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. Fedozzo
    Sep 10, 2013
    0
    This game is commercial garbage.
    Unplayable, graphics and gameplay simplified, arcadized and NO tactic at all.
    Capture point? WTF is this, a hsitorical strategy serious game or a arcade-console-casual game?
    It's pure it's the worst abort I everseen in my gaming life, is the biggest delusion of the year.
    DON'T BUY THIS ALPHA-ARCADE-PIECEOF**** and install Rome I.
  2. ILoveKitKats
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Have a 780 GTX, i7 3770k, 16GB RAM. Can't run on extreme/ultra at all, in battles it drops to 10 FPS. I put it between medium and very high and I manage stable 30 FPS in fights. Disappointing. Campaign map has FPS drops consistently also. Using Xsplit I was above to see that after an hour I'd dropped over 10,000 frames. Without Xsplit I have the same FPS issues.

    Tried all fixes    Have a 780 GTX, i7 3770k, 16GB RAM. Can't run on extreme/ultra at all, in battles it drops to 10 FPS. I put it between medium and very high and I manage stable 30 FPS in fights. Disappointing. Campaign map has FPS drops consistently also. Using Xsplit I was above to see that after an hour I'd dropped over 10,000 frames. Without Xsplit I have the same FPS issues.

    Tried all fixes configurations possible, doesn't work and the game has no release SLI support. New UI is bloated, pretentious and non-informative. Non-decipherable Egyptian icons for every button leave you hovering over every button to know what it does. Lack of information bad space management leave it frustrating.

    In battle UI, unit cards take up 30%+ of the screen and use the same bad Egyptian art-style, makes the game unplayable.

    Also false advertisement, the two game play YouTube videos released compare nothing to the game, highest settings don't reflect what you can pull even with a 780 GTX or a titan. Perhaps with SLI support you can but dual SLI titans to run this game on highest settings? I can max out any other game on the market...

    Shambles of a game, suspect it's still in beta and we're just doing mass testing. I've played nearly every other total war and the UI is just a game ruining feature, Shogun 2 kept all the information correct while having their "Stylistic" UI that they wanted. They should have kept the same thing, nobody complained so why fix what isn't broken.

    I'd recommend you save your money if you can, they've claimed they'll patch the game but that doesn't excuse releasing and incomplete game.

    0/10: Avoid at all costs.    … Expand
  3. ShimazduRio
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    So far the biggest disappointment of 2013. Instead of improving and adding new features to the game, CA made everything more casual. I don't understand all these talks about huge budget, this game is lame shadow of old TW games.

    People don't buy this game. It is very bad!
  4. wowocobi
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    For the love of god DON'T BUY IT! This game is a failure on so many levels.

    As a Total War veteran (have bought and extensively played other games starting from first shogun), I really could not be more disappointed.
    Every developer has had a big miss, and CA has their first huge miss. In my opinion, even Empire was far better game.
  5. Lokomoko99764
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    It's a buggy mess that's literally unplayable for people like me in its current state (Hence the 0: unplayable). This was the first and last time I'm pre-ordering a TW game. I thought they had gotten over the terrible releases ever since Empire.
  6. Bonifazo
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This would have been a great game if they'd finished developing it. Buggy, crash prone, and utterly unplayable. Don't buy it for at least a few months the fact that they're apparently using fans of the series to do play testing rather than doing it themselves is frustrating, to say the least.
  7. Peju2003
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The official review score is a total shame. The gamer's review score is closer to reality and it should even be a much lower score. Same old philosoply coming from Sega is a real disappointment. Selling an unfinished product is totally unacceptable. The game is a bug in itself. It will mess up your computer and slow down anything you do with it.

    I can't even finish a prologue because    The official review score is a total shame. The gamer's review score is closer to reality and it should even be a much lower score. Same old philosoply coming from Sega is a real disappointment. Selling an unfinished product is totally unacceptable. The game is a bug in itself. It will mess up your computer and slow down anything you do with it.

    I can't even finish a prologue because games crashes. UI looks horrible.    … Expand
  8. thenewking
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I was so exited to play this game for ages and its a serious let down for me.
    The visuals and graphics are very nice but that's about it.
    I hate the whole new campaign system its simply horrible and not enjoyable, it feels like your not apart of the game. Everything i love about the whole building your empire is gone, you cant see the buildings in the menu as they have been changed to    I was so exited to play this game for ages and its a serious let down for me.
    The visuals and graphics are very nice but that's about it.

    I hate the whole new campaign system its simply horrible and not enjoyable, it feels like your not apart of the game.
    Everything i love about the whole building your empire is gone, you cant see the buildings in the menu as they have been changed to awful avatars/icon cards along with the troops. Why make a massive change like this when it was perfect? was it because CA couldn't be bothered to create detailed buildings and unit cards.

    Battles are just way to fast its like playing c&c you can not even enjoy a battle and watch your men fight like the good old days as its just to fast paced.

    Overall of a game i was expecting to brilliant and Rome 2 compared to the other Total War games.

    if its not broke do not change it!
    This is by far the worst Total War game to date!    … Expand
  9. rvm33
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    A well orchestrated PR campaign (congratulations on that CA!) and promises of a game well made and an incentive of 1 additional free DLC and people buy the game. Then, fans (me) complain it is different and broken, so some patches and a ton of paid DLC's later CA is far more income sturdier than just issuing a game upfront properly.

    CA is completely capable of making their games    A well orchestrated PR campaign (congratulations on that CA!) and promises of a game well made and an incentive of 1 additional free DLC and people buy the game. Then, fans (me) complain it is different and broken, so some patches and a ton of paid DLC's later CA is far more income sturdier than just issuing a game upfront properly.

    CA is completely capable of making their games playable, modders like dartvader proved they can do it on their own but it is not a good business proposition. There is no development to be done anymore. And development means income and jobs. Tell me again, why do it properly and then be out of a years to come long business?! Unfortunately for me, only now I fully realized this.

    Turning now on the PR campaign we have been promised graphics outstanding with soldiers faces showing horror as enemies attack. This is not the case. Will be though ...a DLC later. We have been expecting some blood and wear and tear of armor and weapons after the battle as seen in the pictures of their PR campaign and as we read in reviews. Again, it is not yet the case, but will be... a DLC later.
    Right now a soldier looks the same before and after the battle.
    We know Romans had archers but there are no archer units in Rome 2 rooster. We all want them as it is stupid to fight with stone slingers in a fiercesome war machine ...a DLC later.

    Got the point?

    For this reason CA bolstered that Rome2 is a huge platform with unlimited potential for the future. And it is truly a cash making machine as long there are fans. I'm gone.

    Believe it or not, the people actually programming the game are not fans of the series. They do not understand the subtleties of the game and this is proven by the fact that they invested in graphics a lot more while "simplifying" the game play and micromanagement, making thus the game dull. To them it seems normal an unmanned tower is raining arrows on the attacking force?! Realism?
    They did not see the point of the defensive position in the unit's orders and just took it out. Why? Because the programmer who did this in the previous series isn't working or in charge of that particular development and the new guy did not see the point anymore. Or, maybe it is pointless for consoles.

    We have to take into account that CA evolved in the last 10 years also. Many new people came and old ones went. This team is not the one who launched Medieval 2 and the previous games. It was visible from the launch of Empire where the bugs started piling up, to this date. It seems they do not play the games they are programming.

    Now, back to us, the fans. We have also evolved. Many of us are fans of the series since Rome 1 or Shogun 1. This was say back in 2004 and we were then 18. That makes us 28 years old now. We don’t play games like then.
    We like to think, use strategy and want to see realism and feel it. We don't like fast and easy battles won. We like positions and tactics and planning an empire right. We like BAI and CAI that is challenging, diplomacy that makes sense, we like to develop our regions, muster armies (as many as we like and afford) and to be challenged. We need for that an immersive game in both strategy and game play.
    Here lies the subtlety that CA did not grasp.

    We also like stunning graphics and can afford top notch PC's. We can spend money if we feel we get what we want.

    But right now, I don't. I feel tricked by a PR campaign promising everything there was in the series and more and delivering... a different and broken thing.
    Deceiving your customers is generally bad bussiness practice, may work here and now but not on the long run.

    Looking at the above, my feel is that CA cannot deliver the game play we want anymore. They can create a platform but that's it. For that reason modders like darthvader appeared and made from a jerky, fort lagging and stupid humpty dumpty style Empire a nice playable game. Same goes for Napoleon and Shogun 2. The crowning achievement of the modding community is Shogun 2 darthmod. From here, looking down on Rome 2 seems a huge step back.

    There are so many issues to be addressed speaking about the game from a game play perspective like armies cannot be split up, armies embarking on nonexistent ships transports, reduced tech tree, UI non intuitive, melees extremely fast, units routing extremely quick one has no time to zoom in to see the fight, not holding formations etc. that it makes no sense to write all here. Just read the posts on Metacritic or Steam.
    Forget the technical problems, they will be fixed eventually but concept issues will not.

    This game will be playable for us maybe in 1-2 years from now when modding people like darthvader and the many others will have corrected some of the game play issues if they will exist for this game.

    From my perspective I am truly sorry to have bought this game now, because I supported this strategy CA is implementing and I destroyed my hopes of a great game. A dumbed down game it is.    … Expand
  10. MAXOH
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I played 8 hours so far and I think this game is mess. Awful performance, lack of gameplay features, boring economic system, broken AI.

    I paid 60 dollars for this game and I feel scammed. SEGA marketing department just robbed me.
  11. legoras
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    One big disappointment, AI stiupid like donkey I attack 3 enemy units [2x spears geneal], first they wait when I will shoot some ot them them by pillums?, then I attack this two spear units [general do nothing 10? meters near], after kill this two spear units, general [10 meter near] still waiting]. Wtf? Optimization does not exist.. I good remember when CA LIES about "great OptimizationOne big disappointment, AI stiupid like donkey I attack 3 enemy units [2x spears geneal], first they wait when I will shoot some ot them them by pillums?, then I attack this two spear units [general do nothing 10? meters near], after kill this two spear units, general [10 meter near] still waiting]. Wtf? Optimization does not exist.. I good remember when CA LIES about "great Optimization for Rome 2".. Army morale.. units flee like chicken (just like in FOTS..) Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards. One big disappointment.    … Expand
  12. Beowulf1066
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I've been a huge fan of the entire Total War series since 2003 and understand that most of their games are released a little too early and often have some medium to serious bugs to be fixed.
    Having said that, I feel like I deserve a refund for this game. I understand they wanted to go a different route with the campaign side (politics, no family trees, building armies with generals (not    I've been a huge fan of the entire Total War series since 2003 and understand that most of their games are released a little too early and often have some medium to serious bugs to be fixed.
    Having said that, I feel like I deserve a refund for this game. I understand they wanted to go a different route with the campaign side (politics, no family trees, building armies with generals (not cities), revamped tech screen, and the use of regions) but the changes they made were not improvements. I find them distracting and unnecessary. I would also like to take the time to go into how horrible it was to implement one year per turn, not having a family tree, diplomacy horribly bugged, etc... but I want to focus more on the core of any Total War game COMBAT.
    Combat is Rome II: Total War is too fast and chaotic. Tactics don't have much of a roll to play anymore. Units will only engage one another for a minute or two before routing. That gives you no time to set up flanking and ambushing maneuvers. The enemy will now send their entire force (which is 70% slingers in my Suebi game for some reason) into a mass brawl in the center of the map. Battles are no longer won by tactical skill, no, they're won by bringing tougher units with higher morale and having them go one-on-one with another enemy unit until they route. Don't even get me started about capture points!
    I want to write more, but it would just make me even sadder. This game is horrible and has tainted my love of the previous Total War games. The original Rome was in my top 5 games of all time and this horrible excuse of a game (Rome II) isn't even a shadow of its predecessor. I'm so very disappointed in Creative Arts, SEGA and the entire Total War team. I won't be duped again.    … Expand
  13. Tornadium
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The game simply isn't finished. It's not even the extremely poor technical issues that kills the game for a lot of people. They've cut so many corners, the gameplay has been mashed together, alpha build features were cut out that really should have been in the game.

    It needs MAJOR overhauling.
  14. qurkad
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    A real step backwards in gameplay compared to Shogun 2. The new features do not compensate for what was lost from the old game. It seems that CA wanted to sell this game to casual public.

    Whats with all the bugs? i loaded everything, downloaded the steam account like it said, downloaded all of the necessary updates. I have all of the system requirements, but game lags and crashes.    A real step backwards in gameplay compared to Shogun 2. The new features do not compensate for what was lost from the old game. It seems that CA wanted to sell this game to casual public.

    Whats with all the bugs? i loaded everything, downloaded the steam account like it said, downloaded all of the necessary updates. I have all of the system requirements, but game lags and crashes.

    Biggest disappointment of 2013 for me. Total Mess    … Expand
  15. GamerGaz
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Possibly the worst AI in the series, and a buggy,laggy unplayable mess. Also filled with horrible design choices, a boring campaign and in incomprehensible UI.
  16. FightingSlug
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I give this a zero because right now this game is unplayable for me. I Have 3 HD 7970's and an I5-4670K processor and my frame rates are in the 20's with huge drops and there are major graphics issues. I have spent several hours trying different fixes and no success. I will update once the game becomes playable.
  17. sonnet
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Hugely disappointed: other than the various bugs and poor performance, what's really disarming is the AI.
    Worst AI ever seen in a TW game. I can hardly imagine CA fixing that.
    Money totally wasted
  18. hastati
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Probably one day in the future after tons of patches and mods this game will be great. However at current states this game is one big disaster.

    Five reasons why I will give it a zero score: 1) Very bad optimization and many bugs. Game lags on top configs. 2) Notable lack of content. No Avatar mode. Only 4 historical battles! 3) Many important features from previous TW games are    Probably one day in the future after tons of patches and mods this game will be great. However at current states this game is one big disaster.

    Five reasons why I will give it a zero score:

    1) Very bad optimization and many bugs. Game lags on top configs.

    2) Notable lack of content. No Avatar mode. Only 4 historical battles!

    3) Many important features from previous TW games are missing.

    4) Interface is ugly and dull. Unit cards are terrible and battle UI is not informative

    5) Fantasy unit rosters and historical inaccuracy. Testudo looks like terrible crap    … Expand
  19. blueslug121
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Sorry to do this CA but I feel I am obligated, now I'm not going to whine about all the bugs/AI/UI/Graphics/diplomacy/all that other crap since everyone else has that covered. I have to say that the game fails for me in some of the things it tried to do and make the game much worse. For one there is an annoying army cap and to try to transfer units between armies requires both being nextSorry to do this CA but I feel I am obligated, now I'm not going to whine about all the bugs/AI/UI/Graphics/diplomacy/all that other crap since everyone else has that covered. I have to say that the game fails for me in some of the things it tried to do and make the game much worse. For one there is an annoying army cap and to try to transfer units between armies requires both being next to each other making it a huge hassle. Also the generals all have the same stats and even if one dies he gets replaced immediately so there is no worry if your heir or entire family for that matter gets slaughtered as they will be quickly replaced by people out of thin air equally as good. Next sieges are a huge pain as the attackers take attrition loses (and sometimes the defenders, huh? so your besieging units overall are weaker and then the enemy's garrison force which is usually quite large. All of that would be okay if it weren't that when they come to attack you have to defend a flag out in the middle of a field and you can lose a match that you'd otherwise win (as you routed 90% of the enemy) but lose just because of a flag. Which in turn creates an arcade style game with the force with more people usually winning. Additionally with as fast as units move battles are over within 5 min or so usually, and your reinforcements rarely make it in time to help defend that flag. Now enough of my the game does succeed in having cool land/sea battles, the capture points in cities are cool, and I like the diverse factions all with really different units, but with all the other faults and half -baked ideas I just don't much care for it. I would personally give it a 6/10 but to more impress the point and to counteract the 10's (you can't give a ten to a game with glaring bugs even if you know they'll be fixed, you're reviewing it as is). So please CA I still believe in you, make a game I would like to play...

    P.S. Just a little thought if you want another strategy game that actually is good out of the box and definitely will get better, try paradox's EU IV, it's sad when paradox a company known for half-baked games latest game came out so much better.    … Expand
  20. Necromonger
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Extremely disapointed and i see revieuws of this game scoring 9 and 9.5
    Do game revieuwers get payed these days ?
    This game isnt even in Beta stage, seriously what an abomination... I got a beast of a system and it runs crap, crashes, textures bugs, politics what politics ? insane wait times per turn... I wait a few months to the modders can fix this game as the originel is    Extremely disapointed and i see revieuws of this game scoring 9 and 9.5
    Do game revieuwers get payed these days ?

    This game isnt even in Beta stage, seriously what an abomination...

    I got a beast of a system and it runs crap, crashes, textures bugs, politics what politics ?
    insane wait times per turn...

    I wait a few months to the modders can fix this game as the originel is just to bad to play.    … Expand
  21. DanielKw
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    This is a really bad game. I bought it, and I was all excited, but there are so many bugs and the gameplay is boring. Very disappointing game to actually play. Crashes all the time for me as I get into the middle stages of the campaign game. The AI is silly.

    I don't want to play it anymore. Give me back my money SEGA!
  22. Mont
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Buggy piece of crap is all this is. I just hate buying a game that gets ratings of 10's from major magazines and sites only to find out the game is less fun than checkers. AI is HORRIBLE and too many bugs for me. anyone that says different is a fanboy because Rome 2 is BUGGY as heck for EVERYONE. AVOID!!
  23. RichDE
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I paid 55 euros for horrible beta with tons of bugs? Nice. Ok, I can handle that, not first time.

    But wait.... why they removed tons of thing such as: Avatar mode, Family Tree(minor thing but fun), WALLS, normal economy??? An UI is UGLY.

    0/10. Shogun 2 is way better game!
  24. TNT
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Piece of junk!!! Looks nothing like the quality of the game we see in the trailers. The game is clearly unfinished. The textures look absolutely awful even on extreme settings, the AI is even worse.
  25. ConorEngelb
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Rome 2 is a dumbed down version of Rome 1. The UI is a mess and the whole game feels gawky to me. Sure the graphics are nicer but I prefer original Rome gameplay.
  26. jkaiser
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Terrible not even playable, i get 4 FPS and i was able to run shogun on ultra. The game badly needs optimizing and the limitations on armies is stupid and a step backwards for the franchise
  27. Hector
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The game won't even launch on PCs. A huge step down from the first game Total War: Rome regarding user-interface, computer A.I., campaign length and graphics even!!!
  28. mlampa
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    The foundation for a great game is there. But the state of the game as of today is just horrible. There is lots of bugs and it runs really bad even on very good computer setups. I guess it will be a good game after some patches and some community mods.
  29. metem51
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Probably the worst total war I ever played (I play TW games since the first shogun!)

    Graphically the game is ugly (shogun 2 was far better) I don't like to eat pixels that much especially when I play in 1080p. The color choice is at best very inappropriate and depressing. There are too many factions (it takes forever between each turn) and the game performs very poorly despite my    Probably the worst total war I ever played (I play TW games since the first shogun!)

    Graphically the game is ugly (shogun 2 was far better) I don't like to eat pixels that much especially when I play in 1080p. The color choice is at best very inappropriate and depressing.

    There are too many factions (it takes forever between each turn) and the game performs very poorly despite my configuration (GTX 680 4go, etc.).

    The game is not fun, not difficult, not good at all. I'm disgusted. Last TW I buy.    … Expand
  30. sergez
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Fails of the Year 2013.
    What a disappointment, I really have nothing good to say. Worst game design. Looks worse than Shogun 2.
    Horrible UI, AI, textures, unit cards.
    Patches will not help.
    Poor game.
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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