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. GeneralBohr
    Oct 28, 2013
    1
    First the good things:
    By the looks it is of the CD cover and graphics it is good looking. There is a big campaign map which gives you the ability to conquer the lands from Asia to northern Europe.
    Multiplayer campaign map where you can play with a friend either as enemies or allies. Many factions. Rolling balls and other traps in the battles. The diplomacy has been improved. Bad    First the good things:
    By the looks it is of the CD cover and graphics it is good looking. There is a big campaign map which gives you the ability to conquer the lands from Asia to northern Europe.
    Multiplayer campaign map where you can play with a friend either as enemies or allies.
    Many factions.
    Rolling balls and other traps in the battles.
    The diplomacy has been improved.

    Bad things:
    It runs slow!
    The campaign map is slow and you have to watch these horrible slow-motion battles on the campaign map after you have played a battle. The movement of troops on campaign map is slow. The battles is slow because you have to wait 5 minutes before the enemy approaches your army even when you choose the fastest speed.

    Stupid AI!
    The siege AI is stupid it throws torches at your wall and only tries to get into one of your gates! You can defeat the AI's greatest army without any troops. Your walls will kill them and with burning oil and some troops based at the gates you get easy win.
    The campaign AI doesn't do much except a few nations.

    Unrealistic!
    In the game you can throw burning torches at a steel gate and get it to burn. In a region you can only have walls in the "capital" in that region.

    Features removed from the original game.
    Building of walls. The family tree is removed which gives you no relationship with your generals and you really don't care if they die or live, because they die so quickly. Population is removed and now you can recruit unlimited troops and build all the buildings you want. The turns is now one turn=one year, and seasons has been removed. There is a limit for elite units in this game.

    Spam in messages.
    You get a lot of messages about agents sabotaging your armies or cities expect around ten of these messages each turn. Slave revolt and some politics you really don't care about and choose a random option.

    Maybe the game will be fixed about one year to 1½ but I will not get my hopes up. But it is a beautiful game and therefore the score 1. But I don't play games for graphics alone so I would prefer the Rome I game instead of this at the moment.    … Expand
  2. God_Legend
    Oct 28, 2013
    10
    I am writing a review to say that after 5 patches and 8 free factions alongside the original ones available, that the game has improved immensely. AI could still use more work (getting there), but a lot of the technical and performance issues are becoming non-existent with 5 patches and AMD and Nvidia releasing dedicated drivers. The game received way too many bad reviews at the start,I am writing a review to say that after 5 patches and 8 free factions alongside the original ones available, that the game has improved immensely. AI could still use more work (getting there), but a lot of the technical and performance issues are becoming non-existent with 5 patches and AMD and Nvidia releasing dedicated drivers. The game received way too many bad reviews at the start, everything was there, they just needed to patch things up, which is not the fault of Creative Assembly. Sega is the publisher and tells CA when it is to be released, no matter how incomplete it is. I would look into updated reviews from major review sites or other metacritic users to get an idea of the games state as of now, because it is amazing. Also remember that this game is moddable and takes advantage of steam workshop, mods are easy to find and install and can improve your experience tremendously.… Expand
  3. Arctarus
    Oct 28, 2013
    0
    Alas RTW2 suffers the same fate as its predecessors, and what's been said of its weaknesses are indeed, true. At first glance, it feels much more a of a game than a beta while playing the prologue, but past that one realizes that RTW2 is much less than what the little positive and so called "reviews" it's been getting. Sadly, the naval battles are more similar to say TW Empire, and noAlas RTW2 suffers the same fate as its predecessors, and what's been said of its weaknesses are indeed, true. At first glance, it feels much more a of a game than a beta while playing the prologue, but past that one realizes that RTW2 is much less than what the little positive and so called "reviews" it's been getting. Sadly, the naval battles are more similar to say TW Empire, and no attempts has been made to revamp it for a more solid naval battle option. The diplomacy makes no sense either; give me gold for a non aggression pact even though you could take my gold, wife, and land for free. There is no AI guard command this ship or this unit either. In the end, RTW2 resembles more of a previous RTW with its problems and bundled together with some "improved" graphics and little new gameplay and rushed for "preorder". Some Pre-order marketing ploy, more a consumer trap than anything else. Just like air in your ice cream for the price of a 100% ice cream. 0 for duping the consumer, 0 for making us buy such trash. F- for failing at making "new" games. Did you cheat on your IQ test?… Expand
  4. Bertzilla
    Oct 28, 2013
    8
    Finally purchased Rome II this past weekend after Patch 5 was released. I will state now that I am an old time Total War fan and I have quite a high end system. Having said that I have had no frame rate problems even with all the settings cranked up. Also, I have been reading all about how long it takes for the AI to run through its turn; no issues here, takes about 10 seconds. NowFinally purchased Rome II this past weekend after Patch 5 was released. I will state now that I am an old time Total War fan and I have quite a high end system. Having said that I have had no frame rate problems even with all the settings cranked up. Also, I have been reading all about how long it takes for the AI to run through its turn; no issues here, takes about 10 seconds. Now granted, I have only just started playing and I am sure I will run into some glitches soon enough but so far I am impressed, but can only imagine how rough it must have been to play this game before all the patches were released. Although CA and Sega really screwed up the launch of Rome II, it seems like they are committed to making it the epic strategy that we all know it can be and I even think it can easily surpass Shogun II, although there is still work needed to be done especially on the AI. Keep at it folks.… Expand
  5. tveevers
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    When I first started playing this game I thought it was pretty good but the further I got into it I have just been left feeling bored and uninterested and consequently after about 20-30 hours of playing time I have finished with it. I have played most of the total war games in the past and enjoyed them all but this one is very poor in comparison. I even went back to the original RomeWhen I first started playing this game I thought it was pretty good but the further I got into it I have just been left feeling bored and uninterested and consequently after about 20-30 hours of playing time I have finished with it. I have played most of the total war games in the past and enjoyed them all but this one is very poor in comparison. I even went back to the original Rome game and found this far more enjoyable in comparison.

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

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

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

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

    At least I had the sense to wait before buying the game as most of the bugs have been removed and I bought it for less than the original asking price. Having said that if I could, I would take my money back in exchange for the game! Very disappointing!    … Expand
  6. vertibird
    Oct 28, 2013
    0
    Compared to previous total war titles, Rome Total War 2 has:
    1- Serious performance and technial issues. Campaign turn times are also significiantly long. You are waiting more than playing. There are occasional crashes and BSODS. FPS drops to a crawl in game even if you have great rig.
    2- Non-existant AI. Yes the Artificial intelligence is beyond help in this game. This ruins the fun for    Compared to previous total war titles, Rome Total War 2 has:
    1- Serious performance and technial issues. Campaign turn times are also significiantly long. You are waiting more than playing. There are occasional crashes and BSODS. FPS drops to a crawl in game even if you have great rig.
    2- Non-existant AI. Yes the Artificial intelligence is beyond help in this game. This ruins the fun for campaign and battles because you dont have real challenge because there is no AI here.
    3- Cut out content. Best features of previous titles cut out from the game.
    4- Lack of RPG elements. No family tree, no story etc...
    5- 1 turn per year system. Your generals, agents age really fast and die before you can develop them properly.
    6- Lack of inspiration, political system doesnt work.
    7- Magical torches, no siege AI. There is no need for siege weapons in this game because you can just burn the gates down with torches.
    8-Balance issues, bugs etc. Formations are bugged, some units like chariots and elephants dont work properly.
    9- Lack of Creative Assembly's support. They have a thread in total war forums that they dont intend to fix most of the issues they mean ''they are working as intended'' like magical torches...
    10- Naval battles seriously bugged and inbalanced, transport ships are stronger than real naval ships...    … Expand
  7. xNuahs
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    Quite easily the most uninspired game of Total War. Never mind that the game launched with a beta versions worth of game-breaking problems My game worked perfectly from day one and only revealed to me as a long-time total war fan the worst Total War game I've ever played.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    But if you're the kind of gamer who is entertained by any game and appreciate games being dumbed down for you then you'd probably still enjoy Rome 2.    … Expand
  8. theCID
    Oct 27, 2013
    3
    To put it plainly Rome II has certainly made it clear to all Total War fans that there was no real intention of making this game better even after so many years. Rome I is far superior to this dreadful nightmare. This is most evidently seen in the AI. Holy sh&I?THE AI. Well, I know this statement is seen in almost every review, but I just do not believe this single fact can beTo put it plainly Rome II has certainly made it clear to all Total War fans that there was no real intention of making this game better even after so many years. Rome I is far superior to this dreadful nightmare. This is most evidently seen in the AI. Holy sh&I?THE AI. Well, I know this statement is seen in almost every review, but I just do not believe this single fact can be overemphasized. After more than 15 hrs put in this game I realized for one the campaign gameplay would never get better, as it continuously becomes so dull that it becomes aggravating, and second, the ridiculous time it takes for each turn to end. Sigh. This game is a shame and a mockery to all of us who were sucked in to believing that yes indeed this game would be better than its predecessor.… Expand
  9. AMysteryUser
    Oct 27, 2013
    8
    I just picked this game up and frankly Its exactly what I wanted from a total war game that being said it has some fps issues and I had to install a couple of mods to tune the traits and character ageing which were both unwisely setup to say the least (the traits were boring and everyone drops dead of old age way to fast by default). But hey its total war and the AI got patched and can nowI just picked this game up and frankly Its exactly what I wanted from a total war game that being said it has some fps issues and I had to install a couple of mods to tune the traits and character ageing which were both unwisely setup to say the least (the traits were boring and everyone drops dead of old age way to fast by default). But hey its total war and the AI got patched and can now fight back!… Expand
  10. deadhunter22
    Oct 27, 2013
    0
    Created a metacritic account just to rate this game. I have been a long time player of Total War series, ever since Shogun I. I am very disappointed in the new game. The economy portion of the game was pretty much wiped out and has made the game extremely boring. Also, you feel very limited on who you can/should attack. Since the economy was removed, you are forced to attack with veryCreated a metacritic account just to rate this game. I have been a long time player of Total War series, ever since Shogun I. I am very disappointed in the new game. The economy portion of the game was pretty much wiped out and has made the game extremely boring. Also, you feel very limited on who you can/should attack. Since the economy was removed, you are forced to attack with very small armies as well which is frustrating.… Expand
  11. ozi
    Oct 27, 2013
    0
    When I first heard about this release, I was so excited, TW is my favourite game series. I'm not a fan of pre-ordering, but I did, as CA used a blackmail technique (if you don't pre-order, we will charge you extra for DLC.) Knowing this would probably be my favourite game ever, I took the risk.

    Biggest mistake ever. There is so much wrong I can't list it all here. But here are the    When I first heard about this release, I was so excited, TW is my favourite game series. I'm not a fan of pre-ordering, but I did, as CA used a blackmail technique (if you don't pre-order, we will charge you extra for DLC.) Knowing this would probably be my favourite game ever, I took the risk.

    Biggest mistake ever. There is so much wrong I can't list it all here. But here are the game-breakers that still haven't been fixed:

    Optimisation- CA believes "running" a game is getting 20 fps in the benchmark. However, the benchmark does not represent the game. If you get 20fps then, then when you have say 4000 on the battlefield, you will get a slideshow.

    AI- I'm sure you've heard the AI is bad. There have been some improvements, open field battle can be interesting, but the siege AI is worse than Rome 1 (no exaggeration, AI can't use engines, doesn't react when fired upon from 10 ft away, always puts skirmishers on walls even if you are using ladders with heavy infantry.)

    Immersion- The game is boring, I remember the amount of time I put into other TWs, in this game I can't get past turn 50 without getting bored of the game. The really is so little to do on the campaign map. If you're like me, and you like to play the economy/diplomacy game, you will find it fun for the first hour, then you will have nothing to do.

    In summary, don't expect it to be even close to any other TW game. Good for a few hours of play if you can get into it, buy it when it goes on sale, I'd say this title is worth spending no more than 10 bucks on.

    Also did the 40% extra budget go on bribing critics or what?    … Expand
  12. Albano
    Oct 27, 2013
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Shame, the worst game in the series total war, incomplete, without translation into Spanish and Italian.
    Full of bugs, devoid of content, 54.99 A FRAUD!!!.

    resort to modders for the game does well,,

    to shame.    … Expand
  13. headhunterU23
    Oct 27, 2013
    1
    You dream to bring Rome out of the darkness? Face the Carthaginian threat? Invade the uncharted barbarian lands? Honor the gods and your family? Et caetera. Well, install Rome Total War I (one). Don't waste your time or disk space installing Rome Total War II (Two), after playing the tutorial you will find yourself wondering what's going on. The answer is: nothing, Rome Total War 2 is justYou dream to bring Rome out of the darkness? Face the Carthaginian threat? Invade the uncharted barbarian lands? Honor the gods and your family? Et caetera. Well, install Rome Total War I (one). Don't waste your time or disk space installing Rome Total War II (Two), after playing the tutorial you will find yourself wondering what's going on. The answer is: nothing, Rome Total War 2 is just an empty shell. Golden empty shell, but empty nevertheless. I won't waste my time and yours writing about what's not good about this game, the only thing I have to say is: I wouldn't install this game even if this was a freeware. Ah yes, I have something more to say: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.… Expand
  14. Jonathan117
    Oct 27, 2013
    1
    Rome 2 was supposed to be the best TW game as of yet... this is sadly far from the truth, the game is broken in every way possible, even worse than Empire Total war. I can't stress this enough; DON'T SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF SH*T!
  15. mickeymorris626
    Oct 26, 2013
    10
    Do i wish this game came out as it is right now (late October), all patched up and tidy? yes! am i going to hold it against Creative? NO! every gamer should understand the relationship between the game devs and the publishers! Sega says the games going to be ready by a specific date, and that's final. I'm sure the developers would have loved to polish this game to its current shiny state.Do i wish this game came out as it is right now (late October), all patched up and tidy? yes! am i going to hold it against Creative? NO! every gamer should understand the relationship between the game devs and the publishers! Sega says the games going to be ready by a specific date, and that's final. I'm sure the developers would have loved to polish this game to its current shiny state.

    In short, all the haters should give it a go now that the developers had their extra time to work on it, its a marvelous addition to the Total War series, dare i say the second best (after Rome I)    … Expand
  16. BigMac849
    Oct 26, 2013
    8
    After the patches CA has been rolling out, I must say this is my favourite of the series. If we continue to get these great patches, I can see this game becoming a solid 9.
  17. pmatt147
    Oct 26, 2013
    0
    I'm left to wonder: did they even try with this game? Very buggy, box art is impractical and annoying, meters instead of of units...etc. Most facets of the game are unnecessary or buggy. In actuality, the game plays like a 6 but it's clear to me that they just don't care with making Total War games anymore.
  18. J4MESOX4D
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    It's not very often a series declines game after game but the Total War titles seem to be on a downward spiral to nothingness and Rome 2 highlights the sheer drop in quality from the excellence of the original.

    The ambition of the game seems to be overriding the quality of the finished product. It's a half baked game that is woefully presented, cumbersome AI and a very bland interface    It's not very often a series declines game after game but the Total War titles seem to be on a downward spiral to nothingness and Rome 2 highlights the sheer drop in quality from the excellence of the original.

    The ambition of the game seems to be overriding the quality of the finished product. It's a half baked game that is woefully presented, cumbersome AI and a very bland interface with management options lacking and a dreadfully simplistic challenge which you'll find exceedingly tedious over a session. The shockingly poor technical side adds to disappointment with considerable framerate problems and sloppy realtime battles. As you progress. the end of turn system becomes intolerable with turns taking in excess of minutes as the AI plays catch-up. This boils down to the seemingly dated engine and leaves you waiting without control for an unacceptable amount of time. This kills the flow and adds to the overall dismay.

    CA either need to go back to the games' roots or sell the licence because this series is dwindling to oblivion. If you want a fine strategy game of the Roman era; you'd be better off re-installing the original. It may be over 10 years older but it's streets ahead of today's messy attempt at rejuvenating the Total War collapse.    … Expand
  19. deadmeat2k
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    This review is based on the game, as it currently is (patch 5). I have played for about 25-30 hours. I fancy the new region based system, which makes it so much easier to manage cities compared to earlier TW games. The graphics are really great and run pretty well with the latest patch applied. However a number of things, seriously spoils the game: The agent system, screws up the gameThis review is based on the game, as it currently is (patch 5). I have played for about 25-30 hours. I fancy the new region based system, which makes it so much easier to manage cities compared to earlier TW games. The graphics are really great and run pretty well with the latest patch applied. However a number of things, seriously spoils the game: The agent system, screws up the game completely, being way too dominant, the civil war system is impossible to understand, and is really just an annoyance and the diplomatic and trade systems are fundamentally flawed simply doesnt work in their current state. The battles are some fun, but often feel too chaotic and arcade style. All together the game is a dissapointment. Would have wished for a Darthmod for this TW game too, to fix all these things, but that will unfortunately not happen.… Expand
  20. Iconoklast
    Oct 26, 2013
    2
    As a professional developer and huge fan of this series I am unable to comprehend the degree to which this franchise has degenerated. It clear that the design team from the previous games, especially the Shogun 2 people who made an excellent, cristaline perfect strategic wargame, where not invovled in the development of this one. How a team can unlearn so many good lessons in design canAs a professional developer and huge fan of this series I am unable to comprehend the degree to which this franchise has degenerated. It clear that the design team from the previous games, especially the Shogun 2 people who made an excellent, cristaline perfect strategic wargame, where not invovled in the development of this one. How a team can unlearn so many good lessons in design can only be explained by Sega's corporate shortsightedness and CA internal politics.

    Whatever the cause for the sudden case of stupid at CA, the results are in and here is my professional assessment of the title's failures:

    Battle:
    The most important element of the game, tactical battles, has been gutted of any meaningful gameplay in exchange for pretty 3D models and animations. The Camera has been moved so far back and the fov change means that you can't really tell what is going on. Just a bunch of pretty animations that I can never afford to see unless I want to see my entire flank collapse in 2 seconds. Cinematic mode indeed, it feels like an Art Director was designing the game.
    - Unless you zoom way in you cant even you can't tell what is infantry, cavalary, etc...The high level LODs are so poor at a glance you have no clue what is where in your battle line, the icons are of no assistance and the flags now give no information at all thanks to their minimalist and unclear labels.
    - The art direction for the icons is baffling and obscure, not to mention ugly. How they decided to go for this abstract look instead of functional icons and labels is beyond stupid for a strategy game, where information has to be clear and available at a glance (real time people, dont want to hover over a button to get the menu)
    - The changes to grouping and orders for battles are beyond frustrating. Why would you gut the previous system and replace it with this baffling set of useless instructions? The super powers for various units are unrealistic and incomprehinsible, they are just a confusing mess of buttons with unclear functionality and effects, and labelled with even more baffling icons that bear no resemblance to whatever it is they are supposed to indicate. Who ever changed the battle system should file for mental incompetence and go live in a care home.
    - Tactics? What tactics, the worse part of the battle system is as glossy and uselessly slick it may look, there are no tactics to speak of. Units have to be told what to do all the time, its like an RTS, and the speed of some units is baffling. There is no clear relationship between cavalry, missile troops, and infantry. Battles turn into a chaotic blurr of incomprehensible pop ups, you cant maintain a line, you cant hold flanks, there are no charges or any of the elements you expect from ancient warfare. A catastrophe. This has marketing written all over it.

    The Strategic Game

    -- More baffling icons, hidden information in pop up menus, illogical menu logic, the art direction for the UI sucks to high heaven.
    - Getting rid of transport fleets was stupid, oceans are now super highways for large armies. I guess Hannibal forgot he could have sailed straight to Rome instead of crossing the Alps for a year. What a retarded decision this was, and would shure like to know who on that team came up with that dusie.
    - Hate the research tree, dull and overly simplistic. Compare it to Shogun 2 for the extent of the fail that this tree represents.
    - Diplomacy, annoying flaws that make it a chore. The menu is a chore. The sound effect for a turned down offer gets so grating after the 20th time, play test your own game for sake.
    - Character development, boring. Its so simplistic and repetitive it became a chore. No real sense of achievement in growing personalities. All the characters look like they have the same ugly face. Stupid to animate these ugly facial models, if you are going to make them all uniformly dull and ugly ditch the animation.
    - Politics are incomprehensible, I appreciate the attempt to add some more subtlety to the political dimention but the result is a non interactive, baffling and ultimately irrelevant system to the game. Gravitas? Who came up with that? How about Political Power? Or Popularity? or Influence? just a few suggestions to making the labelling more meaningful.
    - No seasons Not even two? Winter Summer? Too much art work? Cheap bastards. You can't have a cool feature in your franchise and then expect no one to notice when you ditch it for your follow up. How about spending the budget on animating the stupid looking ugly characters on seasonal terrain art? Or even the Cinematic Mode budget? The way features were prioritized in this game suggests that you were being told what to do by a console publisher. Oh wait.........

    The greatest tragedy is that this represents the end of Creative Assembly as a powerhouse of Strategy Game development. This is a tremendous blow to gaming, and the dev team should be ashamed of themselves.    … Expand
  21. Ankhthiel
    Oct 26, 2013
    1
    The game was simply not ready for release. Its a crime they took our money for it. 1600 negative reviews and the critics loved it no it dosent look like they were payed for their opinion no it dosent look like gaming journalism is a joke in general. /end sarcasm
  22. Canopus
    Oct 25, 2013
    3
    The flags remove any strategy in city and fort battles when the AI attacks because the AI rushes the flag and ignores your units. Units glob together in great balled-up blobs that eliminate any reason to use the cinematic camera. Battle times are 3 to 5 minutes, which is barely enough time to watch the battle. The game becomes a tedious grind to conquer the map with battles that feelThe flags remove any strategy in city and fort battles when the AI attacks because the AI rushes the flag and ignores your units. Units glob together in great balled-up blobs that eliminate any reason to use the cinematic camera. Battle times are 3 to 5 minutes, which is barely enough time to watch the battle. The game becomes a tedious grind to conquer the map with battles that feel repetitive. There is a clear lack of immersion to keep the player interested before the player approaches mid game.… Expand
  23. Phsic
    Oct 25, 2013
    8
    What was once bug ridden and simplistic, is now a challenging successor to the legendary series Creative Assembly. Unfortunately, the player base continues to be ignorant of the updates and continues their bashing of a perfectly polished successor.
  24. ElPortoChris
    Oct 25, 2013
    4
    Horrible game, great marketing campaign. They started the hype early on this one. We are all suckers. I want my money back. Oh wait, it's already gone in that huge marketing budget.
  25. smogaz
    Oct 25, 2013
    0
    -----------Vote this game down----------

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

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

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

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

    -----Vote this down!-----

    +1    … Expand
  26. z12g32
    Oct 25, 2013
    0
    without a doubt the worst game of all time CA.
    Lacking content, boring, poorly optimized, and soulless.

    DO NOT BUY IF YOU DO NOT want to be ripped

    not dubbed in Spanish or Italian
  27. ThunderHawk
    Oct 25, 2013
    2
    Nothing good came from this game.

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

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

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

    This game is an example of a game that put graphics above game play experience. The game has a lot of interesting new concepts, but the AI of the game (which should be a focus of a strategy game) is really really lacking. Nobody wants to look at fancy graphics and fancy ships, we want enemy AI that (at least) give a convincing fight.    … Expand
  28. afro_natisch
    Oct 25, 2013
    0
    simply unacceptable. no comment!!!....................................................................................................................
  29. Garloz911
    Oct 24, 2013
    5
    I really like the art. It's pretty. Sadly that is just about it for this game. The battlefield AI was recently made slightly more intelligent which is always nice. However the world map AI is garbage. I really wish we the players were given as good a copy as the "professional" critics. They seem to have gotten a good working version.
  30. LordFancypants
    Oct 24, 2013
    0
    Where do I begin? I can't run this game on the lowest setting without getting major lag on the main map. Even Empire Total War, which arguably was the worst of the series so far didn't lag there, and it had three maps, Europe, Asia and The New World. The AI is atrocious, the units are imbalanced, like the Pikemen who camp in a corner, eat all the catapult rounds and then wipe out yourWhere do I begin? I can't run this game on the lowest setting without getting major lag on the main map. Even Empire Total War, which arguably was the worst of the series so far didn't lag there, and it had three maps, Europe, Asia and The New World. The AI is atrocious, the units are imbalanced, like the Pikemen who camp in a corner, eat all the catapult rounds and then wipe out your elite swordsmen. The waiting times for turns are so long, I can fit a nap, fix dinner and watch the Godfather trilogy before its done.
    0/10- Absolutely broken    … Expand
  31. Brotherjacob
    Oct 24, 2013
    9
    RTW 2 is a great step forward Simply 'RTW you go to war to manage your problems, in RTW 2 you manage your problems to go to war'
    The revolution is much improved. The only problems is where do all those legions come from?
    Its not repetitive to me, each war you declare must be panned diplomatic efforts made and unique new enemies considered. Its a little like being a CEO for an    RTW 2 is a great step forward Simply 'RTW you go to war to manage your problems, in RTW 2 you manage your problems to go to war'
    The revolution is much improved. The only problems is where do all those legions come from?
    Its not repetitive to me, each war you declare must be panned diplomatic efforts made and unique new enemies considered. Its a little like being a CEO for an international coorperation    … Expand
  32. william16
    Oct 24, 2013
    2
    I have invested 10 hours and most of the points I am going to make are cons so lets get started: There are massive frame rate issues, especially when seiging a city which requires you to use battering rams or other seige equipment, lag is also a problem I can barely play the game due to the amount of lag, AI is basically stupid they show up on the battlefield and never charge, flank orI have invested 10 hours and most of the points I am going to make are cons so lets get started: There are massive frame rate issues, especially when seiging a city which requires you to use battering rams or other seige equipment, lag is also a problem I can barely play the game due to the amount of lag, AI is basically stupid they show up on the battlefield and never charge, flank or attack in general, the UI is good on the campaign but worse in battle and the whole thing feels like a beta test and the list goes on and on.

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

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

    This is why I can only give Rome 2 Total War a 2/10, I really wanted it to be good, I am a huge fan of the franchise, CA really need to step it up in the next Total War.    … Expand
  33. NecroMnemic
    Oct 24, 2013
    7
    I rate it a 7 out of 10, as it is a decent game, but does not live up to the Total War standard and doesn't even come close to the original Rome 1.

    I'm writing this after patch 5 has been applied and sadly the performance is still... not atrocious but not good either. The battles are still somewhat too short and AI does some really weird things. But actually these are not the issues    I rate it a 7 out of 10, as it is a decent game, but does not live up to the Total War standard and doesn't even come close to the original Rome 1.

    I'm writing this after patch 5 has been applied and sadly the performance is still... not atrocious but not good either. The battles are still somewhat too short and AI does some really weird things.

    But actually these are not the issues that I found saddening, I much rather regretted seeing that still all factions somewhat play the same and there has not been done enough to make them distinct from each other.

    All in all I recommend buying it for 25€ or less.    … Expand
  34. KrisIsHidden
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    After all the patches i am glad to say that the game has come a long way and is one of the best of the series hands down. Don't trust the negative reviews sure they are still bugs and glitches at times that may be frustrating but they are slowly getting rid of them all bug at a time. If you love total war you will love this game. It brings epic battles and visuals to your screen that makesAfter all the patches i am glad to say that the game has come a long way and is one of the best of the series hands down. Don't trust the negative reviews sure they are still bugs and glitches at times that may be frustrating but they are slowly getting rid of them all bug at a time. If you love total war you will love this game. It brings epic battles and visuals to your screen that makes you feel immersed in the battles. The game not only has rich game play but accurately tells historical battles and story's from past time civilizations. It plays on the Athens and Sparta alliance against Epirus the empire that betrayed they to side with Persia during Persia's tyrannical reign. You can re-live ancient feuds and battles and raise your empire above the rest. How will you forge your destiny? Through Tyranny and Power or Diplomacy and Economy? The choice is yours, you are emperor "forge your path"

    Try it, you will love it     … Expand
  35. Mesner
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    After all the performance issues, poor optimization and all the things people have complained about, here comes the fourth patch (more to come yet), and I have to say that this game is awesome. The AI is a lot better than when the game was released and in fact minor factions declare war on you (in the released game they didn't). In fact I'm in a world-scale war as a Roman, allied withAfter all the performance issues, poor optimization and all the things people have complained about, here comes the fourth patch (more to come yet), and I have to say that this game is awesome. The AI is a lot better than when the game was released and in fact minor factions declare war on you (in the released game they didn't). In fact I'm in a world-scale war as a Roman, allied with Carthage and the Greek city states against Seleucid faction, eastern rising empires and all the Gaul tribes. Battle AI is improving, and now is not always easy to win a battle. A month after the release I can say I'm beginning to have fun with this game. Hope you can say the same.… Expand
  36. PrettyMaid76
    Oct 24, 2013
    3
    A very buggy and unsatisfying experience! Given the high production value of their earliest titles I'm continually appalled to see what they deem worthy of a release. What I payed for felt as nothing but a rushed cash grab.
  37. emikke
    Oct 23, 2013
    3
    I don't mind that there are some crashes, or that there are some bugs. Auto-saves has made this a small issue compared to what is truly wrong with this game. It's really boring.

    They shouldn't have bothered with the Campaign, because that is what is the saddest part of the whole game, the battle system it is possible to fix with some new and interesting units and better AI. But the map    I don't mind that there are some crashes, or that there are some bugs. Auto-saves has made this a small issue compared to what is truly wrong with this game. It's really boring.

    They shouldn't have bothered with the Campaign, because that is what is the saddest part of the whole game, the battle system it is possible to fix with some new and interesting units and better AI. But the map strategy is really, really bad.    … Expand
  38. Goekhan
    Oct 23, 2013
    3
    In short, I call this game a failure in the series, simply because the changes over the previous titles, and the new additions are poorly implemented, and they are not fleshed out enough to make a difference. What I don't understand is, even though they had a bigger budget, and "experience" from the previous titles, accomplishments and mistakes, how have they come up with such a disaster.In short, I call this game a failure in the series, simply because the changes over the previous titles, and the new additions are poorly implemented, and they are not fleshed out enough to make a difference. What I don't understand is, even though they had a bigger budget, and "experience" from the previous titles, accomplishments and mistakes, how have they come up with such a disaster.

    Longer version, the battles play way more faster than any previous title in the series, and mostly it becomes a blob-fest where your orders doesn't matter. This is where you'll notice that nearly all units have an ability, maybe more than one, and this is another example to the bad implementation. You win battles by using to these abilities, rather than a careful planning and execution of the strategy. Which is a shame, as I think many people play this game for its epic battles. Not to mention that the AI is still troubled, and most of the time do stupid stuff.

    Among the new features, now you pick a stance for an army. Why? It felt natural before; if you have slow moving units, your army movement was bound to those units. To move fast, you had to use cavalry-only forces to hit and run, or catch an enemy. To ambush, you had to set up "camp" in forests, and alike. It felt natural, you didn't have to click on anything to "toggle" those stuff. Also, the way the recruitment is done in this game is just retarded. Why change the old ways? Recruit from any city/town, group them up, send them to the general. While it seems logical in Rome; that your general has to stand still, it is not. Game tries to "emulate" the process for you, but it makes so in a stupid way. Shogun II's system was better, recruit at general, and recruits move to general, also can get intercepted. Recruit in towns, group them up and send them to general yourself. Etc...

    Naval combat... I don't like it. The best naval combat was naturally in Empire Napoleon. There, you can execute some strategy. Any other game, where cannons are not involved, it generally ends up in an orgy on some ship, and all other ships around it. Still, combining naval combat with land combat, that's a very good step. However, that thing is bugged aswell, I am unaware if it is fixed but, there are just a few landing points, and when all of them are occupied, all your ships can just watch the rest of the battle.

    City management also suffers. You cannot get a clear picture of what is what that easily, and this IS a big problem. UI has always been one of the weakest points in Total War games in my opinion. Instead of expanding on and improving what they had, they just skimmed the UI heavily, and buried the essentials even deeper. Introduction of bread, and changes to growth, while sounds sensible, takes away a part of the game; town/city development. In Shogun II, if you captured a well developed city that belonged to your enemy, you'd be keeping it intact, because any sacking/razing done would affect the accumulated growth aswell. Now, there is no point, a city is always the same, razing or sacking doesn't change a thing.

    Among other new things, the political system is rudimentary, non-essential at best. It involves a few buttons that are totally unnecessary, and takes up hard-disk space in short. Also, (for Rome and Carthage at least), political system sort-of gets disabled after the major rebellions. As I've said, poorly implemented and not fleshed out fully.

    The performance of the game is on the floor. While I can play Shogun II on extreme, and even Rome II offered me Extreme, it turns out, I can only play it at low-medium. Just unbelievable.

    I can go on. But among this many negative reviews, I think you get the point already.    … Expand
  39. Dave-Champagne
    Oct 22, 2013
    10
    This is the Best TOTAL WAR of the Series why many people don't like graphic are better than other Total war ...
    the strategy is different for each faction that why I love this game its a new adventure for each civilization
    and this game have a life expectancy
    Each Faction have something different

    BUY IT if you have a great cpu
  40. faceless-1
    Oct 21, 2013
    0
    Day 1 DLC, Broken game play, Broken AI, constant glitches, UI, missing guard button. These are the top problems of Rome 2. This is game is the worst total war so far.
  41. lewisjoel
    Oct 21, 2013
    0
    Rome: Total War 2.

    For me, RTW 2 was one of, if not my most eagerly anticipated game of the year, as were the rest of the games in this once magnificent strategy series. I'd played and enjoyed every game in the series since the first Shogun title and I expected this release to be another successful game in the series, especially as it was the sequel to what many would consider to be the    Rome: Total War 2.

    For me, RTW 2 was one of, if not my most eagerly anticipated game of the year, as were the rest of the games in this once magnificent strategy series. I'd played and enjoyed every game in the series since the first Shogun title and I expected this release to be another successful game in the series, especially as it was the sequel to what many would consider to be the best game in the series Rome: Total War. Unfortunately I was wrong...

    Firstly, I'm hearing from other gamers and reviewers that this is a game that can be fixed and the early bugs can be ironed out. I'm afraid they are wrong as this game is flawed from top to bottom and its problems lie much deeper than just amateur development and testing and I will list why.

    User Interface (UI) The Creative Assembly have ditched previous features from UI such as functionality and historical relevance in favour of some dull, boring and what I must assume they think is a 'trendy' minimalist interface. Unless CA has intentions of patching the UI the game will remain an unmitigated disaster of a strategy game. The minimalist UI has resulted in the removal of a decent settlement information panel which contained both interesting and useful information that would aid any strategy gamer in their campaign as well as providing the gamer with a more immersive and unique experience. The technology ‘tree’ or line as I would rather refer to it as has been simplified, as have the construction and recruitment options. All strategic aspects of the game in which the gamer in past titles would have made decisions are gone. Instead everything is laid out in advance with player just clicking to confirm their destiny.

    Strategy Aspects Gone. Rome: Total War 2 is now on par with Dicewars for strategy and immersion but fear not, RTW 2 can justify the fact it cost me £29.99 more to play that Dicewars due to the fact it has impressive graphics that may one day work when the bugs are finally ironed out. I may even get to experience them first hand if for some reason, I make the horrible mistake of trying to play the game again. For me the majority of the strategy has been victim to the ‘super-cool’ IOS-esque UI.
    However some parts have been maliciously ironed out intentionally. For example naval units, who needs naval units when land-based militia units can be recruited and sent off the cliffs and transform into ships? Who needs a Spanish Armada or a Royal Navy when you’ve got shape shifting peasants?
    Troops can also use magical special abilities and cities are won and lost through giant games of capture the flag.

    In-Game Characters Generals, agents, politicians and family members? What’s the point? All of them are highly susceptible to random deaths and rapid ageing so investing any kind of time in them is generally pointless and/or highly frustrating.
    The final thing that really kicks you when you are down is the time between turns. I actually congratulate CA on replacing rebel settlement with real historically based factions but the extra turn-time that’s resulted from it just destroys any tiny bit of immersion or desire to play the game that remains with you.

    If you enjoyed the Total War series or strategy games in general this is not a game for you.

    lewisjoel    … Expand
  42. Brawlz
    Oct 21, 2013
    7
    Despite a rocky start, Creative Assembly have managed to fine tune Total War: Rome II, into a game worth of the Total War title, The AI seems vastly improved from launch, with the previous AI battle "Tactics" no longer consisting of running into a solid wall of spears, and actually using the terrain against you. But alot of things were changed from the older Total War games which kindaDespite a rocky start, Creative Assembly have managed to fine tune Total War: Rome II, into a game worth of the Total War title, The AI seems vastly improved from launch, with the previous AI battle "Tactics" no longer consisting of running into a solid wall of spears, and actually using the terrain against you. But alot of things were changed from the older Total War games which kinda hurt the games, with Generals dying really quickly from old age, leaving little incentive to put time into individual generals. The political system has also changed, with faction leaders being absent from the game, where instead you play a House or Party, which has to vie for political power. Not the same as invading a entire nation, your King/Faction Leader at the head of the fighting.

    Overall though a good game, People that didn't like it when it first came out should give it another chance if they were dissatisfied. Your opinions may change after you see the improvements made over the past two months    … Expand
  43. Wademan
    Oct 20, 2013
    0
    This is a very disappointing release from TW. There are a lot of bugs and the AI is not at all challenging even on high difficulty levels. Sieges are ruined by besieging units being able to destroy gates quickly with magic burning torches rending the need for siege engines pointless. Battles are over too rapidly because one side or the other will rout. within minutes. Overall the game hasThis is a very disappointing release from TW. There are a lot of bugs and the AI is not at all challenging even on high difficulty levels. Sieges are ruined by besieging units being able to destroy gates quickly with magic burning torches rending the need for siege engines pointless. Battles are over too rapidly because one side or the other will rout. within minutes. Overall the game has been dumbed down and simplified for a casual audience.… Expand
  44. Alienpope
    Oct 20, 2013
    6
    As a hardcore TW fan even since rom 1 i can say that this game is good. It is not amazing, not mind blowing... Just... Good. The game released with hundreds of problems and i am not talking about the minor problems. The AI was horrible. I've played all factions by now on very hard and breezed through it all.

    But now... 5 patches later.... Things are looking better. Much better i have to    As a hardcore TW fan even since rom 1 i can say that this game is good. It is not amazing, not mind blowing... Just... Good. The game released with hundreds of problems and i am not talking about the minor problems. The AI was horrible. I've played all factions by now on very hard and breezed through it all.

    But now... 5 patches later.... Things are looking better. Much better i have to say.

    It went from the worst pd release of the year (not including sim city) to a decent game. The AI will still make the worst possible decisions at times... But overall it will challenge you.

    The real reason to buy this game however is not because of the campaign. If you want that you can try crusader kings or maybe civ5. The battles are what makes this game good. Realistic looking fighting with a quite deep strategy depth to it. So the multiplayer really brings this game up to a 6.0 instead of a 3.0    … Expand
  45. abieber
    Oct 20, 2013
    0
    By far the worst game for installation EVER!!!! DO NOT BUY. What they don't tell you is that you do not just download and play you first download an installer, that instals the downloader which then installs steam. Then you have to wait (now going on 2 days) for them to send and activation code. Then go into steam and put in the code to then finally download the game. Worst Install ever,By far the worst game for installation EVER!!!! DO NOT BUY. What they don't tell you is that you do not just download and play you first download an installer, that instals the downloader which then installs steam. Then you have to wait (now going on 2 days) for them to send and activation code. Then go into steam and put in the code to then finally download the game. Worst Install ever, disrespectful and backwards. I keep asking myself why would i pay 60 dollars for a game then have to wait 3 days to get a simple activation code. ONCE AGAIN DO NOT BUY TOTAL WAR IS A TOTAL WASTE OF YOUR TIME EVEN BEFORE YOU CAN PLAY THE GAME.… Expand
  46. YoungR
    Oct 19, 2013
    1
    Disappointed by Total War, they just get worse and worse simpler by each release. I miss the likes of Medieval and Empire. In love with Europa Universalis now!
  47. Diraffe
    Oct 19, 2013
    0
    I am thankful they did not call this Rome: Total War II and instead called it Total War: Rome II as it is entirely undeserving of following up such an amazing predecessor. Everywhere Rome: Total War got something right, Total War: Rome II got it wrong.
  48. DukeWellington
    Oct 19, 2013
    3
    I've always enjoyed total war games, but this marketing scheme by The Creative Assembly portraying this game as a masterpiece full of complex strategy and huge epic battles was a complete shame. Broken A.I., rotten political system with no point or purpose, sloppy battles and somewhat disappointing repetitive music that plays over and over again, you'll enjoy the tunes at first, butI've always enjoyed total war games, but this marketing scheme by The Creative Assembly portraying this game as a masterpiece full of complex strategy and huge epic battles was a complete shame. Broken A.I., rotten political system with no point or purpose, sloppy battles and somewhat disappointing repetitive music that plays over and over again, you'll enjoy the tunes at first, but believe me.. it gets old real quick. Though the graphics are quite wonderful and rich in historical representation, that's all you get, and even the graphics cause immense problems even for powerful computers. That's the "jist" of it, after purchasing this broken piece of software I felt downright ripped off at the extreme price of 60.00. Has CA sold out to modern marketing "gimmics" that downright LIE to consumers to make a quick buck, imitating Hollywood by showing incredible "Trailers" on an epic scale edited in a fashion where people believe they are buying what's on the trailer, I really think so. Though they are releasing beta patches every 1-2 weeks, it's a slow drooling process and many mistakes that plagued the release are still around; Excellent modders such as Radious Mod (you can find his work on the Total War Center forum) have made the game a little more playable, but with so many problems it seems that the game may take years upon years to get a solid foundation. go head and try the buggy hunk of junk yourself and see. Any reviewer who gives this game a 100 on meta-critic is either a "Deceptive Marketer i.e. Snake Oil Salesman" or simply a fool.… Expand
  49. Sexysingle
    Oct 19, 2013
    2
    Despite 5 patches, the game is still bad. I can't even get the game to run now, when I could before. AI still does stupid things, and the game that should have been outstanding at launch, is still on life support 5 weeks after release.

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

    What upsets me most is the games media. CORRUPT! Anyone who gives this game 8/9/10 either hasn't played it, or Sega threw them a few quid. Worst Total War game in the series and any game that has a Victory flag in the middle of a field, can't be classed as a strategy game. AVOID!    … Expand
  50. GoosemanGamer
    Oct 18, 2013
    0
    Horrible UI
    Broken AI
    Downright wacky graphical issues and horrible performance. Ships sailing on land and zombie soldiers. Instant Fleets from armies making the naval aspect pointless. 1 year turns so generals die off instantaneously. AI can't use siege equipment and uses magical torches that burn down reinforced gates and then bum rushes them with the whole army to be slaughtered.    Horrible UI
    Broken AI
    Downright wacky graphical issues and horrible performance. Ships sailing on land and zombie soldiers.
    Instant Fleets from armies making the naval aspect pointless.
    1 year turns so generals die off instantaneously.
    AI can't use siege equipment and uses magical torches that burn down reinforced gates and then bum rushes them with the whole army to be slaughtered. Oh yeah and CA refuses to even address this.
    1 minute arcade style battles.
    Endlessly long AI turns.
    No political system.
    Units don't hold formation and battles become giant mosh pits requiring no strategy.
    Campaign videos gone, general trees gone, every multiplayer feature in Shogun II gone.

    It's quite simply the worst total war ever, a shameless cash grab and an insult to every fan.

    It's actually one of the worst games I've ever played.

    Do not buy this game. It should be called "Total Garbage Rome Blues". And it can't be patched to get better. There are too many design flaws and CA already stole everyone's money.

    I'm sure they're spending most of their time getting this trash ready for a stupid console port. What a joke.    … Expand
  51. Samael87
    Oct 18, 2013
    3
    The game is a total failure. was sold as a full ita (written in the game box "completamente in italiano") but the audio is only partially translated. this is a scam! bugged, stupid AI, slow load, bad graphics and terribly heavy. The worst total war ever.
  52. Digitalkid
    Oct 18, 2013
    9
    First of all. Just bought a "new" rig, not so powerfull, but rome2 works perfect on 80% of top graphics settings. No glitches, no freeses, works perfect with 4 patches, and looks aweseome (in a rainy conditions).

    Absolutely awesome new features: + No army without a general (who can be changed), so no small packs of troops just roaming everywhere. + XP for everyine! Troops, armies,    First of all. Just bought a "new" rig, not so powerfull, but rome2 works perfect on 80% of top graphics settings. No glitches, no freeses, works perfect with 4 patches, and looks aweseome (in a rainy conditions).

    Absolutely awesome new features:
    + No army without a general (who can be changed), so no small packs of troops just roaming everywhere.
    + XP for everyine! Troops, armies, generals, provinces, all are getting experience. Much slower, cause characters XP divided in 3 parts.
    + Legendary Difficulty, which is: only auto-saves and no active pause, plus some other difficulties.
    + Slow tech development. Only slingers at first and no archers, no superlegions and stuff. Reform your army! Unic tech trees for main civs although.
    + Absolutely brilliant changes into strategy mode like province system with it's building and few cities.
    + Understandable diplomacy with hints like "recent war with our allies 10", "gifts to us 10". Tnx Civ5.
    + More complex senate system. With bunch af random events and memorable random characters.

    - Faster battles. Soldiers are running faster 8) so epicness is a bit lost, but it's ok.
    - No family tree. But family is still here.

    About AI. Ofcourse it's not a human player, but there are cavalry through flanks, enemy units can break through your line, leave skirmish, regroup and flank you. Just lost a HUGE sea battle, lost 2 generals and 2 armies, recently took a city with huge losses, so AI looks MUCH better then anywhere in Total War (excerpt Shogun2 maybe, didn't played it).

    PS. Played about 12 hours, half for a prologue campaign. So may change my mind. 8)    … Expand
  53. DiogoNeto
    Oct 17, 2013
    10
    As notas "0"s não correspondem ao que o jogo. As pessoas sente-se frustradas por não terem suas expectativas atendidas e avaliam o jogo de maneira passional. O jogo pode (ainda, antes de futuras atualizações) não se equiparar as versões anteriores da franquia, mas ainda um baita jogo e leva o meu 10 fácil. ;D
  54. pansarskott
    Oct 17, 2013
    0
    Yes I will give this game 0 out off 10. Why? This is not a totalwar game, this is a farse...

    I have been playing this franchise seince the beginning and loved it. Yes there have been some ruffspots like the AI and such but the games has allways been playeble and some with patches and the right mods have been fantastic (Rage of Dark Gods) and I'm still playing most Totalwar titels from    Yes I will give this game 0 out off 10. Why? This is not a totalwar game, this is a farse...

    I have been playing this franchise seince the beginning and loved it. Yes there have been some ruffspots like the AI and such but the games has allways been playeble and some with patches and the right mods have been fantastic (Rage of Dark Gods) and I'm still playing most Totalwar titels from time to time.

    Whats different with RTW2 is the false advertising, the stripping of features, the dumbning-down and streamligning, the arcade elements, the hundreds of bugs. The game is still, after 4 patches, unplayeble becuse you get fail-fatige from all the problems this game has.

    Patches is another thing I find disturbing. I have never seen a game getting this many patches so quikly after realese and NEVER a Totalwar game. CA states that: "The game had a troubled realese" Troubled? The game wasent finished!! It would need another six moths atleast.

    My summery is that I will never again pre-order a Totalwar titel, and the risk is that I never buy another of their games if they continue down this path.    … Expand
  55. jase1974
    Oct 15, 2013
    5
    Is a real shame that one of the finest makers of strictly PC games has let us all down. Of all the complaints to make, I feel this is the most important. Certain aspects have been streamlined. Just as certain pockets must have been streamlined in mainstream media to get the reviews it got at release.

    Hopefully CA will learn a lesson from this. Also, professional reviewers, actually play    Is a real shame that one of the finest makers of strictly PC games has let us all down. Of all the complaints to make, I feel this is the most important. Certain aspects have been streamlined. Just as certain pockets must have been streamlined in mainstream media to get the reviews it got at release.

    Hopefully CA will learn a lesson from this. Also, professional reviewers, actually play the game before you bend over and drop your pants for Sega.    … Expand
  56. BrainStain
    Oct 15, 2013
    0
    The intro alone tells you how hurried the game feels.

    With a horrible UI, disgusting avatars and misleading difficulty settings, it won't take you long before you just quit the game in a bizarre reverse-frustration (you want the game to match the others, you want a challenge!) There are no challenges. You can beat the game on legendary without much effort. I really feel let down by CA.    The intro alone tells you how hurried the game feels.

    With a horrible UI, disgusting avatars and misleading difficulty settings, it won't take you long before you just quit the game in a bizarre reverse-frustration (you want the game to match the others, you want a challenge!) There are no challenges. You can beat the game on legendary without much effort. I really feel let down by CA.

    Little things like the missile fire symbol which is now a crosshair instead of a bow and arrow just get to me. The unit cards are not very helpful, they all look too similar and break the game's atmosphere. Well. What little atmosphere it had. There is even a map called: ARSE! For god's sake! Errors like this just shouldn't happen.

    It's a massive steaming pile. And I'm a fan of their other games!    … Expand
  57. Simon1979
    Oct 15, 2013
    0
    No italian and spanish full localization/dubbing, it was stated on the game's box completely in these languages, and on steam untill 5 hrs after the release, the game is boring nothing even near the first title Rome Total War, AI is baaaad!, campaign is boring exc. for sure if arma 3 has a metacritic of 73 this deserve a 0, if arma 3 was at a metacritic of 90/ 98 this deserves a 60
  58. Pandasareevil
    Oct 15, 2013
    6
    Did not give me that same feeling as previous Total war Games. The UI is terrible, the release was far below average, though I do quite like the unit cards, once the optimization issues were fixed the game was playable-ish.
  59. sgtmiller3
    Oct 14, 2013
    1
    This game is a total buggy mess. The state this game was released is unbelievable. The graphics have frequent errors, major random frame drops and the AI in this game is broken. The only reason why i gave this game a 1, was because of the new feature the unit camera which was a nice cinematic improvement to the game but this being its only good feature this game has a lot of explaining toThis game is a total buggy mess. The state this game was released is unbelievable. The graphics have frequent errors, major random frame drops and the AI in this game is broken. The only reason why i gave this game a 1, was because of the new feature the unit camera which was a nice cinematic improvement to the game but this being its only good feature this game has a lot of explaining to do. I also find the gameplay quite bland, because instead of adding to shogun 2 they took away many nice features and messing up the tech tree a whole lot. This game should not be getting the review of critics it should be getting and a 50 meta score is the maximum this game could get, but even that is stretching the limit. Overall this game is a waste of money and should not have been pushed out by the creators because of the hype. It upset many fans turning their backs on the total war franchise making the total was series in need of redemption. fix AI, fix frame problems and textures, shorter turns (PLEASE) and maybe this game deserves a 70… Expand
  60. Rogan
    Oct 14, 2013
    7
    I really like this game, it might not be as good as Shogun, but it isn't as bad as Ride To Hell Retribution, seriously giving this game a 0 out of 10? With some patches the annoyances in this game will be fixed.
  61. aimonu
    Oct 14, 2013
    2
    I don't know if all the "critic" reviewers have been bribed by CA or sega or if they didn't even play the game. It's atm. Save your money, mine is already spent and will never come back.

    Because of respect for Rome1 I will give this game a 2
  62. Halfmad
    Oct 13, 2013
    5
    Played this now for around 40 hours, most of which weren't particularly enjoyable. I'm a long time fan of the Total War series, going right back to the original Rome and every single one in between these two. I have to say it can look glorious, but as many people who love this franchise know it's how it's plays that matters. Unfortunately it doesn't play very well at all, bugs aside thePlayed this now for around 40 hours, most of which weren't particularly enjoyable. I'm a long time fan of the Total War series, going right back to the original Rome and every single one in between these two. I have to say it can look glorious, but as many people who love this franchise know it's how it's plays that matters. Unfortunately it doesn't play very well at all, bugs aside the game is still a mess with poor strategy shown by the computer during battles even on higher difficulty settings. They have for some reason removed the family tree, which makes no sense to me at all, I don't feel involved in the combat or game the way I did with even older games such as MTWII. Can I recommend it? Sadly I have to honestly say no, fire up MTWII with some mods and play that instead, it's vastly more entertaining. Even if the few serious bugs that remain are fixed this is still a soul-less, vaguely entertaining game and I really can't understand how they've managed to create it.… Expand
  63. Achilleslastand
    Oct 13, 2013
    4
    This game clearly needed at least 3 more months in development and that's being generous. From the hype/propaganda spread by CA/Sega/Craig/Will to the quite numerous bugs and performance issues as well as features from previous TW titles mysteriously omitted. Add to that a 60$ price tag and possibly more if you purchase if you add the Greek states DLC and you can see how the game hasThis game clearly needed at least 3 more months in development and that's being generous. From the hype/propaganda spread by CA/Sega/Craig/Will to the quite numerous bugs and performance issues as well as features from previous TW titles mysteriously omitted. Add to that a 60$ price tag and possibly more if you purchase if you add the Greek states DLC and you can see how the game has gotten below average reviews. I have seen titles made by smaller development teams for half the price of R2 that were more polished.
    I myself will never purchase another CA product upon release and in all likelihood possibly never.
    Caveat Emptor{Buyer Beware}....    … Expand
  64. g4br1x
    Oct 13, 2013
    5
    Not as I expected.
    Confusing UI and unit card
    You cannot un-zoom the map
    Not optimized for any hardware/ GPU Awful performances.
    Audio not completely translated from English
    Bugs and glitches everywhere.
    Fortunately i spent only 30€ to buy this badly-done game....
  65. Yarev
    Oct 13, 2013
    0
    Terrible, shallow, waste of money. Even if CA fix all the bugs (which is very unlikely) it still going to be the worst TW game. The only hope are mods.
  66. roland79
    Oct 13, 2013
    1
    This game is awful and its an example of a developers who dont care or respects its fanbase. To put it bluntly, the release of this game was immoral. Ever since the game was announced there has been a heavy focus on visuals and yes the visuals are nice but everything else is terrible.

    The game is bad thats no mystery but the real mystery is how various magazines can give this game a    This game is awful and its an example of a developers who dont care or respects its fanbase. To put it bluntly, the release of this game was immoral. Ever since the game was announced there has been a heavy focus on visuals and yes the visuals are nice but everything else is terrible.

    The game is bad thats no mystery but the real mystery is how various magazines can give this game a good review. I cant help it but I must put on my tinfoil hat and say they have all accepted bribes. The difference between user reviews and official reviews shows it.    … Expand
  67. k-dub
    Oct 13, 2013
    0
    I registered just so I could highlight my digust for this effort by CA. First and foremost, I am a fan of the Total War series starting with the first Shogun. This game is unfinished, pure and simple. If the game was play-tested, you can hardly tell. It is so obvious it was rushed out before it was ready. Commercial decisions came at the expense of the consumer.

    Shame on you CA, I will    I registered just so I could highlight my digust for this effort by CA. First and foremost, I am a fan of the Total War series starting with the first Shogun. This game is unfinished, pure and simple. If the game was play-tested, you can hardly tell. It is so obvious it was rushed out before it was ready. Commercial decisions came at the expense of the consumer.

    Shame on you CA, I will never pre-order anything from you again. I am placing you right because EA on my naughty list.

    And shame on all magazine reviewers who gave this more than 5.0. Either your reviews are shoddily researched or you have no journalistic integrity. Or maybe both.    … Expand
  68. Aerth
    Oct 12, 2013
    0
    A total let down, A shame of a game: unfinished, boring, Total War turned to Total Waste. A clear catering for the casual crowds as if such things existed for this kind of games. You play a Roman family but you do not care about it, you senatorial get stronger or weaker but you do not care about it; you have ships but you do not care about them, and enemies? Yes you got them but they areA total let down, A shame of a game: unfinished, boring, Total War turned to Total Waste. A clear catering for the casual crowds as if such things existed for this kind of games. You play a Roman family but you do not care about it, you senatorial get stronger or weaker but you do not care about it; you have ships but you do not care about them, and enemies? Yes you got them but they are so stupid you care even less than the rest.
    Let's hope than the modding community can come with something else all is lost.    … Expand
  69. GregWhite
    Oct 12, 2013
    10
    Ok, so this game has bugs. So what; bugs can be fixed! I don't think we should downgrade the game based on just easily fixable, albeit extremely annoying bugs. I'm rating this game based on its potential to be an amazing total war game. I cannot wait for all the dlc that will undeniably make the game a hell of a lot better. I also like how the Creative Assembly is releasing new patchesOk, so this game has bugs. So what; bugs can be fixed! I don't think we should downgrade the game based on just easily fixable, albeit extremely annoying bugs. I'm rating this game based on its potential to be an amazing total war game. I cannot wait for all the dlc that will undeniably make the game a hell of a lot better. I also like how the Creative Assembly is releasing new patches every week, with this past one (Patch 4) being the biggest yet. Yea yea a game that had such a huge marketing effort as this one shouldn't have so many bugs, especially from a game studio with such a high reputation as the Creative Assembly, but still, the potential of this game is very far reaching. I'm excited to see what becomes of it in the future.… Expand
  70. pcgameadictus
    Oct 10, 2013
    1
    I am a long time fan of Total War. But I am very much DISAPPOINTED in this new Rome Total War II. We waited for a bunch of crazy innovation of the game. What does the game designer and developer thinking? I would rather play RTW 1 than this newly scrap they created.
  71. rossburlz
    Oct 10, 2013
    0
    I preordered this game. (What a mistake that was!) First day couldn't even play more than 5 minutes at a time due to constant crashing. 4 patches later the game is still crashing. Just look at the size of the patch notes. This game was released in an alpha state and now the proud owners of this &*^@ game have to spend our time testing bugs for free... well not free we already paid for thisI preordered this game. (What a mistake that was!) First day couldn't even play more than 5 minutes at a time due to constant crashing. 4 patches later the game is still crashing. Just look at the size of the patch notes. This game was released in an alpha state and now the proud owners of this &*^@ game have to spend our time testing bugs for free... well not free we already paid for this game. CA had a 40% higher budget than shogun and all that seems to have been spent on some actor casted promo videos and videos of all these amazing features that are cut from the game before it is released. This game should be avoided like a plague in the state it is in. AI is a joke. Interface is a joke. Such a shame this game could have been so great yet it has fallen so low… Expand
  72. Chiurito
    Oct 10, 2013
    0
    Total disaster. Idiot AI, confused unit card and UI, no family tree, poor diplomacy, siege battles with flame torches (:facepalm:), one year per turn, no season, no cinematic videos...

    Really, really, really disappointed.
  73. TheMagicHobo
    Oct 9, 2013
    0
    Rome 2 Total War. What can I say about this wonderful, magnificent, glorious alpha stage console RTS? Well, first of all, I pre-ordered it for $60, I waited an entire night and half a day to download it, and I eagerly drank up the first four hours. What happened after the first four hours you ask? I'd seen the whole game. In a day's worth of play I transformed Rome from a minor state onRome 2 Total War. What can I say about this wonderful, magnificent, glorious alpha stage console RTS? Well, first of all, I pre-ordered it for $60, I waited an entire night and half a day to download it, and I eagerly drank up the first four hours. What happened after the first four hours you ask? I'd seen the whole game. In a day's worth of play I transformed Rome from a minor state on the Italian peninsula to the eminent power of the Mediterranean. I accomplished this amazing feat by waiting through two minute average wait times after turns, watching the greatest soldiers of the ancient world charge at skirmishers only to run away after seeing my infantry then get shot in the back rinse-repeat, and auto-resolving naval battles because ACTUAL combat ships only make a difference in auto-resolves.

    The game has so many flaws, SO many flaws.

    Let me elucidate. Here is the summary of an actual amphibious assault I launched against Athens, the city. My massive army of Legionaries, Velites, and Artillery landed outside the city (since apparently we can't actually invade through the actual port that has no defenses). I then found out that artillery can't take part in naval assaults. I don't mean they don't spawn, I don't mean they can't use their weapons, I mean you land them and then they do nothing. Their artillery pieces are nowhere to be seen (even scorpions which could easily fit on the deck), and not only that but they won't do anything. The twenty some odd guys just sit on the deck and take no commands.
    Anyway, back to the battle.
    So yeah, at that point I was thinking, "Well damn, how in the name of Jupiter am I gonna get over this wall? Maybe I can go through the space between the wall and the sea that twenty men could fit between? Nope won't let me? Maybe I could stand threateningly in front of the gate until the enemy army charges out? Nope they're nowhere to be seen. Well what can I d-huh? I can do WHAT?" That's right. Your REGULAR UNITS can use their magically spawning flaming spear/molotovs to BURN DOWN A METAL GATE. So I did that and it worked.
    Now of course I'm expecting the entire Athenian army to be behind the gate, ready to defend their home from the ravaging Ro-uh? Hello? Anyone home? Well I'll just march my Legionaries in if everyone's okay with that? Cool? Okay.
    I wonder where the-OH I SEE. There they are, they're around my sides obviously preparing to spring an ambush and crush my arrogant forces. Any second now. Annnnnnnnnnnnny seconnnnnndddd. Ah screw it men just charge.
    So at this point I just ordered my entire army to rush the first victory point. And, lo and behold, there's the enemy army standing there. Waiting for me. Ready to die for their really stiff flag that never moves.
    -30 seconds later-
    Whew, that was a tough one. For a second there I thought I might actually lose. Lose the battle? HAHAHAHA, no way I would have to have my guys completely disrobe and disarm and charge into an army of hoplites to have ANY chance at losing. I thought I might lose a unit of Legionnaires.
    Anywho, battle over. Now I'm going to go set up my army for a cool picture while I wait the several minutes it takes the enemy to get off the battlefield.

    So yes. If you like winning and feeling cool for doing absolutely nothing except clicking your mouse and sitting for minutes on end, then Rectum 2: Total is the game for you.
    And I didn't even touch upon the Strategy map, or the graphics, or the turn times, or the diplomacy, or the unbalanced units, or the rest of the game really.    … Expand
  74. Kulagae
    Oct 9, 2013
    2
    Have sunk about 75 hours into this game over the course of launch until today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Bottomline. Don't buy it.
    People keep saying give it time to patch or wait a couple of months. Well, I'm here to say unless these patches completely overhaul some of the mechanics, it just isn't worth it, for $59.99.
    $19.99 on the otherhand, would be great, just for laughs at least.    … Expand
  75. Synomas
    Oct 9, 2013
    0
    Video Games that are released, need to be released as finished products unless stated otherwise. Rome II upon release was an unfinished product, still to this day needing much work from Creative Assembly, and is an all around enormous disappointment. Many of the problems Rome II faces could have been resolved with extensive beta testing preceding the release of the game. Gameplay wise,Video Games that are released, need to be released as finished products unless stated otherwise. Rome II upon release was an unfinished product, still to this day needing much work from Creative Assembly, and is an all around enormous disappointment. Many of the problems Rome II faces could have been resolved with extensive beta testing preceding the release of the game. Gameplay wise, Rome II has extreme issues, which cause things such as professional Roman Legionaries to fight out of formation like barbarians, AI to starve itself to death and present extremely basic challenges even upon the greatest difficulty, and an entirely lacking Political system that pales in comparison to it's predecessor Rome I.

    This game is an enormous blight on the Total War franchise and an ENORMOUS step back from Shogun 2, Creative Assembly's high point in the Total War series. There needs to be HUGE amounts of work put into this game by the developers to get it to be a good game.    … Expand
  76. Uzumakitony
    Oct 8, 2013
    1
    What is this? The Trailer was terrible. I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and wasted my money to witness it being more terrible. How did it get a high critic rating? Rubbish storyline. Been-there-done-that gameplay....it's sad to play on so many levels
  77. KnownOperative
    Oct 8, 2013
    2
    Releasing a unfinished Tech demo product into the market, At that price, which seems to have been untested seems to tell us, that companies nowadays think you can get away with it, with Fans and players paying the Company to Test their game. Back in the day, people use to get Finished tested products. Not this... mess.

    Its a great game Rome total war II. But i didnt intend to buy    Releasing a unfinished Tech demo product into the market, At that price, which seems to have been untested seems to tell us, that companies nowadays think you can get away with it, with Fans and players paying the Company to Test their game. Back in the day, people use to get Finished tested products. Not this... mess.

    Its a great game Rome total war II. But i didnt intend to buy something unfinished, then Pay the company to finish it. Im quite angry.

    Also, i see less, or nothing new regarding features, from Rome total war, to Rome Total war II.
    Other than the improved graphics, and minor changes.

    It seems, one of the Childhood features i used to play around with "viewing a city" as it developed a magnifying glass icon" was removed or not implemented.    … Expand
  78. hr00kjw1
    Oct 8, 2013
    0
    bad bad bad worst total war game ever CA must see that AI is stupid as same graphic as shogun2 but very bad optimized where is the 40% budget gone bad bad bad bad bad whole game is unpolished and it looks like even more bad compared with alpah testing vid that they showed to us
  79. longshotx17
    Oct 8, 2013
    8
    I waited a while before posting any reviews and sure enough, a lot of the initial issues I had were fixed with the patches from CA. So far, I've put in about 50 hours into the main campaign and I'm having a great time with it. Before anything else though, let em talk about what is still wrong about the game.

    The AI isn't really competent. Granted, I started a campaign on hard rather    I waited a while before posting any reviews and sure enough, a lot of the initial issues I had were fixed with the patches from CA. So far, I've put in about 50 hours into the main campaign and I'm having a great time with it. Before anything else though, let em talk about what is still wrong about the game.

    The AI isn't really competent. Granted, I started a campaign on hard rather than legendary, but still, it isn't much of a challenge. Enemy armies tend to spam weaker units and just throw waves that can be repelled by the garrison units 4 times out of 5. Overall the AI doesn't seem much more capable than the AI present in the original Rome, a game already a decade old. While the game runs significantly smoother than when it first came out a month ago, it is still not up to the standards left by Shogun 2. My laptop can play Shogun 2 in all ultra settings, and yet with Rome 2 I have to lower to medium to get 30-40 fps. I'm sure more updates and patches will fix this even further, and while it is definitely playable now, it just doesn't live up to the potential promised.

    Those troubles aside, I love the game. My Athens campaign has been incredibly fun to play. I still get that thrill as I march troops against the Seleucid and the Middle East, as I become the primary Greek power, storming the beached cities of Italy and taking on Rome, in my way to becoming the supreme ruler of the Mediterranean. That Total War experiences still there in a way that can only be brought to life by CA. The addition of naval battles, while not yet perfected, definitely adds a new layer of strategy and enjoyability to battles.

    As a guy who grew up playing Rome since before he had a computer to really take advantage of its beauty, I love the Total War series. With this being said, I'll admit that my review score is, to a certain degree, biased. If all that you are looking it is how the game plays, a score of 6.5-7 isn't implausible. However, as a gamer who thoroughly enjoys the worlds crafted in each Total War game and the one of a kind experience that they bring and is willing to not over look but rather not really get overly-bothered by the small issues that arise, then this game, in my opinion, is a solid 8.0. It is not CA's best effort, but is a great game nonetheless.    … Expand
  80. vardano
    Oct 8, 2013
    2
    Biggest failure of beloved game. What a shame. They cut from game best features and instead it's full of bugs and terrible design decisions. Pre-launch marketing were lies and this is disgraceful.
  81. eric77
    Oct 8, 2013
    0
    I could give the game a 4 or 5 out of 10 but because of the false advertising in Rally Point it gets a 0 from me.
    These are Rome 2 main problems, even after 1 month and nearly 4 patches i only see really small improvements, So;
    -horrible battle AI, almost not existing -laughable campaign AI -visual downgrade to Shogun 2 (even on Extreme) -no family tree -greek states dlc -rubbish    I could give the game a 4 or 5 out of 10 but because of the false advertising in Rally Point it gets a 0 from me.
    These are Rome 2 main problems, even after 1 month and nearly 4 patches i only see really small improvements, So;

    -horrible battle AI, almost not existing
    -laughable campaign AI
    -visual downgrade to Shogun 2 (even on Extreme)
    -no family tree
    -greek states dlc
    -rubbish politics system
    -unit rosters of nations like epirus are a bad joke
    -horrible UI, unit cards are ugly and too big. they dont even have unit numbers
    -generals arent important at all because they die really fast
    -1 turn per year.... WTF ?!
    the list goes on and on. NEVER preorder a CA game again. (Julian McKinlay, Will Overgard, Craig i hope you guys get fired, you useless     … Expand
  82. macishiryu
    Oct 7, 2013
    0
    After hundreds of hours playing the wonderful Shogun 2, this was my bigger expectation this year.

    And became the deception of the year.

    After 3 updates, I still barely can play it. No crossfire support, horrible textures, bad optimisation, AI ridiculous.

    I will forget this game and now returning to Shogun 2.
  83. Theodwulf
    Oct 7, 2013
    5
    After two full campaigns, both on easy, Rome (juno) for a Military victory and Carthage (barca) for an economic victory.
    This Game is a Total Tedium(really could use a short campaign)
    I hate the research mechanic, the new provincial mechanic and the building scheme. The map feels "epic" as do the victory conditions but none of the cities feel all that grand, at the ends they are all    After two full campaigns, both on easy, Rome (juno) for a Military victory and Carthage (barca) for an economic victory.
    This Game is a Total Tedium(really could use a short campaign)
    I hate the research mechanic, the new provincial mechanic and the building scheme.
    The map feels "epic" as do the victory conditions but none of the cities feel all that grand, at the ends they are all basically back waters. The more you develop cities the more likely they are to go down the toilet. Rome I did a much better job Just another awful game mechanic.
    Naval battles are incredibly clunky empire was better here) and you are better off auto-calcing.
    Missile troops (specifically slingers) are just silly OP, rate of fire and damage are way over the top, basic levy units maul real professional troops
    Calvary go real slow and get stuck on infantry, so there is little maneuver once engaged
    Armies of Briton chariots harken back to rome I with their OPness, just don't auto-calc with them that goes for elephants and cavalry as well.
    Auto calc is still awful, it's like they feel you need to be punished for not personally overseeing every skirmish.
    Diplomacy is awful as the AI will ask for 10-30% of your total wealth regardless of power differential for trade agreements.
    The first 10-20 rounds can be tough but once you get past that don't expect to much in aggression from the AI, it gets real passive..
    The AI cannot handle the clunky building scheme so it's settlements will eventually rebel, just wait.
    political system does something..not sure what..i just ignore it everything still works.
    Civil war..i have no idea why it happened but ti was real easy to fix, no outside factions noticed or cared

    It is really too bad, the franchise gets more and more clunky game mechanics with every iteration, which makes it more difficult for an AI any AI) to be effective competition for a human player. Without that the game is a Total Dud. Just allowing the AI to cheat isn't the answer, as we have seen it only makes the problem worse.

    they really need to go back to the beginning, using Rome I as a templete    … Expand
  84. Brac
    Oct 7, 2013
    1
    The game is obviously still in Beta testing as there are so many problems with it. After a patch, the game didn't even load anymore. Developers deserve all the bad press they get.
  85. CanOmer
    Oct 7, 2013
    5
    I played Rome II more than 230 hours. Rome I was my all time favourite game. So I have huge expectations on Rome II.

    Battles are great, they put so much in here. But campaign is near empty. You can get bored on campaign. In Rome I campaign was far more detailed. They should add more content to the campaign. Campaign map is distorted also. Map projection is the worst projection I have    I played Rome II more than 230 hours. Rome I was my all time favourite game. So I have huge expectations on Rome II.

    Battles are great, they put so much in here. But campaign is near empty. You can get bored on campaign. In Rome I campaign was far more detailed. They should add more content to the campaign.

    Campaign map is distorted also. Map projection is the worst projection I have ever seen; tiny Arabia, compressed Persia, oversized Gaul and Germania, shortened Italy..etc    … Expand
  86. YunDog
    Oct 7, 2013
    0
    there is no AI, ergo there is no game
    your save games will become corrupted
    pancreatitis was more fun than this 'game'
    whatever you do do not waste your money like I did on this game

    this company has gotten away with screwing its fans for far too long as gamers we need to show them this stops here
  87. losten
    Oct 7, 2013
    0
    Buggy and not finished. Gameplay is made much more simple which in these series is a shortcoming.
    I believe the next instalment will be playable on consoles. Battles are a mess. Either dont work or there is an orgy in armour. Everyone is mixing with each other. Dont buy or wait for some crucial patches. But as we all know, crucial patch maybe will come with the expansion and you will be    Buggy and not finished. Gameplay is made much more simple which in these series is a shortcoming.
    I believe the next instalment will be playable on consoles. Battles are a mess. Either dont work or there is an orgy in armour. Everyone is mixing with each other. Dont buy or wait for some crucial patches. But as we all know, crucial patch maybe will come with the expansion and you will be forced to pay extra money for game which may be at last finished.    … Expand
  88. solitarybeam
    Oct 7, 2013
    0
    Purchased this game on the 23rd of September and still having major issues with the game. 4 patches in and I feel like Creative ASSemblies should be paying me for beta testing for them and reporting bug after bug.

    I CONTACTED STEAM FOR A REFUND. HIGHLY ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO THE SAME.
  89. cooltofool
    Oct 6, 2013
    1
    the game was released as a beta for users to find problems and take more than a month after release to fix all the bugs. Pay full price to experience a beta no this is bad service.
  90. thepoomonger
    Oct 6, 2013
    2
    This game is atrocious. A very poorly optimized game. I have read around the forums and people with Core i7s are complaining about CPU bottlenecking. My FX 8150 is bottlenecking so hard that my gpu underclocks itself due to lack of load. The unit cards are very confusing and hard to tell whether the unit is attacking or being attacked. Also the button icons for special abilities are hardThis game is atrocious. A very poorly optimized game. I have read around the forums and people with Core i7s are complaining about CPU bottlenecking. My FX 8150 is bottlenecking so hard that my gpu underclocks itself due to lack of load. The unit cards are very confusing and hard to tell whether the unit is attacking or being attacked. Also the button icons for special abilities are hard to distinguish from each other. The graphics even on extreme look nothing like what they advertised in the trailers and in the alpha footage. This game regresses back to Empire Total War graphics quality (not bad for back then but bad for todays standards). The unit animations are laughable considering how much CA hyped over the motion capture technology and the realism of the game. The campaign map is fuzzy and lags extremely bad. In battle holding down the space bar to see unit formations and paths orders results in extreme lag resulting in you already low framerate being reduced by nearly half. Terrible game and i would not recommend this to anyone. If you want a good game Rome total war game go back to the orginial Rome Total War or if you want a good modern Total War game get either Napoleon Total War or Shogun 2.… Expand
  91. jadereviewer
    Oct 6, 2013
    7
    The overall concept is sound, and a large improvment for total war. On release, this was poorly executed but three patches later this game is very good fun. Bugs aside, this game is good fun- but a step backwards for SHOGUN 2: Total War.
  92. Ukiro88
    Oct 6, 2013
    0
    Rome 2 is epic fail
    Damn retards do this holy Shi***
    Damn is all around thic crapy games
    Ai is stupid
    100500+ lag lag
    you don t need ram in city siege
    and mach more
  93. WerewolfAlpha
    Oct 6, 2013
    4
    Another case of paid reviewers giving the buggy ass game a 78 and the ACTUAL PLAYERS GIVE IT A 3.8.
    Terrible AI, game lags constantly, end game is a DISASTER of game-ending bugs. The UI is like they just started making these games. Did they fire their entire team and hire people off the WarZ team??? Wasted my money on this. Total War is Over. Total Failure is HERE!!!
  94. Rome
    Oct 6, 2013
    4
    Ugly graphics, even on Ultra. On Extreme(the highest setting) it begins to look somewhat ok(but not very great), but at a heavy cost: even on high end rigs(like mine) you'll get fps as low as 20. It's nearly 2014, there is no excuse for an (supposedly) AAA title to have 2009 graphics. I feel cheated just by looking at the game...

    Battle camera is a complete joke. There is no click and    Ugly graphics, even on Ultra. On Extreme(the highest setting) it begins to look somewhat ok(but not very great), but at a heavy cost: even on high end rigs(like mine) you'll get fps as low as 20. It's nearly 2014, there is no excuse for an (supposedly) AAA title to have 2009 graphics. I feel cheated just by looking at the game...

    Battle camera is a complete joke. There is no click and drag action at all. I said: NO CLICK AND DRAG ACTION!! What were they thinking? The camera movement is just horrible. Since you'll be using the camera all the time during battle, this is a potential game breaker for me. However it should be an easy fix, so why are they not fixing the camera!!?

    Tech tree. It's awfully uninspired. No really interesting choices here. Every step in the tech tree will mostly bring you benefits like +2 trade income, -2% unit costs etc. Yawn, it seems utterly irrelevant and dumbed down.

    Icons. Apparantly CA thought it a great idea to have all uni, building, and tech icons look like something a an average 10-old greek child would have drawn thousands of years ago. They are just ugly to look at. I guess they wanted them to have an ancient feel... We dont want that!! We want them to be highly detailed, beautiful and in 3D. Another moronic design decision.

    This games deserves not 0, it deserves a maximum of 4, so thats what it's gonna get from me.    … Expand
  95. Jayras
    Oct 5, 2013
    8
    this game may not be the best TW game, but this is certainly an extremely good one but with bugs. Alot of the bugs others are getting I'm not getting so I had a good experience. Everytime I go into a siege battle where I'm the attacker the game always crashes so that was a let down
  96. Backslider
    Oct 5, 2013
    4
    A gutted and souless excuse of a Total War game. It's pretty, and introduces a couple interesting mechanics, but that's where it ends. A mountain of well loved and/or classic Total War features have been inexplicably amputated from this gimpy game. Family trees, seasons, loose formation, agent cutscenes, epic general speeches, all of these and more are gone.
    Despite boasting a huge unit    A gutted and souless excuse of a Total War game. It's pretty, and introduces a couple interesting mechanics, but that's where it ends. A mountain of well loved and/or classic Total War features have been inexplicably amputated from this gimpy game. Family trees, seasons, loose formation, agent cutscenes, epic general speeches, all of these and more are gone.
    Despite boasting a huge unit count, the units feel bland, and therefore so do the factions. 200 reskinned units of spearmen with identical stats do not an interesting unit roster make. Combat feels arcadey; battles are over in a couple minutes, with units flying across the battle field while making liberal use of magical cooldown-based abilities click, click, click click. It feels more like Dance Dance Revolution than Total War.
    The AI is terrible, but will likely be patched. But what of all the other things that are wrong with the game? Time will not fix their horrible design decisions, and AI tweaks won't bring back all the gutted content. Don't waste your money on this game. If you want CA to make a good TW game, they have to know when they've made a mistake.    … Expand
  97. alexmak
    Oct 5, 2013
    10
    First off, I want to say that I have played all Total War games since Rome 1, and I was very excited for Rome 2. I read all the news about it every day and got very hyped. But when the game was released and the huge mess of its problems was revealed, I was very disappointed. The only reason I give this game a 10/10 is to counter all the people on here that are giving this game a 0 forFirst off, I want to say that I have played all Total War games since Rome 1, and I was very excited for Rome 2. I read all the news about it every day and got very hyped. But when the game was released and the huge mess of its problems was revealed, I was very disappointed. The only reason I give this game a 10/10 is to counter all the people on here that are giving this game a 0 for reasons that I think are faulty and that give a bad image of CA. Do people realize that a 0 means that the game does not get past the first loading screen without crashing? If you can start up a game at all, it does not deserve a 0. If it is apparent that there was a total lack of effort and professionalism in the development, then it deserves a 1. But in my opinion, this game does neither of those things and does not deserve the huge number of 0's and 1's from pissed off people. This game shows that incredible amounts of work, effort, creativity, and care were put into Rome 2: Total War. The only place where the developers and publishers messed up is not giving enough development time and not testing the game properly. This caused minor (but important) features to be left out and also many bugs (some game breaking) to be left in. This in turn made the game unplayable for some, but CA claims that most people can run it without serious issues.Due to these reasons, I do not think that anybody should completely denounce a game simply because they do not like some of its features (or lack of features) and got disappointed that their vision of the game wasn't achieved. This game deserves at least a 5/10 form the people that are do not like it and a somewhere around a 7/10 from people that know that it will become a good game, if not great, through patching and mods. I would personally give this game an 8/10 because I know that just like Skyrim, a true gem of a game will emerge from the flawed vanilla version. But I will not change my score until all the pissed off people give a realistic score that only reflects the problems of the game that have no way of being fixed in the near future and does not take into account their personal feelings and or preferences.… Expand
  98. Iakesm
    Oct 5, 2013
    0
    City management is pathetic. Nothing to do!
    Technology development is for a 2 year old to manage.
    Increase food creates more squalor??? One year per turn and only one season. The enemy is tame as they did not grow and I conquered all of Northern and Easter Europe with 3 armies??? If there is a civil war early on, when one can have only six armies, where does the competitor get 12 full    City management is pathetic. Nothing to do!
    Technology development is for a 2 year old to manage.
    Increase food creates more squalor???
    One year per turn and only one season.
    The enemy is tame as they did not grow and I conquered all of Northern and Easter Europe with 3 armies???
    If there is a civil war early on, when one can have only six armies, where does the competitor get 12 full armies from???
    Then strange things where armies can sail seas without fleets and destroying fleets? What is the use of having fleets???

    Just a bad repackage of the old, with no imagination or ingenuity, making this game a huge disappointment after 8 years of waiting.

    Complete and utter rubbish.    … Expand
  99. Kluge
    Oct 4, 2013
    1
    Hey look another CA Total War game, with all the same caveats poor computational optimization, lack of unit diversity, only masochists play naval combat manually, AI turn times which progress about as fast as a legless donkey, useless combat AI which stands around while you slaughter them (it's been such a long-running problem, I'm starting to think CA believes AI you massacreHey look another CA Total War game, with all the same caveats poor computational optimization, lack of unit diversity, only masochists play naval combat manually, AI turn times which progress about as fast as a legless donkey, useless combat AI which stands around while you slaughter them (it's been such a long-running problem, I'm starting to think CA believes AI you massacre effortlessly is a selling-point because the player's supposed to feel like a bad*ss, instead of cheated), a boring and unengaging "metagame" (campaign map play), and sadistic camera settings which don't let you really grasp everything going on without breaking flow to move the camera and see all the different engagements while the game's paused (seriously there's no excuse for this. If I wanted "realism," or whatever it is they're going for, I'd just keep the camera zoomed in). Modders rush in to fix the many deficiencies of the game, and do a fair job with it but I'm not going to take mods into account when vanilla gameplay is so awful, I uninstalled the game after less than 5 hours of play. In defense of CA itself, however check out Extra Credits Extra History, which CA's marketing division funded. I imagine it's the most fantastic history lesson on the Punic Wars ever given.… Expand
  100. Pixellusion
    Oct 4, 2013
    9
    After a rough launch, Rome II finally shines. Four *massive* patches in the first four weeks have put the game back on the throne it deserves. The game runs beautifully on Very High/Ultra for me, even on my 5 year old PC. And with the latest patch, balance, performance, AI, and most importantly fun are there. 10/10. LOVE this game. Don't believe the naysayers. It is most definitely worthAfter a rough launch, Rome II finally shines. Four *massive* patches in the first four weeks have put the game back on the throne it deserves. The game runs beautifully on Very High/Ultra for me, even on my 5 year old PC. And with the latest patch, balance, performance, AI, and most importantly fun are there. 10/10. LOVE this game. Don't believe the naysayers. It is most definitely worth the money, and more.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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