• Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Sep 2, 2013
User Score
4.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3974 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Sep 27, 2013
    0
    This could have been a great game, but as usual, CA had to release a broken game. Usually one can handle the glitches etc, but this time its too much.
    -The gameplay, naval warfare, besieging settlements etc, though glitchy and sluggish, was manageable and still fun.
    -When waiting for the turn scale to rotate, it freezes. This makes the game unplayable as I physically cannot progress
    This could have been a great game, but as usual, CA had to release a broken game. Usually one can handle the glitches etc, but this time its too much.
    -The gameplay, naval warfare, besieging settlements etc, though glitchy and sluggish, was manageable and still fun.
    -When waiting for the turn scale to rotate, it freezes. This makes the game unplayable as I physically cannot progress further.
    -The CTDs during campaigning and in battle make the game unplayable, cant continue or do anything without being sent straight back to my desktop.
    In conclusion, though this could have been a great game, it is ultimately unplayable, its CTDs and freezes make it literally impossible to progress through the game. That being said, since I cannot play the game, I will have to mark it a fat zero.
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  2. Sep 27, 2013
    1
    If you are a fan of the total war series you will want to avoid this game.

    It was released fours weeks ago and still has problems with loads of bugs.

    The game has been simplified and a lot of content has been removed.

    The game is boring and lacking in any strategy. Seriously, there is so little to playing this game, if you have a pulse you can play this game.

    Don't buy this game.
  3. Oct 3, 2013
    0
    As a previous reviewer had commented, the current commercialized review system is very much like the American political system. The average persons desires perspective is completely ignored as big money interests call the shots. The end user is simply not represented in any real way. I have been playing the Total War series since Shogun 1, and my personal favorite of the entire series isAs a previous reviewer had commented, the current commercialized review system is very much like the American political system. The average persons desires perspective is completely ignored as big money interests call the shots. The end user is simply not represented in any real way. I have been playing the Total War series since Shogun 1, and my personal favorite of the entire series is Medieval War 1, which I still play regularly. Creative Assembly lost the plot with Empire, but somewhat corrected course with Shogun 2. However, Rome 2 is completely and utterly broken in every possible way. Glitchy graphics, abysmal AI, boring battles, and the strategic aspects of the game are incomprehensible as well as counter-intuitive. Even after a patch or two, the game remains frustrating and unplayable. This is, officially, the last TW product I will ever buy from CA. The most depressing thing about this whole matter is the fact that CA could have taken the exact, precise gameplay, interface, and engine of Rome 1, updated the graphics and cutscenes a bit, and had themselves a real winner. As an aside, the conventional review sites, Metacritic not included due to this peer review option, are making enemies among the gaming community faster than they might realize. Just as the internet is crushing the "main stream media" dinosaurs, the big name sites might find themselves obsolete if they do not clean up their act. Same goes for CA, too. Expand
  4. Oct 8, 2013
    2
    Biggest failure of beloved game. What a shame. They cut from game best features and instead it's full of bugs and terrible design decisions. Pre-launch marketing were lies and this is disgraceful.
  5. Nov 1, 2013
    0
    Huge fan of the series stunned they could go so far backwards in AI, UI, battles and campaign mode.

    Game doesn't deserve the current rating of 76 on metacritic and it's disgusting to see so many review sites posted positive reviews at release. Never trust paid critics folks.
  6. Mar 5, 2014
    0
    Absolute Garbage. Purchased on Steam, can't play as it keeps randomly crashing. I wish I'd read all the reviews about bugs before buying. Can't get any sense from the support, the support forums are useless, and can't speak to anyone about a refund. CA have literally stolen my £30. I used to love Total War. I will never again give CA or the total war series my money. Unbelievable.
  7. Mar 26, 2014
    0
    I bought this game at launch worked till decemeber, since then doesent work, keep getting the sam CTD. So I recommend wait 2-3 years for the modders to fix it, this is just a store platform for CA to sell buggy crap. I even made a complaint to my local consumer protectio agency as this people are scammers.
  8. Sep 5, 2013
    5
    The game is made a for a high end PC and an SSD is a must have if you don't want to clean your house while waiting for your turn.

    The battles are criminally easy. The campaign is slightly harder but still too easy. The battles are slower than in shogun which suits my playstyle. The game is very pretty the graphics are amazing and I like the art style. I like this game more than
    The game is made a for a high end PC and an SSD is a must have if you don't want to clean your house while waiting for your turn.

    The battles are criminally easy.
    The campaign is slightly harder but still too easy.
    The battles are slower than in shogun which suits my playstyle.
    The game is very pretty the graphics are amazing and I like the art style.
    I like this game more than shogun 2 but I do see shogun 2 as a better game which makes this a step back.
    It could be optimized better and have SLI support but it's a rush job.

    I wouldn't pay them 83$ which is the European price for the game but the 30$ the Russian price seemed ok enough for me to try this...for the rest I would recommend piracy as it's not a cashgrab per se but day one DLC makes me angry.
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  9. Nov 17, 2013
    4
    Great franchise which i liked since the first Rome. But this game is terrible. they just made out a raw game, which is practically unplayable with its poor optimization and crashes. Obviously they would fix everything but the first impression is ruined. Hope next time they won't treat their fans like that.
  10. Sep 8, 2013
    5
    Apart from the bugs there are some serious game breakers for me; not in the least the capture points during battles. Don't too be tempted by the critic reviews, most of them aren't TW players anyway.
    Wait before you purchase.
  11. Oct 2, 2013
    2
    What a joke, the internet is kidding itself Just look to the left and bow down for the might of the.. (wait for it)... "Critics"!! #gotpaidmuch!?
  12. Sep 25, 2013
    3
    It's difficult to rate this game properly due to the hype surrounding the launch. My review is based on expectations vs reality.

    Frankly, I was hoping for something which progressed the series, added depth and flavour to campaigns, and celebrated the return to the era where I began my Total War experience all those years ago. Frankly, what we got was a buggy, average game with little
    It's difficult to rate this game properly due to the hype surrounding the launch. My review is based on expectations vs reality.

    Frankly, I was hoping for something which progressed the series, added depth and flavour to campaigns, and celebrated the return to the era where I began my Total War experience all those years ago. Frankly, what we got was a buggy, average game with little depth and poorly planned/lacking features.

    Diplomacy is shallow, faction politics are confusing and the AI seems timid and makes awful decisions both on the campaign map and the battle maps.

    Personally I pre-ordered, which was an error.

    Sure, the game is beautiful and has some interesting aspects such as the new province system. However these features are hamstrung by decisions such as to remove the ability to trade regions, leaving the province system as just another reason to wage war against someone you'd rather not.

    As a game, it's alright. As a Total War, it's the biggest let down to date.
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  13. Sep 26, 2013
    5
    The first Rome game was good; people accepted the bugs and had fun with it despite the meaningless gameplay in campaign mode and the oddities of the battles. It was the graphics, the epicness and grand scale of the game that made us look past its uglier sides. Now, 9 years and 4 Total War games later, it becomes hard to be so forgiving, especially when the uglier side of the Total WarThe first Rome game was good; people accepted the bugs and had fun with it despite the meaningless gameplay in campaign mode and the oddities of the battles. It was the graphics, the epicness and grand scale of the game that made us look past its uglier sides. Now, 9 years and 4 Total War games later, it becomes hard to be so forgiving, especially when the uglier side of the Total War series have become more pronounced with time.

    For instance, the campaign map gameplay still consists of the same endless micro choosing of options that by themselves have only a minimal effect and that do not matter much in the long run. There is no real gameplay behind all the superficial and seemingly rich set of options to choose from it's just the same flummery and fluff over and over again.

    And likewise with the battles. Here we still have the odd AI behaviour of shifting formations every 15 seconds or so without any real reaction to what you are doing, making it easy to rain death on them with skirmishers without losing a single man. I remember this exact same, annoying and thoroughly stupid behaviour from when I played Rome.

    All in all, there hasn't been much progress in the Total War series. Sure, there are new cool features, like units now being able to raise their shields to protect themselves from missiles and some really cool amphibious assaults, but you cannot build a game on cool features alone. It has to have a fundamentally good core to it, and this is where Rome 2 fails. In addition to all the bugs, unfinished features and lack of polish we are used to with games from the Creative Assembly, of course.
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  14. Oct 3, 2013
    3
    I'm really enjoying this review stuff!

    Right. I played Shogun, then the follow ons, and I remember spending HUNDREDS of hours playing Rome 1; Rome 1 to me personally was a very enjoyable experience which I immersed myself fully into and really felt like I was having 'fun'. Medieval was also a game I put a lot of time into, and that's only because I downloaded numerous mods to
    I'm really enjoying this review stuff!

    Right.

    I played Shogun, then the follow ons, and I remember spending HUNDREDS of hours playing Rome 1; Rome 1 to me personally was a very enjoyable experience which I immersed myself fully into and really felt like I was having 'fun'. Medieval was also a game I put a lot of time into, and that's only because I downloaded numerous mods to increase the game, however I couldn't help but always feel the AI was broken.

    To the point;

    Rome 2 Could be an amazing game, it has so many features that feel unfinished like they scrapped them half way through. I will keep this incredibly short in the following sentences;

    A strategy game requires AI, in battle & on the campaign map if one exists. This game does not have AI.

    They will suicide General Units to attack your cities, alone.

    They will sit anywhere in their city in the open field, and allow your archers to fully finish all their ammo. Oh, do they have archers?... Buy Artillery Units, they will allow you to destroy their entire force of 2000 with a few artillery units, and they will do NOTHING but take it. Oh, what if they buy Artillery?.. They won't.

    I have won battles with 100 troops vs 2000 troops when defending. Not through skill. I have won open field battles with 5 artillery units against THOUSANDS of enemy troops.

    They suicide, they do nothing, they don't think, no strategy is involved in any of these games aside from exploiting that fact. It's almost as if the aim of this game is to figure out HOW to play the battles in a way that will actually make the AI respond/react in a challenging way.

    Campaign map is dead. They have no intelligence, they have no diplomacy. Wipe a faction out? Take their last town? Make them your slaves!!... See them declare war with no army and suicide a turn later. Whatever.

    I've been awake far too long and my brain is melting, but for real if you're a total war fan and you HAVE enjoyed some of their titles do not sour your taste with what you 'expect' from this.
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  15. Nov 3, 2013
    4
    Sadly the game is broken in many ways, was rushed out and is disappointing after all the anticipation.
    Battle Ai is broken still to date especially in sieges, where they suicidally rush your lines towards the ''holy'' capture point, an entire army disintegrating and rushing to their death just to reach the siege capture point.
    Not worth buying your money is better spent on purchasing
    Sadly the game is broken in many ways, was rushed out and is disappointing after all the anticipation.
    Battle Ai is broken still to date especially in sieges, where they suicidally rush your lines towards the ''holy'' capture point, an entire army disintegrating and rushing to their death just to reach the siege capture point.
    Not worth buying your money is better spent on purchasing previous iterations of the franchise
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  16. Jan 28, 2014
    0
    I'm / I was a loyal Total war fan. I played it since Medieval total war and throughout the years I got a certain feeling while playing a total war game and to my surprise this feeling got bombed away when I first played Rome 2. Besides the horrible UI, confusing unit cards, ****** poor diplomatics, poorly optimised graphics.... where was I ?, Yes. I don't recognise Total War in this game.I'm / I was a loyal Total war fan. I played it since Medieval total war and throughout the years I got a certain feeling while playing a total war game and to my surprise this feeling got bombed away when I first played Rome 2. Besides the horrible UI, confusing unit cards, ****** poor diplomatics, poorly optimised graphics.... where was I ?, Yes. I don't recognise Total War in this game. The camera angle differs compared with Empire/Nap/Shogun 2 total war, where I could easily watch over the battlefield and could look close to my units. Now I can't look at the battlefield nor my units for a nice overview. There are also too much details on both the campaign map as the battlefield. I can't even overview I battle because I can't even see what's what or where's where. The 'colour' under the units blend in with the ground so I can't oversee the unit's strength as in previous total ware games. As on the campaign map. I like details and Napoleon and Shogun 2 Total war are excellent examples of it. But in Rome 2 there are so much details that I can't even concentrate on what I'm doing anymore. I also can't move army properly. Once my army was besieging a neighbouring city but too badly a small army passed through my lines and sieged my city. My city had a decent garrison but could use some extra units to defend it. I can't even move 2 units from my army to my city because it needs a goddamn general to do anything. In previous total war games I could easily recruit some extra units and I could quickly move them. Now it isn't possible any more. This games is too much different compared with previous titles.....

    I can even write I book about what I dislike about Rome 2 and I really hate to say but CA really disappointed me and tricked me into buying this piece 'o **** If the next total war game is also going to be this way, then Rome 2 total war is the last game total war I bought.
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  17. Feb 16, 2014
    6
    Despite the fixing of several bugs this game rapidly turns into a serious grind to even reach an ending... graphical errors still plague gameplay as does severe slowdown during siege battles...
    Taking away the family tree just further removes the player from being immersed in the game. Battle speeches and videos are tacked on afterthoughts..
    Final verdict.. get it cheap if you have
    Despite the fixing of several bugs this game rapidly turns into a serious grind to even reach an ending... graphical errors still plague gameplay as does severe slowdown during siege battles...
    Taking away the family tree just further removes the player from being immersed in the game. Battle speeches and videos are tacked on afterthoughts..
    Final verdict.. get it cheap if you have hours and days to spend... oh and bring a book..
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  18. Mar 23, 2014
    1
    Unfortunately, this game is dreadfully oversimplified. I suspect that the developer is attempting to replace its longtime fanbase with a new breed of teenage gamers. That is to say, this game will be extremely fun if you have never played a Total War game before, and overwhelmingly disappointing if you are familiar with these games.

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

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

    Strategy is non-existent, so look elsewhere. This game only has repetitive sieges that mean nothing. If you lose your army due to a bad mistake, you can simply recreate it in one turn. Therefor, the game does not punish the player for mistakes like it should.
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  19. Jun 19, 2014
    2
    I've sat and watched the slow, grinding destruction of what was a fine, interesting and absorbing game model into this, this tablet worthy mulch that is barely worthy of being allied to the Total War name. It's still got enough little bits that make you remember what CA used to produce, but the bulk of the game is simplified, dumbed down, rationalised. It's not a good strategy gameI've sat and watched the slow, grinding destruction of what was a fine, interesting and absorbing game model into this, this tablet worthy mulch that is barely worthy of being allied to the Total War name. It's still got enough little bits that make you remember what CA used to produce, but the bulk of the game is simplified, dumbed down, rationalised. It's not a good strategy game anymore. It's got big bits missing that have to be added with mods, which while always the case with CA games, thinking of Medieval 2 and the dire coding that contained, but the basis of the game was worthy, it inspired people to mod it because they wanted to get to the back of the game and have what they could see it would match up to.

    This is a mirage of a game, it's literally made to be played on tablets, it's one step up from the pretty flash game.
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  20. Jul 25, 2014
    0
    È quasi passato un anno ma questo titolo dopo ben 14 patch, fa veramente cacare, uno schifo totale. Città come Siracusa senza mura, unità stupide e banali come catapulte di nidi d'ape o scorpioni, flotte inutili perché gli eserciti vanno via mare senza bisogno di imbarcarsi, localizzazione mezza italiana e mezza inglese "soldati romani che parlano in inglese" at your order, immaginate,È quasi passato un anno ma questo titolo dopo ben 14 patch, fa veramente cacare, uno schifo totale. Città come Siracusa senza mura, unità stupide e banali come catapulte di nidi d'ape o scorpioni, flotte inutili perché gli eserciti vanno via mare senza bisogno di imbarcarsi, localizzazione mezza italiana e mezza inglese "soldati romani che parlano in inglese" at your order, immaginate, soldi buttati. Un aborto completo proprio. schifo schifo schifo Expand
  21. Aug 22, 2014
    4
    So Rome 2, Worse than i had hoped for, pretty much sums it up. But I suppose i should add more. My first experience was an all night download update after the initial install, followed by another 6 hour download, followed by another one.

    Then i couldn't load the game because the steam "auto start" screen wouldn't open to the correct size. Once i finally got to play it, it was weird. I
    So Rome 2, Worse than i had hoped for, pretty much sums it up. But I suppose i should add more. My first experience was an all night download update after the initial install, followed by another 6 hour download, followed by another one.

    Then i couldn't load the game because the steam "auto start" screen wouldn't open to the correct size. Once i finally got to play it, it was weird. I have played and own all the total war games, and i was confused. Took me a couple of solid days of play to get my head around the city building.

    The combat mechanics are nothing we haven't seen before. The AI is nothing we haven't seen before. The gazillion factions make turn ending take forever. The graphics use massive resources(again nothing new there) but load times are acceptable.

    Naval combat is just impossible to enjoy and I have just resorted to auto resolve. A real step backwards Creative Assembly.

    Attacking siege battles are also incredibly difficult as the auto build siege equipment just doesn't really do anything except let your troops get killed. Again I have resorted to auto resolve and again a step backwards Creative Assembly.

    What's with all the army formations that no one uses, just learn from your mistakes from Shogun 2, don't repeat them.

    Diplomacy again nothing we haven't seen before

    Did the developers at Creative Assembly have a stroke?

    Anyone notice the massive sore difference between the critic score and the user score. Clearly the critics enjoy getting payed and not playing computer games.

    Most people believe that you can't polish a turd, but Creative Assembly have sure done a mighty fine job of polishing this one.
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  22. Sep 1, 2014
    1
    so let me get this straight. you have a slave revolt in a small town early in the game and a rebel army resulting has 7 full calvary units and 18 fully armed and trained units. where did they get the horses? the city didnt even have a stable. thats retarded. wouldnt a slave revolt be composed of disorganized but highly motivated mobs not a fully functioning well armed and trainedso let me get this straight. you have a slave revolt in a small town early in the game and a rebel army resulting has 7 full calvary units and 18 fully armed and trained units. where did they get the horses? the city didnt even have a stable. thats retarded. wouldnt a slave revolt be composed of disorganized but highly motivated mobs not a fully functioning well armed and trained army. loved tw1. this is beyond awful Expand
  23. Sep 30, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I do not know how the game has been improved since i played it on September 2013, but the first time I played it was the worst game I ever played, not even TW series. The first impression I had made me never play this "game" never again. Expand
  24. Feb 17, 2015
    0
    It's more like Total Fail, than Total War. No in depth diplomatic systems, no in depth political system, just random actions.

    My god, this was the worse Total War game I ever played, I really don't understand what's going with CA, Shogun 2 was really amazing and I thought I could only get better, but I didn't knew how creedy SEGA was, the ruined everything.
  25. Mar 8, 2015
    0
    After more then 300 hours of frustrating, today I remove this garbage from my PC. When I thought that Creative Assembly touch the bottom with Shogun 2 TW, they sunk more deeper with Rome 2. RTS game? if in Rome 2 exist any strategy then pinball is strategic game too. AI is retarded, diplomacy does not exist at all, behave of AI faction in game is insane, when you control almost 3/4 of mapAfter more then 300 hours of frustrating, today I remove this garbage from my PC. When I thought that Creative Assembly touch the bottom with Shogun 2 TW, they sunk more deeper with Rome 2. RTS game? if in Rome 2 exist any strategy then pinball is strategic game too. AI is retarded, diplomacy does not exist at all, behave of AI faction in game is insane, when you control almost 3/4 of map "powerful" nation which holding one and only settlement offering you non aggression pact and ask money from you, every 2-3 turns, 2-3 small factions declare war on you, AI factions jumping over map and control one province in Asia minor and second in northern Europe, enemy units jumping over 5-6 territories to attack you, to get trade agreement you need a miracle, every turn is disrupt with some idiotic proposal and I could counting bad things until tomorrow. Grand campaign is insane too, objectives which you must fulfill are enormously, you need six month to finish single player grand campaign. They transform once great RTS game in some kind of shooting game. Expand
  26. Oct 3, 2018
    0
    One of my pet peeves are games that bill themselves as being historically accurate but then make very deliberate decisions to be demonstrably inaccurate. If that annoys you, too, then stay away from this game.
  27. Sep 29, 2018
    0
    Tolerance that violates any common sense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  28. Sep 29, 2018
    0
    У создателей игры стоит поучиться тому, как можно уничтожить сразу и игру и своих фанатов. Может для кого то одно обновление это не показатель плохой игры, но для меня это показатель отвратительного отношения к комьюнити, что в свою очередь показывает, что игра создается не для игроков, а для чего то другого.У создателей игры стоит поучиться тому, как можно уничтожить сразу и игру и своих фанатов. Может для кого то одно обновление это не показатель плохой игры, но для меня это показатель отвратительного отношения к комьюнити, что в свою очередь показывает, что игра создается не для игроков, а для чего то другого.
  29. Sep 7, 2013
    3
    Poorly optimized GFX and AI
    UI reminiscent of a console game feels really dumbed down.
    Too many factions takes too long to process AI's turn.

    It's against my princples, but really wished I'd pirated this rather than pre-ordered....
  30. Sep 7, 2013
    3
    I expected a lot from the famous "Total War: Rome" title, but unfortunately my expectations were not met (by a good roman mile...)! The AI is average at best. This has a negative effect on everything. They way they move, fight, form alliances, negotiate with your fraction (For example if you have a lot of money, they will demand some from you for everything. Do you want to trade? PAY! DoI expected a lot from the famous "Total War: Rome" title, but unfortunately my expectations were not met (by a good roman mile...)! The AI is average at best. This has a negative effect on everything. They way they move, fight, form alliances, negotiate with your fraction (For example if you have a lot of money, they will demand some from you for everything. Do you want to trade? PAY! Do you want an alliance? SHARE YOUR MONEY!). The strategy part of the game is rather simple too. There are a few types of building, and research. The most "difficult" things is to keep in mind the balance of 'public order', 'food' etc. Other than that you need to build armies and conquer land. "Paradox Game" titles, which are made by 1/100 of the budget used on "Rome 2" can do much better strategy game. I was expecting more. Not recommended! Expand
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 71
  2. Negative: 7 out of 71
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  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]