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. 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
  2. themrchook
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Very poor optimisation, AI is poor and siege AI is just non-functioning with issues like enemy units just standing there or even more bizarrely wandering off in random directions until they just run into archer fire and die, simplified mechanics and game functionality when compared to Total War: Rome (seems to be the trend, would have like to have seen it broken for this game) but thisVery poor optimisation, AI is poor and siege AI is just non-functioning with issues like enemy units just standing there or even more bizarrely wandering off in random directions until they just run into archer fire and die, simplified mechanics and game functionality when compared to Total War: Rome (seems to be the trend, would have like to have seen it broken for this game) but this does not make the game more fun, punchy or exciting. Slightly updated graphics but nowhere near what I expected. I can forgive releasing with a few bugs and issues as this is normal but there are just such a large amount of them. This is why people pirate games, you don't deserve my money for this and you won't be getting it ever again.… Expand
  3. Iconoklast
    Oct 26, 2013
    2
    As a professional developer and huge fan of this series I am unable to comprehend the degree to which this franchise has degenerated. It clear that the design team from the previous games, especially the Shogun 2 people who made an excellent, cristaline perfect strategic wargame, where not invovled in the development of this one. How a team can unlearn so many good lessons in design canAs a professional developer and huge fan of this series I am unable to comprehend the degree to which this franchise has degenerated. It clear that the design team from the previous games, especially the Shogun 2 people who made an excellent, cristaline perfect strategic wargame, where not invovled in the development of this one. How a team can unlearn so many good lessons in design can only be explained by Sega's corporate shortsightedness and CA internal politics.

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

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

    The Strategic Game

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

    The greatest tragedy is that this represents the end of Creative Assembly as a powerhouse of Strategy Game development. This is a tremendous blow to gaming, and the dev team should be ashamed of themselves.    … Expand
  4. Fumes
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    I have been a fan of the Total War series since the original Shogun. Every game have had its share of problems (AI problems being at the forefront) at launch, but they were salvageable through patching and modding. Rome II however is such a huge step-back on pretty much everything except scale and graphics that I have little hope of seeing this game ever measuring up to any of the previousI have been a fan of the Total War series since the original Shogun. Every game have had its share of problems (AI problems being at the forefront) at launch, but they were salvageable through patching and modding. Rome II however is such a huge step-back on pretty much everything except scale and graphics that I have little hope of seeing this game ever measuring up to any of the previous titles. In fact I would prefer to play the original modded Rome. The game is essentially a beta to the shame of CA and Sega. I will not be buying any more Total War games on release.… Expand
  5. Dexyt
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Beware, the game is a flop. I tried to like it, but I just can't. There's nothing in it that makes it worth playing. The UI is inefficient, awkward and provides too little information. The turn times are extremely long. The AI is dumb. The tech tree, unit upgrades and the like offer no real advancements, just tiny increments, like +3%, to some attribute which makes them feel pointless. TheBeware, the game is a flop. I tried to like it, but I just can't. There's nothing in it that makes it worth playing. The UI is inefficient, awkward and provides too little information. The turn times are extremely long. The AI is dumb. The tech tree, unit upgrades and the like offer no real advancements, just tiny increments, like +3%, to some attribute which makes them feel pointless. The strategic layer is shallow, almost primitive. Battles tend to revolve around capture points which eliminates any strategic freedom. Indeed, battles is what the game should be about, and they simply aren't fun nor interesting. The game feels like a Frankenstein game in which different game elements are haphazardly sewn together. I could go, but I've made the point sufficiently clear: somehow this game turned out really bad.… Expand
  6. malekithau
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Starting playing with Total War games with the original Shogun. Played them all. This one is by far the most disappointing. I am very sad to say that it fails to meet expectations on so many levels. The strategic side of the game is pretty decent though not so good that it can make up for the main issue which is the tactical games. They are a joke. Blob versus blob not like an ancientStarting playing with Total War games with the original Shogun. Played them all. This one is by far the most disappointing. I am very sad to say that it fails to meet expectations on so many levels. The strategic side of the game is pretty decent though not so good that it can make up for the main issue which is the tactical games. They are a joke. Blob versus blob not like an ancient battle at all. The speed is comical. Usain Bolt would struggle to keep up with these guys lugging around 4 meter pikes and wearing full armour. Formations don't really exist. On contact your units just fall into an unformed blob. Units turn on a dime. There are plenty of other issues but I can't bring myself to play another minute of this game as is. I'd rather be at work................… Expand
  7. Maggotfist
    Sep 15, 2013
    2
    Beautiful game with so much potential. Game breaking crash bug at turn 57 on Suebi campaign. AI is almost non-existent. Poorly optimized graphics. Aside from the bugs and crashes VERY fun.
    It's a game of magnificent scope and ambition, but is CLEARLY in beta phase. I am very much looking forward to the final version after some patches.
  8. MrPedantic
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Cons: Game-breaking bugs. AI terrible. UI unintuitive & weird. Battles supremely disappointing. Alt-tab seizure-inducing.
    Pros: Graphics better. Prologue decent
    DO NOT BUY. The game gets worse the more you play it. The Prologue is a nice start. I liked the way it walks you through most of what you need to know for the Campaign. However, even here there were glimpses of    Cons: Game-breaking bugs. AI terrible. UI unintuitive & weird. Battles supremely disappointing. Alt-tab seizure-inducing.
    Pros: Graphics better. Prologue decent

    DO NOT BUY.

    The game gets worse the more you play it. The Prologue is a nice start. I liked the way it walks you through most of what you need to know for the Campaign. However, even here there were glimpses of trouble. I gave up after bugs prevented me from finishing the Prologue 2 times. The thing with the Prologue is that you can't finish a turn unless you finish the objective they identify, and sometimes a bug prevents you from fulfilling the objective until the next turn...yeah.

    Then you get to the Campaign, and the bugs just multiply like, well...bugs. Even the proper "features" that were supposed to be newly-added into the game are terrible, almost to a fault. Battle objectives suck, and are totally irrelevant to any kind of strategy and yet can still decide the outcome of battles. Agents are arbitrarily grouped into 3 for no real reason that I can comprehend. The game's encyclopaedia is slow, not really informative, and if the game had been done properly, almost entirely unnecessary anyway. I could keep going, about the AI, the UI, the performance issues, the interaction between armies and navies, the interaction between embarked armies and the coastline, the graphical glitches, the collision errors, and so on. Turns take several minutes (due to 117 in-game factions), random frame hangs will occur for no apparent reason, and

    One particular category of failure that should be mentioned is with regard to cinematics. The intro movie is low-res, low-texture, low-polygon, and feels like low-setting gameplay rather than a beautiful, inspiring pre-rendered piece of art designed as a fitting intro to a wonderful game. Though I guess in its current state it sort of fits. In-game, cinematics are almost completely lacking. As opposed to the original RTW, where cinematics were in every construction card, and Shogun 2, where agents got beautiful, varied cinematics depicting their actions, the only cinematics I have seen thus far have been for family deaths. Even here, it is hugely disappointing. The cinematic is a short clip, maybe 10 seconds long, with no sound and having almost no meaningful content whatsoever.

    I'm giving this a 2/10 because despite its flaws, it has SOME redeeming qualities. The graphics are decent (not spectacular, but decent), the campaign map is far more reflective of reality, the cinematic view, so far as I've used it, seems a welcome and interesting addition, and at least it has few of the bugs in the original Rome: Total War. Unfortunately, they seem to have been replaced with a completely different, much more debilitating set of new bugs.    … Expand
  9. Bethrezen
    Sep 8, 2013
    2
    After playing for 44 hours, here are my conclusions:
    (-) Very poorly optimized (low FPS and mini-freezes in-battles and on campaign map, especially after hitting End Turn);
    (+) Relatively good loading times; (-) Relatively average intro cinematic in terms of epicness and actual showing game mechanics and battle, at least when comparing it to the Rome TW intro (or BI intro); (-) Long    After playing for 44 hours, here are my conclusions:
    (-) Very poorly optimized (low FPS and mini-freezes in-battles and on campaign map, especially after hitting End Turn);
    (+) Relatively good loading times;
    (-) Relatively average intro cinematic in terms of epicness and actual showing game mechanics and battle, at least when comparing it to the Rome TW intro (or BI intro);
    (-) Long time waiting for other factions, after hitting End Turn (4-5 minutes);
    (-) Horrible UI and menu design you can actually take these menus and put them in any other game, they don't have anything special or related to a Total War game; they don't contribute in any way to the atmosphere;
    (+/-) The unit cards are neither bad nor good, in my opinion; it's just a matter of taste;
    (-) Creating fleets is useless since your troops "transform" into fleets anyway (very bad design here);
    (-) Totally unesthetic and unsuggestive building card images; absolutely NOT contributing to any kind of atmosphere;
    (-) Lots of bugs everywhere: graphical corruptions outside of the world map, provinces that don't show they are conquered (happened with Baktria), units which stop after you send them to attack or pursue the enemy, units blocked in buildings, etc. etc.;
    (-) Core gameplay design flaws: battles lasting 10 minutes at most, really bad AI, no Guard stance, no Fire at Will option especially for melee troops with pilum/javelins, overpowered fire missiles, overpowered cavalry charge, broken phalanx, illogical unit abilities, useless siege equipment (since you can just burn the gate much easier and faster), javelins on fire used by all factions, wrong testudo formation etc. etc.
    (-) Researching just about everything and seeing all units long before actually winning the game (at least while playing with other factions other than Rome);
    (-) Passive campaign AI with no diplomacy improvement from the previous titles;
    (-) Stupid Steam achievements (play for an hour? fight a battle without auto-resolve?);
    (+) More historical accurate factions and units;
    (+) Pretty good sound effects;
    (-) Not working coop multiplayer due to very long turns and desynchronizing;
    (-) No avatar campaign, just a really boring versus multiplayer (a return to RTW and a downgrade from Shogun 2);
    (-) Incoming DLC fest
    (-) Asking for buyers to test all incoming patches.

    I will rate the game accordingly.    … Expand
  10. Jay8329
    Sep 27, 2013
    2
    Update: The 3 released patches fixed a few things. The really long turns have gotten some what faster, "some" balancing has been done, and units hold their formations slightly longer than before. The most hilarious fix I read in the patch list was a fix for misspelled words..I could give a crap about that there are more pressing matters to focus on CA. With that being said, the 3 patchesUpdate: The 3 released patches fixed a few things. The really long turns have gotten some what faster, "some" balancing has been done, and units hold their formations slightly longer than before. The most hilarious fix I read in the patch list was a fix for misspelled words..I could give a crap about that there are more pressing matters to focus on CA. With that being said, the 3 patches still don't do it for me, but I'll bring my score up for the effort, but not by much. Still many missing features, no family tree. still buggy land and naval battles, still arcade like battles that end in 10mins now instead of 5 so I guess it's an improvement, Ai is still retarded and does the jig while getting slaughter by missle units and they still fail to engage 80% of the time, and we still have that ridiculous army limit!! Geez that is a crappy decision., etc, etc, ect, ect..
    Also, I got to love the sudden flood of naive brainless individuals giving this game 9-10s in an attempt to boost the rating and the user complaining about a 0 score. I gave this a 0 because it's BS I friggin paid $70 for a game in Alpha stage. It's like buying a computer only to find out the I have a really pretty monitor and tower but no guts. So to all those ppl "Go kick rocks!

    Rome II the Arcade game...or something!??? WTF is this garbage.
    0.) This takes the cake, half the total war fan base can't even play this junk because it fails to work. Many CTDs and freezes....worthless...someone should be fired and kicked square in the a$$ on the way out the door.
    1.) Your Units are set to run by default...so they are running all over the place like idiots every time you order a move.
    2.)No Family Tree- wtf, I thought this was Rome, a family tree is a pretty important part of the game...or maybe not, hell I don't know...retarded CA.
    3.) Has more bugs than Empires Total War ever did, and that's seriously saying something!
    4.) Serious limitation to recruitment- Now you can only recruit units through a General and only a General. No more recruiting units in your cities, which pretty much hamstrings your ability to recruit a garrison army that you feel is just right to hold that city on the border of your enemy. Now you have a preset "Generic Garrison". I guess I don't need more than 4 archer units to hold miles of walls...oh yeah that leads me to my next point.
    5.) You no longer have the option to build walls...yep that's right, no option to build walls in your smaller villages or towns. Walls are reserved for your "More important" capital cities. Well that's great and grand and all, but I guess my other towns are worthless and F***ed. I suppose my generic garrison army can handle it..... or not.
    6.) You are no longer allowed to detach any units from your Army unless you have another General right next to that particular Army/General you wish to exchange units with. So I guess CA figured it was wise to keep me from detaching half my army to garrison a city I just captured so that I can send my General on his marry little way to do something useful. Instead I have to park his a$$ in the city for 10 flippin turns (Which Equals 10 yrs btw) until the public order stabilizes...awesome!
    7.) Battles last a WHOPPING 3-5mins! No time for tactical maneuvers, not that it matters with this AI, it's over too fast. You just send all your guys into this blob of troops just like you would if you were playing good old Command and Conquer.
    8.) No fire at will options for your Legionaries. Instead your Legionaries throw their pilums every time you order them to engage then enemy, which is absolutely AWESOME when you send a unit to support another unit already engaged with the enemy and your Legionaries throw that SWEET volley of Pilums right into the backs of your own troops..Brilliant move!
    9.) No loose and tight formation options-guess we didn't need them
    10.) We got magic abilities just like Warhammer. (Remove all fatigue, better accuracy for archers, reload faster, and many more fun abilities from Middle Earth) Every single unit has some retarded special ability that you need to use as much as possible..so it turns into a classic click fest.
    11.) You can only trade out of one port, which is probably one of the many bugs, while your others just sit and be useless.
    12.) Countless other bugs, from Red skies to enemy units doing the jig while you pepper them with arrows all day, to the classic suicide generals getting impaled on spears.

    All of these issues and retarded features, among a ton of other issues I really don't feel like listing because it would take 2-3 days, makes Rome II the worse game of the series so far and probably the death of the total war franchise. I sure do hope CA really enjoys this piece of crap, dumbed down, casual, console geared, kiddie game they have created. As for me, there is nothing Creative about this and it's gone into my coaster collection of sh!t games to be used to set my beverages on. At least I'll get some use out of my stolen    … Expand
  11. gamertens
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Core 2 Duo E7500@2.93 GHZ, 3 GB RAM, ATI HD RADEON 6570 GDDR5. Good enough to run the game on high settings at 1366*768 as mentioned in official pc requirements. Tried latest drivers both non beta and beta.
    Well I received quite a shock when I tried all my might and couldn't get the fps to rise above 10-11 fps even on the lowest settings. Seeing that people with much better rigs are    Core 2 Duo E7500@2.93 GHZ, 3 GB RAM, ATI HD RADEON 6570 GDDR5. Good enough to run the game on high settings at 1366*768 as mentioned in official pc requirements. Tried latest drivers both non beta and beta.
    Well I received quite a shock when I tried all my might and couldn't get the fps to rise above 10-11 fps even on the lowest settings. Seeing that people with much better rigs are having same problem so the least I can say about it is its unplayable and a terribly optimized game. Waste of time and money for me. Waiting for the proper patches to be released which could take a few weeks. Though they released one patch today but it didn't work. Still waiting for a solution and hoping they sort it out.
    Right now its unplayable. If you haven't bought it yet, don't buy it right now. Wait for xmas when it has been optimized and its price reduced. Dunno how they get away with it.    … Expand
  12. Atr0s
    Jan 22, 2015
    2
    Every problem was brought up unchanged from the previous game and added up with new ones thanks for many half-tested features. While some of these problems have been fixed, like the complete absence of AI to deal with specific but regular situations (like sieges) the problems intrinsic to the engine still stand. All big fights devolve into 1v1 duels like in Shogun II (no single unit can beEvery problem was brought up unchanged from the previous game and added up with new ones thanks for many half-tested features. While some of these problems have been fixed, like the complete absence of AI to deal with specific but regular situations (like sieges) the problems intrinsic to the engine still stand. All big fights devolve into 1v1 duels like in Shogun II (no single unit can be attacked by more than one unit), making melee battles last than it reasonably should (even if it's one elite survivor against a whole mob). The battle mechanics also changed unreasonably from the previous Rome title, turning pikemen in phalanx from the previous unpassable wall to a murder machine to anything that dares a frontal assault and making some hybrid units only able to use ammunition when charging. The siege machines also have an absurd degree of precision for its time, particularly when using first-person mode (you can actually point the general location you want your projectile to land, unlike Shogun II on which you had to guess its trajectory based on angle and distance). The naval battles, the first big "improvement" to the series (marines, for the first time, can disembark and help in land battles), also suffer from the same problems as land battles during boarding (1v1 duels), boarding can't be disengaged under any circumstance and several glitches still plague it (jumping marines for example, on which your tripulation jumped off ship as a boarding action, only to inexplicably fly high and drown by landing on the sea). If it wasn't enough, the ONLY thing worthwhile about voice acting in this game is Mark Strong as the narrator as they didn't bother with the factions languages (not even making a fake eastern/greek/latin/celtic-esque accent) unlike the previous titles.

    All in all, it's a poor Total War game. Stick to the previous titles as they didn't have as many killjoy bugs as this one. CA is offering here a bad product as the graphics will be nowhere as good as trailers show (tons of videos on Youtube to show what this game really looks like on Ultra, with often hilarious results when zooming in the individual units) and most official reviews were done by people paid to put up a good word for the game or too lazy to actually research the previous titles and evaluate the overall improvement (or lack of).    … Expand
  13. velvetpetanimal
    Sep 3, 2013
    2
    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.

    2/10 for releasing.

    Glad I paid 60$ for beta testing.
  14. Sarrix
    Nov 8, 2013
    2
    Hahaha the people have spoken and I could not agree more. This is the biggest failure I have seen in a while. I WAS a devoted Total War fan until CA decided to bring out this husk of a game to slap me in the face. I really do not understand what was going through their heads... Do they actually play their own games? They dumbed this game down so much I felt like C&C had more strategyHahaha the people have spoken and I could not agree more. This is the biggest failure I have seen in a while. I WAS a devoted Total War fan until CA decided to bring out this husk of a game to slap me in the face. I really do not understand what was going through their heads... Do they actually play their own games? They dumbed this game down so much I felt like C&C had more strategy involved in it.

    Also have a look at the critics im sure they can be bought out for a high score any day by the looks of it. Good work all on the HONEST reviews. With the exception of the dim wits giving it 10 out 10. Most likely work for CA or just have no idea.    … Expand
  15. Kherny
    Sep 30, 2013
    2
    Jesus H Christ... uninstalled today, just cant take it anymore. 3 patches in and its easy to see this needs a hell of a lot more work and to be honest right now just don't bother after seeing the progress in a month of patching, give it a year. The AI is simply atrocious. The UI is unwieldy. The turn times are awful although I have managed an entire ebook between turn times. play time ofJesus H Christ... uninstalled today, just cant take it anymore. 3 patches in and its easy to see this needs a hell of a lot more work and to be honest right now just don't bother after seeing the progress in a month of patching, give it a year. The AI is simply atrocious. The UI is unwieldy. The turn times are awful although I have managed an entire ebook between turn times. play time of 75 hours on first campaign, it feels like half of that is on turn times alone on my high end gaming system) Poor fps campaign map performance. There are a hell of a lot of generic looking troops cross faction( I don't mean type of troop but the look, copy and pasted). The politics system is basic and mystifying in its point of even being there. The speed of the game in battles on land and naval has been sped up to arcade levels. (consoled) This makes naval battles pointless thus rendering half the tech tree pointless as its naval based. The unit blobbing (look up rome 2 blobbing makes any unit formations pointless. The interviews and trailers painted a completely unrealistic view of the released game. Overall such a huge letdown and I have not touched on all its problems. One in a series of huge letdowns lately for PC releases in general.

    Never preorder in general but now add Creative Assembly who are known for buggy released games to the list of "delayed purchase" depending upon user reviews 6 months down the line.

    For a more in depth review try the Angry Joe review on youtube. He pretty much nails it. Also, Totalbiscuit has slated the attitude of Creative Assembly for a recent interview in which the head states he aims for a 90% metacritic review before anything else, cutting features if they dont add to that goal. (search for content patch sept 24th 2013 7.24 in) How about trying to make a good game primarily, for a good score? What a novel thought.

    "Rome 2 Total War" should now be renamed "Rome 2 Total rethink needed"

    On a positive note, I enjoyed using the unit camera. But the blobbing of units and lack of fight animations took the fun out of that after a short while. Dear me, hard to be positive. The general speeches before battle were enjoyable when they worked and did not cut out.

    Reinstalling Empire/Napoleon as we speak.

    /sigh    … Expand
  16. heime2003
    Nov 16, 2014
    2
    i didnt think creative assembly could messed it up cuz they are good develpers and has good record
    but it was slap to fans face. everything in this game is steps back from rome 1
    not to mention huge framemate problems, every moments u have to fight glitches, non responsiveness and bugs instead of units. even high end computers cant run this game on high setting without lag or    i didnt think creative assembly could messed it up cuz they are good develpers and has good record
    but it was slap to fans face. everything in this game is steps back from rome 1
    not to mention huge framemate problems, every moments u have to fight glitches, non responsiveness and bugs instead of units.
    even high end computers cant run this game on high setting without lag or stuttering. thinking the game looks not better than rome1 i wonder dev leave programming of the game to their interns
    biggest let down. luckily i didnt upgrade my com to play this which saved me $$$ and bitter disappointment    … Expand
  17. KnownOperative
    Oct 8, 2013
    2
    Releasing a unfinished Tech demo product into the market, At that price, which seems to have been untested seems to tell us, that companies nowadays think you can get away with it, with Fans and players paying the Company to Test their game. Back in the day, people use to get Finished tested products. Not this... mess.

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

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

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

    It seems, one of the Childhood features i used to play around with "viewing a city" as it developed a magnifying glass icon" was removed or not implemented.    … Expand
  18. TheUnbeholden
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Total War Shogun 2 was such a massive improvement... and now this? This is a disgrace to the Total War series... it's got strip away features, it's buggy to hell and back, AI are the most retarded they have ever been before, the map AI will almost never attack you.. and even when they do they only throw tiny groups of enemies at you. Never a big group. Enemies in game will stand there andTotal War Shogun 2 was such a massive improvement... and now this? This is a disgrace to the Total War series... it's got strip away features, it's buggy to hell and back, AI are the most retarded they have ever been before, the map AI will almost never attack you.. and even when they do they only throw tiny groups of enemies at you. Never a big group. Enemies in game will stand there and stare at you... without making any movements. Those god damn flags.. the god damn flags in a open field.. Oh man The UI in game is a terrible (except for the map screen). The graphics are glitchy and very average.
    Looks like a 2005 game. The videos showing how good the game look? Fake. Nobody has been able to get the game to look as good as some of the trailer showcased video footage of this game. Somebody up big time. This looks like a Alpha! They are selling a bloody alpha version for lots of money? Who the hell was in charge of this? It's a travesty. Long time fans are royally pissed off with good reason.

    +Cinematic cam
    +tooltips help you focus on the gameplay rather than being lost clicking stuff.
    +World Map
    +Province have capitals
    -Apart from tooltips, the UI is very limited.
    -AI are totally broken.
    -No challenge.
    -Graphics are bland.
    **** multiplayer, it's barebones 2 player gameplay. Nothing else.
    -Family trees have been stripped away, diplomacy, religion/politics & skill trees are worse than before.
    -Naval battles are plain screwed. The game automatically spawns ships when you send units to the sea, which are more powerful than actual naval ships. No fire at will or guard mode, no formations.
    -Your units refuse to go down walls
    -Most cinematics are gone.
    -No context sensitive battle speeches.    … Expand
  19. Nikk27
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    This game in the current state is seriously overrated, it's a beta release at best, the ai is terrible, whatever settings i try it lags, i can run every other game but this refuses properly to work with my pc and to add insult to injury i get wise guy remarks by sega programmers saying that only 2% of gamers have problems....... well you know what? screw you sega! just screw you!
  20. Morzan
    Sep 3, 2013
    2
    I've waited so long for this game and the hype has been immense. When i opened the game and entered my first battle i almost felt like slamming my head into the wall. Never have I been so disappointed with a game on release. The list of dissappointments range from strange and frustrating graphics issues to completely ludacris waiting times in the campaign. Even with AI movements toggledI've waited so long for this game and the hype has been immense. When i opened the game and entered my first battle i almost felt like slamming my head into the wall. Never have I been so disappointed with a game on release. The list of dissappointments range from strange and frustrating graphics issues to completely ludacris waiting times in the campaign. Even with AI movements toggled off it's unacceptable. We had the exact same issue in shogun 2 but this is far worse. Sad and dissappointing launch. I want to love this game but I this is undenieably an unfinished product that I don't want to spend my time on with the current state of the game.… Expand
  21. Radox0
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    I've enjoyed the Total War series immensely through the years: I even enjoyed Empire at release as I didn't really encounter any of the crashes others did, and the bugs that were there were play through-able Rome 2 on the other hand, is a half finished game; I hope they realise their mistakes and patch it relentlessly to get it up to scratch as I want this game to be a success but rightI've enjoyed the Total War series immensely through the years: I even enjoyed Empire at release as I didn't really encounter any of the crashes others did, and the bugs that were there were play through-able Rome 2 on the other hand, is a half finished game; I hope they realise their mistakes and patch it relentlessly to get it up to scratch as I want this game to be a success but right now, as it is, it's not even deserving of a 5/10 average score… Expand
  22. Alex692
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Couldnt play the game at first, it shouldve stayed that way. The game didnt even live up to an inch of my expectations. Ridiculous AI, very poorly polished and the game lagged like a mf at many points throughout the game. Still, this is ironically enough one of the best strategy titles out there, the only reason it doesnt get a 1...
  23. Datek
    Sep 11, 2013
    2
    This has the potential to be a great game someday. In it's current state, it is and disgraceful embarassment. This game is unplayable, and how it is possible to receive such high ratings from 'respectable' gaming review sites is beyond comprehension. No wonder the barbarians are up in arms. Watch the Angry Joe review on youtube if you are in any way considering buying this game.
  24. Southern_Hunter
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    CA have produced a compelling and interesting strategic game, with a completely broken tactical battle engine. Until modders are given the tools to do the work that CA should have done to produce a workable battle system, this is best avoided.
  25. Yoshi1
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    This game feels unfinished and very buggy. This is my first total war game and I expected a whole lot better then this. The overall graphics are not great even on the highest setting. I saw many graphical glitches and awful textures especial for the landscape looks like it was made in 2005. The A.I. Is pretty awful and the battles between enemies is almost hard to watch its so bad. ManyThis game feels unfinished and very buggy. This is my first total war game and I expected a whole lot better then this. The overall graphics are not great even on the highest setting. I saw many graphical glitches and awful textures especial for the landscape looks like it was made in 2005. The A.I. Is pretty awful and the battles between enemies is almost hard to watch its so bad. Many A.I that are not on the front line will just stand there and wait until the soldier in front has died instead of actually fighting. The tutorial is awful and doesn't really teach the player how to play correctly. The U.I. is poorly executed and the game doesn't give the player a sense of accomplishment or reward for good strategies and tactics, The game play is sub par and after completing a tutorial it doesn't tell you what you could have corrected or what kinds of mistakes you made. Overall the game still feels like its in alpha or beta and really has some potential but its very poorly executed.… Expand
  26. Sigma77
    Sep 26, 2013
    2
    Again we all got tricked into paying full price for a beta. I don't really think I need to tell you from all of the other posts that you shouldn't buy this game until they fix everything. It's too bad too because it is a great game, it's just not complete and full of bugs and crashes for most people. The game actually runs okay for me but three of my other friends who also paid the steepAgain we all got tricked into paying full price for a beta. I don't really think I need to tell you from all of the other posts that you shouldn't buy this game until they fix everything. It's too bad too because it is a great game, it's just not complete and full of bugs and crashes for most people. The game actually runs okay for me but three of my other friends who also paid the steep $70 price at launch can't even play the game three weeks after launch.… Expand
  27. nebulousfury
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    It is VERY disturbing that the critics on metacric rated this game so favorable. There was undoubtedly some payoffs going there and I would highly recommend nobody take them seriously anymore. All credibility lost. With that out the way.... Rome II is a broken, senseless, and much downgraded version of what once was a great franchise. Even after you get past all the obvious faults... justIt is VERY disturbing that the critics on metacric rated this game so favorable. There was undoubtedly some payoffs going there and I would highly recommend nobody take them seriously anymore. All credibility lost. With that out the way.... Rome II is a broken, senseless, and much downgraded version of what once was a great franchise. Even after you get past all the obvious faults... just as you are starting to find a groove what happens? Well either the terrible AI won't make its move and you are forced to just sit there like an idiot or your soldiers get stuck on even the most negotiable obstacles and you are forced to restart because you can't do anything until every last member of a unit tries to navigate seemingly blindly around and through and over different obstacles of the map. The AI is just totally broken. It's not just how the computer unit AI is broken, but also the overall strategy of the computers themselves is broken. Graphically there is many glitches, and after 17 horrid hours of playing Rome II the longest it has been before I've seen a graphical bug is about 3 minutes... NO JOKE. Even the sound is a major downgrade from prior releases from this series. This game can't even be considered worthy of being called an Alpha. This is definitely a pre-alpha released as a FULL RETAIL GAME. What was Sega thinking? I'm sure that is what the majority who plays this game will be saying. Even after all the bugs are fixed, there is still major issues with gameplay and business practices. For example you need to pay almost 10 bucks just to be the Spartans. I'd recommend just pass of Rome II and forget it ever existed. It won't even be worth buying once the bugs are fixed. The entire design is flawed and that is a problem that can't be fixed with just a bunch of patches or even an expansion.… Expand
  28. Angry_Tomano
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Sadly a disappointment. Poor performance, Poor AI, Late game turns take 5+ minutes waiting for the AI to finish their turns, Naval battles are a failure. AI does not know how to attack, i have seen indie games that are more polished and entertaining than this, Overall a poor effort for a AAA title, QA should feel bad, because they are bad.
  29. Rumblefish
    Nov 27, 2013
    2
    First things first, this is a truly awful game. It's probably the most disappointing game release of all time and not because CA have tried to innovate, but because they have dumbed down what was a great series, lost sight of what made the TW games good in the first place, removed the majority of the good features of previous games whilst adding half-finished and poorly designed aspects.First things first, this is a truly awful game. It's probably the most disappointing game release of all time and not because CA have tried to innovate, but because they have dumbed down what was a great series, lost sight of what made the TW games good in the first place, removed the majority of the good features of previous games whilst adding half-finished and poorly designed aspects. This game represents a betrayal of Total War, the fans and the reputation of CA itself.

    Where to start with just what is wrong with Rome 2? Well I could talk of blatant bugs, of homogenised unit rosters, a total lack of optimisation and performance, AI that is just utterly unintelligent, the awful obfuscating province system, the capture points in open field battles, transport ships being able to sink navies, Iron gates being burnt down with torches, massive and opaque unit cards, confusing unexplained game mechanics, the incredible stupidity of 1 year per turn, the terrible terrible animated character portraits, automatic garrisons, magic abilities, the battles where two armies simply converge in a mass blob, the battlefield engine which is simply not fit for purpose and is far inferior to the engine of the original Rome, every battle lasting five minutes, the non-functioning diplomacy system, the utterly pointless politics system this is the tip of the iceberg, I could go on all day.

    So, did they get anything right at all? Well, the music and sound is nice if limited in variety. The new ethos of 1 general 1 army is interesting and changes things up. I can understand it too as by limiting the number of armies (albeit artificially) means the player and AI have to be more selective in where they deploy the armies they do have. The classical civilisation aesthetic is nice. Also, the new agents are a good idea but are simply terribly implemented. Army naming and traditions is a nice idea, although could have been fleshed out a lot more. And that's about it for the positives.

    The most damming aspect of Rome 2 is the fact that above all it is utterly boring. The game is amazingly easy even on Legendary mode and you will spend most of your time simply pressing end turn without having done anything since the last one. There is no strategy here, there are no choices, no real options; everything is streamlined and watered down. The campaign map is contains set channels for armies to march down and set landing sites for navies to disembark their troops, and this means the "biggest ever campaign map" we were promised is actually the smallest and most restrictive.

    Rome 2 is a colossal failure and no amount of patches will change that. Three months after release, the game is still an unpalatable mixture of boring and non-working game mechanics.

    What can we learn from this? CA are pretty much done, they've lost their way and look like they've given up. I doubt there's a real gamer still at the company. How anyone could be happy putting their name to this travesty I will never know. Perhaps more importantly we have yet again learnt about some of the biggest review sites out there. It is amazing that some have given this a score of 9 or 10 (as they did with Diablo 3 and the Madden franchise for years). These reviewers are either utterly corrupt or completely inept. In more ways than one, Rome 2 has shown us who we can trust.    … Expand
  30. Olafsson
    Sep 15, 2013
    2
    Let's play Rome Total War 2, shall we ?

    ZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzzzZZZZ That sums it up I think. This game is just boring, there is no challenge whatsoever and most of the time is made of... waiting. There is no rythm or ambiance that would keep the player interested quite a failure when you think it should involves Rome, huge battles, acts of heroism, conquest, politics, treasons, and the    Let's play Rome Total War 2, shall we ?

    ZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzzzZZZZ

    That sums it up I think. This game is just boring, there is no challenge whatsoever and most of the time is made of... waiting. There is no rythm or ambiance that would keep the player interested quite a failure when you think it should involves Rome, huge battles, acts of heroism, conquest, politics, treasons, and the such. But here, nope, it's just plain boring.

    Congratulations for that Creative Assembly, it is really quite an achievement.

    Also, false marketing, false promises, we're getting used to it, but it's always totally unacceptable. Lying to customers is very very low. Watch Angry Joe review on youtube, listen to the people in charge of the AI and laugh your ass off comparing it to the reality. Shame, shame on you. Stop spending money on marketing and overhype, and use more in actual work on important things like AI.

    And of course everything else... UI is bad, especially for nowadays standards. Naval units are useless. Performances issues. Units balancing messed up. Loading times...

    Well pretty much everything is off.

    This game is maybe worth 3/10 and 10 bucks, but am gonna lower it to a 2/10 because of the false reviews. Guys, it really starts to show that you are bought and that is unacceptable.    … Expand
  31. ArthurVon
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    So, the game is full of bugs and miss a lot of features that made Total War a great series of games in the past 10 years. I cannot understand how a game can be so downgraded from the old good games (like shogun 2), this game is so bad right now.
  32. Mynameispingu
    Nov 1, 2013
    2
    Like most reviewers here, I was once a very big Total War fan.
    But since this installment I am no longer. For;
    1. The state it has been released is just a diabolic mess 2. The AI is a diabolic mess 3. It feels really lazily made 4. What happened to the soul? I felt this dying when Shogun 2 came out. 5. All of this pointless DLC that's already in the game, but you want us to pay more    Like most reviewers here, I was once a very big Total War fan.
    But since this installment I am no longer. For;
    1. The state it has been released is just a diabolic mess
    2. The AI is a diabolic mess
    3. It feels really lazily made
    4. What happened to the soul? I felt this dying when Shogun 2 came out.
    5. All of this pointless DLC that's already in the game, but you want us to pay more than your already AAA title release price. I mean honestly in the previous installment of Rome, once you conquered a faction, you could play as them in a campaign. This is no longer the case, for you basically have to purchase half the factions at an incredibly unreasonable price (for e.g. 3 factions cost you £5.99).
    so my advice to people wishing to purchase this game, wait for an ultimate edition with all the DLC, that way you'll save money and your hair.
    My advice to SEGA and CA, please sort out your no more pointless DLC, no more 5 minute battles, do what you did for your old multiplayer that was way funner, and iron out the bugs before release.

    ALSO DO NOT LISTEN TO THE 'REAL' CRITICS
    Who just are seemingly paid under the table to write relatively nice things.
    The game's a f*cking disaster.    … Expand
  33. Bangell
    Sep 3, 2013
    2
    This is not a game this is a beta. With optimisation issues that make it unplayable more often than not, Rome 2 is so broken it's a disgrace it was allowed to be released in this state. Aside from the frankly game-breaking performance issues, the gameplay is a real step down from previous titles. The AI is as incompetent as ever. The campaign map has been taken in completely the wrongThis is not a game this is a beta. With optimisation issues that make it unplayable more often than not, Rome 2 is so broken it's a disgrace it was allowed to be released in this state. Aside from the frankly game-breaking performance issues, the gameplay is a real step down from previous titles. The AI is as incompetent as ever. The campaign map has been taken in completely the wrong direction, with all areas of gameplay dumbed down, and soul-sapping load times rubbing it in. Battles are simply no fun to play. Combat is resolved in minutes, with units destroying each other near-instantaneously. The array of stupid unit abilities emphasises the arcade-like nature of the battles.

    I won't go into the host of minor complaints with the game. Creative Assembly have released an unfinished product that you SHOULD NOT BUY. Those of us who have bought the game now wait for CA to fix the performance issues and independent modders to fix the gameplay. You decide for yourself if this is the state a game should be in at release, and whether this is the sort of product that you should pay for.    … Expand
  34. RockstarSaveUs
    Sep 3, 2013
    2
    I have been a fan if the series since the very first game. CA burned us with ETW and Shogun 2 but we still trusted them, still believed. When Rome 2 was announced I was incredibly excited.

    Now that it's been released? Far from it. All I feel is disappointment. One of my biggest disappointments is the lack if features we all loved from previous games in the series. Most notably the    I have been a fan if the series since the very first game. CA burned us with ETW and Shogun 2 but we still trusted them, still believed. When Rome 2 was announced I was incredibly excited.

    Now that it's been released? Far from it. All I feel is disappointment. One of my biggest disappointments is the lack if features we all loved from previous games in the series.

    Most notably the family system/deep character traits. There is no family tree or way to keep up with what is going on with your faction leader. You don't see if he is married, you can't and do not get marriage proposals (at least I have not and I am 62 turns in...) but you can make them to "interesting characters" and it's as if you offered up some invisible female from your faction of which you have an unlimited amount when my faction leader dies literally some random guy pops up that I am not notified about to replace him. He's from my family, apparently, yet I do not know if he is my previous faction leader's son, brother, uncle, dog. Can't see if he has kids, nothing.

    Feature in half-assed, game is half-assed. I am done with you, CA. Two times now I was disappointed and I still believed and defended you and your games. No more, not with how badly you have mucked up Rome 2. Adding features in one game and the removing them in the next among all the other issues: poor optimization, lag even on powerful machines, AI fails. How many more times until you actually fix it?

    Done with this. Rockstar are the only devs I still trust now and respect. They always deliver, listen to their FANS and make great games that aren't half-assed. Once GTA V releases Rome 2 can step back with all its disappointment.    … Expand
  35. Hasforth
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Huge letdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

    CA really up with this one    … Expand
  36. Arotished
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Total disappointment of you compare it to the good old TW games but if you are a fan of a quick and simple arcade game with some short and easy battles, this is the game for you.
  37. jhonjoyojnohjn
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    I'm a huge fan of the whole series and this is an inexplicably dismal entry. My rating is relative to Shogun 2, which for me is one of the best games I've played: polished, balanced, stylish, engaging on several levels, huge without being bloated and these are all qualities which appear to have been entirely gutted from the latest instalment. I'd be willing to forgive a large number ofI'm a huge fan of the whole series and this is an inexplicably dismal entry. My rating is relative to Shogun 2, which for me is one of the best games I've played: polished, balanced, stylish, engaging on several levels, huge without being bloated and these are all qualities which appear to have been entirely gutted from the latest instalment. I'd be willing to forgive a large number of bugs, but clearly, there have also been some very bad design decisions in there. Really awful, confusing UI in places; woeful AI (maybe that's not entirely new); player decisions just don't seem important on the strategic map; un-tactical, boring battles. Maybe these things are exacerbated by each other and could be improved individually, but my overall impression is that it's just fundamentally uninteresting and unbalanced on top of being an extremely sloppy release. As a new game out of the blue, maybe this would pass for a 5 or 6, but the benchmark has been set high and this falls very short of it. Very disappointing.… Expand
  38. vovo4ka
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    I never did this before but I've had such a horrible experience with this game that I could not help myself. First and the most infuriating of all is the AI. The units are often unresponsive to your commands and when you do manage go get them to do what you want they usually have terrible pathing. Next is the optomization. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but it lags as hell.I never did this before but I've had such a horrible experience with this game that I could not help myself. First and the most infuriating of all is the AI. The units are often unresponsive to your commands and when you do manage go get them to do what you want they usually have terrible pathing. Next is the optomization. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but it lags as hell. I have pretty good rig. This game was rushed out or something but it feels unfinished and it is almost unplayable in it's current state. I will not be buying any more total war games in the future.… Expand
  39. Scottyprophet
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Really big disappointment. I don't have any of the graphical lag problems that many people are complaining. It's not like any Total war game from the series... the campaign map is actually pretty nice and an improvement on Rome 1 but the battles really let the game down.

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

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

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

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

    Advise: Save your money until CA can fix the game or play the Superior Medieval total war    … Expand
  40. Serivahn
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Very big disappointment.
    Game is very poorly optimized and loaded with performance bottle necks.
    Lots of application crashes due to run time errors with the software (i.e. bugs.) The user interface is awful and is definitely not AAA quality. Things the AI does do not make any sense. Battles are too short, don't feel epic. I have played every TW game ever made, this is the only one    Very big disappointment.
    Game is very poorly optimized and loaded with performance bottle necks.
    Lots of application crashes due to run time errors with the software (i.e. bugs.)
    The user interface is awful and is definitely not AAA quality.
    Things the AI does do not make any sense.
    Battles are too short, don't feel epic.
    I have played every TW game ever made, this is the only one where I don't get that excited feeling before my army clashes with the enemy on the battlefield.
    If this game had it's technical issues under control and the game was even remotely stable, it would give it a 6/10.

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

    3/10. Hate this game
  42. 39OakTree
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Beware the mindless drones are striking 10/10 for a halfsquezed on a platter. This game is not worth a green rating, its way to unpolished to receive even a yellow one unless youre a fanboy cretins ofcourse. how about some of you actually buy the game first and play an hour before posting this terribly uncritical comments that sound like diarriah in a kindergarten.
  43. 1warrior1
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    This is a great disappointment to the total war series... so many glitches and game also crashes after an hour of playing... I can't understand why they removed family screen and walls from many cities.

    Don't wast your money with this game...now I cannot even resell it.
  44. twfan
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    i am a big fan of TW series and I try really hard to like this one, but I just cant. Battles are completely spoiled, they last for few minutes/sometimes seconds Morale and daying speed are just to low, armies cannot hold formation. It is not about strategy anymore. All you have to do is select all your troops, click charge, wait awhile and if you are lucky you win. No walled cities werei am a big fan of TW series and I try really hard to like this one, but I just cant. Battles are completely spoiled, they last for few minutes/sometimes seconds Morale and daying speed are just to low, armies cannot hold formation. It is not about strategy anymore. All you have to do is select all your troops, click charge, wait awhile and if you are lucky you win. No walled cities were supposed to take away boring sieges, but in reality it didnt help at all. You are still forced to fight in narrow streets and thus you will face lots of pathfinding issues. Things such as ugly units cards, bad UI, boring soudntrack are just minor problems, but terrible AI and fast paced arcade battles with no strategy involved makes this game unplayable.(at least for me)… Expand
  45. GerbilTracker
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    It gets a 2 because I could get it to run, and it didn't crash...although the game looks terrible...with everything minimized and on low, i still watch as the game drops to bellow 10 FPS during benchmarking (wherein I got my first achievement...Play 1 hour of Rome II...yeah, I received it while benchmarking just to try and play the game at an FPS that wouldn't make my eyes hurt and bleed).It gets a 2 because I could get it to run, and it didn't crash...although the game looks terrible...with everything minimized and on low, i still watch as the game drops to bellow 10 FPS during benchmarking (wherein I got my first achievement...Play 1 hour of Rome II...yeah, I received it while benchmarking just to try and play the game at an FPS that wouldn't make my eyes hurt and bleed). They said this game would be optimized for high and low end machines. Blatant lie. The AI is hilarious...and by hilarious i mean silly and very non-threatening. I think this game actually took a step back from Rome I in that department...and also yes, I am a guy who created a metacritic account just so I could express my absolute disappointment in this game and Creative Assembly. With a system WELL above the recommended specs, I have never had so many problems getting a game to work properly....and I do mean ever. I own every other total war game except for Napoleon, and I am a huge fan of Shogun(1 and 2) as well as Medieval and Rome 1. This absolute piece of beta crap is inexcusable. I am one of the most forgiving gamers you could meet, but this garbage needs to end. First and last time I will ever be suckered into buying a game via pre-order, and fat chance I will support Creative again until they change this pathetic business practice. Many of us are to blame as well...if you pre-ordered like I did, its sad to say that we have become part of the problem....we are rewarding poor business practices by doing this (Thanks to TotalBiscuit for helping me to see that light). To those that read this, Rome II is yet another warning bell. We, as the gamer community, should down right REFUSE to pre-order anything. Period. Rome II is a GREAT example of why, and unless we hit them were it counts, they will continue this arrogant, terrible behavior...all the while patting themselves on the back on the way to the bank while throwing in-game dress up clothes at us to try and satisfy the anger of being lied to and having our trust abused. Thanks to any for reading.… Expand
  46. StepYourGameUp
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Simply frustrating to have paid $79.95 USD, which ended up being closer to $90.00 AUD! For a product that had made a lot of promises but did NOT deliver on most of them, feels like a beta.
    Performance optimisation is a joke.
    Battlefield Siege AI is seldom smarter than playing against a 6 year old. Campaign map UI is sloppy and counter productive for mouse input. Texture quality is sub    Simply frustrating to have paid $79.95 USD, which ended up being closer to $90.00 AUD! For a product that had made a lot of promises but did NOT deliver on most of them, feels like a beta.
    Performance optimisation is a joke.
    Battlefield Siege AI is seldom smarter than playing against a 6 year old.
    Campaign map UI is sloppy and counter productive for mouse input.
    Texture quality is sub par even on maximum setting. General graphical fidelity is WAY below what was shown.
    ABOVE ALL.. the game crashes on most people systems, broken product essentially.
    Thanks for charging me almost $100 to be a beta tester CA!    … Expand
  47. Bonsaimancer
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    A great example, why it´s more worth to be a pirate having paid for this game made me just feel really bitter. I´ve played for 24 h and it really isn´t working properly.

    Diplomacy isn´t working well (as always in TW), soldiers are VERY VERY stupid I hate it how the horses tend to return to fight the spear-men head on even if I order them for the 10th time to withdraw. Also capturing    A great example, why it´s more worth to be a pirate having paid for this game made me just feel really bitter. I´ve played for 24 h and it really isn´t working properly.

    Diplomacy isn´t working well (as always in TW), soldiers are VERY VERY stupid I hate it how the horses tend to return to fight the spear-men head on even if I order them for the 10th time to withdraw. Also capturing routing enemies is compared to Shogun simply broken it´s more like a Terry Fox run with your pals to the borders and eventually someone dies in the process. I can´t see whether my units are tired, can´t see detailed information about their status and mood, general unit is compared to Shogun quite useless. All together the fights are simply BAD I played Shogun campaign a week ago and EVERYTHING was better there....WTH is that supposed to be CA?!

    AI sucks generally, graphics are worse than Shogun 2 and performance is much worse also on the tactical map. Loading times between turns take forever and enemies tend to attack You even if their chances aren´t even visible at the strength bar. The more I write the more problems I suddenly realise...I could carry on like that for an hour, but I´ll rather summarize it in one sentence....

    Please, DON´T BUY THE GAME, because they don´t deserve Your money....at least not now     … Expand
  48. delappe
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    As a big fan of the Total War Series and the first Rome game specifically (at least 150 hours played on that one alone), it is safe to say this game is a giant step backward. The simplicity of management and enjoyment of strategic battle that was present in the first Rome game has been systematically removed. The number of bugs, optimization, and ai are inexcusably poor for such a highAs a big fan of the Total War Series and the first Rome game specifically (at least 150 hours played on that one alone), it is safe to say this game is a giant step backward. The simplicity of management and enjoyment of strategic battle that was present in the first Rome game has been systematically removed. The number of bugs, optimization, and ai are inexcusably poor for such a high budget project, and so much less than I expected from the series. I hope some serious patches are released soon, but for me the game is probably a dead end now. Back to Rome: Total War for some serious modding, I guess.… Expand
  49. Brahemian
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    The only thing that makes sense to me about the way this game turned out is that it feels as though somewhere between the Teutoberg and Carthage gameplay videos and release someone decided that the Total War series should end up on the consoles.

    The graphics as evident by most people are quite terrible and nowhere near the quality in the early pre release videos. The game lacks a whole    The only thing that makes sense to me about the way this game turned out is that it feels as though somewhere between the Teutoberg and Carthage gameplay videos and release someone decided that the Total War series should end up on the consoles.

    The graphics as evident by most people are quite terrible and nowhere near the quality in the early pre release videos. The game lacks a whole lot of complexity in the battles, there is no 'loose' formation which has been a staple for ever, and it's dumbfounding to wonder why that isn't in the game. Battles on average seem to last roughly around five minutes. These things give one of the central parts of a Total War game a complete lack of strategy or tactics and leave you with no sense of accomplishment or feeling.

    The map is beautiful, and the sea battles are pleasant, but in the end if you exempt all the myriad of bugs and other mishaps the complexity and deepness that this game should have is non-existant, this game feels like it should be played on a console, not on a computer. It is a truly dissapointing game after Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai.    … Expand
  50. Numahr
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Key features from previous games scrapped, notably regarding tactical usage of units (no guard mode, impossible to throw javelins on a skirmish mode...)
    - Super quick battles leaving no time to think
    - Messy behavior of units - AI stupidity All these make the tactical battles irrelevant.at a game-play level, beyond the nice showcase. The strategic map is nice but as the strategic     Key features from previous games scrapped, notably regarding tactical usage of units (no guard mode, impossible to throw javelins on a skirmish mode...)
    - Super quick battles leaving no time to think
    - Messy behavior of units
    - AI stupidity

    All these make the tactical battles irrelevant.at a game-play level, beyond the nice showcase. The strategic map is nice but as the strategic layer of the game is only a pretext for hopefully interesting battles, I don't see the point.    … Expand
  51. Tedoki
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Ever since Sega took over CA as a studio these games have been going down hill.

    - The AI in Rome 2 is non-existent, both on the campaign map and in battles, CA have really taken 2 steps backwards in this release. All in-game battles amount to blobbing melee units and charging them in. - The UI is unclear and unforgiving, having to click through 3 or 4 menus to find relevant    Ever since Sega took over CA as a studio these games have been going down hill.

    - The AI in Rome 2 is non-existent, both on the campaign map and in battles, CA have really taken 2 steps backwards in this release. All in-game battles amount to blobbing melee units and charging them in.

    - The UI is unclear and unforgiving, having to click through 3 or 4 menus to find relevant information. This is simply unnecessary.

    - The graphics have not improved since Shogun 2, I played the game on Very High and found that it looked dull and bland with the texture quality nearing that of Rome 1. There is NO art style in this game. The units, the map, the floor texture, the water everything is a mismatch and nothing seems to fit in. Don't get me started on the horrendous missile trail that looks like something from 2001.

    - Diplomacy has always been a null-factor while playing Total War games and nothing has changed here. The AI does not and never has understood diplomacy, the only way to change the outcome of diplomacy is to offer or demand payments alongside the other conditions. Boring.

    - Battles take no longer than 10 minutes in length, what happened to the 30 minute tactical positioning in the older games? Now all you have to do is blob your army and send it in, that's as good as tactics get on this game, ranged units are pointless.

    --**Conclusion**--
    I could go on and on about nearly every aspect of this game and why it's bad but I have said enough here. This is an abomination of the Total War Series. There have been no advancements in any area of the game. CA are attempting to simplify and funnel the experience for the casual gamer in-order to get more copies sold to win more artificial awards and to bolster their grand marketing campaigns.

    The Critic Reviews for this game are shocking and really show the true nature of these so called "Big Names", so much for games journalism. Just look at the difference in score from critics to users, this is simply a joke no more needs to be said about this, you are all smart enough to work this out for yourselves.

    Lucky to get even a 2 from me, I am extraordinarily disappointed and ashamed as a fan of the series.    … Expand
  52. blunt
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Well, I hardly know what to say this game is messed up. Maybe if you've never played a Total War game before, you'll like it if you don't have any of the technical problems ).

    I haven't had any technical issues myself, but the game itself is rubbish. It's as though the developers thought "what made previous titles good then removed all of that and replaced it with some sort of    Well, I hardly know what to say this game is messed up. Maybe if you've never played a Total War game before, you'll like it if you don't have any of the technical problems ).

    I haven't had any technical issues myself, but the game itself is rubbish.
    It's as though the developers thought "what made previous titles good then removed all of that and replaced it with some sort of simplified dumbed down version to try to appeal to "mass market"

    Battles are too fast, all units have some sort of magical "fight better" abilities.
    UI is clunky and uninformative half the abilities my generals/agents have I have no idea what they do no explanation is given, even in the so-called encyclopedia.

    I doubt it can be fixed as most of the rubbish seems to be design decisions.
    Money spent on this game is a waste IMO.    … Expand
  53. nguyenhoainam
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    When I first played Shogun: Total War, I thought "Damn! How is this game possible?" Shogun was well ahead of its time in terms of ideas, scale, quality... every aspects! It was just GREAT!!! So great you just cant believe it...

    I became a fan, played every games in the series... I think Rome is truly the pinnacle of them! Cant remember how much time I spent in that game, but I'm sure it    When I first played Shogun: Total War, I thought "Damn! How is this game possible?" Shogun was well ahead of its time in terms of ideas, scale, quality... every aspects! It was just GREAT!!! So great you just cant believe it...

    I became a fan, played every games in the series... I think Rome is truly the pinnacle of them! Cant remember how much time I spent in that game, but I'm sure it was plenty...

    Then came Medieval II, which I thought was great too. I just wasnt captivated by that era as much as by Rome's.

    Napoleon disappointed me, but I still believe that CA will come back with another masterpiece to revive the franchise!

    When they released Shogun II, I thought to myself Well, back to Japan is not half bad, though I would appreciate a new place to wage war though"

    And now, Rome II... Ok, I loved the first game and that era, just improve the graphics, the gameplay and I will spend countless time again in this game.

    But what have they done???

    - AI sucks
    - Graphics bugs
    - Gameplay lacks depth and options
    - Music and sounds is many steps backward
    - Multiplayer gone to (I play Steam version and let me remind you that Steam is argue-ably the best multiplay-experience provider out there, but it still sucks big time!)

    To sum it up, let me quote a comment some guy here said "CA put crap in a box and we spent 60$ for it"

    THAT'S HOW THEY TREATED US, LOYAL FANS OF THE FRANCHISE!

    **** YOU CA!!!    … Expand
  54. bordric
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    To start with all of these 10s and 9 voters saying that we are all angry children or computers are no good or whatever other excuse they make for the horrible thing called TW Rome II. They are just sad people or their expectations are very low while most of us TW players had huge expectations but even then we knew there might be bugs etc. Even performance issues. Most TW games have bugsTo start with all of these 10s and 9 voters saying that we are all angry children or computers are no good or whatever other excuse they make for the horrible thing called TW Rome II. They are just sad people or their expectations are very low while most of us TW players had huge expectations but even then we knew there might be bugs etc. Even performance issues. Most TW games have bugs but and performance issues at release if that were the only problems I would not write this....

    However, the problem with this game will not and cannot be patched and fixed they have dumbed down the core of the game so drastically that I suppose they are going for the kid market on Consoles. There is no challenge what so ever the AI is dumbest ever but those things could be fixed generally sometimes. However you cannot fix ripping the heart out of TW Rome II without rebuilding it I don't even think Modder’s can save this one as they have saved most TW games in the past.

    The game is heartless and soulless there is no connection at all with me I can't even be bothered to care. I have no connection with this so-called Total War game it is more like a console game for the masses! It has been dumbed down to a level of a game like going back 15 to 20 years in AI and core game play. Hell I had far more connection with the original Shogun in 2001.

    All other TW titles I had a personal connection too even Empire with its problems stuck to the core of the TW series and I could survive the first growing pains and I still play it to this day (especially now Rome II is such a failure). That doesn't exist with this game I don't think they can patch this POS to any level that Empire rose to and several would claim Empire was the low point of TW history (not me but several).

    So for all of you Rated 10 reviewers here saying we are wrong and we are just dumb or computer sucks... Or my favorite we don't understand that game. Let me assure you I can almost promise you all these 0s and 3s and 6s are the people who have always played and loved Total War. However they know those days are over because this is not going to be fixed they took one of the greatest strategy games franchises in gaming history and destroyed it for the masses and dumb people on consoles.

    CA must have gotten rid of all their talent because whoever designed and lead the creating of this POS needs to be fired.

    -Ugly Graphics
    -Dumbed down Game play
    -Ugly confusing Unit Cards
    -Units are all the same ALL the ones I ran into in over 10 hours of play
    -Naval Warfare is badly broken units will not respond to orders
    -Land Battles are so pathetic just use Auto Resolve how sad I have come close to losing a battle
    -Battles the enemy will just charge one unit at you constantly and run away until you attack
    -Campaign is the worst ever in TW I have seen suicides 1 unit armies against cities and then I have seen the AI just watch me take their cities without any resistance. I have never been attacked.
    -The one year turns are stupid. It takes 2 years (TWO YEARS) to sail to the backside of Sardina really? Really?
    -The immersion is totally broken by 1 year turns and the fact that the Family Tree is gone all the little things that made it personal are gone from the game. I could careless who my Generals are they have connection to me and die every other turn. I don't get to guide them I just add redundant and totally useless cards that add useless skills that mean nothing.
    -Factions are totally waste of time I have no connection to my factions or even know why I am gaining more and more senators every round. There is no known reason or care of how I gain them and I can't like make new laws and sway the senate so who gives a damn?

    Anyway it is a lifeless soulless game that is sad and will miss TW if this is the future.    … Expand
  55. Kaje85
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    My concerns with this product are not technical, they are functional. Whilst the game does have it's bugs, they are easy enough to fix with patches over time the deeper issues with this game lie in the fact it is essentially a prettier total conversion mod for Empire Total War.
    Gone are the little quirks that made Shogun 2 a charismatic foray into the world of a Japanese warlord, instead    My concerns with this product are not technical, they are functional. Whilst the game does have it's bugs, they are easy enough to fix with patches over time the deeper issues with this game lie in the fact it is essentially a prettier total conversion mod for Empire Total War.
    Gone are the little quirks that made Shogun 2 a charismatic foray into the world of a Japanese warlord, instead we are back to a campaign mode with as much charm and tact as a Syrian politician.
    It feels like a gross afterthought, there's nothing to do other than for it to serve as something to look at between battles and the latter aren't that great either. A rock/paper/scissors game where the AI has the intelligence of a PE teacher.
    Seriously, a huge step back for Creative Assembly.    … Expand
  56. Gunydii
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    The 2 if for potential.

    At launch this game is not good enough. The bugs are bad, the optimisation is worse and some of the design decisions are, in the game's current state, fatal. In some ways this game improves on the formula, but for each step forward there are several back. There are some good ideas in there, provinces (limits the time spent managing an empire), limiting the    The 2 if for potential.

    At launch this game is not good enough. The bugs are bad, the optimisation is worse and some of the design decisions are, in the game's current state, fatal.

    In some ways this game improves on the formula, but for each step forward there are several back. There are some good ideas in there, provinces (limits the time spent managing an empire), limiting the number of armies (so the armies are bigger leading to bigger fights), agent use and recruitment.
    But for each good idea there are several bad ones.

    Battles are over absurdly quickly (means you spend more time on the campaign map, which is streamlined too, so you spend all your time pressing 'end turn' and the end turn process takes forever), the battle AI is all over the place, capture points don’t add anything positive, some formations don’t work, naval battles don’t work, loss of guard mode, all add up to battles with no need for or use of tactics.

    On the campaign map, the loss of a family tree, faction intros, one turn per year, difficulty in getting diplomatic agreements (and the inability to trade regions) all break immersion and make you feel that side of the game has become too streamlined.

    Fundamentally, CA didn't release a demo and seems to have failed to do adequate beta testing, either could have solved many problems. They also got caught trying to satisfy two opposite camps, the casual gamer who wants something easy to pick up and easier to master and the strategy gamer who wants something believable, deep and nuanced. Problem is they'd done neither and have ended up in no man's land.

    There's a great game in there, but there's far too much work still needed to get it out.    … Expand
  57. p0rtus
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Though I love Total War games and believe that they are among the greatest games of any genre ever made, I can't say that I was impressed. The battle graphics are horrible, especially when you zoom out, and the diplomacy is also terrible. The custom battle maps are also very bad, with the fact that there are barely any buildings, and the AI players are absolutely horrible! Quality of theThough I love Total War games and believe that they are among the greatest games of any genre ever made, I can't say that I was impressed. The battle graphics are horrible, especially when you zoom out, and the diplomacy is also terrible. The custom battle maps are also very bad, with the fact that there are barely any buildings, and the AI players are absolutely horrible! Quality of the game is very low.… Expand
  58. Leving
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    Perhaps the worst game in the Total War series. Poor graphical optimization combined with weak, campaign mechanics and real time battles signal a major step back for Total War.
  59. razmachaz_69
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    So disappointed.

    I dont care about graphical issues or anything like that first up. Mine is ok. I do care about the worst AI total war series have ever had. And i mean terrible. It charges Cav front on to spears. Lack of armies mean i cant expand without leaving settlements unguarded despite having more money than i can spend. There are so many contradicting ideas here which detract    So disappointed.

    I dont care about graphical issues or anything like that first up. Mine is ok.

    I do care about the worst AI total war series have ever had. And i mean terrible. It charges Cav front on to spears. Lack of armies mean i cant expand without leaving settlements unguarded despite having more money than i can spend. There are so many contradicting ideas here which detract from the 'fun' of 4 minute battles with dont need any tactics at all.

    Autoresolve is so broken its untrue also. Clear mis-weighting going on here. Slingers are useless, do no damage at all. All you want it heavy infantry and charge and grind.

    I have played over 500hours on Shogun 2 and even more on RTW. I have played 12 on Rome and have uninstalled as i find it so terrible.

    I cant explain how let down i feel on this game. I dont understand where the 10x budget or whatever went? jollying around europe looking at weapons to make textures for most likely.

    Most of the 10/10 reviews have prob played it for about 2 hours and dont see the glaring flaw in this very poor game. Ill be asking for a refund. Off to play RTW1 again for good gameplay and decent management system.

    Adios CA. Rome 2 was a waste of 10 years ''work''    … Expand
  60. njsfc
    Sep 5, 2013
    2
    This is not a TOTAL WAR GAME
    this is a crap arcade console game released in the PC market just to make profit
    from people expectations.

    After this release any company could sell poison on refresh bottles and simple say
    "this is our vision of a proper refresh" drink and die.
  61. ZOLTAN
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    If you are expecting Total War Rome 2 having played the first one then you will be disappointed. This is some new game based in the same era without the complexity or depth of play of the old one.

    The information you require to make your decisions is hard to find thanks to a bad UI but that's OK as there are no real bad decisions in this game. During battle you can and you can spend    If you are expecting Total War Rome 2 having played the first one then you will be disappointed. This is some new game based in the same era without the complexity or depth of play of the old one.

    The information you require to make your decisions is hard to find thanks to a bad UI but that's OK as there are no real bad decisions in this game. During battle you can and you can spend your time watching the game play rather than worrying about playing it and use your magic abilities like fast reload for your missile troops with infinite ammo.

    They have taken away a lot of the realism and management completely and introduced pretty graphics.    … Expand
  62. 3HeadedMonkey
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Total Casual War: Rome Beta 2

    Graphics poorly optimized for my high end rig with an AMD card. Running absolutely terribly when it should not be. User interface is terrible. Battlefield AI is a huge step back beyond Shogun 2, how is this possible? The battlefield AI developer should be politely be asked to take his coat and find another job. Capture points on a battlefield?! Why    Total Casual War: Rome Beta 2

    Graphics poorly optimized for my high end rig with an AMD card. Running absolutely terribly when it should not be.
    User interface is terrible.
    Battlefield AI is a huge step back beyond Shogun 2, how is this possible? The battlefield AI developer should be politely be asked to take his coat and find another job.
    Capture points on a battlefield?! Why should we care about an innocuous bit of dirt on the ground?
    Removal of family tree. This was the BEST part of the RPG element of total war. Why would you remove this?!
    Addition of far too many "special" abilities. Come on. This is total war, not Skyrim.
    Naval battles are completely broken. Buttons don't work, units don't do what they are told to do. Glitchy crap.
    Cities and sieges are completely underwhelming; I understand the point for having less regularity with sieges, but why no great big city in the background, or a small settlement outside of the main city with a fantastic city in the background? Where is the scope and imagination?!
    Unit control is now beyond awful. I never used to have to make hotkeys in order to control my army, now I feel I have to because the control element is terrible.
    Skirmishing units still can't skirmish. How many years have we waited for this to be fixed?
    Phalanxes, oh look they are not working again.
    Ridiculous load times on the campaign map, I don't really want to have to make a sandwich and cup of tea after every turn thank you.
    The loss of seasons and one year per turn. Less atmosphere, less RPG element with characters, no tactical planning around when the right time is to fight. The campaign map just looks the same ALL the time. Where is the variety?
    Tech tree is broken in its current form. Technology should take a LONG time to acquire, to make it more interesting when you actually get it. Right now, getting legionnaires by 250 BC is frankly, ridiculous.
    Battle speed, most battles are over within 2 or 3 minutes! Where is the strategy? Where is the tactics? Another point which proves CA are now targeting the casual gamer who are the completely wrong target audience for these types of games.
    No zoom button on the campaign map?
    The units are interchangeable pieces, with different skins. Some of which are pretty, some of which are distinctly uninspiring.
    Less of the wardogs, flaming pigs, flying elephants, and scuba camels. Can we just get a game that works pretty please?
    The lethality of units is so high everyone just dies within 30 seconds. Was this even tested?
    The audio is boring and lacklustre. Where is Jeff Van Dyck?! The horrendous monotone voices make me want to disable my audio. I've never had this in any total war game.

    The terrible thing is, I could go on! There are so many issues with this game.

    I was going to give this a four of ten if the first patch actually fixed some of the issues above, HOWEVER..the first patch does nothing to fix anything I have raised. Therefore a buggy, unpolished, uninspiring, boring, beta game which should never have been released this early gets a two out of ten. Its just an unplayable ball of frustration and mess. What a disappointment and HUGE step back in the series after the fantastic Shogun 2.

    If your a hardcore Total War fan, do not be fooled by all the positive reviews.    … Expand
  63. Isaristh
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    This game is full of bugs (zombie faces), errors (Egyptian obelisk in Greek town), and the AI is absolutely atrocious. You can literally capture cities without any resistance just by having your armies stare at each other while you run cavalry around the back to the "capture point".

    Don't buy this game. Your money is better elsewhere, supporting companies that actually release a    This game is full of bugs (zombie faces), errors (Egyptian obelisk in Greek town), and the AI is absolutely atrocious. You can literally capture cities without any resistance just by having your armies stare at each other while you run cavalry around the back to the "capture point".

    Don't buy this game. Your money is better elsewhere, supporting companies that actually release a finished product.    … Expand
  64. MichalZ
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Its slow even on most power full PC(low fps, frame drops, lag, freezes), buggy to the point of being unplayable and full of glitches even using latest drivers and patches. It's sold as full game but its technically a beta. You are paying for early access to beta version of the game.
  65. Myriokephalon
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    The game is choppy on many high end machines (in my case, a 7850 and an Ivy Bridge core i7) on any setting, which is simply unacceptable, but the biggest issue is that CA turned the game into more of a typical RTS. Battles are much more like slaughter fests now; it's more about killing your opponents troops instead of making them flee. And this might be the worst AI Creative Assembly hasThe game is choppy on many high end machines (in my case, a 7850 and an Ivy Bridge core i7) on any setting, which is simply unacceptable, but the biggest issue is that CA turned the game into more of a typical RTS. Battles are much more like slaughter fests now; it's more about killing your opponents troops instead of making them flee. And this might be the worst AI Creative Assembly has ever shipped, which is an impressive accomplishment. The UI is remarkably hard to use and the grouping of towns into provinces makes it much harder to see what's going on with taxes and public order, not easier as I'm sure they intended. I'm sure they'll patch some of the technical problems away, but the same can't be said for the just bad design. It's depressing that CA would take a such a huge step back again after getting so much right with Shogun II.

    I'd ask for my money back, but I know I that's not going to happen, so I'll just avoid ever buying a CA game again.

    Note to critics: I'm glad you were spared most of the technical issues that we players are getting. At least I hope you aren't just omitting any mention of them. But next time, please bother to play the game for more than half an hour before you start writing, because that's the only way I can explain these inexplicably excellent reviews. This is the kind of game for which we have user reviews, because the critics sure as hell didn't do their job this time.    … Expand
  66. kopiko
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    In a nutshell, this game overpromised and underdeliver. Hell, even that is an understatement. I'm not gonna touch on the AI/FPS issues, nor the multiplayer component and just focus something so fundamentally wrong with the campaign. Here's the thing, if the game needs 1 min 30 secs to complete a campaign turn during the opening stages of the game on a Intel i7-3849QM 2.80GHz, 16gb ram,In a nutshell, this game overpromised and underdeliver. Hell, even that is an understatement. I'm not gonna touch on the AI/FPS issues, nor the multiplayer component and just focus something so fundamentally wrong with the campaign. Here's the thing, if the game needs 1 min 30 secs to complete a campaign turn during the opening stages of the game on a Intel i7-3849QM 2.80GHz, 16gb ram, something is very wrong.

    Simply put, it is far too ambitious for its own good. There is far too many minor factions to process and when it is finally your turn, you find that there is very little to do apart from moving your spy or pretend that you have something to build in your province. The kicker is the more you explore which you kinda have to do if you want establish more trade routes, hence more gold in your coffer the slower the turn gets! The total war series used to suck me in with me telling myself that my next turn will be my last one(which is obviously a lie) and when I finally dare to glance up at the clock, it is 5am, Now, I don't even want to click the 'end turn' button any more, I just don't know what I am supposed to do while I wait for the AI to finish their turns. Read a book? I probably can play a movie on my iPad as I wait. Maybe I can even walk the dog when I am about 75 turns in.

    The worst part is I don't think this is something patch-able. Sure, you can improve the framerates issues, maybe even inject a smarter thought process for the AI in a later patch, but the cutting down the waiting time for a campaign turn? That is bit rich all things considered. Unless they trim down the amount of minor factions or limit the size of the map(what are the chances eh?), I don't think any number of patch is gonna help. And that makes everything sad.    … Expand
  67. Ujio
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Huge disappointment. I play Total War games since the first Medieval and I had high hopes for this game, but in vain. It is much worse than Shogun 2 in just about everything. I don't even know if it is salvageable with patches and mods cause it has too much oversimplified and stupid "new" stuff. I'll keep playing the fantastic and complete Shogun 2 and I hope that some talented moddersHuge disappointment. I play Total War games since the first Medieval and I had high hopes for this game, but in vain. It is much worse than Shogun 2 in just about everything. I don't even know if it is salvageable with patches and mods cause it has too much oversimplified and stupid "new" stuff. I'll keep playing the fantastic and complete Shogun 2 and I hope that some talented modders will find a way to save Rome 2.… Expand
  68. happpening
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    I was really looking forwards to this game and it has been extremely disappointing. For a start, the graphics are shocking. The very vast majority of users are going to have to play on low and even on extreme is looks absolutely nothing like advertised. The vegetation isn't even finished, it is still in alpha. The UI is far too big and confusing. Unit AI is absolutely shocking. There areI was really looking forwards to this game and it has been extremely disappointing. For a start, the graphics are shocking. The very vast majority of users are going to have to play on low and even on extreme is looks absolutely nothing like advertised. The vegetation isn't even finished, it is still in alpha. The UI is far too big and confusing. Unit AI is absolutely shocking. There are bugs everywhere.
    Do not buy this game until these issues are addressed, it is not worth the time or effort.    … Expand
  69. purpleparthian
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Rome Lite is an arcade game designed for the casual player. Boring things like strategy and depth have been done away with, and by mid-2014, once it's been patched, it will look very pretty and be good for several hours of gameplay. Take no notice of all these reports of bugs, for they are immaterial and transient; what really matters is the vanity and incompetence of the design team.Rome Lite is an arcade game designed for the casual player. Boring things like strategy and depth have been done away with, and by mid-2014, once it's been patched, it will look very pretty and be good for several hours of gameplay. Take no notice of all these reports of bugs, for they are immaterial and transient; what really matters is the vanity and incompetence of the design team. Given these two qualities, no way will Sega CA allow full modding tools to allow enthusiasts to create a beautiful sequel to one of the greatest games of all time.… Expand
  70. danceswithfools
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    Cash cow pure and simple.

    Total war shogun 2 is far better.

    dumb down UI and campaign.

    No mmo multiplayer mode.

    no campaign combat multiplayer mode.

    Bad graphics.

    THE STUPIDEST AI EVER at high speed u can see it just randomly moving in any direction to look like its alive.
  71. wilbhaas
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    system:
    NVIDIA Geforce GTX 670
    i5-3570 CPU 3.40GHz 16GB Ram 45 hours of gameplay extreme settings with ~38 fps ~5 crashes creative assembly has laid siege to the total war series and they are willing to raise the franchise to another level of depth. the worst: The AI in Total War Rome 2 is very persistent in doing nothing or sending one unit at once into the ensured death    system:
    NVIDIA Geforce GTX 670
    i5-3570 CPU 3.40GHz
    16GB Ram

    45 hours of gameplay
    extreme settings with ~38 fps
    ~5 crashes

    creative assembly has laid siege to the total war series and they are willing to raise the franchise
    to another level of depth.

    the worst:
    The AI in Total War Rome 2 is very persistent in doing nothing or sending one unit at once into the ensured death and no they aren't trying to lure you into a trap.
    The game is rushed like their ground Units are rushing, but god thanks they are only a pack of suicidal morons, who are absolutely free of any creativity besides waiting, smashing gates, running to the flag.

    the bad:
    On some maps:
    can't deploy units near a ledge or on other accessible places (walls, meadows)
    lack of anchoring places, the AI can't debark all units
    AI smashes a gate of a building which isn't connected to anything and then they wait

    units die to fast
    nearly extinguished Units replenish instantly without loosing experience
    no family tree
    Generals spam
    Generals now have magic abilities
    no skill-tree
    ugly UI
    town system and research looks and feels like a part of a browser game

    total war has changed to another pretty shallow game for people who want no challenge and their enemies in a vegetative state

    auto-resolve or you will die mentally    … Expand
  72. crazyc987654321
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    Ok so First off the performance issues. I had none initially and was able to run the game on ultra with no problems (speaking of which the graphics are good but not what was advertised). However they have released a patch and since then the game has been unplayably laggy for me on the battle map end.
    Next, the AI is terrible, for example, running through your units to capture points in    Ok so First off the performance issues. I had none initially and was able to run the game on ultra with no problems (speaking of which the graphics are good but not what was advertised). However they have released a patch and since then the game has been unplayably laggy for me on the battle map end.
    Next, the AI is terrible, for example, running through your units to capture points in battles where you defend cities. GG Instant win for you. When your attacking cities they will stand still and let you shoot them to death. GG another insta win. Field battles the AI does better but the Macedon preview battle where they stressed its intelligence was HUGELY exaggerated. Also I should note that battles are incredibly short with units routing within seconds of entering melee. Its so bad that you cant really use flanks and ambushes because your frontal units will route before you could possibly spring a trap. It feels very arcade like.
    Campaign mode suffers from a great many bugs and broken features. You cant attack a town who's port is blockaded by a neutral faction, transport ships will crush early navies, mixed land and sea battles have had forts spawning in the middle of the ocean with the AI bugging out and trying to run into the sea to name a few.
    The tech tree is pointless and feels like a last minute add on. The AI's diplomacy makes decisions that often are against its own best interest. Just a lot of general nonsense. Essentially I feel like this game has gone the way of Empire, something I hoped would never happen again, but it is worse in many ways. Like Empire I imagine that a year from now with patches and whatnot it will be an amazing game. But I have to review it as is not as it may be a year from now. And at this time its honestly a glorified beta. Indeed had they had an open (or broad closed) beta I feel many of these problems could have been avoided pre launch.
    Ignore the critic reviews as they were based on pre released builds which were clearly cherry picked. Wait a year and buy this game from a steam sale or bargain bin. And for the love of god someone tell the fan boys to stop giving this 10 ratings to give the score a false boost, all it does is encourage CA to release a game in this sad state again in the future.    … Expand
  73. Mr_Stark
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    Wow, I can't believe I preordered this...
    This game fails on so many counts. The 5 year engine is poorly optimized and graphics look terrible. The basic TW gameplay is dumbed down for casual audience. UI looks bad and very confusing. Disappointment.
  74. Shazbat68
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    I could not even play thru the first campaign before feeling like I wasted my money. I have 2X 680 and SLI is not supported. The game really needs to be optimized. That aside my biggest gripe is that if you fail any part of the campaign you have to start all over. What a pain. Also the UI is NOT intuitive.
  75. Machinist_X
    Sep 8, 2013
    2
    Totally disappointed in the buggy casual game that rome 2 is, they have removed previous features much loved by the community for no reason but to make the game easier for braindeads, UI has gone backwards for ease of use, trade information for example are simplified, diplomacy is broken for example you will need to pay 3000 for a trade agreement with a faction worth 60-120 per turn, AI isTotally disappointed in the buggy casual game that rome 2 is, they have removed previous features much loved by the community for no reason but to make the game easier for braindeads, UI has gone backwards for ease of use, trade information for example are simplified, diplomacy is broken for example you will need to pay 3000 for a trade agreement with a faction worth 60-120 per turn, AI is extremely passive even on the hardest difficultly allowing you to basically expand with ease, land units can magically turn into a naval unit and sail around the seven seas without actually needing to build ships, the game is not optimized even i have had graphics problems with a 770gtx which is one of the best cards available on a fresh install of windows 8, multiplayer is still capped at 2 player and has desync issues and crashing like shogun 2 did previously, unit balancing is awful, you can spam foot companions with macedon for example and rape a full army within 2 minutes of battle. AI bugs in battles and get stuck in sieges and open battles due to bad pathing. CA are pumping out DLC factions you have to pay for on day 1 which should be in the game from day 1 anyway and its just pure greed of them to charge for them. Currently i have no movitation to play the game even though i only owned it a few days and was waiting for it for years, its like total war has been consoled ported, i can only hope the modding community is given the tools to sort out this mess out and i doubt i will buy another total war game even with preorder bonuses.… Expand
  76. Hogan350
    Sep 8, 2013
    2
    Just have to add here after seeing 34 positive "professional" reviews to only 2 negative... well, just goes to show you what gaming "journalism" is all about nowadays, I've come to expect no less from these hacks.

    _____________________________________________________________________________________ Agents are better than in Empire where they were no doubt terrible, but far, far worse    Just have to add here after seeing 34 positive "professional" reviews to only 2 negative... well, just goes to show you what gaming "journalism" is all about nowadays, I've come to expect no less from these hacks.

    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Agents are better than in Empire where they were no doubt terrible, but far, far worse than Shogun 2, in which they worked fantastically.
    As for the long wait times between turns, this was an issue that used to be solvable by switching off "watch AI turns"; now, that does very little.

    For the AI, it has not improved one bit since the first Rome. That's 8 years. In 8 years the graphics have improved dramatically and yet, despite promises for every new iteration, the AI is equal to if not worse than the AI in Rome.
    Shogun 2 and its expansion Fall of the Samurai improved AI somewhat, but it's back to square one now, it seems.

    Auto-boat armies are a problem indeed, they totally negate the need for a navy.

    Another issue is the fact that every turn is one year and generals age as such, meaning that general that you need to create and move your army, the one you spent time giving upgrades and experience, is often dead from natural causes within 30 turns. It also makes no sense that it takes 7 years to travel from Rome to Sicily by boat, and longer on foot.

    And WHY OH WHY has how we raise/use our armies in a TOTAL WAR GAME been limited?! Seriously, 3 general limit at the start? That means 3 stacks only (which contributes to passive AI). What happened to scouting parties? Did they not exist in Roman times? How about skirmishes? Why can I not garrison or move or even recruit troops without a general? It just seriously limits player choice and freedom and I think that this is perhaps the most egregious offence committed. Sure, raids by a few measly units were annoying, but nowhere near as annoying as having to have a general who will die in a few turns in order to do anything with any of my troops. Really, what was the point of it?
    I used to have light cavalry units as scouting parties, actually I think that was a hint that CA gave for M2TW. I also used to use captains to lead small armies around low-risk areas, send small stacks to replenish my main armies and do all sorts of things with my unlimited number of stacks.

    On the battle side:
    - I think that the removal of tight/loose formations and guard mode are unforgivable

    - Pila-wielding units can now only throw them on the charge and MUST throw them on the charge even if that means hitting their allies. It's incredibly stupid (as opposed to Rome 1, where pila-wielding units could be ordered to fire at will/hold fire and could throw their pila even whilst stationary)

    - "Victory points" totally negate any kind of strategic or tactical thinking, it is just a mad dash to the arbitrary points on the map

    - Even "super heavy" infantry run at speeds that would make Usain Bolt wilt and they fatigue far too slowly

    - Units no longer maintain formation (partly due to the removal of guard mode), so even the most hardened, disciplined Roman troops descend into disorganised mass-brawling when engaged by an enemy, and will not move even if their allies are being hacked to death right next to them or they are being pelted with arrows from a few metres away, but will also pursue any enemy that engages them to the ends of the earth unless stopped (another result of removal of guard mode).

    That is along with battles being way too short. Top-tier units, entire battle hardened armies will rout in under two minutes. In a game famous for its epic, real-time, 3D battles...

    All in all, the bugs and graphical issues may be fixed, as with previous instalments. However, I feel that unlike the previous games, Rome 2 does not really feel like a Total War game, it lacks that certain something, the soul of the Total War series. It feels like a cheap imitation from some two-bit company on a budget trying to emulate Creative Assembly. Except the graphics, which are good... when they work.

    This is not the game we were promised, and after years of waiting, it is such a huge disappointment.

    The UI is also, in my opinion, way too large and obstructive; you can't even reduce the size of the mini-map any more, only remove it. The unit cards are confusing and take up a lot of space. Information is too hard to easily discern and the whole campaign map aspect has been horribly castrated.

    I'm giving this horribly disappointing, sterile, bloated mess of a game 2/10, the 2 purely for the nice visuals.    … Expand
  77. Jokkie
    Sep 8, 2013
    2
    The only people who like this game are the same type of people that liked Star Wars: Episode I when it came out.

    ::Greek States are DLC ("free" if you pre-ordered). That right there is a huge warning sign seeing as Greeks were very relevant in Roman history, but are sold as a DLC faction. ::Unit card art, although a cool concept, are not varied and small enough for the player's    The only people who like this game are the same type of people that liked Star Wars: Episode I when it came out.

    ::Greek States are DLC ("free" if you pre-ordered). That right there is a huge warning sign seeing as Greeks were very relevant in Roman history, but are sold as a DLC faction.

    ::Unit card art, although a cool concept, are not varied and small enough for the player's peripheral vision. This is especially important seeing as they placed great emphasis on unit abilities; which feel more like activating abilities for your MMO character.

    ::I press enter to chat, but nothing happens. You have to open a separate chat box which takes up the already limited space on your screen. It should be easy and convenient.

    ::The battle flow doesn't feel right. The walking speed and double time speed don't match up. Units also rout too easily, but the rout doesn't affect nearby units enough.

    ::The graphics scale horribly. The lower settings for Rome 2 will look much worse than Shogun 2 at max.

    ::No guard mode or loose formation.

    ::No faction intro or agent videos.

    ::Terrible online balance. They made it way too easy to acquire powerful units, making for boring army compositions. Players who try to bring something different to the table will get punished. Army compositions usually consist of heavy melee infantry with cav, no ranged or specialty units.

    I could go on and on.

    Save your money. This isn't a kick starter project. I put a score of 2 for the cool animations, which is pretty much the only enjoyment I got out of this beta mix alpha.    … Expand
  78. Code18red
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    55 hours of gameplay mostly on legendary difficulty prior to reviewing.

    The good: 1.Graphics are amazing with latest patch and beta graphic drivers on extreme settings and run smooth as silk on 2 6990 running in crossfire if I had reviewed it prior to that they would have got a 1 2. I like what they did with the spies, diplomats and champions, that side of the game seems well thought    55 hours of gameplay mostly on legendary difficulty prior to reviewing.

    The good:
    1.Graphics are amazing with latest patch and beta graphic drivers on extreme settings and run smooth as silk on 2 6990 running in crossfire if I had reviewed it prior to that they would have got a 1
    2. I like what they did with the spies, diplomats and champions, that side of the game seems well thought out and purposeful

    The bad:
    1. The AI is bad on the campaign map: they don't ambush but sometimes fortify when absolutely decimated and will just let you waltz all over their territory without even a hum on legendary
    2. Diplomacy is terrible: good luck trying to secure trade agreements without a mountain of gold, never take a vassal state ever as they are consistently more of a hindrance than helpful.
    3. Anything to do with slaves is broken, they cause way too much unrest and I actively try to kill off armies outside of cities so I have a chance to loot a city without taking too many slaves. I really want an option to loot cities with releasing/killing captives. Having too many slaves will cause slave revolts which don't reduce slave population so the negative unrest per turn stays the same and causes perpetual endless slave revolting.
    4. The entire political system seems tacked on and not finished. No family trees, no marriage except to bring a political rival into your fold and no offspring. Taking political office with any faction other than rome is next to useless as its impossible to accumulate enough gravitas to get anything other than the base bonus.
    5. Ship battles are really really horrible, to be auto resolved with stacks of doom or preferably avoided at all costs. Tons of glitches, for example tiny ships without rams ramming my huge ships and sinking them.
    6. The factions all seem to be the same unit wise and get very similar 'unique' units
    7. Slingers are better all round than even mid tier bowmen and it makes me so damn sad.

    I will attempt to update this review as the game gets patched but for anyone thinking of buying it... Wait for a sale, maybe it'll be patched by then.    … Expand
  79. atticuswiig
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    With Rome: Total War being the game I've sunk most hours into ever, I was awaiting Total War: Rome 2 with great anticipation. This was going to be the game I would spend the long Norwegian winter-evenings with in the coming months, conquering Europe as romans, greeks, germans and parthians.

    I could go on for hours describing everyting that's wrong with TW:R2, but all I really need to    With Rome: Total War being the game I've sunk most hours into ever, I was awaiting Total War: Rome 2 with great anticipation. This was going to be the game I would spend the long Norwegian winter-evenings with in the coming months, conquering Europe as romans, greeks, germans and parthians.

    I could go on for hours describing everyting that's wrong with TW:R2, but all I really need to say is this: It broke my heart. Bugs and poor optimization can be fixed over time, but the core of this game is a soulless and halfhearted attempt to make Total War a more streamlined experience. There's no emotional connection, no reason to continue playing. All I feel is bitter disappointment at the thought of what could have been the greatest game ever.

    I wasted 10 hours with you, but now you're uninstalled and will stay that way until (hopefully) modders will be able to save you from the grave. Such a shame. So sad     … Expand
  80. Gfresh
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    I for one am so disappointed with this release, how any one marks this game up is beyond me, where do i start, for one there are about 100 factions, in my game egypt and carthage were destroyed by some desert raiding parties after 10 turns and now all i have to fight are tiny tribal factions so the challenge has completey gone, the fps is so bad i can't bare to attack settlements so justI for one am so disappointed with this release, how any one marks this game up is beyond me, where do i start, for one there are about 100 factions, in my game egypt and carthage were destroyed by some desert raiding parties after 10 turns and now all i have to fight are tiny tribal factions so the challenge has completey gone, the fps is so bad i can't bare to attack settlements so just autoresolve most battles, i have no idea who is even the leader of my faction half the time, naval battles develop into farce and are impossible to control when you have more than 5 ships. The battle speed is horrendously fast and the flag is probably the most ridiculous feature i have seen in a computer game, gone are the days where you could fight with a small army and lead them to victory against overwelming odds due to clever manipulation of the terrain aka MTW2. The units are boring, graphics and textures look worse than MTW2 and RTW, how can that be possible!! For some reason land armies can move the same distance as ships in open ocean??? I was so excited for this game and its a complete let down, i adore this series i even liked ETW and STW2 but this is a complete let down, i'll keep plugging away hoping for fixes but only half my issues are surrounding AI and FPS the rest is surrounding the diabolical "improvements" they made wich i'm sure there far to stubborn to remove or amend so i think i might have to just chalk this up as a waste of time, money and excitement.… Expand
  81. Portos_89
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    There are far many games worse than Rome II, but $60 for this is absolutely a travesty. Graphics not great, AI pretty retarded, user interface looks horrible and when playing you know that it's not worth even $30 so it makes the game that much worse. Everyone has said enough already, but don't buy this game now.
  82. alex-kit
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    This is Rome Total Mess. They managed to fail in all aspects of the game: strategy, tactics, even technical (which is probably the only aspect that can and will be fixed). It's so not fun and so disappointing! Do not expect epic tactical battles, TW has become just another arcade with quick-button-pressing 1-minute fights. Being a TW fun since the first(!) Shogun, I pre-ordered the game,This is Rome Total Mess. They managed to fail in all aspects of the game: strategy, tactics, even technical (which is probably the only aspect that can and will be fixed). It's so not fun and so disappointing! Do not expect epic tactical battles, TW has become just another arcade with quick-button-pressing 1-minute fights. Being a TW fun since the first(!) Shogun, I pre-ordered the game, and I feel stupid now for supporting the product that does not deserve it. Avoid buying it, and if you do buy it, do not complain you were not warned.… Expand
  83. croninsdisease
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    A completely watered down, stupified version of a classic series. This game has gone wrong in so many places for me personally. Nearly every aspect of Total War that I love is absent from this title. With patches it will be "playable" i'm sure, but it will never be a true total war game, stop trying to say otherwise. No functioning diplomacy. No family tree. Every turn is a year. AI isA completely watered down, stupified version of a classic series. This game has gone wrong in so many places for me personally. Nearly every aspect of Total War that I love is absent from this title. With patches it will be "playable" i'm sure, but it will never be a true total war game, stop trying to say otherwise. No functioning diplomacy. No family tree. Every turn is a year. AI is somehow more dumb than in previous titles, including Rome 1. The provincial system is atrocious and lacks explanation, tell what what these new "features" are without making us go through the obnoxious encyclopedia full of useless information. I could go on, if you're looking for a game that feels like total war, and looks good, get Shogun 2 if you haven't already. Otherwise, ignore this title for now ,at least until it's priced accordingly to the quality of the game. Thoroughly disappointed in the Creative Assembly. Thanks for making this title for people who don't play the series....… Expand
  84. Norsa
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    I give this a 2 due to the work that has gone into improving the battlemaps the campaign map looks pretty.

    1: Campaign map, its pretty yes. But there is nothing to do here. They have taken out most features from previous titles so you are only left with upgrading buildings in your cities and running your army from siege to siege. Close to no open field battles. 2: The battles have    I give this a 2 due to the work that has gone into improving the battlemaps the campaign map looks pretty.

    1: Campaign map, its pretty yes. But there is nothing to do here. They have taken out most features from previous titles so you are only left with upgrading buildings in your cities and running your army from siege to siege. Close to no open field battles.

    2: The battles have been changed so you dont have to spend alot of time fighting, its fast paced and you just need to blob your units to win every engagment. A normal battle is like this: 5-6 minutes to march your army (unless you fast forward) With maybe 2-3 minutes of fighting. 1 unit vs 1 unit will often be over in 30 seconds or less (if you forget to activate the magic abilities introduced into this game for whatever reason)

    3: UI is bad. Minimalistic and without any soul or immersion factor at all.

    4: Unitcards are ugly and often confusing as they often do not convey the information you need at a glance.

    5: AI is among the worst of any totalwar to date. The ai is often passive, wont attack your cities. And in battle will often stand passive while you shoot them to death from afar. (espesially bad in walled city sieges.) Other times they will bumrush your victory location. That means run trhough your army without trying to fight thus getting slaughtered.

    6: No family tree (at the same time as they have a politics system where such a feature would fit greatly. At present the important chars die right away due to 1year per turn)

    7: No seasons (this fantasy world has eternal summer. Though sometimes snow magically appear in some battles)

    8: Multiplayer broken. Out of sync all the time crashes that corrupt the autosaves.

    9: No fun multiplayer features. The ladder has 0 soul compared with shogun 2.

    10: There are navies in the game that you build for war. But if one of them dares to come near, you can spawn a free transport fleet for your army and that transport fleet is then able to single handedly kill most fleets in the game (even if they are high tier warships)

    I could go on and on. The game is just boring, there is nothing to do but fight small battles (mostly in cities) A complete grind, and most features are dumbed down/streamlined/simplified. It becomes more clear why they have gone in this direction when you hear the empty suits talking over the possibility to port the game for next gen consoles.

    Totwal war has sold its soul and the game suffers greatly for it.    … Expand
  85. Monlex
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    Looks good at a first glance that's the positive thing one can say about Total War Rome 2 by Creative Assembly and Sega.
    Campaign AI (CAI) is broken, it manages to starve its own population, it cant attack in any reasonable manner as it will only send small stacks of units to attack. I actually had the CAI declare War against me once so at least i now know its possible, out of 40h+ Game    Looks good at a first glance that's the positive thing one can say about Total War Rome 2 by Creative Assembly and Sega.
    Campaign AI (CAI) is broken, it manages to starve its own population, it cant attack in any reasonable manner as it will only send small stacks of units to attack. I actually had the CAI declare War against me once so at least i now know its possible, out of 40h+ Game play that is obviously close to never but heck it did happen, once. I could make a long list of faults but its not worth it.
    Diplomacy is, as its traditional in any Total War game, broken.
    The Battle AI (BAI) is broken, again one could make a long list of what exactly is broken but its not worth it.
    The Graphical quality is good on the Campaign map and the Battle map's villages and towns look ok. The rest is a step back from the last iteration of the Total War games, that's kind of an achievement considering they had a 40% bigger budget.
    I was a fan of the Total War Games from Shogun's first release day and i did get them all, i am done i wont pay for anything from CA or Sega again. I did and do this with many company's by now and i am sad that another of my favorite series is gone for me.    … Expand
  86. zedfox95
    Sep 9, 2013
    2
    A poorly adorned skeleton of what could have been. Sadly, I think SEGA pressured CA to push this game out before it was ready. Maybe they even pressured them to add flags in open-field battles, or magic abilities too.

    Honestly, I was expecting some bugs, maybe performance issues. But I'm not exactly sure the issues this game has can be fixed without redoing some parts of the game entirely.
  87. I_love_CA
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    It's quite funny how CA games are more bugged with every new release, while modders get less and less opportunity to make these alphas playable. Hilarious.

    But no problem people will still buy pre-orders, otherwise they will be given more castrated product, aka "buy it now or we don't give you 3 factions, LUDICROUS.
  88. Jazios
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Much like other fans I am disappointed in what should have been an amazing game based on what we experienced in Shogun 2.

    What we got is little more than an unfinished, streamlined mess that needs serious work before it can be considered worthy of the average players time and money. For the best experience with this game I highly recommend looking for fan mods that have already    Much like other fans I am disappointed in what should have been an amazing game based on what we experienced in Shogun 2.

    What we got is little more than an unfinished, streamlined mess that needs serious work before it can be considered worthy of the average players time and money.

    For the best experience with this game I highly recommend looking for fan mods that have already addressed the serious problems with the games AI and balancing. Said mods are the only reason I am giving this game a 2.    … Expand
  89. Rexxig
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Unoptimized even a high end PC cant run it more that 15 fps...
    **** AI.
    Buggy as hell.
    Alot of missing features....They should of not released it at this stage its a kick in the balls to all TW FANS
  90. jaunetajabe
    Jan 6, 2014
    2
    Thousands of minor bugs that makes this game unplayable, every map every turn are lots of things that are not cleary defined and makes the game boring and untactical.
    After 9 patches all is a big mess, nobody knows if politics works or how it works!
  91. petterb
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Waited a long time for this game and havent been this dissapointed since Orion 3. The strategic part of the game is way too simple. Technology is too simple. Diplomacy is too simple. AI is far from good enough. Too bad i didnt read the reviews before actually buying the game. Im a huge fan of the Total War series, but this is the series low.
  92. Studpuffin
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    This game is only slightly better than Empire Total War, in that it is actually playable. That doesn't mean you'll actually want to play it, though. The game is full of annoyances: graphical bugs, bad computer AI that will literally run in circles around the battlefield and use almost nothing but slingers in battle, constant crashing during siege battles, and an bad unit cards that areThis game is only slightly better than Empire Total War, in that it is actually playable. That doesn't mean you'll actually want to play it, though. The game is full of annoyances: graphical bugs, bad computer AI that will literally run in circles around the battlefield and use almost nothing but slingers in battle, constant crashing during siege battles, and an bad unit cards that are hard to tell apart from other unit cards. At the beginning of the game the time it takes to load a new turn is maybe a minute for me. After about 50 turns, I'll be lucky to have the end turn cycle done by the time I cook and eat dinner and enjoy some time with my family (you know, if the AI doesn't interrupt the end turn sequence with constant begging for money).

    On the plus side, it is pretty compared to the graphics of previous games. However, this doesn't make up for the atrocious game play. All in all, I would suggest that if you have to purchase a total war game, don't make it this one. Go back and buy the original Rome Total War or Medieval 2 (I can't vouch for Shogun 2, because I never played it).

    To sum up, this game was a disappointment. I regret buying it.    … Expand
  93. mrchinchin25
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    This game is good when it works. However the bugs and gfx issues are crippling, and its a step back from the rich strategy tapesty of history and battle I expect from the Total War series.

    Biggest issues for me? Battles are too fast to really enjoy. I want to feel like I'm in the thick of it, not having to panic zoom in and out to micro-manage my units. Also day 1 DLC so -2 points    This game is good when it works. However the bugs and gfx issues are crippling, and its a step back from the rich strategy tapesty of history and battle I expect from the Total War series.

    Biggest issues for me? Battles are too fast to really enjoy. I want to feel like I'm in the thick of it, not having to panic zoom in and out to micro-manage my units.

    Also day 1 DLC so -2 points automatically.    … Expand
  94. Zukku
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Everything is horrible about this game.
    I LOOOVED Shogun 2, and i had so many dreams and high hopes for Rome 2 (Even though i did not expect it to be better)
    I just wanted Shogun 2 but with Rome.. But no. It feels so different and many things you know from Shogun they have removed. My score is low, and some may say that it is too low. But I have horrible FPS especially during anything    Everything is horrible about this game.
    I LOOOVED Shogun 2, and i had so many dreams and high hopes for Rome 2 (Even though i did not expect it to be better)
    I just wanted Shogun 2 but with Rome.. But no.
    It feels so different and many things you know from Shogun they have removed. My score is low, and some may say that it is too low. But I have horrible FPS especially during anything with water eventhough i have a good build, with low to none problems in any other game. Ran Metro Last light on highest with no problems.. In Rome 2 it's nearly impossible for me to play.
    AI is... Not even worth mentioning. I have no idea how they thought that it was an improvement from the others. Damn.

    You dropped the ball on this one.    … Expand
  95. Hugotrd
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Waited years for this.. DONT BUY THIS GAME DONT BUY THIS GAME buy the first one! buy shogan, not this! god!
    I played this as soon as it launched, and so SO SO SO SO many bugs!!!!
  96. Allentrorn99
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Such a disappointment since there was so much hype I paid full price, in fact pre purchased and they just over complicated the UI. The new mechanics are horrible. what happened? If you played Shogun 2 this would be considered a big slap to your face. All of these dishonest reviews that hide the fact that it's obviously bugged a lot. No cut scenes to make it immersed like Shogun 2.Such a disappointment since there was so much hype I paid full price, in fact pre purchased and they just over complicated the UI. The new mechanics are horrible. what happened? If you played Shogun 2 this would be considered a big slap to your face. All of these dishonest reviews that hide the fact that it's obviously bugged a lot. No cut scenes to make it immersed like Shogun 2. Creative Assembly said they had 40% more of a budget in this game. I wonder what they spent it on definitely not the game maybe instead on the photo editing they used on the pics they released. Or the trailers maybe even for their hotels or casinos. Everything they said that built up our expectations are lies, ALL OF THEM!!! Well I know these bugs can be patched but they should of known when they released it. It seems Creative Assembly used their interns to do the A.I. Well... "Rome wasn't built in a day," but it seems this game was made in a day.… Expand
  97. thilinab
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    The most disappointing total war yet. Start with the performance issues (horrible frame rates, ending turns take a good 3-4 mins each if you're lucky, and load times are just as bad. All of it combined, its a good idea to have a tv or book near you to occupy the wait times) then graphical issues (texture pop-ins and tearing, missing or low quality textures), all of which will hopefullyThe most disappointing total war yet. Start with the performance issues (horrible frame rates, ending turns take a good 3-4 mins each if you're lucky, and load times are just as bad. All of it combined, its a good idea to have a tv or book near you to occupy the wait times) then graphical issues (texture pop-ins and tearing, missing or low quality textures), all of which will hopefully get patched in a reasonable time frame. The rest of the game is just a buggy with terrible AI (specially evident when the AI attempt to siege cities), a broken diplomacy system and awful navel combat just to name a few.
    The line of sight system is one of the few features that stand out as an improvement over previous total war titles. To even make this worth buying on sale would require a huge bug-fixing effort as well as an overhaul of the AI system.    … Expand
  98. Smoothpie
    Sep 11, 2013
    2
    This game is not worth buying in it's current state (at release). It's horrible, and it makes me so sad that I have to say this because I'm a huge Total War fan. I've got all of the Total War games and this one is by far the worst one. I think that this game has huge potential, but right now it's a horrible mess of a game. I would this game to anyone in it's current state.
  99. freundoderfeind
    Sep 11, 2013
    2
    This Game Is not bad but you can´t call it total war anymore. I played total sice rome I but rome II is the first game which I don´t like from total war. I miss all the good stuff from the older Games. I wish that they are patching it up soon and massive.
    In Hope
    Freundoderfeind
  100. BKMagnus
    Sep 11, 2013
    2
    Let me start by saying I am a long time TW fan. I have been playing them from the very start of the franchise, and have had fun with every title to one degree or another. You could always see the march forwards, the new features, the reworked Core of the games, the improved graphics. Always going one step forward. Untill now...

    For starters, its a broken mess. The AI (always a bone of    Let me start by saying I am a long time TW fan. I have been playing them from the very start of the franchise, and have had fun with every title to one degree or another. You could always see the march forwards, the new features, the reworked Core of the games, the improved graphics. Always going one step forward. Untill now...

    For starters, its a broken mess. The AI (always a bone of contention in the series) is the worst Ive ever seen at launch. The campaign AI is passive to the extreme, and when they do attack is only at near suicidal odds. The Battle AI is just broke, often standing still, running in circles, pacing back and forth, running straight through your forces, refusing to obey commands. Naval battles are so broken their useless, you almost have to auto-resolve them to get a victory. The graphics are a mess, and nothing compared to the "pre-alpha" footage show. Models are in places clearly low quality stand-ins never meant to be in the full release, textures are often of a similar quality, stand-ins to take a place in the development untill the real ones could be completed. All these things can be fixed with patchs though, so it is simply a waiting game.

    The following are what really drive the game down, and are not the sort of thing that will be patched out. Many, MANY wonderful features from other TW titles are gone. Family trees, varied agents, seasons, attrition, politics (in any working, or sensible fashion), formations, guard mode, character development (some would call it RPG elements), and much more are gone. In their place we have a poor UI, "magic" abilities that ALL units get to improve themselfs, useless, faceless characters that I find it hard to care in the least about, 1 year turns (which means everyone dies of old age very fast, there are no seasons, and it takes armies literally years to march to locations that would of been achieved in weeks in antiquity).

    Battles end in minutes. Armies tens of thousands men strong can and are destroyed in 3-5 minutes, leaving no time for any sort of tactics. Units dissolve into mosh pits as soon as battle is join, making battles not between diciplined armies, but masses of mobs pushing into eachother. The mass, and the speed of the battles means that all the wonderful MoCap fights are impossible to see. They threw in random "capture points" in open field battles, making all terrain, forests, or unit disposition useless and tactics pointless. Stand on flag for 30 seconds, win.

    I could go on and on about all the things I dislike about this title, but it can be summed up like this. This game was obviously streamlined to make it appeal more to the masses, and less to the Total War Old Guard. The entire game is fast, easy, boring, and frankly ugly in its current state. A massive slap in the face to my childhood with the series.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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