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. Psybear
    Sep 25, 2013
    1
    Lipstick on a pig sums it up. It seems as if they spent more effort on making marketing movies and promo material than on the actual game. As such, Rome II is a soulless shell. It's as if the folks who designed and coded this iteration never played the original or had the maturity to appreciate the love the fan base had for this strategy game. Instead, they chose to prey upon the hopes ofLipstick on a pig sums it up. It seems as if they spent more effort on making marketing movies and promo material than on the actual game. As such, Rome II is a soulless shell. It's as if the folks who designed and coded this iteration never played the original or had the maturity to appreciate the love the fan base had for this strategy game. Instead, they chose to prey upon the hopes of the community with shameless harlotry on the part of the developer.… Expand
  2. SpiritSharD
    Sep 25, 2013
    5
    I don't normally write reviews on this site (in fact, I'm not sure I ever have), but I felt compelled to write one after reading an interview on Gamasutra.

    To put it simply, I am not at all happy with the way this game has turned out. The promotional footage/advertising for this game was incredibly misleading, and I honestly feel as if I've purchased an alpha version of their title.    I don't normally write reviews on this site (in fact, I'm not sure I ever have), but I felt compelled to write one after reading an interview on Gamasutra.

    To put it simply, I am not at all happy with the way this game has turned out. The promotional footage/advertising for this game was incredibly misleading, and I honestly feel as if I've purchased an alpha version of their title. Now, I'm not a huge Total War fan; I brought all the games alongside TW: Shogun 2 several years ago, and whilst I could never get into their previous games I did thoroughly enjoy the aforementioned. Granted, there were many bugs, but over time they were polished out...and it was never broken (for me, anyway).

    Rome II seems as if they've taken steps back for no apparent reason what-so-ever. The game runs poorly, the game is too easy, there are too many bugs (AI mostly), and all-in-all it's nowhere near impressive as Shogun 2 was (for me). I suspect it's due to the publisher rushing the release (SEGA also publishing that abysmal game that was Alien Colonial Marines), but I can't help but feel as if the developers are also at fault here. Their willingness to fix issues is honorable, but I don't believe a single member of staff has come out to say why exactly things turned out as they did. I think CA need to take a long, hard look at themselves, and hope they learn from their mistakes. Oh, and seriously...don't aim for meta-critic scores. I know you only care about the "professional" reviews, so what I have to say here will probably be ignored (that's if any of you actually read this), but it's people such as myself who buy your games so that you can keep your job. You have a significantly large fan-base of people wanting to support you and scream praise, don't let them down just to focus on reviewers who'll put your game down as soon as they've finished writing. C'mon guys/gals, we know you can do better! =)

    I'm giving the game 5/10 now in it's current state, but I'm sure that rating would increase in my eyes if they continue to work on issues. The potential for a great game is there.    … Expand
  3. Vicentum
    Sep 25, 2013
    4
    Creative Assembly it up. If you are interested in this game you must know that you are paying a full priced game for a beta version with mant different and exotic bugs.

    The IA is one of the most stupid ones I have seen, failing in so many different things that its predecesors could do properly. I have no word. As an example I will write about the siege battles. In Medieval 2 Total War    Creative Assembly it up. If you are interested in this game you must know that you are paying a full priced game for a beta version with mant different and exotic bugs.

    The IA is one of the most stupid ones I have seen, failing in so many different things that its predecesors could do properly. I have no word. As an example I will write about the siege battles. In Medieval 2 Total War the IA could use siege engines properly while in Rome II the army just smashes into the door in a huge moshpit.

    If you are reading this, don't bother to buy the game right now, wait a few months when hopefully the patches will have fixed the game.    … Expand
  4. Frej524
    Sep 24, 2013
    0
    This is sadly the worst game in the series.
    The unit cards are confusing.
    no family tree
    no skill tree
    Horrible release, too many performance and optimization bugs, greatest disappointment of the year.
  5. Wuffel
    Sep 24, 2013
    5
    After playing Shogun 2 for over 500 hours, Rome 2 is quite a dissapointment to me. Although the era it is set in allows for much more identification than historic Japan, Rome 2 did not quite spark my interest as its predecessor. It also taught me not to preorder the next TW title.

    First of all, I still experience FPS drops although the in-game benchmark recommended high settings. These    After playing Shogun 2 for over 500 hours, Rome 2 is quite a dissapointment to me. Although the era it is set in allows for much more identification than historic Japan, Rome 2 did not quite spark my interest as its predecessor. It also taught me not to preorder the next TW title.

    First of all, I still experience FPS drops although the in-game benchmark recommended high settings. These frame drops mainly happen while on the strategic map so scrolling over is quite a lagfest. In battles, I experience graphics glitches: Large black boxes keep appearing to cover the terrain. After 3 weeks, they should have fixed that.

    But there are more important things than graphics in a strategy game. What I liked most about Shogun 2 was the more or less clear-cut rock-paper-scissors(-lizard-Spock) system in its battles. Almost every unit type had its use. This is not the case in Rome 2 which evolves into a heavy infantry spam fest. Although in historic terms, this is quite an accurate representation of Roman military tactics, it is not fun. As in Shogun 2, they should have put gameplay first, historicity second. (And I'm saying this as a historian ^^).

    The gameplay on the strategic map seems to be limited. Okay, it was limited in Shogun 2 too, but there seems to be no real improvement, except the new provincial system which I quite like. The auxiliary units are also a good idea, as is the more stream-lined research. I would say it is solid, although compared to titles specialised on strategic gameplay like Europa Universalis, it still is simplicistic. Especially the diplomatic system needs expansion. The internal political system has no impact on the game which is a huge disappointment. With the political system so well documented and the more or less clear-cut Roman cursus honorum, they had so much potential to toy with. Why did they put it in there in the first place then?

    The worst thing, as in any TW title, is the AI. It's utterly stupid on the strategic map. I mostly auto-resolve battles, because they keep attacking with ridiculously small stacks. In the battles themselves, the AI can be quite good, but also utterly stupid. During sieges, the enemy troops love being butchered by artillery/missile inf. What better thing to spend the day with than being pierced by arrows or squashed by catapult-launched rocks? That's what the poor encamped Samnites must have thought when I shot them with my ballistas in the Prologue Campaign/Tutorial. Quite an eye-opening OMG moment right at the start ...

    But still, AI does not matter in multiplayer. After all, utterly stupid AI does not matter there. I spent 300 hours in Shogun 2's avatar conquest. I liked the sense of achievement it gave, the identification with my general, my ridiculously custom-named and painted units (even the useless ones just vetted for fun). The whole system of course was also quite simple, and the retainer-drop and matchmaking led to unfair situations. But why did they drop it as a whole? Rome 2 just offers the bare-minimum ranked-ladder custom battle. And those are dominated by pike/heavy inf spam, which becomes boring very fast. Instead of further developing the avatar system or coming up with something new, they took two steps backward. As it seems that CA is not able to program a decent AI, they should have put much more effort into multiplayer, especially interactive-wise.

    All in all: Rome 2 is still a solid game. But after CA raised expectations that much and the hope that the more familiar setting would do its part to make it more fun than Shogun 2, I have to conclude that even after the first 3 patches, Rome 2 does not even come close to fulfill my expectations.

    CA really has to earn my trust a second time.    … Expand
  6. Turnip
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    The game just feels empty and rushed. All of the elements that made the previous Total War games fun and addictive are gone or dumbed down. Meanwhile, the design team emphasized art and graphics and presentation over gameplay and replay value. It's like a bad sequel to a good movie. It makes me think that the Total War franchise may be dead.
  7. spinkick
    Sep 24, 2013
    3
    Every single CA game is broken upon release. There is absolutely no reason to release a game like this; its not your first rodeo. People will not put up with this forever.
  8. triarii3
    Sep 24, 2013
    5
    Unit AI....I win 9/10 battles due to the AI's own stupidity.

    This game is released as a barebone. or even Beta.

    As someone who has bought EVERY title since the FIRST Shogun total war. I am most displeased with this one.
  9. isamurai
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    Played since first rome and was so hyped to play this game but this was a great disappointment...
    A few of the many things that wounded my love for CA: (sorry if there is many english mistakes)
    -Unfinished game, Bugged to death and tends to crash. -removed features - game dumbed down -badly optimized -terrible AI. -poor UI. - Simplified to death multiplayer...    Played since first rome and was so hyped to play this game but this was a great disappointment...
    A few of the many things that wounded my love for CA: (sorry if there is many english mistakes)
    -Unfinished game, Bugged to death and tends to crash.
    -removed features
    - game dumbed down
    -badly optimized
    -terrible AI.
    -poor UI.
    - Simplified to death multiplayer... What happened to the new features of the last opus?
    -unbalanced units
    -illogical features (torches on Metal doors... Really?!) Great no need to spend energy on siege towers! (sarcasm to the max)
    - Magic boats because yay magic!
    -in the same idea Magic like battle changing abilities.
    -Lost immersion
    -Battles last 30 seconds
    -No real political system.
    -Graphics errors
    -DAY 1 DLC This, just this is enough to make me cringe... As Angry Joe said the DLC whoring is out of control...

    I could go on for long like this but i think you all know this already. just go on any forums, youtube or facebook page talking about rome 2 and you will have many complete list of what is wrong.
    Now, it is not just some problems related to my machine... In fact i had bought a system in prevention to be able to play Rome II at its Maximum... What a disappointment...
    Okay the Campaign map is nice. I can give em that. I cant believe any of the "pro" reviews I am reading :
    "Rome II is a testament to all that is great about PC gaming and should be a must buy for all its followers"
    The Digital Fix.
    What in the seven circles of hell is this?! How much did they paid you to say that?! CA are you making a game for the reviewers or the players? How can there be so much distance between "journalistic" and real user review and scores?! I have been on the total war forums and saw the going on in there... Sadly, i really don't think that complaining as I am doing right now) has any effect. They have made the money they needed and they will probably patch it to the minimum then rush to the next money shot with a new expansion or new god damn DLC. Hopefully I am wrong. I really do hope with all my gamer heart that I am wrong...

    To conclude, this game, this disgrace, is a slap in the face of most if not all) the hardcore Total war fans. Fans who believed in the franchise even after some errors in the past. Fans who pre-ordered the game asap. Creative assembly you now feel like a traitor to your fans.

    Et tu, CA    … Expand
  10. RhbynYew
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Gutted features, terrible AI, fast paced COD style action battles, dumbed down, they are preparing to enter console area with what this game looks like. DO NOT BUY if you are a total war fan, you will regret it. Developers in interviews and videos clearly lie, I do not even know how they sleep bluntly lying to fans like that.
  11. havoccau
    Sep 24, 2013
    3
    The game is on its third week and third patch since launch. It's immediate predecessor runs well on my computer, look gorgeous and has the deepest campaign map system (not the largest) of the Total War games to date.

    Rome II is a big step backwards. The game doesn't run smoothly on any settings for me and a lot of players. The AI is a big step backwards (even for a series known for poor    The game is on its third week and third patch since launch. It's immediate predecessor runs well on my computer, look gorgeous and has the deepest campaign map system (not the largest) of the Total War games to date.

    Rome II is a big step backwards. The game doesn't run smoothly on any settings for me and a lot of players. The AI is a big step backwards (even for a series known for poor AI), the characters and agents are convoluted and oversimplified, and the game just kind of chugs under its own weight at this point.

    I would have loved this game if it was just a paint job on the original Rome: Total War. But it's nowhere near as fun as that one, and will need a lot of work before it lives up to its true potential.    … Expand
  12. Securion
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Very buggy AI (Unit AI is so bad its destroying the game right now) and not much to do in the game. Got bored very fast.
    Also, VERY expensive DLC that gives you basicly nothing. Feels like a rip-off.
  13. chunter
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    Rome 2 Boring. Out of all the total war games, this is the 1st total war game I have found boring even after patch 3, I can not play more 13hours of this game. I recommend buying Shogun which I played 640 hours. And wait 6-12 months for CA and see if they re-write the game or release an expansion.
  14. Rhazes
    Sep 24, 2013
    3
    This is by far the worst Total War game I have ever played and I own them all. I was so excited because Rome is my favorite of Total War games. This game is an Alpha build. This is what you deal with in closed beta testing. I don't even think it will be fixed. CA has never been a company that supports there games for long. They will drop down to a skeleton crew for support and DLC andThis is by far the worst Total War game I have ever played and I own them all. I was so excited because Rome is my favorite of Total War games. This game is an Alpha build. This is what you deal with in closed beta testing. I don't even think it will be fixed. CA has never been a company that supports there games for long. They will drop down to a skeleton crew for support and DLC and everyone else will be working on the Rome expansion.

    Creative Assembly went heavy on the marketing and it only took 10 turns to see they never even play tested their own game before release or they just didn't care.

    Avoid this game unless you like to waste money.    … Expand
  15. TARZAN
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    Worst strategy game i've ever seen.
    It's not a game, it's trash and It is broken, it's trash and It is broken
    It's not a game, it's trash and It is broken, it's trash and It is broken
    It's not a game, it's trash and It is broken, it's trash and It is broken
    It's not a game, it's trash and It is broken, it's trash and It is broken
  16. apacheanthunder
    Sep 24, 2013
    0
    I will do a donation twice as the R2TW's price to anyone who take Rome TW and mod it to the graphics of Rome II; same units; same administration mode; same factions; i mean, if i actually want to learn the true history of Rome, there are a lot of history books, internet sources, or even to watch to history Channel
  17. Tacticus
    Sep 24, 2013
    9
    I dont get why people are on this game so much for things that can be overcome and fixed. Let's start from the top, the Graphics, they are perfect the way they are and with few minor glitches (for some may be more) are perfect to me, people are on them because apparently they want to pay for another graphics card, they made them that way to help save some budget and have betterI dont get why people are on this game so much for things that can be overcome and fixed. Let's start from the top, the Graphics, they are perfect the way they are and with few minor glitches (for some may be more) are perfect to me, people are on them because apparently they want to pay for another graphics card, they made them that way to help save some budget and have better optimization for low-mid end pc's. AI, yes it is bad, but CA is steadily making improvements, stop spamming them about it, they will fix it. The interface is much more simple, i like to be able to control my settlements all in one panel instead of clicking on each individual town. And the release, people are on CA and Sega without knowing who even rushed the game, we dont know who rushed it, the only thing we know, is they didnt have testing or indepedant testers. They will fix the game, they have already rolled out 8 patches.… Expand
  18. uaronain
    Sep 24, 2013
    3
    After a massive build up after the classic rome total war, this one fails to deliver much more than some pretty graphics. The game just feels empty, voice acting is not much to rave about. Combat AI 75% of the time is horrible. The campaign is not a challenge and when you win it leaves you feeling like "thats it?"
  19. bantad87
    Sep 24, 2013
    7
    As a Total War addict, I give the game a 7/10. The core design is solid; a strong gaming engine, good environment art, character art is fairly decent given the scale of the game, and the UI is pretty solid. The campaign has been streamlined to focus less on micromanagement, and more on macro in order to allow the player to focus more on battles and strategy. Unfortunately, Rome 2 suffersAs a Total War addict, I give the game a 7/10. The core design is solid; a strong gaming engine, good environment art, character art is fairly decent given the scale of the game, and the UI is pretty solid. The campaign has been streamlined to focus less on micromanagement, and more on macro in order to allow the player to focus more on battles and strategy. Unfortunately, Rome 2 suffers from bugs, glitches, and laziness in design. The battle and campaign maps suffer from transparency overdraw which results in massive FPS losses unless you lower grass, trees, and particle effects to low, The AI (at least for me) generally performs acceptably, but occasionally will glitch, fail, or make dumb decisions. Diplomacy towards the player is acceptable, but there is little-to-no diplomacy between AI factions. The AI factions are extremely intimidated by the player, and almost never declare war or assault the player. The result is a campaign AI that is easier to defeat when compared to Shogun 2's launch AI. Overall, given the scope of the game I recognize that Creative Assembly attempted a large overhaul of the series, but they failed to successfully implement the new features. Not being a pessimist, I rate the game as "average" at launch, and hope that CA will continue to patch and improve the game over the coming year. Lastly, I'd like to add that Creative Assembly has never successfully implemented a "good" AI. If we as total war fans expect good AI, we should turn to the modding community, which has always been the case with Total War games. Should all the "issues" be ironed out, I think this game would be well deserving of a rating between 8.5 and 8.8.… Expand
  20. ironman3112
    Sep 24, 2013
    4
    This game was a large disappointment for me. I followed the game for the full year from the announce date until release. CA had an incredible marketing team, made the game look absolutely fantastic up to the release date. Any concerns on the forum were crushed by simply saying the footage shows was alpha footage. I can remember raising concerns about Al Bickhams videos showing the ai inThis game was a large disappointment for me. I followed the game for the full year from the announce date until release. CA had an incredible marketing team, made the game look absolutely fantastic up to the release date. Any concerns on the forum were crushed by simply saying the footage shows was alpha footage. I can remember raising concerns about Al Bickhams videos showing the ai in battles. Bickham played horribly and the ai won a couple battles, deep down inside I knew something was up, but I brushed it off thinking the final release would be better.

    When the day of release came I had already sunk 1 700 dollars into a new computer and had pre ordered the game thanks to having it gifted to me on steam for my birthday. I thought that Rome 2 would be too big to fail, that there would be no possible way that CA could screw it up.

    Boy, was I wrong. I'll start with the ai, the ai on the campaign map doesn't build very many large armies in the early game. They'd much rather have multiple small stacks roaming around. The armies that they do have usually consist of militia units and slingers, regardless of what stage of the game you're in. Ai empires typically don't know how to manage public order so any large empire will soon crumble (this is perhaps why large empires like carthage and the selucids were split up into satrapies or client states). This is just the tip of the iceberg for campaign ai failures.

    The battle ai is reasonable when fighting in an open battle, it creates a formation and sends every single soldier it has at its disposal at you and attacks your units. You'll typically be able to take on 3-5ai armies with 1 full stack of your own troops because they'll come at you 1 army at a time, with militia units that route incredibly easily.

    The true problem with the battle ai is when it comes to sieges. When it is defending its alright since all it has to do is camp flags, but when it's attacking it has a tendency to disregard your entire army, and bull rush the flag through your men as you hack them to pieces giving no consideration to the fact that you're slaughtering its entire army. This is gamebreaking. As well during sieges, (this isn't an ai issue, just a siege issue) it is possible to destroy the gates by throwing torches at them thus rendering all siege equipment completely useless. There is absolutely no need to build siege equipment when you can just destroy the gate with torches, there by making sieges really boring.

    The naval ai is pretty competent from what I can tell, my navy gets its ass kicked by transport fleets when I fight the battle due to transport ships being overpowered. Auto resolving battles with a navy against a transport fleet causes the Transport fleet to be annihilated, so at least that works as intended.
    Quick Points:
    -The graphics are pretty good when they aren't glitching out or causing your machine to lag. However I've found that shogun 2 is more optimized and at times definitely looks better.
    - The province system works as intended and is pretty reasonable overall. Makes recruiting easier than it was in previous TW games
    -with 172 factions the map is full of factions which is great, one thing that bothers me however is that a lot of the major factions get stomped by random no name factions, so your campaign can turn into fight no name faction A and no name faction Y. e.g. carthage gets destroyed by numidian tribes and egypt is destroyed by Ethiopian tribes typically.

    Finishing points:
    I haven't covered all the flaws in this game, there's plenty of them, however the game will get better with additional patches. So far there have been multiple patches released to fix these issues and more will continue to come out. What really irks me is that the game was shipped out the way it was September 3rd. It was a compete mess, CA has apologized twice and that is why they've sent out so many patches. I just hope that everyone remembers this release and refuses to pre order any other games let alone Total war games.

    I've played Total war games ever since Medieval 1 Total War, when I was 9 years old and this game has been the only one that's really pissed me off. I completely agree with angry joe's sentiments, check out his review its great, also check out what CA said in this interview with regards to meta critic, it's disgusting.
    http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/169354/how_creative_assemblys_process_.php

    anyways, this game definitely didn't live up to the hype. Just remember what happened with this game, the marketing, the promises, the buggy release, all the patches. Just remember this when you think about pre ordering the next game, because I gurantee that if you do pre order you'll be kicking yourself when this happens again.    … Expand
  21. Kristian
    Sep 24, 2013
    0
    lack of many important features present in previous titles
    - terrible UI
    - incompetent AI
    - poor unit balancing
    - lots of bugs

    In short: The worst TW game to date.
  22. Greven93
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Creative Assembly have somehow managed to misuse their franchise so badly that it has caused permanent damage to their reputation. They have pushed out a game that is not finished.

    It is a clear downgrade from Shogun 2 both technically (Graphics & performance) and in game design (Art direction, polish, features etc..). Creative Assembly seems to have pushed for a more streamlined game,    Creative Assembly have somehow managed to misuse their franchise so badly that it has caused permanent damage to their reputation. They have pushed out a game that is not finished.

    It is a clear downgrade from Shogun 2 both technically (Graphics & performance) and in game design (Art direction, polish, features etc..). Creative Assembly seems to have pushed for a more streamlined game, but in doing so they have removed core aspects that were part of the definition of a "total war title".    … Expand
  23. Mackles
    Sep 24, 2013
    3
    Graphically impressive. Excellent combat animations and sound effects. Streamlined empire management. That's the good stuff.

    The campaign itself has the depth of a puddle. The much vaunted politics system is pathetic. Diplomacy and CAI in general is broken. Essentially, you'll be doing exactly the same thing 250 turns in as you were 20 turns in. Battles are ridiculously fast. Units    Graphically impressive. Excellent combat animations and sound effects. Streamlined empire management. That's the good stuff.

    The campaign itself has the depth of a puddle. The much vaunted politics system is pathetic. Diplomacy and CAI in general is broken. Essentially, you'll be doing exactly the same thing 250 turns in as you were 20 turns in.

    Battles are ridiculously fast. Units are horribly balanced. Plenty of features and controls are broken or poorly redesigned. Voice work is mostly poor. 90% of battles are sieges and siege battles are currently broken.

    All in all, an extremely poor addition to the Total War series that suffers as much from bad design choices as it does from a lack of optimization and extensive technical issues.    … Expand
  24. Pesticide
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    Played 20 hours as a veteran of the series, this game is more broken then empire at release, had many features cut and basicly all the extra budget they claimed went to marketing of fancy videos adds that are not even in the game. Do not be deceived by this company ever again, they stopped caring and are now doing games by the numbers sega dictates 4 weeks after release the game is stillPlayed 20 hours as a veteran of the series, this game is more broken then empire at release, had many features cut and basicly all the extra budget they claimed went to marketing of fancy videos adds that are not even in the game. Do not be deceived by this company ever again, they stopped caring and are now doing games by the numbers sega dictates 4 weeks after release the game is still broken and unpolished.… Expand
  25. Mikimax
    Sep 24, 2013
    4
    Well, what can i say what others haven't.
    I had high hopes for this game, expected it to be the pinnacle of the franchise and then it all fell down.
    Maybe after 2 expansion pack this game will be in line with Shougun 2.
  26. Kipman2000
    Sep 24, 2013
    6
    Both good and bad aspects in this game. I personally like the new campaign map, how the regions and the provinces are done and how you must balance the food, squalor/happiness, growth and economics of it.

    On the downside the new politics system is shallow and feels half-way done. The graphics are all right, but I've experienced some bugs through my time playing. UI is not good and some    Both good and bad aspects in this game. I personally like the new campaign map, how the regions and the provinces are done and how you must balance the food, squalor/happiness, growth and economics of it.

    On the downside the new politics system is shallow and feels half-way done. The graphics are all right, but I've experienced some bugs through my time playing. UI is not good and some features feels half-done and rushed.

    Gameplay wise there are some features which have been added which are not good and upsets the balance during battles and other features which worked very well in previous TW games are removed for no apparant reason.

    No more than a 6 on the scale from me, even though the game is fun and entertaining it feels half-done and rushed. Worth playing if you like the TW series and the era of Rome, but you can also live perfectly well without this game.    … Expand
  27. DraganCar
    Sep 24, 2013
    0
    I wasted my saving on a game that is unplayable omg im so crying right now total war shogun 2 was so good why has this happened please whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
  28. Noif
    Sep 24, 2013
    2
    Don't buy it now, because you don't want to pay for broken/incomplete game. While CA are fixing it, I recommend use your time for other games. Maybe in future, this will be better after fixes.

    - AI is poor and stupid, pathfinding is really weak. Passive CAI and AI never declare war for you. BAI never use siege equipment, just standing and do nothing. - Diplomacy is lazy and broken -    Don't buy it now, because you don't want to pay for broken/incomplete game. While CA are fixing it, I recommend use your time for other games. Maybe in future, this will be better after fixes.

    - AI is poor and stupid, pathfinding is really weak. Passive CAI and AI never declare war for you. BAI never use siege equipment, just standing and do nothing.
    - Diplomacy is lazy and broken
    - Poorly optimized
    - Less features
    - UI too huge and bad.
    - Transport ships are op against naval fleet.
    - Performance is weak too.
    - Some normal tweaks on units are missing    … Expand
  29. letitbee
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    The simple fact is the game is released unfinished. Three patches later, it crashes less, but the AI just does not work at all. Half of the mechanics are alpha quality at best, innumerable bugs, typos, awkward design decisions, broken mechanics, and general lack of love and polish show utter disrespect for fans of the series.

    Make no mistake: this is an alpha version. Once finished, the    The simple fact is the game is released unfinished. Three patches later, it crashes less, but the AI just does not work at all. Half of the mechanics are alpha quality at best, innumerable bugs, typos, awkward design decisions, broken mechanics, and general lack of love and polish show utter disrespect for fans of the series.

    Make no mistake: this is an alpha version. Once finished, the game will probably be great. But no matter how much I love Total War, it is not ok to release your game in such a state.

    You should absolutely not buy it right now, it is a mess.    … Expand
  30. polyandras
    Sep 24, 2013
    9
    A the first days i was dissappointed. But after the patch 1 and 2 and 3 soon i have less and less lag Ai is improving and multiplayer battles are most entertaining than ever ,Now iam playing unstoppable
  31. titan357
    Sep 24, 2013
    8
    Im am going to give this game a solid 8. It has some issues still at this point. However, having played all the Total war games besides Napoleon, I think this is the best TW game I have played so far.

    The map is huge, with the new patch the time between turns is really fast. The campaign map looks great, and the units in battle also look great on high settings. Almost all the    Im am going to give this game a solid 8. It has some issues still at this point. However, having played all the Total war games besides Napoleon, I think this is the best TW game I have played so far.

    The map is huge, with the new patch the time between turns is really fast. The campaign map looks great, and the units in battle also look great on high settings.
    Almost all the information is provided easily in game at a glance, or though the in game encyclopedia.

    The factions are all varied enough (thankfully, Shogun 2 felt like a mirror match) to make all or most battles fun.
    The Gauls play different from the Romans from what I have seen.

    The game is running very smoothly, but it does need improvement in some areas. The diplomacy and family side of the game does need working on. They are shallow and hard to understand at times.

    The new province system is a great addition to the game, and with the public happiness you really have to think and plan out what builds to build in what area. No more "upgrade it all to max" or "build everything everywhere" like in M2TW.

    The campaign map AI and battle map AI could use some tweaking, my first 28 hours as Gaul on Normal was way too easy. Rome on V.Hard seems fairly easy as well. But Roman units are very good compared to others.

    The army legacy system is another new feature that I really enjoy, having the army unit ts self have separate propriety's from the general in command is a nice touch.

    I think that having 1 turn per year is a bit excessive, so I recommend the 4 turns per year mod, its working very well for me.

    This is a very solid game overall in my opinion and CA have shown they are working hard to make it even better, its a great game now but I feel that its only going to get better.    … Expand
  32. ObjectivePlayer
    Sep 24, 2013
    3
    It is really hard to be objective with this release considering I have played since the first medieval came out, and I have many many hours in Rome 1. With that said, this is the most disappointing game I have ever purchased in my gaming history. Not just because it didn't live up to the hype, it was simply bad. And there are many features that have been taken away from the other gamesIt is really hard to be objective with this release considering I have played since the first medieval came out, and I have many many hours in Rome 1. With that said, this is the most disappointing game I have ever purchased in my gaming history. Not just because it didn't live up to the hype, it was simply bad. And there are many features that have been taken away from the other games which were good, and instead have been replaced by gimmicky crap. Balancing in this game is the worst I have ever seen in a total war game as far as units go. Bugs, horrendous graphics on high end computers. Passive AI and dull battles. I could go on... but at this point it is useless. Just look at the score I have given and that should be enough to go on from here.… Expand
  33. vietanh797
    Sep 24, 2013
    8
    The game is good. It didn't meet my expectation but it is good. I play vanilla game for almost 350 hours already. It have bugs and some case AI also have problem but once the AI work they are really dangerous. If you're facing working AI in a battle and not pay attention you can lose your whole army.

    Play it even if you don't like it once you play enough you will forget that you hate it    The game is good. It didn't meet my expectation but it is good. I play vanilla game for almost 350 hours already. It have bugs and some case AI also have problem but once the AI work they are really dangerous. If you're facing working AI in a battle and not pay attention you can lose your whole army.

    Play it even if you don't like it once you play enough you will forget that you hate it in the beginning. It can be not eye catching at first glance and a few bugs but this is a good game so far. At least in my opinion it is better than COH2    … Expand
  34. nigelnire
    Sep 24, 2013
    1
    I am a Total war veteran who has played every game from Shogun 1 .This is by far the worst Total war game ever, even worse than Empire on release. Poor optimisation I have a high end PC and theres terrible lag. Capture flags on open field battles full of bugs ,the worst Ai ever totally brain dead. I could go on. six months time with mods and patches the game might deserve 6/10 but ifI am a Total war veteran who has played every game from Shogun 1 .This is by far the worst Total war game ever, even worse than Empire on release. Poor optimisation I have a high end PC and theres terrible lag. Capture flags on open field battles full of bugs ,the worst Ai ever totally brain dead. I could go on. six months time with mods and patches the game might deserve 6/10 but if you are considering buying don’t and certainly never pre order a game from CA again based on their promotion and hype.… Expand
  35. triladar
    Sep 23, 2013
    8
    Seriously, the only thing I want to comment on this game is: What a fu**ing dissappointment!
    I'll try it again in like a year and hope the patches they release until then make it playable.
  36. UristMcMechanic
    Sep 23, 2013
    1
    Everything that was good in Total War series is removed, while so much issues and bugs are introduced. Post-release patches are making it even worse for more players than they do help. And it's still unplayable after almost a month since release with no AI at all, no features that we loved from previous games (family trees, city development), no challenges (because there is no AI) and fullEverything that was good in Total War series is removed, while so much issues and bugs are introduced. Post-release patches are making it even worse for more players than they do help. And it's still unplayable after almost a month since release with no AI at all, no features that we loved from previous games (family trees, city development), no challenges (because there is no AI) and full of bugs.
    Waste of money. Even when bugs are fixed it still will be worse compared to previous TW games.    … Expand
  37. johnbrandon1981
    Sep 23, 2013
    0
    I'm re-posting my amazon review here in the hopes a gamer might be saved while CA and Sega might be duly punished for this atrocity:
    Listen now to the tale of a fool who pre-ordered this game because of the love he had for the magnificent original that debuted 8 long years ago. This game is a travesty and a bitter surprise, a betrayal by Creative Assembly and Sega of a loyal PAYING    I'm re-posting my amazon review here in the hopes a gamer might be saved while CA and Sega might be duly punished for this atrocity:
    Listen now to the tale of a fool who pre-ordered this game because of the love he had for the magnificent original that debuted 8 long years ago. This game is a travesty and a bitter surprise, a betrayal by Creative Assembly and Sega of a loyal PAYING customer. Calling this buggy, half-baked, ill-contrived, ill-conceived, dumbed-down, feature-stripped pile of amateur code a beta would be charitable.The ONLY thing CA improved upon is graphics, but considering the LONG years between sequels how could the graphics NOT be improved. I am morally entitled to a refund though I know no such thing will be forthcoming out the Somewhat Creative Assembly of Incompetents and their corporate masters, Sega(means thief in Japanese). I can only hope for some poetic justice, like Sega in its entirety going the way of their console business and those responsible for this mess at CA falling on their swords Roman style for this failure. I'm out $60 and I'm uninstalling this from my HDD. I tried hard to play this game, I WANTED TO ENJOY IT. Do you know what I did when I gave up playing? I WENT OUTSIDE AND MOWED MY YARD. The game I have waited near 10 years for inspired me TO GET UP, GO OUTSIDE, AND DO MUNDANE YARD WORK. The developers are as guilty of stealing as the pirates. The only intelligent way to support games makers is to pirate first and then pay later, or bring back demos. Even if I had pirated this game it would have been a of waste bandwidth and HDD space. After this I just don't know where to expect anything good from the games industry anymore and maybe nothing good can be expected.    … Expand
  38. strohl
    Sep 23, 2013
    2
    A TOTAL slap in the face to gamers everywhere!
    this game is far from what they showed in demo videos. C.A. flat out lied to the public. NEVER PRE order anything from them!
  39. Xaosian
    Sep 23, 2013
    2
    I've played since the original Shogun total war loves all of them until now.

    Rome 2 is a nightmare pos of a game. The AI which was never very good to start with is horrid now, just straight retarded. Like attack a walled city and they wont put troops on the walls retarded, like do a joint naval and land assault and they just dock and off load their navy, every time. Even in field    I've played since the original Shogun total war loves all of them until now.

    Rome 2 is a nightmare pos of a game. The AI which was never very good to start with is horrid now, just straight retarded. Like attack a walled city and they wont put troops on the walls retarded, like do a joint naval and land assault and they just dock and off load their navy, every time. Even in field battles their only tactic is to form a ball and charge. Hell if they are the defender you can walk your missile units into range and just fire into them until your out of ammo then go after them with melee troops.

    Diplomacy again never very strong in the series is a joke in this one, think ADHD mixed with paranoia and a solid dose of hallucinogens. No grip on reality, no sense of deal value, no concept of friend or foe, heck not even any concept of self interest.

    Like the old family tree set up to give your generals and leaders some depth? Its gone. Politics? just a countdown to civil war and doesn't work for most of the non imperial factions. How about random event? Mostly non existent and not working, plus they seem to cut off after the first handful of turns.

    Granted those are all in game things that you might disagree with me about. Lets talk a little about performance issues and such now. A very high percentage of the player base can either barely run the game do to poor code design or can't run it at all. Think fallout 2 graphics. Massive lag both in campaign map and in battles. Game can't run more then one CPU Core, Can't run more then 1 GPU, and the coding is so poor it can't run the one core well. Not good for a game touted as next gen graphically.

    A large number of the old guard have given up on this one guys. So save your money wait for a 50-66% off sale next year and hope some of the modders have made it worth while by then.    … Expand
  40. Neopsyko
    Sep 23, 2013
    1
    This episode is a return back. The media is not playable and unstable. There should never have been put on sale, Sega took the cash and left leaving CA fend avoiding confrontation exit opus October! Invest in other games in the immediate future, except those who want to play the beta tester unofficial free Note 1 to the box only! And still no apology Sega compared to CA!
  41. Luprical
    Sep 23, 2013
    3
    In it's current state the game is just broken. If you want the ultimate TW experience go with shogun 2 series, Fall of the Samurai in particular. It really is a big failure on the TW teams part that the game hasn't incorporate any of the lessons they've learned over the years. The AI is terrible, both your units and campaign wise, and it's just plain not fun. Give it a year or 2 and itIn it's current state the game is just broken. If you want the ultimate TW experience go with shogun 2 series, Fall of the Samurai in particular. It really is a big failure on the TW teams part that the game hasn't incorporate any of the lessons they've learned over the years. The AI is terrible, both your units and campaign wise, and it's just plain not fun. Give it a year or 2 and it will be a 7/8 out of 10. But now, it's a 3 at best.… Expand
  42. carlocgc
    Sep 23, 2013
    3
    Bad points:
    Unit collision Battles become moss pits )
    Skill cards With these cards you have no idea how your unit will progress ) Campaign AI See every other review ) Multiplayer Pointless in effect a multiplayer custom battle mode no mmo progression at all ) Historical battles The most enjoyable part for me yet only 4 battles 4! ) General speeches Very short and    Bad points:
    Unit collision Battles become moss pits )
    Skill cards With these cards you have no idea how your unit will progress )
    Campaign AI See every other review )
    Multiplayer Pointless in effect a multiplayer custom battle mode no mmo progression at all )
    Historical battles The most enjoyable part for me yet only 4 battles 4! )
    General speeches Very short and impersonal )
    Campaign AI turn time Though improved somewhat with patches still way too long )
    Good Points:
    Cinematic Camera
    Epic siege battles even with all its flaws    … Expand
  43. Nanoflux
    Sep 22, 2013
    0
    There's just so much wrong with this game.

    They are but not limited to; poor fps; poor AI; poor battle UI; badly designed unit cards; bad colouring on campaign map; unrealistic looking water; not enough trading ships (historically inaccurate); no ability to improve roads; unrealistic diplomacy (also incredibly limited); no ability to create a personalised city; no guard button; no fire    There's just so much wrong with this game.

    They are but not limited to; poor fps; poor AI; poor battle UI; badly designed unit cards; bad colouring on campaign map; unrealistic looking water; not enough trading ships (historically inaccurate); no ability to improve roads; unrealistic diplomacy (also incredibly limited); no ability to create a personalised city; no guard button; no fire at will button; unnecessarily complicated ship controls; poor animations regarding triremes; slingers sling lightning; city sniping; poor diplomacy; protectorates fail to declare war; fog of war is completely unrealistic; trade centres only on the capital; no intercity trade via land; no intercity trade via water (except the capital); huge territories; not enough cities; poor technology tree; clunky campaign UI; bad textures; limitation of the number of armies; the inability to separate armies; no ports; no recruitment tab; no construction tab; no easily accessible finance info; family structures make no sense; no internal politics; hoplite incorrectly use spears; historically inaccurate units; 'heroes' wtf; turns last 1 year (which is ridiculous given how far units travel; magic powers; historically inaccurate states; AI is worse than Rome 1.

    Save yourself some money and get Rome 1 and mod it.

    Loved the opportunity to spend £30 to alpha test this bull.    … Expand
  44. swordfish1221
    Sep 22, 2013
    10
    The release of this game was terrible....the game was close to unplayable this shouldn't happen with a total war game. however creative assembly has been working around the clock to get this game to how it should have been at release. the main issue i had was the crappy frame rates and the 5 min end turn phases. but now with the first to patches all the problems have been fixed and theThe release of this game was terrible....the game was close to unplayable this shouldn't happen with a total war game. however creative assembly has been working around the clock to get this game to how it should have been at release. the main issue i had was the crappy frame rates and the 5 min end turn phases. but now with the first to patches all the problems have been fixed and the game is close to what it should be and was expecting. the end turn phase flies by and usually lasts around 15-20 seconds or so… Expand
  45. cptsoban
    Sep 22, 2013
    2
    This game in its current state is unplayable. The ai is mentally retarded, sieges don't work as well as naval battles. There is no functioning political system that matters and diplomacy is worse than Rome 1.

    There some amazing new ideas and if the game is ever patched into a working state buy it. Provinces and limited armies work well. But overall a huuuuuge step back from shogun 2.
  46. rickjames23
    Sep 22, 2013
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. it's kinda sad how forums can spam absurd numbers on sites like this. Having played a spartan campaign (on hard for 1st try) through to completion on a sub par machine(new one in the works for this game) i suffered 1 interminable screen freeze. and yeah it stunk, had to redo manual battles and what all. and i can appreciate that folks that dumped a ton of money into machines may be bummed they can't burn it at ultra. But the devs did provide an fps tester, and (to my sorrow) by setting a buncha crap to medium i got an average fps of 35 before starting campaign. that will improve and is the reason for the 8.
    The game itself is CA's best yet. By far. And yeah, I've played since Shogun1. While i at first was uncomfortable with the building mechanism it is a lot harder to just spam units, amass gold and build all the leet stuff in your cities, you now have tough decisions as to what a settlement can produce- I soon found a balance of food producing provinces, hardcore infantry factories, and then a skirmisher centric province. It provides a realistic flavor remember that Egypt was conquered mainly to provide rome with grain... but yeah, was a bit of a rough learning curve. Public order is a nightmare as well, but you soon learn ways to mitigate that.
    Also what makes the game far superior is that without establishing "imperium" (a bit of an insult when not playing as a roman) you cannot build more than x armies. Whereas in prior iterations I am always able to spam strong early units and abolish powerful states in moments (even at vh/vh), now you are forced to balance offense with defense and at the same time maintain order. Not only does this make for a more difficult process for the player, but it allows time for ai opponents to actually amass some power. Strangely, the avaricious warlords of Pergamon had established a massive empire strecthing from asia minor to palestine in the time it took me to subjugate macedon and egypt. Which I find vastly more interesting than just doing my classic chaos shield method of taking out every compass direction at speed.
    Which brings me to the next groovy thing. Alliances are actually worth something for the first time ever. Having thrown some gold their way I allied with them and bam presto, their massive navy sunk all my naval enemies.... saved me a lot of cash, I didn't have to draft a navy until I started tangling with Rome/Carthage/Syracuse.
    Despite the rock/scissors/paper meme people been throwing around about the game's agents, with training they can pretty much kill whoever or whatever you want. plus bring in extra gold, subdue rioting folks, and detect ambushes. I actually use agents in this game, whereas before i would just expunge the faction to alleviate the annoyance of their agents.
    I fought one large battle 6 full stacks and the game ran effortlessly. It was a fun thing, and a new experience for a TW veteran. It did, however, lead to a negative. Saving that battle replay to watch your masterpiece will make you look like an when you tell your friends "check this out"...... they simply do not replay the battles as fought and invariably show random acts of insanity broken up with the annihilation of your units.
    The AI.... well, it's AI. I was spared the enemy rushing into missile units and then freezing as they took fire, run back, then run back under fire.... this happened a lot in mw2 and empire. There were a lot of moments that they should have crushed me, but i managed to have their whole force of heavy infantry chase 1 unit of missile cav.... but all in all I can't totally reject it. I even lost a battle with a veteran army. Usually not something that occurs. They even will disembark naval reinforcements... though sometimes in a location entirely unhelpful to their comrades' plight. It's Total War, again.
    There also is some faction stuff that i still haven't totally figured out, other than it seems a good idea to send generals of your faction home to the governing body as soon as they have amassed some cred. However, it adds a good sense of immersion, assassinations, marraiges, and other more large scale problems.
    As far as problems with the game, there are framerate issues. This game is a cpu pig. There are AI issues, but nothing as crap as smoking legions of praetorians or spartans with lithuanian javelinmen. The game also predicates all factions off of 4 main cultural trees, Latin, Hellenic, Barabarian, and Eastern. This can effect diplomacy between factions, but could also be a tad irritating for a gaul looking at a german they did not share a lot in common back then. And.... SPOILER ALERT it would be nice if when they show the video for taking roma that it showed your units doing the deed...
    And those complaints are why I went with an 8. The mechanical stuff will be patched. The AI... well maybe VH next time! It is the only game I will be playing for a very long time. GTA5 can wait!    … Expand
  47. Pudenfuhrer
    Sep 22, 2013
    10
    Keep in mind that people with problems are vocal then don't comment when it's fixed later. Frame rates are good game looks great on lower settings and runs great on a ATI6950, a GTX660 and my main GTX670 (all on high or above on the 670). The AI has already been fixed (even better with mods like Radious mod mods are very easy to install/uninstall) and does some really cool moves onKeep in mind that people with problems are vocal then don't comment when it's fixed later. Frame rates are good game looks great on lower settings and runs great on a ATI6950, a GTX660 and my main GTX670 (all on high or above on the 670). The AI has already been fixed (even better with mods like Radious mod mods are very easy to install/uninstall) and does some really cool moves on the battlefield. I recommend easy or normal as the AI gets an annoying attack and health boost in battles above there (I like 1:1 no advantage on individual units). Coop netcode is superb and playing LAN coop all weekend awsome.… Expand
  48. paulmarine
    Sep 22, 2013
    0
    CA have released a game that is not even ready for alpha testing it is a disgrace they should be ashamed of this underhand deal literally stealing from consumers! the game is not even compatible with AMD's switchable graphics found in any decent gaming laptop. there previous games have been a triumph and have run well on my high end machine but this game averages around 5 FPS with blotchyCA have released a game that is not even ready for alpha testing it is a disgrace they should be ashamed of this underhand deal literally stealing from consumers! the game is not even compatible with AMD's switchable graphics found in any decent gaming laptop. there previous games have been a triumph and have run well on my high end machine but this game averages around 5 FPS with blotchy textures this game was not ready for release and has not been tested on a variety of platforms and CA are making little to no effort to communicate with a large portion of the community who are still unable to play a game they have paid for! stay away from this title and future release from creative assembly!… Expand
  49. BinaryStylus
    Sep 22, 2013
    10
    I'm really not sure about all the negativity surrounding this release. I paid for the pre-release and have been happy with what's been delivered. I don't drop a frame on my older i7 with it's ASUS 6950 which is a Radeon card. I also run a newer i5-3570 with a GeForce GTX660 and that obviously also doesn't have an issue. The game itself has lots of atmosphere and the feel of theI'm really not sure about all the negativity surrounding this release. I paid for the pre-release and have been happy with what's been delivered. I don't drop a frame on my older i7 with it's ASUS 6950 which is a Radeon card. I also run a newer i5-3570 with a GeForce GTX660 and that obviously also doesn't have an issue. The game itself has lots of atmosphere and the feel of the original Rome game. The map is bigger by way of there being more regions per geographical location. The Graphics are better and look great especially pretty are the trees I think. I believe that the game suffers from enormously high expectations if there had been no expectations then this game would be sitting with a User Score of 8.5-10 at the moment. If you loved Rome you will love this Rome2. Multiplayer with a friend is actually awesome you can share units and help in one another's fights!!!. There are also some great community mods out there at the moment and you can kinda change anything you want about the balance of the game via these (they work in co-operative play too). I love this game!… Expand
  50. palexr
    Sep 22, 2013
    10
    99% of negative reviews are from people trying to run a 21st century game on 20th century hardware. It is very apparent from the posts on the forums that most have actually not taken the time to understand the game mechanics and how they work. Laughable whingeing.
  51. blackbird1
    Sep 21, 2013
    6
    After Patch 3 i Re-Rate this game and give it a 6 cause its finaly playable fps are still sometimes to low but its okay now.

    If you make it better and also dont let the fps fall in late game i came back and give you maybe a 7 8
  52. Pie47
    Sep 21, 2013
    5
    This game is good. but sucks compared to Shogun 2 and Medieval 2. The graphics, AI, and FPS have got some series issues but if you can look past those issues you can have a lot of fun with the game. I would say stick with Shogun 2 until this game is fully patched.
  53. Ccoreli
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    I was extremely excited for this game. Literally hundreds of hours on Rome Total War. Thing i loved most about RTW was that cavalry could actually be used as SHOCK troops. Their charge could smash light infantry aside and seriously hurt heavy infantry. In RTW 2, cavalry are next to useless. They stop on contact, don't smash through units, and have no moral effects. If 900 horseman areI was extremely excited for this game. Literally hundreds of hours on Rome Total War. Thing i loved most about RTW was that cavalry could actually be used as SHOCK troops. Their charge could smash light infantry aside and seriously hurt heavy infantry. In RTW 2, cavalry are next to useless. They stop on contact, don't smash through units, and have no moral effects. If 900 horseman are charging at a line of infantry, something other than a huge blob of crappy melee units attacking good melee units should happen. Also, cavalry are made even more useless by the fact that i have yet to engage an enemy army in the field (38 turns in). Every single fight is when I'm besieging an enemy city. And these assassins? Two assassins and a champion can reduce a defending force of 3000 down to 1200. How is that at all in any way fair or possible?
    Broken AI
    Broken combat
    Broken UI
    Broken campaign map
    Horrible problems with the fps
    2 minute wait between each turn
    awful diplomacy
    No history
    Awful character design
    Generic units from faction to faction
    3 armies? Are ya sh*tting me?
    Awful naval combat and design
    Building a city is obsolete. Four or six structures at the most.    … Expand
  54. padrin0
    Sep 21, 2013
    5
    I took a little time with this review, because I did want to have a few hours played, so that my opinion would not be biased by what I had read before the release and directly afterwards. Now I have about 30 hours in the game, played around with almost every faction (be it in a campaign or in battles) and feel like I have gotten a decent feel of the game.

    First off, I have to say that I    I took a little time with this review, because I did want to have a few hours played, so that my opinion would not be biased by what I had read before the release and directly afterwards. Now I have about 30 hours in the game, played around with almost every faction (be it in a campaign or in battles) and feel like I have gotten a decent feel of the game.

    First off, I have to say that I am surprised by the number of terrible reviews. I agree that the game is not perfect, and might even be a step backwards from former titles, but it clearly is not a game that deserves a zero rating. To me, zero would imply that the game is unplayable or was so flawed that you would not want to play it Rome 2 isn't either. But let me begin.

    Technical Stuff:
    When I first started Rome 2, it told me that the graphical settings for the game were set to 'Extreme', which is the highest setting available in the game. However, a quick use of the benchmarking tool revealed that my machine wasn't really able to run the game at these settings which is a bit disappointing. Now I am stuck somewhere between 'Very High' and 'Ultra' (which really is Medium and High, but somehow it has to be exaggerated). I get framerate drops every once in a while when a huge battle is underway, but generally the game runs smooth.
    The campaign moves of other factions take a very, very long time unfortunately, and as I have heard it only gets worse the further you progress in a campaign. So far, it usually takes about 30 seconds to a minutes until I get to go again. Annoying? Yes. Gamebreaking? No.
    The real issue are random crashes sometimes the game would just freeze without any obvious reason at all, and could only be killed via the Task Manager. Those crashes are massively annoying, as they force you to restart the game, load a save (which takes a really long time in itself) and probably have you fight the last battle again, because you couldn't save before it went down. Often times when this happend, I just turned of my PC and decided my gaming session was over.
    (FYI: My specs are: i5 3570K, HD7870 /w 2GB VRAM, 8GB RAM)

    TL;DR: (Graphical) performance on a mid-range rig is alright, could be better. Random crashes sometimes kill the fun.

    Gameplay:
    In general, Rome 2 _could_ be a good game. The campaign map is huge, leaving you with almost endless possiblities to expand and develop your empire. However, the UI is simple and you almost immediately have a general idea of where what is, what it does, and if you want to build it or whatever. For instance, when hovering over a building option, it is immediately shown what effects the new building will have.
    However, CA made some terrible design decisions, that can really spoil the game for you (it did for me): For one, the AI is terrible and I am not necessarily talking about battle AI, which is actually not all that bad. What really bugs me are the irrational decisions the AI makes on the campaign map. For example (and this is by far the worst) when you march on an enemy city that is heavily forified, with a full army garsioned inside, very often times the army will leave the city just before you besiege it even when the city you are assaulting is the last city of a faction! The armies that have abandoned the city will then suffer attrition (as they have no home anymore) and have handed you the advantageous position of defending from inside the city. I have not the slightest idea what CA thought when they designed an AI that deliberately but itself at a disadvantage. There are other issues with the AI: mediocre battle performance, unwillingness to accept win/win trade agreements with the player, the fact that they never declare war on you (even if they hate you and you leave cities next to their borders completely undefended... What bothers me the most however, is how the major factions seem to somehow be at a disadvantage when played by the AI. Carthage will usually disappear within the first twenty turns (major bummer, as you will sometimes not even encounter them if you are playing as Rome), and many other factions (including Rome!) never expand more than their original territory. It really is disappointing when in 50 A.D. Rome has not managed to conquer even Northern Italy...
    By the way, I play the campaing on 'Very Hard'. 'Legendary', I avoid, because I do not like the battle realism mode, that is locked in on that difficulty. I have not seen any difference in AI behavior between 'Easy' and 'Very Hard' anyways, so I doubt it makes much of a difference.

    TL;DR: Solid foundation, but horrible AI really spoils the fun in singleplayer. If playing another faction, Rome never grows beyond it's original borders sad for a game that is called Rome.

    Summary:
    As said twice before, Rome 2 is not a bad game. Unfortunately, it is not good either it is simply mediocre. I hope that it gets improved down the road, but as of now, it deserves no more than a mediocre rating.    … Expand
  55. wzhou34
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    Confusing building tree
    Confusing tech tree
    Long AI turns
    Poor optimization

    Worst thing is, armies auto build ships when they touch water. It is absurdly easy to attack a city over water, defeating all strategy about choke points and such. The Mediterranean is blue land!

    Uninstalled after 5 hours
  56. Grindtoof
    Sep 21, 2013
    4
    I found a site selling digital copies for 50 bucks, pre-order. Even 50 bucks was too much for this game in it's current state.
    Where to begin:
    The first thing I noticed was that the game's graphics, controls, and flow felt more like a console game than any previous Total War title- WTF? The best way I could equivocate it was the difference between Dragon Age I and Dragon Age II, whereas    I found a site selling digital copies for 50 bucks, pre-order. Even 50 bucks was too much for this game in it's current state.
    Where to begin:
    The first thing I noticed was that the game's graphics, controls, and flow felt more like a console game than any previous Total War title- WTF? The best way I could equivocate it was the difference between Dragon Age I and Dragon Age II, whereas DA1 felt like it was meant for a computer, DA2 seemed watered down and felt like a console port on the computer.
    Back on topic: Graphics on overhead map or laggy and choppy- probably something to do with the animated clouds and random birds...dumb. Playing as a Roman the whole family/ruler/faction experience is askew and there is no explanation provided: You can't marry your leader and generals to produce offspring- in fact offspring do not come of age and join your ranks- just random dudes that become available. I had to start 'adopting' opposing faction members because my House Julia died out. A really disappointing aspect to an otherwise fun minigame.
    Diplomacy could have been great, but, has missed the mark. You may or may not like how conveniently a faction's opinion of you is broken down into a numeric roster- its kind of neat to know that the AI tracks all of the stuff you do representing your faction, but, I don't need a spreadsheet to explain why a neighbor doesn't like me. Something else that really iritates me about Diplomacy: You can only give a percentage of the money in your coffers (so you have 5,000 talons, you can only give gifts in increments of 500- wtf?)
    Battles in single-player are really, really buggy. First, I really like the new, true line of sight feature in R:TW2. I also like the combination of naval and land battles on some maps- the potential is really, really cool. Too bad all of that potential is eclipsed by stupid objective markers that earn/bleed victory points. So, strategy and tactics become very one-dimensional, and every battle becomes a matter of holding these artificial objectives- dumb. The game suffers bad AI: command a unit to attack another unit, and they stop mid-attack- you have to repeatedly order the unit to attack. Enemy units will run up to your line, or your unit, stop, and then run away (all the while getting whittled down by ranged units). When units break- they break in a straight line and are very difficult- almost impossible to eradicate. Unit stats are incorrectly represented at times- to the detriment of your plans. What happened to the complexity of battle found in Shogun? Geez. Btw, don't expect those great, unique General speeches at the onset of every battle- they're gone! The General says something inconsequential (and barely audible) at the beginning of each battle- you have to physically zoom in just to hear it...Lame.
    Missions are non-existent in my game: I received a couple in the first twenty turns, and not one since: I'm almost to 200 turns in my campaign, mind you.
    Agents have real potential to be cool- too bad all three types do roughly the same thing: sabotage and assassinate. I mean, don't get me wrong, each of the three types are supposed to do specific things, but, those things really aren't explained.

    In closing there are a lot of cool ideas poorly implemented in R:TW2. Do yourself a favor and save your sixty bucks- don't pay for this beta in it's current state!    … Expand
  57. Sidhewyn
    Sep 21, 2013
    4
    I really wanted this game to be s great follow up to the original that I loved so much. I am pretty disappointed. The quality of the music is top notch. Atmosphere of the game is nice but so much is not working. AI as others have mentioned is 1980s bad. Passive and clueless. The game mechanics at the strategy level is nice. City building and technology. Battle is "mushy" phalanxes andI really wanted this game to be s great follow up to the original that I loved so much. I am pretty disappointed. The quality of the music is top notch. Atmosphere of the game is nice but so much is not working. AI as others have mentioned is 1980s bad. Passive and clueless. The game mechanics at the strategy level is nice. City building and technology. Battle is "mushy" phalanxes and barbarian both fall into blobs and mash up. No real sense of Roman discipline etc. I find the tactical game to be just run at the enemy maybe flank some but really in most ways worse than the original. How can that be? The original was so many years ago. Maybe they can patch some of these issues. I really want to like this game!… Expand
  58. PaulPalski
    Sep 21, 2013
    8
    It is a great game that was unfortunately released in beta form. I'm still having a lot of fun playing. CA seems to be working on fixing major issues since the release.
  59. druout1944
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    Diplomacy is horribly broken. Every Rome campaign I've started results in the entire map going to war with me sooner rather than later (attacked by 9-12 countries with your new army cap is not fun, especially when making allies is impossible 99% of the time) Trade is broken, it only works if they ask you or you pay them a ton of money. Battle engine glitches, game stutters on campaign mapDiplomacy is horribly broken. Every Rome campaign I've started results in the entire map going to war with me sooner rather than later (attacked by 9-12 countries with your new army cap is not fun, especially when making allies is impossible 99% of the time) Trade is broken, it only works if they ask you or you pay them a ton of money. Battle engine glitches, game stutters on campaign map and siege maps (AI pathing incompetence still crushing computers since Empire), even after upgrading from GTX 260 1.792 GB to GTX 660 3GB. Transports the equal of warships, fail. Routing units are almost impossible to kill. There is no possible way that CA tested this without knowing how messed up the game was, too bad they can't be sued for false advertisement. The game is aggravating instead of fun, first time for me since the original Medieval (which I loved). I literally hate playing this game, the last burst of patches did not fix the AI in any noticeable way. $60 is better spent on anything but this. And the fanboy answer of 'it's always like this, so it's ok 'cause the modders and patches will make it better" is a bunch of BS as far as I'm concerned. If someone sold me a rifle that jammed, I wouldn't think, well that's alright I'll just fix it myself or have someone else fix it. Hell no, you advertise and sell a finished product if you care about customer loyalty, well CA lost mine, never buying JS from them ever again.… Expand
  60. InnerDogg
    Sep 21, 2013
    4
    Who 'm ever gives this game a rating above 5 in the current state has ZERO knowledge of games and past TW series. At this point its a BETA version of the game, nowhere near finished. All they had to do was copy & paste Shogun, change everything to Rome era, and BAM Award Winning Game! Instead they lied to everybody pre launch, and released this crap.
  61. rapman1986
    Sep 21, 2013
    3
    I feel like beta tester. This is the first time and LAST time I'm buying game from CA, next time, torrent only.
    The AI is stupid, the game-play is boring, graphic optimization is terrible (blinking maps, low fps, part of forces is invisible...). I want my money back and time that i spend to try to play this "game".
  62. Numinex
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    A travesty. Shame on you CA. Learn from Stardock and do something to compensate the people who pre-purchased this grossly sub-standard product. This has done much damage to a well-respected franchise.
  63. IrOnTaXi
    Sep 20, 2013
    2
    I have played about 20 hours of the game.

    Let me tell my Rome 2 campaign story. Start as "British" culture. Conquer british isles as a collective in about 20-30 turns. No tough tough battles but I was still a bit nervous about getting wiped out. Spent 10-15 turns building some armies. Take my best army across the english channel to wreak havoc (or die in a wonderfully horrible    I have played about 20 hours of the game.

    Let me tell my Rome 2 campaign story.

    Start as "British" culture. Conquer british isles as a collective in about 20-30 turns. No tough tough battles but I was still a bit nervous about getting wiped out.

    Spent 10-15 turns building some armies. Take my best army across the english channel to wreak havoc (or die in a wonderfully horrible blaze of glory)

    I didnt need to worry. No one opposed my army.... ALL THE WAY TO ROME.. which I sacked and occupied. Not a single roman army came out to meet me.. and no one attacked after I sacked rome. I turned off the game.

    I got fooled again just like Empires. Son of a creek...    … Expand
  64. furkann
    Sep 20, 2013
    6
    Oyunun piyasaya henüz tam hazır olmadan sürüldüğü çok aşikar.Hatta beta aşamasında sürülmüş izlenimi veriyor... Total War serisine neredeyse aine neredeyse aşk ile bağlı olan bir çok oyuncuyu dahi CA bu hamlesiyle kendisine küstürmüştür. Rome 2 ile çok büyük bir Pre-Order hasılatı yapmalarına karşın bu amatör hamleleriyle önümüzdeki bir kaç oyunundan kesinlikle ciddi bir Pre-Order hasılatıOyunun piyasaya henüz tam hazır olmadan sürüldüğü çok aşikar.Hatta beta aşamasında sürülmüş izlenimi veriyor... Total War serisine neredeyse aine neredeyse aşk ile bağlı olan bir çok oyuncuyu dahi CA bu hamlesiyle kendisine küstürmüştür. Rome 2 ile çok büyük bir Pre-Order hasılatı yapmalarına karşın bu amatör hamleleriyle önümüzdeki bir kaç oyunundan kesinlikle ciddi bir Pre-Order hasılatı yakalayamacağını düşünüyorum. Tek güzel yanı yönetim kurulundan olan insanların oyunun arkalarında olduklarına dair açıklama yapmaları ve hakikaten de, neredeyse haftada bir patch yayınlayıp oyunu daha stabil ve oynanabilir bir hale getirmeleridir.… Expand
  65. Folamour
    Sep 20, 2013
    2
    A total disappointment for a devoted Total War fan such as myself.

    Very briefly: *Broken diplomacy *Poor faction management -No family tree -Pointless politics *No event cinematics for agent actions and other important stuff. *Shallow tech tree *POOR AI *Lack of battlefield and campaign tactics due to the state the AI is currently in. *Battlefield UI is worse than the previous    A total disappointment for a devoted Total War fan such as myself.

    Very briefly:
    *Broken diplomacy
    *Poor faction management
    -No family tree
    -Pointless politics
    *No event cinematics for agent actions and other important stuff.
    *Shallow tech tree
    *POOR AI
    *Lack of battlefield and campaign tactics due to the state the AI is currently in.
    *Battlefield UI is worse than the previous titles, as I see it.
    *First day DLC(!) Come on...

    Unbalanced, broken, and incomplete. CA massively failed to meet the high expectations they have created through trailers, teasers, pre-release in-game videos and other promotional stuff. It seems they have spent more than half of their "increased budget" for marketing a bleeding carcass, that they have so professionally tricked people into buying it.

    2/10

    Keep playing Shogun 2. Do not waste your time and money on this.    … Expand
  66. mortendc
    Sep 20, 2013
    7
    This game is very good. I just created a profile to enter this review. Because of all the bad reviews. I have more than 25 hours played and I agree at first there was several issues that was annoying but the 2. patch has improved the gameplay dramatically.
    It still needs some tweaking but all in all I recommend strategy fans to buy the game.
    Thats all
  67. odintsaq
    Sep 20, 2013
    1
    After 30 hours in Rome 2 Total Waste I felt obliged to express my Total Disappointment with this long awaited game.

    I will not repeat the complaints about the state of the game (AI, UI, Family Tree etc.), instead I will make some simple observations: After getting sick of the dismal display of BAI I autoresolve everything. The same applies to the naval battles with the added bonus    After 30 hours in Rome 2 Total Waste I felt obliged to express my Total Disappointment with this long awaited game.

    I will not repeat the complaints about the state of the game (AI, UI, Family Tree etc.), instead I will make some simple observations:

    After getting sick of the dismal display of BAI I autoresolve everything.
    The same applies to the naval battles with the added bonus of not being able to properly control the ships.

    98% of the battles are sieges. The other 2% is because I was lucky to have found the AI on the road.

    How is it possible for me to start a war and then at the same turn the AI says "It's ok mate! Let's make peace!!!" when I send him a peace treaty?

    Why every faction looks and plays the same? I loved Rome 1 and Medieval 2 for their varied way of waging war.

    Capture the flag was funny in Battlefield 1942 and we had a great time with my friends. Especially when one of my teammates crashed a plane on the other team, so we could get in and capture the flag unmolested. Capture the flag is OK for action games, not RTS battles with historic precision (another lie this one).

    Warhammer and W40K magical abilities for the units are in line with that game's world. The ancient civilizations didn't have anything like that. At all.

    Ships were build. Not hocus pocushed on the shore.

    The bugs, CTDs and similar glitches don't bother me at all. Even the low quality graphics. I am a player for 25 years now. I started playing when the pixels where the size of my hand on screen, so it doesn't matter. But my 1500 dollar machine should be at least be able to run smoothly. All I get is way too low FpS and sudden lags in the game. And not even at the highest settings possible.

    Finally as an afterthought I won't only blame SEGA and CA for this low quality, buggy, broken and boring game. I will blame me for preordering. I made the same mistake with Dragon Age 2. Now I know that I'm on the right path Kickstarting Games that I really like.

    The score is calculated from the following:

    Replay Value: 1/10
    Graphics: 4/10
    Sound: 3/10
    Gameplay: 1/10
    Value/Money: 1/10    … Expand
  68. CatalystRu
    Sep 20, 2013
    9
    Had a bit of bugs in the start of the game but now its great. The province system and come back to roman times make it great. Problems with the AI are still here but they will fix it like np.
  69. Man_o_War
    Sep 20, 2013
    3
    Awful Release.

    Dumbed down beyond recognition from other TW titles.
    Magic ships and magic abilities. An epic map that can be opened up in no time.
    No politics, no families, no seasons.

    No Good.
  70. dimo
    Sep 19, 2013
    10
    THE GAME IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 40 hours and I want more.I played mostly every TW and I love the franchise.I waited this game so much time and it is great.

    100/10
  71. WastedEfforts
    Sep 19, 2013
    3
    Game is unfinished beta version. Whole budget went to PR. It's like they only spent 1 year on this game.
    Hopefully Rome 2 will be a playable game after a year of fixing and with the help of the mods.
    Pros: Big map Province and Regions system (ported from EU:Rome by Paradox) Cinematic camera Graphics and visuals {when they are working properly) Cons: Bad voice acting in ALL    Game is unfinished beta version. Whole budget went to PR. It's like they only spent 1 year on this game.
    Hopefully Rome 2 will be a playable game after a year of fixing and with the help of the mods.

    Pros:
    Big map
    Province and Regions system (ported from EU:Rome by Paradox)
    Cinematic camera
    Graphics and visuals {when they are working properly)

    Cons:
    Bad voice acting in ALL languages
    Bad battle UI
    Magic abilities for units
    Magic torches for melee units makes siege constructs like ladders waste of time and troops due attrition
    Automatic transports for your army when you want to cross the sea
    Dead AI
    Lack of formations and stances for units (Tight/loose, troops always in guard mode)
    Mediocre music
    No Family Tree
    No season changes
    Broken Diplomacy
    Useless trade system
    Government system not finished
    Cut content for future DLC
    No game optimization, tons of bugs and cut content.

    I will never pre-order future CA game again or buy their DLC. Only if it's on Steam Sale with 75% off.
    I urge you to do the same.    … Expand
  72. Just_The_Tip
    Sep 19, 2013
    0
    GIVE 59 HOMELESS PEOPLE A DOLLAR TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE! instead of spending that money on this game, it would be more enjoyable.

    A re-skinned version of the older version would have been OK, but they actually destroyed the merits of the older version as well it almost like they took their inspiration from the "Producer's" and were trying to make the worst possible game in existence    GIVE 59 HOMELESS PEOPLE A DOLLAR TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE! instead of spending that money on this game, it would be more enjoyable.

    A re-skinned version of the older version would have been OK, but they actually destroyed the merits of the older version as well it almost like they took their inspiration from the "Producer's" and were trying to make the worst possible game in existence to see if it would be a hit. Congratulations team CA you did it, and I hope you all get fired for it.    … Expand
  73. comradenash
    Sep 19, 2013
    4
    This game suffers from a malady that only occurs when extremely high expectations clash with sub-par performance. The kind of storm that elicits thousands of "0" reviews on sites like this. This was not a 0 experience, but I'll have to admit that it was obvious while playing that the developers played it safe and played their deep recurring fan-base for fools.

    -Gameplay is only pretty    This game suffers from a malady that only occurs when extremely high expectations clash with sub-par performance. The kind of storm that elicits thousands of "0" reviews on sites like this. This was not a 0 experience, but I'll have to admit that it was obvious while playing that the developers played it safe and played their deep recurring fan-base for fools.

    -Gameplay is only pretty skin-deep. Further play reveals a disappointing regurgitation of mechanics that were aged in Empire Total War and have not evolved since.

    -Immersion is non-existent beyond playing as Rome. My brief foray into the celtic tribes showed me repetitive map design, the same soundtrack, and ridiculous caricatures for unit sounds. Would it have been so difficult to create a soundtrack for each culture?

    -Frame drops are frequent and render the game unplayable. I was able to move the camera freely throughout the battle map without issue, but the units were moving at what appeared to be less than 10 FPS.

    Overall, a really sad offering from a team that could have done far better. The really unfortunate thing is that these are all issues that are extremely unlikely to be patched, as they seem like design decisions or corner cutting during the creative process.    … Expand
  74. bioburn
    Sep 19, 2013
    2
    This game is a culmination of lack of testing by real gamers, if this was an INDIE game I would prob. give it 5/10 for effort, but this IS a AAA title!!!
    pro
    >legionary system that is introduced >province management system bad: >performance sucks, it is heavily underoptimized for all chipsets >campaign map graphics suck and aren't a necessity >ai sucks they are dumber than the    This game is a culmination of lack of testing by real gamers, if this was an INDIE game I would prob. give it 5/10 for effort, but this IS a AAA title!!!
    pro
    >legionary system that is introduced
    >province management system

    bad:
    >performance sucks, it is heavily underoptimized for all chipsets
    >campaign map graphics suck and aren't a necessity
    >ai sucks they are dumber than the first Rome's AI
    >1 turn per year very cheap method
    >limited general lifespan they die in a couple of turns
    >lack of in game videos there are so few I fall asleep

    all in all, don't buy this game,
    just get Rome I with mods, it's a much better option    … Expand
  75. laris
    Sep 19, 2013
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have only one word to say: disappointment...
    After of ten years of being royal fun to total war franchise the reward i get is to be foolish and roober like a ten years kid! After a year of promotion and brainwash of all the great stuff this game has i realise that i will never going to buy a product of total war. You spend all your money on promoting and not to even finished the game! Where are the great cities? what's the point of having great cities without having a "show on battle map button" And what's the stupid idea of buying a DLC? What's wrong with you? Even rome 1 total war had more unique units than Rome 2! And where are the wonders? Where is the acropolis of Athens? And what an obelisk doing in the middle of a Greek city? Acropolis of Athens was built 200 years before the game start. IT SHOULD BE ALREADE BE BUILT, not wait 30 years!!! And what's wrong with all those battles? 2-3 MINUTES???????????? MINUTES!!! I think the other comments have cover me...
    TOTALLY DISAPPOINT...    … Expand
  76. ShadowofZexa
    Sep 19, 2013
    0
    Total War: Rome II is total the my high end rig can not even run it a 30 fps at max settings I got a FX 8350 and 7970 and I don't even get a 30 fps stable if you want to play a RTS play Shogan 2 this game is freaking
  77. DAVstep
    Sep 19, 2013
    0
    Three weeks has gone and it's still unplayable. I am not even talking about the AI now, no the fps is so low that even on low graphics it still is on 15/10 fps. The graphics are also horrible, even on ultra. The god damn textures are so bad that it doesn't matter if I zoom in on the battlefield or out, I can never see anything because of the flickering mess. The trees doesn't even lookThree weeks has gone and it's still unplayable. I am not even talking about the AI now, no the fps is so low that even on low graphics it still is on 15/10 fps. The graphics are also horrible, even on ultra. The god damn textures are so bad that it doesn't matter if I zoom in on the battlefield or out, I can never see anything because of the flickering mess. The trees doesn't even look like trees but just an orgy of ugly lines.

    The price was already very high in my opinion, and I can't even play it, this was the biggest waste of money I have ever put on a video-game.    … Expand
  78. Sky-Moondrift
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    As a massive fan of TW games I can honestly say this is the worst one by far. The UI is counter-intuitive, looks and feels sluggish and horrible. Much of the options and technical depth has been stripped away in favor of the more casual and/or brain dead gamer. Accessing important information involves you clicking on a bunch of crappy looking icons that all look the same, only to find outAs a massive fan of TW games I can honestly say this is the worst one by far. The UI is counter-intuitive, looks and feels sluggish and horrible. Much of the options and technical depth has been stripped away in favor of the more casual and/or brain dead gamer. Accessing important information involves you clicking on a bunch of crappy looking icons that all look the same, only to find out there is no information there anyway.

    The graphics, mainly on the campaign map, look muddy and with little detail where its needed and lots of detail where it's not. The cities look like they're made out of Play-doh both in battle and on the campaign map. Even on the highest settings troops blur into each other like someone stuck 3,000 men with swords into a blender.

    Performance is bad, and the game is not optimized well at all, the load times are long, And it often lags out for no apparent reason.

    The whole game over emphasizes on just the Romans,factions and troops all look and sound the same as the Romans, as well as sharing the same painful UI. The forced Flag system is just silly and a major annoyance. There are also hardly any open battles, it all just revolves around siege battles that all look and feel the same.

    The AI is incredibly dumb, predictable and glitchy, both in battle and on the campaign map. Also you have to set the game to maximum difficulty to get any real challenge, even then it doesn't make the AI smarter, it just changes unit stats in favor of the AI.

    It's a mass-marketed console orientated, dumbed-down, over-priced, half-finished mess, And whats more they release this game with a pre-release DLC which gives you (core) factions that should have already been included in the base game.    … Expand
  79. Zebrastealer
    Sep 18, 2013
    4
    Rome II at launch, really deserves no higher score than a 4. I can see where a lot of people are coming from with their utter disgust and 0's across the board. This game is in bad shape, completely unacceptable for a $60.00 title to launch in this unfinished and bug riddled state.

    Eventually this game may end up warranting a midland score of a 7, after a year of patching, paid DLCs    Rome II at launch, really deserves no higher score than a 4. I can see where a lot of people are coming from with their utter disgust and 0's across the board. This game is in bad shape, completely unacceptable for a $60.00 title to launch in this unfinished and bug riddled state.

    Eventually this game may end up warranting a midland score of a 7, after a year of patching, paid DLCs and another expansion. I've played every CA total war game and expansion since the original shogun total war. Actually I should correct myself I own Napoleon Total War but never played it beyond 30 turns or so Empire was a disaster at launch, just like Rome II.

    Really, to think, we all actually thought Creative Assembly learned their lesson after Empire Total War. They aim too high, promise the moon, then deliver a fraction of the promised features, game improvements, etc. in a stinking pile of buggy poo.

    This game needed another 6 months of development time to release properly. Just like all future Bioware titles, this will be the last time I ever buy a Creative Assembly title on pre-order. May as well wait til the following winter for the inevitable Steam sale since the game won't be playable until then (at the earliest) anyway.

    Shame on you Creative Assembly.    … Expand
  80. dasjefe
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    Sega and CA are at it again. Wait a year and buy R2 for 20 bucks. It might be fixed by then, but it probably still won't be as good as previous Total War titles. The franchise is going the wrong direction. Things are getting dumbed down and the hardware, stability, and AI issues are worse than ever.
  81. jm007
    Sep 18, 2013
    3
    The game AI is awful. The numerous bugs and unfinished features are a real kick in the backside of people who expected more from this development team. Even worse are these people (so called gaming sites) giving the game high ratings. Do we really condone unfinished products like Rome 2? Don't reward them with high marks on what a game can be as opposed to what it should be?
  82. Gruenzone
    Sep 18, 2013
    2
    As a strategic game it fails on many points:
    chaoticc user interface.
    Non intuitive user menus
    Many glitches
    The advisor looks useful but the feel of the game is that one does not know what is happening or what you are at.
    What is the point of this game?
  83. dans221
    Sep 18, 2013
    7
    I pre-ordered the game and I was a little bit disappointed at some of the release bugs. To be sure, it is a TW game and it follows the same old formula so if you like the formula, the game is actually pretty solid underneath; it just needs to some more polish. And after two patches, it's been running a lot better so I have hopes it's going to keep improving.
  84. OverdueReview
    Sep 18, 2013
    5
    I've been lucky enough to actually play this game from day one and boy what a dissapointment. The AI is stupid, the family/faction/politics system is totally forgettable, diplomacy is still broken (was it ever fixed?) and battles are short, very short. It becomes painfully clear that there is NO QA at Creative Assembly and Sega. They've never played their own game otherwise 90% of the bugsI've been lucky enough to actually play this game from day one and boy what a dissapointment. The AI is stupid, the family/faction/politics system is totally forgettable, diplomacy is still broken (was it ever fixed?) and battles are short, very short. It becomes painfully clear that there is NO QA at Creative Assembly and Sega. They've never played their own game otherwise 90% of the bugs would have been found before they released this. Paying for beta testing a game. This has sadly become a trend with big titles and this game is no exception.
    There is a good game in here somewhere but it's going to take a lot of digging to bring it to the surface.    … Expand
  85. Auri-El
    Sep 17, 2013
    8
    LISTEN TO ME
    ROME II IS NOT A BAD GAME
    So, first of all, the game does NOT deserve this 3.8 score, it is not what we were all hyped for, yes, but it is still a fun game which you can spend a lot of time in.

    BUT
    I can't ignore the bugs, so sure, giving a 110 score to a game you can't really play is understandable, but not very fair.
    Post updates, the game is fun and I give it a 710.
  86. Bovara
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    This game invested heavily in marketing and advertising and made well documented highly hyped promises. It has massively under delivered on those promises. Graphics, AI and game play are well below what they promised, leaving many fans very disappointed. Yes it looks great, if you aren't suffering the numerous bugs and technical issues, which suggests it should have been more thoroughlyThis game invested heavily in marketing and advertising and made well documented highly hyped promises. It has massively under delivered on those promises. Graphics, AI and game play are well below what they promised, leaving many fans very disappointed. Yes it looks great, if you aren't suffering the numerous bugs and technical issues, which suggests it should have been more thoroughly tested. The AI at release is awful units brake formation the minute the engage in combat and it turns in to a mob. Battles take 6 minutes for me on average and that is hardly any time at all for any strategy, or enjoyment. There are no family trees and worse one or two line pre battle speeches. Both of which rip much of the character and depth out of the game. What shocked me was the ability to make post Marian units after one building upgrade over a hundred years before it occured. They have really stripped the game down and made it very fast and simplistic. Things I would expect in an action console game. Sadly this is more flash than substance. For a strategy game and total war title it will disappoint those who have played previous title from the catalogue. We can only hope they learn from the mistakes on this game and return to the elements that have made them so popular in the next game. Unfortunately that is likely to be 3 or 4 years away. I have to agree with other reviewers this scores a zero for me not just because it fails to live up to expectation or advertising, that is nothing new. It is as others have said hardly a strategy game atall.… Expand
  87. sniper797
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    Awful buggy GAME with broken mechanics....... My god how the total war franchise has fallen, used to love it a few years back

    Go b buy something worth your money
  88. Joye15
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    The biggest problem with this game (beside all bugs, and that it feels more like an alpha) is that it is not a strategy game any more!

    This is beyond patching! This game plays exactly like an arcade, you just click your units to attack and after few minutes you will win. Without any tactics! Even on the very hard legendary difficulty! Campaign has likewise too arcade feeling. You    The biggest problem with this game (beside all bugs, and that it feels more like an alpha) is that it is not a strategy game any more!

    This is beyond patching!

    This game plays exactly like an arcade, you just click your units to attack and after few minutes you will win. Without any tactics! Even on the very hard legendary difficulty!

    Campaign has likewise too arcade feeling. You will conquer settlement after settlement until you will get finally bored, even playing on the highest difficulties, without any strategic planning whatsoever!

    Moreover because you will always win this game has zero re-playability even though it has sandbox campaign.

    Even if you are total war fan you will enjoy this game only till you will win it once for every faction which, considering how arcadish this game is will be very very quickly.

    However on the other hand this is beautiful game which could be so good if it would offer challenging game-play.

    The reason why I am giving it 0 is that this game is supposed to be strategy but it simply isn't. Anyone who wants to play strategy should either find another game or get back to previous total war titles.

    Thus this game gets 0 as a strategy.

    But if you are looking for an arcade i give it 7.5/10. Players who care only about graphic and arcade like battles will enjoy this game.    … Expand
  89. Harpyrnon
    Sep 17, 2013
    8
    Many problems plagued this games launch, and luckily my hardware was largely immune to most of them. While the campaign game play has been streamlined from previous Total War games to a point where it begins to feel shallow, the place where Total War has always shined is in its battles. Rome 2 is no exception, with battles feeling balanced, large scale and beautiful to watch. The AI seemsMany problems plagued this games launch, and luckily my hardware was largely immune to most of them. While the campaign game play has been streamlined from previous Total War games to a point where it begins to feel shallow, the place where Total War has always shined is in its battles. Rome 2 is no exception, with battles feeling balanced, large scale and beautiful to watch. The AI seems a quite a bit easier to trick into dumb decisions than previous games, with developers promising to address the issues. Battles against players are tense and nerve-wracking, though seem to come down to who has more elite units than the other.

    Overall, without being plagued by performance issues as most have I would give the Campaign play a 610 and the battles themselves a 8/10.    … Expand
  90. alexman
    Sep 17, 2013
    1
    This is not a total war game it does not have what made the original total war the epic game it used to be.
    Rome 2 is extremely dumbed down and streamlined, it feels casual its not immersive.
    i managed to take over half the world in a few turns, the original rome had a lot more settlements to conquer. The battles that are supposed to be epic is easily won even on hard, and feels rushed    This is not a total war game it does not have what made the original total war the epic game it used to be.
    Rome 2 is extremely dumbed down and streamlined, it feels casual its not immersive.
    i managed to take over half the world in a few turns, the original rome had a lot more settlements to conquer. The battles that are supposed to be epic is easily won even on hard, and feels rushed and boring. you dont need tactics you can just rush head on on a 3:1 bigger army with better soldiers than you and win. you pay full prize for a half finished game thats lacking.

    The game is broken and definitely still beta, the AI is stupid, l find bugs everywhere which isnt just annoying but gamebreaking.

    As stated by everyone else bad UI, unit cards are bad, settlement building is boring dumbed down and ugly.    … Expand
  91. ComradeWinston
    Sep 17, 2013
    8
    At launch this game was an unrefined bore.

    There were some minor bugs, serious AI problems including it just being outright brain dead, and the visuals clearly didn't stand up to the screenshots and video we were shown prior to release. As of now the AI is at a basic level competent and I've even had an AI join me in battle on the campaign map against a giant army my legions may have    At launch this game was an unrefined bore.

    There were some minor bugs, serious AI problems including it just being outright brain dead, and the visuals clearly didn't stand up to the screenshots and video we were shown prior to release.

    As of now the AI is at a basic level competent and I've even had an AI join me in battle on the campaign map against a giant army my legions may have otherwise been overrun by. I haven't noticed anymore bugs and they've made some small basic improvements here and there. The visual quality hasn't improved at all though the general performance seems to have at least.

    Its sad to have to say fixes after release are a boon but in its current state I'd say the game is just fine and all I really hope is that they release an expansion soon to expand upon political stuff as the first trailer of the game hinted it would have in the first place.

    You may think 8/10 is a good rating, but I expected to give it a 10/10 on launch day. As far as I'm concerned this game is disappointingly passable.    … Expand
  92. dizzel679
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    I am a huge fan of total war series and I pre-ordered this game as soon as it became possible. What can I say after I've tried it? It's horrible! I've payed 54 euros to participate in a beta-test and developers don't even admit that there's something wrong with the game. The AI is not just stupid and not even absent-minded, it's glitchy, buggy, call it whatever you like! Bugs follow meI am a huge fan of total war series and I pre-ordered this game as soon as it became possible. What can I say after I've tried it? It's horrible! I've payed 54 euros to participate in a beta-test and developers don't even admit that there's something wrong with the game. The AI is not just stupid and not even absent-minded, it's glitchy, buggy, call it whatever you like! Bugs follow me everywhere, performance is just poor on a machine which runs Shogun 2 Ultra with around 20 FPS(with antialising and all other stuff maxed out). And while that's going to be patched eventually, the ugly interface and retarded gameplay will remain forever. Very, very dissapointing.… Expand
  93. Bad_Andy
    Sep 17, 2013
    3
    The game is cool but it crashes all the time and as others have said the AI is bad so, not very good unfortunately, sad because it has a lot of potential.
  94. bhndshades
    Sep 17, 2013
    2
    Rome 2: Total Waste Of My Time.
    I am a huge fan of the series so I was utterly disappointed with this game. Everything about the looks are better in this game compared to its predecessors The problem is in the game mechanics. The loading time after each turn just takes away all of the fun. Developers, you must have understood that this would create a huge negative response from the    Rome 2: Total Waste Of My Time.
    I am a huge fan of the series so I was utterly disappointed with this game. Everything about the looks are better in this game compared to its predecessors The problem is in the game mechanics. The loading time after each turn just takes away all of the fun. Developers, you must have understood that this would create a huge negative response from the gamers. Was it too late to change??? What is the point of having an extremely big Campaign World and loads of factions and neat graphics if the whole thing does not work???
    I get very annoyed reading any reviews that gives this game over 5. I am Confident that they have not played a full Campaign.
    The rest of my comments are more about details. I do not like that the only way to split an army is to having to hire a new general and transfer soldiers from one army to the other. I dont like the graphics of the unit cards in the "army bar". I would prefer miniature pictures of the units rather than the stylized contemporary art pictures.    … Expand
  95. Omaeka
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    The most disappointing iteration of Total War yet. The game suffers from horrific graphics, terrible performance, idiotic A.I. and is a bug filled mess. There are now capture the flags which appear in EVERY type of battle, completely taking strategy out of the game, tons of features have been removed with nothing at all added.

    SEGA and Creative Assembly are planning on porting this to    The most disappointing iteration of Total War yet. The game suffers from horrific graphics, terrible performance, idiotic A.I. and is a bug filled mess. There are now capture the flags which appear in EVERY type of battle, completely taking strategy out of the game, tons of features have been removed with nothing at all added.

    SEGA and Creative Assembly are planning on porting this to the consoles, which is why the game has been dumbed down so horrifically. It is a streamlined, broken, pathetic shadow of it's former self. Avoid this at all costs, even if/when they fix it. Vote with your wallet and show the money grabbing corporations that we will not stand for this kind of treatment.    … Expand
  96. Astrith
    Sep 17, 2013
    7
    I understand all the guys disappointed by the newest Total War. I really do@ This game should be Brilliant, Legendary and Epic. It is just good (well, very good for me). It has it's problems graphics are not as good as those shown by CA's PR guys, I don't understand why I can build so limited amount of buildings and why I don't have a family tree available (the same is withI understand all the guys disappointed by the newest Total War. I really do@ This game should be Brilliant, Legendary and Epic. It is just good (well, very good for me). It has it's problems graphics are not as good as those shown by CA's PR guys, I don't understand why I can build so limited amount of buildings and why I don't have a family tree available (the same is with agents/generals lack of skill tree). Rome 2 is a solid game, great piece of strategy, highly addictive but with bunch of problems. Problems that should be resolved months ago. Maybe I'm a bit lucky because of all the problems I have only occasional CTD's. Fractions are very well designed, all the Greek states are very interesting on the campaign map and during the battles. The game is a bit too easy at the beginning however it gets more and more demanding later on. Worth playing, worth buying. One last thing this is a PC game, therefore can be modded!!! Modding community in TW games is one of the best ever and already there's a bunch of great stuff that will alter the Vanilla experience … Expand
  97. Garganfunker
    Sep 17, 2013
    1
    A slap in the face of all Total War and strategy game fans. This game is a disgrace. Creative Assembly just lost all its core audience by dumbing down gameplay for console release.
  98. AkisTheGReat
    Sep 17, 2013
    9
    A bit problematic at first.However after patch 2 it became exactly what a strategy fan would like to play.Check it out guys for it definetely deserves the name of Total War
  99. marcelklein88
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    I am so angry about this game.
    Instead of finishing the development and THEN releasing it, the just throw it at the people and say "ok we will give you a 5GB Update every week from now on"-until it' s finished in 2045.
    And I won't comment on the 100GB Steam donwload you need to do first. And how big my hate against Steam is. I have sent the game back although I registered the key.    I am so angry about this game.
    Instead of finishing the development and THEN releasing it, the just throw it at the people and say "ok we will give you a 5GB Update every week from now on"-until it' s finished in 2045.

    And I won't comment on the 100GB Steam donwload you need to do first.
    And how big my hate against Steam is.

    I have sent the game back although I registered the key. If they try to prosecute me, I will fight to death.
    I am so angry about this crap.

    I was happy when they released it but NOOOO it's unplayable and makes my PC go nuts.    … Expand
  100. TheOnlineGamer
    Sep 17, 2013
    6
    For what it's worth, it's a decent game. It does however, have a fantastic foundation and one I hope gets expanded upon in the future.

    Full of dull moments and gameplay mechanics really brings this otherwise good game down. Some of the pop-ins and lags also drag things out and the execution for the game is EXTREMELY lazy! Hope things get better in Rome 3.....
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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