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. shadowstealer
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    I was really looking forward to this game. I've been a Total War fan since Shogun and this was sounding as though it had the potential to surpass the fantastic Shogun 2. Unfortunately this has not been the case. I don't know what game half the games 'journalists' played but it was not the one the general public were promised.

    The basic ideas are the same and the potential is there but    I was really looking forward to this game. I've been a Total War fan since Shogun and this was sounding as though it had the potential to surpass the fantastic Shogun 2. Unfortunately this has not been the case. I don't know what game half the games 'journalists' played but it was not the one the general public were promised.

    The basic ideas are the same and the potential is there but the game is just broken and unfinished and untested. It is an insult. Features have been 'streamlined' far too much and the new modern UI isn't really much of an improvement. The campaign has framerate issues, the AI is passive and the battle AI is worse than that of the original Rome. Their lacks a guard mode and don't expect your units to actually maintain formation, they descend into a blob of death. Not that it matters because the battles are literally over within minutes due to terrible balancing. It's pretty apparent they didn't test this game at all.

    Capture points are the combat AI's only concern and it's stupidity in it's attempt to get at them, suiciding and generally providing no challenge. Capture points also appear in field battles for no good reason, if you take them you win in 50 seconds. No challenge as the AI doesn't bother to defend them. It's an unwelcome addition making the game feel arcadey.

    End turns can take up to 3-5 minutes running even on a high end rig, in the end you spend more time waiting for the CPU than actually playing. There are over 100 factions though, but that matters for nothing with poor AI and optimisation. Also you have a limited number of armies and navies you can recruit which is horrible. It's like an arcade game. I always used to rely on scout forces and skirmish forces, well too bad if you did. Now logistics are more silly, forcing you to create full stacks (oh you can recruit anywhere in a region now through the general not at the cities) which effectively lets you get away with making planning mistakes before you go into battle.

    There are so many problems and issues with this game that I could write forever. I suggest anyone who has not done so to check out Angry Joe's review. He covers all the key points. This game gets a 0 from me because I wanted a Total War game. Not a broken buggy simplified mess.

    Oh yeah and no family tree. Or special agent animations. Or real depth or attachment. Hollow and bland. Urgh.    … Expand
  2. zz77
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    This is the worst title in Total War series. It's bugged to unplayable level. Both campaign and battle AI is dumb as stone. Developers didn't add any really great and innovative features, but completely wiped out many great features of previous titles. UI is very poorly organized, its modern appearance is just immerse-breaking. Even graphics looks like downgrade of previous Shogun 2 game.This is the worst title in Total War series. It's bugged to unplayable level. Both campaign and battle AI is dumb as stone. Developers didn't add any really great and innovative features, but completely wiped out many great features of previous titles. UI is very poorly organized, its modern appearance is just immerse-breaking. Even graphics looks like downgrade of previous Shogun 2 game. Don't waste your money and time on this crap!… Expand
  3. pierrem
    Sep 25, 2014
    0
    This game is mostly made of frustration. Frustration of having a game that could have been great, but made terribly bad by stupid new features. Frustration of having paid full price for a beta version, that was solded -50% before it was even reasonably working.
    To sum up:
    - limitation in armies number; therefore you can't leave a garrison, and this is made worse by the fact that armies    This game is mostly made of frustration. Frustration of having a game that could have been great, but made terribly bad by stupid new features. Frustration of having paid full price for a beta version, that was solded -50% before it was even reasonably working.
    To sum up:
    - limitation in armies number; therefore you can't leave a garrison, and this is made worse by the fact that armies walk a huge distance in a single turn, by the possibility the AI has to always refuse battles, by the possibility of taking a city within the turn. You simply chase flies (5 units armies) with hammers (full stacks), for the hammers cannot be splitted, the flies fly too fast to be hit, but can still take one of your cities; which you'll retake next turn while another city falls. So you get humbled by ridiculously bad armies because you can't fight them.
    - My elephants replenish within a few turns if I'm in Britain. The local elephants are known worldwide.
    - Navies are useless (so the joint battles feature has no use)
    - Battles are boring (but at least as of 09/2014, UI is correct, was not reasonnable before)
    - Politics are stupid & useless
    - "decisive event" : the worst ever. You get a rebellion... Like 12+ full stacks of high level veterans of the best units you can recruit (even if it was unlocked last turn and you don't possess any) appear out of thin air, while you possess 3 full stacks. Well the AI is so bad you can win if they did not appear in your capital, but... so ridiculous!
    - Bad AI, not nearly as good as the Shogun 2 AI
    Try Shogun2, especially FOTS instead. or Rome TW!    … Expand
  4. lastrambo
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. HUGE bugs that can be fixed with patches but some key features like the random capture point on the battlefield or the stupid long wait in coop campaign make it barely enjoyable. As someone who played all the total war games and has spent about 2000 hours playing these games i fell like this game is the worst of them.

    I cant even enjoy the battles because of the brain dead AI and the steamroll strategy which consist in making all your units charge and winning instantly even at legendary difficulty because there is no unit collision and they all stack and attack at the same time.

    The diplomacy is broken right now because the AI will never take into consideration your military power when negotiating with you for some reason. The navy is useless cause you don't need it cause your armies can fight in the water like if it was a fleet and 80% of the battles are siege battles WHEN THEY SAID IT WAS A WEAK POINT IN SHOGUN AND THEY WERE GOING TO CORRECT IT FOR R2TW. Seriously i don't know what kind of illegal substances they took when they made the game.    … Expand
  5. R80
    Sep 13, 2013
    0
    I played all main Total War titles and some, though not all expansions. And I expected this game to be if not better, than at least equal to the previous Total War games. I was wrong.

    This game is Rome: TOTAL FAILURE. I don't even know how to start writing about what's wrong with this game, because I the truth is: almost EVERYTHING. - the AI is horrible- not just stupid, but    I played all main Total War titles and some, though not all expansions. And I expected this game to be if not better, than at least equal to the previous Total War games. I was wrong.

    This game is Rome: TOTAL FAILURE.

    I don't even know how to start writing about what's wrong with this game, because I the truth is: almost EVERYTHING.

    - the AI is horrible- not just stupid, but actually malfunctioning. Armies sometimes stand motionlessly under missile fire, untill they get routed due to casualties.

    - the UI and graphics feel heavy and unpleasant simply looking at them feels bad somehow

    - framerate is strangely low, compared to the framerate on the same computer for shogun 2. But the graphics do not look better, they actually look worse.

    - overall, this game simply lack PLAYABILITY. I mean the factor that made previous Total War games pleasurable to play. Rome Total War 2 doesn't have it "playing it feels like a job, like a burden.    … Expand
  6. BadWolf1991
    Sep 13, 2013
    0
    Disappointing. Paid full price for a Beta. They saw record pre-orders. Can be sure I won't be one of those next time. Every promise that was made pre-launch was a lie. That just about sums it up.
  7. bracesco
    Sep 13, 2013
    0
    Dont buy this, it´s a alpha. The game it´s broken, the AI it´s broken, the fps sucks. Im a fan of the Total War saga and this game its just Total Crap. CA you broke my heart.
  8. Terrbear
    Sep 13, 2013
    0
    Awful, CA lied about so much that they were implementing, iv played every total war and this one just doesn't have any feeling in it, its been totally streamlined and it doesn't play any different playing as rome, or carthage etc as they all have massively similar units, no unique events or intro movie and even though there are so many factions they all have the same units!!! I don't careAwful, CA lied about so much that they were implementing, iv played every total war and this one just doesn't have any feeling in it, its been totally streamlined and it doesn't play any different playing as rome, or carthage etc as they all have massively similar units, no unique events or intro movie and even though there are so many factions they all have the same units!!! I don't care if theirs say 30 different greek factions if they all have almost identical troops and don't act or strategise differently! and lets face it the ai doesn't strategise AT ALL, im into the late game as carthage, HOPING the game would improve as it has gone on but honestly it just doesn't, no particular part of this game is fun, I waited along time to play this game as so many did. All those CA videos are lies, like the Macedonian skirmish one: showing how 'good' the new ai was! its obvious now that it was a person playing as the romans in the video because there Is no chance that is the ai!!! Also I feel its sick that the critics reviews are so wrong, there is clearly something wrong when most critics are saying this game is amazing etc when clearly... CLEARLY its not. we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that this can be salvaged somehow...… Expand
  9. Spartan_swe
    Sep 14, 2013
    0
    This is a game in the same meaning a car is a car with a very good looking chassis, but nothing in it.
    This game is a product of marketing and profit making.
    Maybe in a year, this will be a finished product and worth buying, but as of this time, buy Total War Rome 1, a game that came out in 2004 and still have better gameplay, immersion and strategy. I have a hard time rating this    This is a game in the same meaning a car is a car with a very good looking chassis, but nothing in it.
    This game is a product of marketing and profit making.
    Maybe in a year, this will be a finished product and worth buying, but as of this time, buy Total War Rome 1, a game that came out in 2004 and still have better gameplay, immersion and strategy.

    I have a hard time rating this "product" because it feels like the same way it would feel rating a film sitting in the editing room watching the first rough cut, without sound, cgi and music.

    Absolute garbage!    … Expand
  10. Batman6794
    Sep 14, 2013
    0
    Even as a stable working game (which it isn't for most people) it still sucks! All of the trade off decisions that made the game interesting and deep are gone in favor of stupid arcade simplicity.

    Old total war: Roads are EXPENSIVE and take a LONG time to build, but they will grow your economy and help your troops move faster. Invest in building them too earlier and your small military    Even as a stable working game (which it isn't for most people) it still sucks! All of the trade off decisions that made the game interesting and deep are gone in favor of stupid arcade simplicity.

    Old total war: Roads are EXPENSIVE and take a LONG time to build, but they will grow your economy and help your troops move faster. Invest in building them too earlier and your small military will be starved of needed funds. Invest too late and you fall behind in the economic race.

    Rome II:Roads build themselves automatically. You have zero control.

    Old total war:Navies are very expensive and take a long time to build. A small one can protect your ports from pirates but is vulnerable to enemy navies, a larger one (HUGE investment) can protect your shores from invasion, and a massive one can project your power throughout the world with a relatively small army. Should you invest in a fleet now, or will one of your enemies land some large armies on your shores while the boats are being built and your army is not in condition to repel them?

    Rome II: If your army walks to the ocean, transport ships magically appear and they can go anywhere. Put them on double time so they can reach a safe landing zone each turn and you'll never need to build a navy to move your troops. Also, your enemies get free magic transports too, so no point in investing in a Navy to hunt down and destroy theirs. Its just not possible. Just don't worry about it.

    Old Total War:Units have lots of abilities that increase one aspect but sacrifice something else. (Increased defense, decreased movement rate.)

    Rome II:Those abilities are still there, but the vast majority of abilities are new ones that can only be described as "magic". They are all benefit and no downside. (For example, increased rate of fire for missile units, generals can select an tired friendly units and restore them to "fresh" instantly). What archer wouldn't fire as fast as he could just because you hadn't told him too yet? His life is on the line! He's gonna kill as many of the enemy as he can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Worst of all, these super magic bonuses are time limited, but there is no limit to the number of times you use them. So instead of picking the critical moment of battle to use your brief increase in abilities, you have to constantly micro-manage the abilities, waiting for the clock to run out so you can instantly re-enable it. The new SUPER fast pace of the battles also means that managing these abilities well can have a greater impact than actual maneuvering! Winning battles is no longer about good positioning and timing the critical charge, instead its about how fast can you click magic buttons that are associated with different units. Game ruining feature.

    Old Total War: Deploying for battle? The defender can use a large hill or cliff to make a stand, or use woods to conceal units for a small but critical surprise attack. The attacker must read the terrain and try to anticipate how the defender will choose to use it.

    Rome II:Introduced a new battle realism option that limits your view of enemy to the line of sight of your troops. This enables you to use terrain to mask the movements of your army, makes hills more strategic because they reveal more of the battlefield, makes scouting units actually useful on the battlefield, and adds the excellent tension of "Where are they?!?!?" This is all awesome and a change everyone should be excited about.
    Too bad its entirely undercut by the fact that randomly generated flags determine the outcome of the battle. Capture the flag, win the battle. Doesn't matter if you have the larger army. Doesn't matter if you're holding the best hill ever. If the enemy stands on a stupid flag on the other side of the battlefield, you lose and your army is forced to retreat. That hill/forest/ravine perfect for deploying your army and controlling the outcome is now meaningless unless it happens to be near the flag the just kinda pops up out of nowhere for no reason. Worst feature of any strategy game EVER.    … Expand
  11. msamitas
    Sep 14, 2013
    0
    All 100 & 10 points are nonsense.
    AI is terrific and there are so many graphical issues. AI armies are not fighting just hanging around.
    Play Shogun II or Civ 5 instead.
  12. Skipnipper
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    So so angry & so disappointed. This has to be the worst game in the franchise by quite some way. Useless AI coupled with terrible design and game play choices make this a complete waste of not only your time, but also your hard earned money. I can sincerely say with hand on heart that the company's involved in creating this turd deserve to go bankrupt. I cannot put into words the utterSo so angry & so disappointed. This has to be the worst game in the franchise by quite some way. Useless AI coupled with terrible design and game play choices make this a complete waste of not only your time, but also your hard earned money. I can sincerely say with hand on heart that the company's involved in creating this turd deserve to go bankrupt. I cannot put into words the utter contempt I feel for them right now. PLEASE ignore ANY positive reviews, as they are obviously from paid shills.… Expand
  13. Alekseyev79
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wow, this Game is such a failure compared to previous titles. I had such High hopes and this game broke my wallet and my heart. No refunds for opened pc games. not even when they are garbage. I could say heaps, but bad AI, Bad UI, Bad Management. etc. Game has been destroyed in every way. The Great looking soldiers are not enough.… Expand
  14. Badajoz95
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    And I promised never to pre-purchase again... and this is exactly why. Great game history. I've bought every Total War previously but Total War: Rome 2 has SO many faults it is basically unplayable for a rewarding experience. Worst is the fact that the AI is completely broken for battles, so broken that the game is essentially completely broken.
  15. Hunter555888
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    Horrible everything. Its another Empire total war, but dont get me wrong I love the total war series (excluding now Rome 2 and empire.) It has horrible amount of bugs and horrible Ai. This is just a mini review, watch videos on youtube for more indepth review of Rome 2. Youtube: Total War: Rome II Angry Review by AngryShowJoe, really depicts the worst of Rome 2.
  16. cleavland
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    They copied the AI, lack of collision physics, and monotonous city-building from Empire and tacked it onto this mess. SAVE YOUR 60-70 BUCKS! The troubles start when the game crashes for no good reason and the how user interface became downgraded to the point of being patronizing. NO MORE CUSTOM FORMATIONS!?. Massive lag on the campaign map with 100+ factions together taking 1+ minute on anThey copied the AI, lack of collision physics, and monotonous city-building from Empire and tacked it onto this mess. SAVE YOUR 60-70 BUCKS! The troubles start when the game crashes for no good reason and the how user interface became downgraded to the point of being patronizing. NO MORE CUSTOM FORMATIONS!?. Massive lag on the campaign map with 100+ factions together taking 1+ minute on an optimum gaming computer to finish the turn, then there's the battle lag... This game was pushed to release and I have a feeling that the talent who actually make the game did not have a say in the matter as no self-respecting programmer should accept money for selling such a broken and falsely-advertised product. The punch-line being that some empty-greedy suit decided to do some DLC whoring by announcing DLC BEFORE the game was released. If money is no object, buy the first Rome Total War and this one, play them both and you will find a perfect example of what has gone wrong with gaming within the past 10 years.… Expand
  17. Vorlon66
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    This is a disgracefully incomplete & flawed game incomplete, bugged, poorly designed & broken. The list of faults with this game are so long a review cannot begin to enumerate them. Effectively you are being asked to pay to Alpha Test a game that is, at best, 6 to 7 months away from being release ready.

    However I doubt even modders will be able to salvage this game and even after bug    This is a disgracefully incomplete & flawed game incomplete, bugged, poorly designed & broken. The list of faults with this game are so long a review cannot begin to enumerate them. Effectively you are being asked to pay to Alpha Test a game that is, at best, 6 to 7 months away from being release ready.

    However I doubt even modders will be able to salvage this game and even after bug fixes and AI tweaks it is hard to see how this will ever be more than a below average game. A major disappointment and a salutary warning to all consumers not to pre-order PC/Console games and facilitate the industries appalling recent record on incomplete releases (and don’t even get me started on DLCs).

    In its present state it is the equivalent of buying a book with attractive covers, a contents page, an introduction with a missing end paragraph, a few incomplete chapters & the rest of the content completely missing.

    The Specifics as a veteran of thousands of hours for all of the Total War Games and having logged 20 painful & frustrating hours on this game quite simple Rome II is incomplete and broken. The issues have been identified on many of the reviews but here are a few of the lowlights:

    1. Performance Issues well documented. Fortunately I have a high end gaming spec so these graphics & loading problems have not been an issue for me. However, even with AI moves turned off it takes a very long time to process a turn (even early on in a campaign you have time to get up & put the kettle on). Naturally it gets longer to process as more goes on in the game leading to excessive waiting time.

    2. The Campaign AI is too passive even at the highest difficulty level it will sit as you set up and then pulverize their faction, perversely, it will launch suicide attacks against city garrisons it can never hope to win. Coupled with some game design changes (naval moves, recruitment changes, extended range of armies, limits on armies available, tech development, & construction) it makes the strategic level shallow, boring and far too predictable.

    3. The Battle AI (again at highest difficulty level) is not only too passive it is also broken. In one AI initiated joint Land & Naval attack after I had defeated the land force (in about 3 minutes) the Naval based reinforcements (although greatly outnumbering me by nearly 3 to 1) stayed on their ships refusing to move. I had to fast forward the game to end it and claim the victory (time to actually make the cup of tea!). The AI will send troops forward and then withdraw them in endless loops while being showered by missiles and destroyed. It will mindlessly attack choke points (such as encampment entrances), allow itself to be surrounded and charged in the flanks even when it has a 3 to 1 numerical superiority.

    4. Naval battles totally broken Transport ships too powerful, AI is stupid, interface buttons often don’t work

    5. Diplomacy hopeless. AI makes unrealistic & stupid demands and will not accept even the most rational of offers. Diplomacy has always been tricky in Strategy games but diplomacy in Rome II is a major backwards step. You won’t achieve the requisite goals for a Cultural/Diplomatic/Economic victory so don’t bother trying.

    6. Battles There are numerous graphic glitches, cohesive battles formations are non existent as soon as contact is made, troops move too fast, skirmishing & missile fire is ineffective due to unit speeds, and the (questionable & frankly arcade-like) special unit abilities are almost never useable as battles usually take no more than 5 minutes (longest battle was 10 minutes with roughly 30-35 units per side).

    7. User Interface inconsistent application of the interface, buttons & toggles often don’t work (record of 7 presses to make one “in battle” button work), standard interface tools (closing boxes, highlighting selected options, hyperlinks) are often absent or non-existent. The Encyclopedia is poorly designed and lacking indexing and cross referencing.

    Very soon after the campaign starts you will be auto-resolving everything as the battles & sieges are completely pointless, characterless & lack any tactical challenge. This leaves you with a non existence real –time battle component & a slightly below average strategy game. For every good design choice made in this game (there are a few minor ones) there are probably 2 or 3 bad ones.

    Buyers should be demanding money back (I will be) & suppliers like Amazon asking for compensation from the publisher for providing a defective product.    … Expand
  18. klungo
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    This is not a total war game. This is basically just starcraft with roman legions. Battles end within a few minutes and nearly every unit has some stupid arcade like "special ability" that gives them some magical damage boost or faster running speed. Units run and perform actions like throwing javelins way too fast and you can have your men run extremely long distances without gettingThis is not a total war game. This is basically just starcraft with roman legions. Battles end within a few minutes and nearly every unit has some stupid arcade like "special ability" that gives them some magical damage boost or faster running speed. Units run and perform actions like throwing javelins way too fast and you can have your men run extremely long distances without getting tired.

    The game also places a hug emphasis on capture the flag battles now. Open land battles consist of rushing magical flags to win instead of using your brain to rout the enemy and run them down. Units also dissolve into mindless mosh pits as soon as they reach the enemy. The guard mode is gone so good luck trying to keep your men in formation to set up proper battle lines. Family trees(one of the best features in any total war game) is also gone and replaced with some shallow "internal politics" system that has no impact on the game whatsoever since the game will just fart out generals endlessly for you to use no matter what.

    0/10
    Worst total war game ever.
    This makes empire look like a masterpiece and I will never buy another total war game again until CA gets their together. If you want a real total war game then go play classic Rome or Medieval 2.

    P.S. WTF were you thinking CA by hiring Richard Beddow instead of Jeff van Dyck? The empire and napoleon soundtracks composed by Beddow were boring as and it clearly shows in Rome 2 with it's generic monotone music that doesn't build up to anything. Jeff's music is what brings life to the total war series and the game feels dead without it, no matter how good the game is in other regards.    … Expand
  19. mehican
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    I was very excited for this game, and expected the very best from CA, however what I got was a bad, unfinished and dumbed down game. The main issue I found during the first couple of days was how horrible the AI is, and being a primarily single player game I had expected a more appropriate AI skill, besides the fact that my fairly new upgraded pc had some performance issues.There are justI was very excited for this game, and expected the very best from CA, however what I got was a bad, unfinished and dumbed down game. The main issue I found during the first couple of days was how horrible the AI is, and being a primarily single player game I had expected a more appropriate AI skill, besides the fact that my fairly new upgraded pc had some performance issues.There are just far too many issues and I highly recommend you wait or simply not buy this.… Expand
  20. marcelklein88
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    I am so angry about this game.
    Instead of finishing the development and THEN releasing it, the just throw it at the people and say "ok we will give you a 5GB Update every week from now on"-until it' s finished in 2045.
    And I won't comment on the 100GB Steam donwload you need to do first. And how big my hate against Steam is. I have sent the game back although I registered the key.    I am so angry about this game.
    Instead of finishing the development and THEN releasing it, the just throw it at the people and say "ok we will give you a 5GB Update every week from now on"-until it' s finished in 2045.

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

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

    I was happy when they released it but NOOOO it's unplayable and makes my PC go nuts.    … Expand
  21. dizzel679
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    I am a huge fan of total war series and I pre-ordered this game as soon as it became possible. What can I say after I've tried it? It's horrible! I've payed 54 euros to participate in a beta-test and developers don't even admit that there's something wrong with the game. The AI is not just stupid and not even absent-minded, it's glitchy, buggy, call it whatever you like! Bugs follow meI am a huge fan of total war series and I pre-ordered this game as soon as it became possible. What can I say after I've tried it? It's horrible! I've payed 54 euros to participate in a beta-test and developers don't even admit that there's something wrong with the game. The AI is not just stupid and not even absent-minded, it's glitchy, buggy, call it whatever you like! Bugs follow me everywhere, performance is just poor on a machine which runs Shogun 2 Ultra with around 20 FPS(with antialising and all other stuff maxed out). And while that's going to be patched eventually, the ugly interface and retarded gameplay will remain forever. Very, very dissapointing.… Expand
  22. Joye15
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    The biggest problem with this game (beside all bugs, and that it feels more like an alpha) is that it is not a strategy game any more!

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

    This is beyond patching!

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Thus this game gets 0 as a strategy.

    But if you are looking for an arcade i give it 7.5/10. Players who care only about graphic and arcade like battles will enjoy this game.    … Expand
  23. Bovara
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    This game invested heavily in marketing and advertising and made well documented highly hyped promises. It has massively under delivered on those promises. Graphics, AI and game play are well below what they promised, leaving many fans very disappointed. Yes it looks great, if you aren't suffering the numerous bugs and technical issues, which suggests it should have been more thoroughlyThis game invested heavily in marketing and advertising and made well documented highly hyped promises. It has massively under delivered on those promises. Graphics, AI and game play are well below what they promised, leaving many fans very disappointed. Yes it looks great, if you aren't suffering the numerous bugs and technical issues, which suggests it should have been more thoroughly tested. The AI at release is awful units brake formation the minute the engage in combat and it turns in to a mob. Battles take 6 minutes for me on average and that is hardly any time at all for any strategy, or enjoyment. There are no family trees and worse one or two line pre battle speeches. Both of which rip much of the character and depth out of the game. What shocked me was the ability to make post Marian units after one building upgrade over a hundred years before it occured. They have really stripped the game down and made it very fast and simplistic. Things I would expect in an action console game. Sadly this is more flash than substance. For a strategy game and total war title it will disappoint those who have played previous title from the catalogue. We can only hope they learn from the mistakes on this game and return to the elements that have made them so popular in the next game. Unfortunately that is likely to be 3 or 4 years away. I have to agree with other reviewers this scores a zero for me not just because it fails to live up to expectation or advertising, that is nothing new. It is as others have said hardly a strategy game atall.… Expand
  24. dasjefe
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    Sega and CA are at it again. Wait a year and buy R2 for 20 bucks. It might be fixed by then, but it probably still won't be as good as previous Total War titles. The franchise is going the wrong direction. Things are getting dumbed down and the hardware, stability, and AI issues are worse than ever.
  25. Sky-Moondrift
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    As a massive fan of TW games I can honestly say this is the worst one by far. The UI is counter-intuitive, looks and feels sluggish and horrible. Much of the options and technical depth has been stripped away in favor of the more casual and/or brain dead gamer. Accessing important information involves you clicking on a bunch of crappy looking icons that all look the same, only to find outAs a massive fan of TW games I can honestly say this is the worst one by far. The UI is counter-intuitive, looks and feels sluggish and horrible. Much of the options and technical depth has been stripped away in favor of the more casual and/or brain dead gamer. Accessing important information involves you clicking on a bunch of crappy looking icons that all look the same, only to find out there is no information there anyway.

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

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

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

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

    It's a mass-marketed console orientated, dumbed-down, over-priced, half-finished mess, And whats more they release this game with a pre-release DLC which gives you (core) factions that should have already been included in the base game.    … Expand
  26. DAVstep
    Sep 19, 2013
    0
    Three weeks has gone and it's still unplayable. I am not even talking about the AI now, no the fps is so low that even on low graphics it still is on 15/10 fps. The graphics are also horrible, even on ultra. The god damn textures are so bad that it doesn't matter if I zoom in on the battlefield or out, I can never see anything because of the flickering mess. The trees doesn't even lookThree weeks has gone and it's still unplayable. I am not even talking about the AI now, no the fps is so low that even on low graphics it still is on 15/10 fps. The graphics are also horrible, even on ultra. The god damn textures are so bad that it doesn't matter if I zoom in on the battlefield or out, I can never see anything because of the flickering mess. The trees doesn't even look like trees but just an orgy of ugly lines.

    The price was already very high in my opinion, and I can't even play it, this was the biggest waste of money I have ever put on a video-game.    … Expand
  27. Just_The_Tip
    Sep 19, 2013
    0
    GIVE 59 HOMELESS PEOPLE A DOLLAR TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE! instead of spending that money on this game, it would be more enjoyable.

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

    A re-skinned version of the older version would have been OK, but they actually destroyed the merits of the older version as well it almost like they took their inspiration from the "Producer's" and were trying to make the worst possible game in existence to see if it would be a hit. Congratulations team CA you did it, and I hope you all get fired for it.    … Expand
  28. Numinex
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    A travesty. Shame on you CA. Learn from Stardock and do something to compensate the people who pre-purchased this grossly sub-standard product. This has done much damage to a well-respected franchise.
  29. druout1944
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    Diplomacy is horribly broken. Every Rome campaign I've started results in the entire map going to war with me sooner rather than later (attacked by 9-12 countries with your new army cap is not fun, especially when making allies is impossible 99% of the time) Trade is broken, it only works if they ask you or you pay them a ton of money. Battle engine glitches, game stutters on campaign mapDiplomacy is horribly broken. Every Rome campaign I've started results in the entire map going to war with me sooner rather than later (attacked by 9-12 countries with your new army cap is not fun, especially when making allies is impossible 99% of the time) Trade is broken, it only works if they ask you or you pay them a ton of money. Battle engine glitches, game stutters on campaign map and siege maps (AI pathing incompetence still crushing computers since Empire), even after upgrading from GTX 260 1.792 GB to GTX 660 3GB. Transports the equal of warships, fail. Routing units are almost impossible to kill. There is no possible way that CA tested this without knowing how messed up the game was, too bad they can't be sued for false advertisement. The game is aggravating instead of fun, first time for me since the original Medieval (which I loved). I literally hate playing this game, the last burst of patches did not fix the AI in any noticeable way. $60 is better spent on anything but this. And the fanboy answer of 'it's always like this, so it's ok 'cause the modders and patches will make it better" is a bunch of BS as far as I'm concerned. If someone sold me a rifle that jammed, I wouldn't think, well that's alright I'll just fix it myself or have someone else fix it. Hell no, you advertise and sell a finished product if you care about customer loyalty, well CA lost mine, never buying JS from them ever again.… Expand
  30. wzhou34
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    Confusing building tree
    Confusing tech tree
    Long AI turns
    Poor optimization

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

    Uninstalled after 5 hours
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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