    I loved the first Rome total war, I enjoyed it so much and put upwards of +100 hours into it.
    So as you can imagine when i heard Rome 2 was coming out i was very very very and very excited.

    You know when you buy a game and you think, well this can only go 2 ways, Good or Bad" well thats not the case here, The creators have taken pre order and new purchase of games to a whole new level.
    This game was neither good nor bad, Instead it was BUTCHERED. It has the potential of becoming a 10/10 in my opinion. But its clear to me that the creators were on a mission to, instead of creating a fan oriented game, try something different. It's that different that has destroyed this game. The game is unplayable, the graphics, lagging, and glitches make it UNPLAYABLE, the AI, Diplomacy, Battles make it UNBEARABLE, The fact that some of the best features in ROME 1 have been removed is a testimony of how little the people behind this game listen to their fans.

    Whats the worst part? I WANT TO PLAY IT! Its has so much potential! there are so many improvements and new features that compliment the game in so many ways. Sure at first you might be thinking "well it's not so bad" but after playing for a few hours you will be ripping your hair out and slamming your coputer against the wall. What am I talking about? well here, look at this:

    Your at war with a another faction, You have taken all cities but one, all of its armies destroyed, it's even in debt, yet it still will not make peace or become your client state. NO LOGIC.

    Brokering a Trade Agreement which benefits both sides is non existent. I had an empire with some 20 provinces(Over 30 cities) with 0, count em ZERO trade partners.

    Civil war erupts at random, My nation at one point had several angry cities, and my family had very little influence NO WAR, After i become successful in military campaigns, made my cities happy, and my family prominent, along with good relations with EVERYONE all around CIVIL WAR, WTF!?

    NAVIES ARE OBSOLETE AS YOUR ARMY CAN TRAVEL ON WATER AND IS STRONGER THAN TRAINED NAVAL VESSELS.

    you have 3 agents that you can hire, all of which are pretty much the same with minor differences.

    The game is too easy, no i don't mean the settings, or I'm super good, I mean your enemy will go suicide on you and will attack you constantly with tiny forces until they have no military strength (good luck with diplomacy, its like an upset 2 year old)

    Battle, Seriously? Formations break on impact, nearly all battles last less than 10 minutes, there are "capture points', basically if you have a weak force, attack your enemy and even if your forces will be crushed, send 1 unit to capture that point (it works every time) and you win. the AI does this to you constantly, it just goes for the capture point and ignores your forces.

    Overall, the Cons out weigh the Pros ridiculously.... I want to play this game, because i really like it.... buts its unplayable. hopefully, after they release the patches, and maybe someone creates a mod for it, it will have a better score.    … Expand
  89. Wolverinemetacr
    Oct 30, 2013
    1
    Having played all Total War Title and playing more than 50 hours in this game I can say this is by far the worst of the bunch. What happened I wish I knew.
  90. Ed_
    Oct 30, 2013
    7
    After the release of patch 5, the game improved really well. The gameplay became enjoyable and the AI improved slightly.

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

    All in all, download all the patches and feel the difference.
  91. Duczek
    Oct 30, 2013
    0
    Preordering this game was one of my biggest mistakes in my life. Right now I feel naive and cheated.
    The Ai is terrible, plain stupid and broken, every previous game had a better one even the Rome1. It feels as it's scripted to charge from the front and push cav from the flanks and that's all. Every single battle... But camparing to siege Ai it is great as siege Ai is completely broken, I    Preordering this game was one of my biggest mistakes in my life. Right now I feel naive and cheated.
    The Ai is terrible, plain stupid and broken, every previous game had a better one even the Rome1. It feels as it's scripted to charge from the front and push cav from the flanks and that's all. Every single battle... But camparing to siege Ai it is great as siege Ai is completely broken, I don't even understand how it is possible to fail so badly, they aren't even able to use the machines they have...
    The unit cards are ugly and confusing. The campaign Ai is stoopid and useless.

    Multiplayer in Shogun 2 was a major step forward, that is why I have no idea what were they thinking leaving this well built formula and creating this Quick battles which were fun in Shogun are terrible here, you can;t choose whether to play siege or a normal battle.

    I feel cheated or even robed. Sega should refund money to all the people and after a year release a normal product, but I doubt it will happen :/
    This isn't a game, this is a Beta Version and I don't remember buying early acces... I wanted a complete product.
    I am really ashamed as I respected CA and Sega and right now I am sure that I won't buy their games in preorder and I will think twice on buying them.

    With regards, cheated customer.    … Expand
  92. maeglys
    Oct 29, 2013
    1
    Very bad compared to the previous Total War, specially Shogun II. Poorly optimized, bad/bugged AI, clunky and inefficient UI. Naval battles are a joke with free transport.

    Only good thing is the provincial system.
  93. SirenSounds
    Oct 29, 2013
    4
    Horribly disappointing game. So much potential lost in this series due to this game and where it could have been and where it went.

    Gameplay is lacking on soo many levels!! As soon as you hit "Start Battle" the whole reason to even purchase a TW game goes out the window as your units and the AI units become a visual mob-mosh pit-pile of black ants fighting at a standing distance. Its    Horribly disappointing game. So much potential lost in this series due to this game and where it could have been and where it went.

    Gameplay is lacking on soo many levels!! As soon as you hit "Start Battle" the whole reason to even purchase a TW game goes out the window as your units and the AI units become a visual mob-mosh pit-pile of black ants fighting at a standing distance. Its such a disappointment. How can CA go from the visually stunning ETW, Napoleon, Shogun II to this?

    Unit abilities are weak, uninspired, difficult to manage, completely unnecessary for battles that last 2 minutes or less. Can you imagine? TWO minutes and a battle between 5,000 vs 4700 men is over with. You barely have time to even tell a unit to move-attack-brace before it becomes a mosh pit of indistinguishable masses. So now you have no idea if your units are using shield wall, phalanx or just some form of chaos/anarchy attack.

    Campaign AI is a complete and total step back from other TW title in that nations-tribes refuse to attack you and will instead wander about the map on sightseeing tours. Imagine if you will an army of 9000 men, just 2 days outside of Rome and the Legions stationed there decided to simply go off to Naples for some R'n'R? This occurs constantly around the map. Or entire armies will become navies to sail around the Mediterranean looking for mermaids.

    Bottomline, even if this game is half price its over-priced in its current state. Even as a $9.99 Steam deal its borderline, and that's being generous.    … Expand
  94. kaput
    Oct 29, 2013
    2
    Rome 2 is boring over hyped overpriced game!!!!
    CA plan and simple lied to its fans, i would rather not see them put out another game than something like piece crap!!!
    Sad that got all that money for something so broken.
  95. jimmypage1992
    Oct 29, 2013
    1
    as a huge fan of the original rome total war, I was eagerly awaiting for the release of Rome II as they hyped this game to death. i can only say that i am utterly devastated by this game ,and it makes me kinda sad to see such a miserable sequel to the game i grew up with and enjoyed playing for more than 3 years.
    from the technical side: a the game is clearly in beta phase, the graphics    as a huge fan of the original rome total war, I was eagerly awaiting for the release of Rome II as they hyped this game to death. i can only say that i am utterly devastated by this game ,and it makes me kinda sad to see such a miserable sequel to the game i grew up with and enjoyed playing for more than 3 years.
    from the technical side: a the game is clearly in beta phase, the graphics can't in any way look even close to what we've been shown in the siege of carthage video a year before the game's release plenty of bugs and game breaking crashes ,utter failure on the optimisation side that was clearly a work of amateurs :the warscape engine is just broken.
    now to the most important issue in this game due to gameplay and design choices it's the lack of overall fun the feeling of the one more turn is dead and gone the game is so boring ,shallow and soulless, due mostly to the removed features in this game ,the ones that made the campaign so enjoyable ,and instead replaced some of them them with new ones that actually make no sens at all take the example of the moronic so called politics system. i don't even get why they called it system where all you have to do is click on random buttons without knowing what result will this have on your faction's politics .also the removal of family tree the burning down of metal gates with stupid torches, the absolutely incapable AI ,units can't keep formation, no strategic sense in battles, playing romans is the same thing as playing barbarians ,fights always develop into major blobs so you can't even see the fancy new animation they were bragging about ridiculous naval battles,arcady battles, restricted liberty in building choices and on and on... i can keep mentioning the major cons of this game all day long .so you got it, as a veteran total war fan from 2004 with rome 1. i am more than disappointed with this game all that have been promised about a masterpiece was all lies and marketing hype i couldn't enjoy the game for it lacks most of what made the total war series so great and is an insult to the customers and especially the total war veterans .
    PS the only thing that i liked was the beauty of the campaign map and there's isn't even seasons changing with turns so mehhh is al i gotta say THIS game is the downfall of the series     … Expand
  96. speeDRunner
    Oct 29, 2013
    8
    Post patch 5, the game is near to perfection. I've been having the most difficult Macedonian campaign ever, it will test your decision making in every sphere military campaigning, managing your finances, its eithera win-win situation or you lose in a chain reaction.

    There are a lot of factions in this game, so if you're playing a major faction, you'll be at war with minor factions in    Post patch 5, the game is near to perfection. I've been having the most difficult Macedonian campaign ever, it will test your decision making in every sphere military campaigning, managing your finances, its eithera win-win situation or you lose in a chain reaction.

    There are a lot of factions in this game, so if you're playing a major faction, you'll be at war with minor factions in the beginning. And mind you, these minor factions when allied against you are even more major threat than even the biggest, largest factions and thats what makes your mind racing. It is always you have to secure yourself certain provinces and territories so you can expand further.

    Province system is awesome. You have a provincial capital and minor sub-settlements, making the fight to glory even harsher and challenging demanding capture of every settlement to secure a province, Unlike previous total wars where you captured the capital and the whole province was yours.

    The only thing that receives my negative attention is the poor optimization. CA needs to optimize the game ASAP or they are losing fans in perpetuity. I myself had to change a lot of custom settings to make the game playable. It was UNPLAYABLE in the beginning and CA needs to address that.

    And one final advice, those negative reviews are pre patch 5 when the game was in a horrible condition, almost a pre-alpha. Believe me, now you will enjoy the game to the fullest! provided you interfere with some custom settings to make the game playable!    … Expand
  97. sir_langan
    Oct 29, 2013
    6
    While there are a lot of problems, a hell of a lot, this is still a good game. One of the problems this game has is that the bar was set so high after all the previous titles in the series. Without that as a comparison this would be a great game.

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

    But there is the comparison. Streamlining isn't something the fans of this series want. This game was streamlined in so many ways it is ridiculous. Hopefully it has a long redevelopment life.    … Expand
  98. TheMetalfreak
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    This game just just isn't fun at all. I have no idea what they did, when I got any of the earlier TW games, I always sat in my chair for hours and days and close to months to play the game. But not on this, and the game is broken in every thinkable way possible. At the start I was hyped as hell, probably as everybody else, how could CA screw this up? They couldn't! Even with 40% largerThis game just just isn't fun at all. I have no idea what they did, when I got any of the earlier TW games, I always sat in my chair for hours and days and close to months to play the game. But not on this, and the game is broken in every thinkable way possible. At the start I was hyped as hell, probably as everybody else, how could CA screw this up? They couldn't! Even with 40% larger budjet to the game then Shogun 2 TW. Apparantly they managed to do it. I think personally it has something with their policy of having the minimum demands which they always have had. But anyways, the game is broken. Especially the A.I, they give no challenge whatsoever, they are stupid tactically, invading a harbor with 1 boat, and engaging, people that won't jump of the boat, and locking them stuck in the ship, and making you lose the battle because you cannot target them and kill them. I just hope the community and the endless (but slow) patches from CA can fix it to make it atleast playable.… Expand
  99. SethFaded
    Oct 28, 2013
    3
    This game is the downfall of TW series. Bad optimisation, low fps, nonexistent AI, extremely quick battles, AI doesn't use siege battles, there's nothing strategic in siege battles, broken formations, useless political system, op transport ships make the battle ships look useless, too many bugs and many more negative things.
    Positive things: Fancy graphics
    To anyone consider buying this    This game is the downfall of TW series. Bad optimisation, low fps, nonexistent AI, extremely quick battles, AI doesn't use siege battles, there's nothing strategic in siege battles, broken formations, useless political system, op transport ships make the battle ships look useless, too many bugs and many more negative things.
    Positive things: Fancy graphics
    To anyone consider buying this game, DON'T! It's so broken, that the current patches made little improvement. Better buy this game when it will be 75% discounted.    … Expand
  100. Dunadd
    Oct 28, 2013
    4
    Rome II has a few nice features the original Rome Total War lacked, like cavalry being able to dismount for assaults on cities and a battlefield AI which, after patching, is reasonably competent and doesn't throw it's generals in immediately to their deaths to try to run down a unit of skirmishers. Unfortunately it not only drops many of the most interesting, enjoyable and atmosphereRome II has a few nice features the original Rome Total War lacked, like cavalry being able to dismount for assaults on cities and a battlefield AI which, after patching, is reasonably competent and doesn't throw it's generals in immediately to their deaths to try to run down a unit of skirmishers. Unfortunately it not only drops many of the most interesting, enjoyable and atmosphere enhancing features that were in the original Rome, but also implements many features in ways that destroy game-play, believability and historical accuracy. It also seems unfinished

    The province system in which cities are grouped into provinces in which buildings in one city affect every city in the province held by the same faction is interesting, but the way buildings work is pretty annoying.

    You can research technology, but the starting tech isn't even bronze age you need a tech advance for battering rams and ladders.

    The level of detail you can see in your settlements population, happiness/unhappiness, squalor etc is massively reduced as is info on where income and trade income comes from.

    The political system and 1 year turns result in generals being recalled or dying as soon as they get any significant experience or skills. Agents don't last much longer.

    The stylised icon interface is annoying and not intuitive.

    The AI and bugs in assaults on walled cities is pretty terrible even after patching.

    There are over 100 factions, but many are out of period or just made up, including client states like Carthage's two and they slow the AI turn down more and more as the game progresses.

    Worst of all are the instant super transports. Any army can create transports to carry it by stepping off a beach, for free. They're capable of fighting in sea battles and beating any starting fleet whether in auto-calc or not by weight of numbers.

    Every faction from Scythian nomad horse archers to Spanish and African tribes goes for a sail in the Mediterranean, with nothing much to fear from enemy navies. Factions which lose all their cities also take to the sea. They then either float there till they slowly die, or hover off the coast forcing you to place armies in all your coastal cities for dozens of turns until they slowly die of attrition, or else they take cities by avoiding your land armies and acting as vikings. What? Build fleets to hunt them down you say? But you can't afford to ships for fleets take time and money to build and require pay. Instant transports don't and your own field armies are tied down on land preventing them from coming back by sea.

    Bizarrely the game designers have decided that transports should be just a slightly inferior version of a large oared warship with the same hundreds of oarsmen and ram and sleek design as a warship. In reality in the Roman and Hellenistic period transports were usually commandeered merchant sailing ships, because they could carry enough troops, horses and food and water for them. Oared warships were good for ramming, boarding and raking the oars off of enemy ships but all those oarsmen and the narrow hulls to make them maneuverable left them with no room to carry more than a few marines. They usually followed coastlines so they could land to get food and water for the oarsmen each day and so they could land if there was bad weather as oared galleys were not very seaworthy. Yet insta-super-transports somehow fit hundreds of soldiers, horses and elephants.

    Unlike in the original Rome you can fight out sea battles rather than just autocalc them. The ships and marines in sea battles look great, but the way sea battles work is pretty lamentable. Boarding is made very easy. No need to use grapples (iron hooks on ropes) to get close to an enemy ship to board it, let alone use a corvus (rotatable boarding ramp with a spike on the end to go through the enemy deck) bumping into them is good enough. Even more ridiculously, once one ship is boarding another no other ship or marines can touch either of them.

    Historically smaller galleys could outmanouvre and defeat larger ships as at the battle of Actium. In Rome II small ships are incapable of doing much damage to larger ones, even where the large ship is a transport or some lightly built viking style ship. Historically a small oared galley with a metal plated ram could turn faster than larger ships and immobilise them by oar raking (shearing off enemy ship's oars using ram). Or they could sink them by ramming broadside and holing it below the waterline.

    The myriad bugs a requiring endless patching and missing features suggest it was rushed out incomplete and without even beta testing.

    Rome II runs poorly and with poor graphics on many PCs and laptops unless the Graphical Enhancement Mod is used. Mistakes made in the ongoing patching process make the game currently not run with mods. Anyone thinking of buying should hold off for at least 6 months and maybe a year or two till patching is over and better mods finished    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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