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. VotingForSticks
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Rome 2 is unfortunately a disappointment. Essentially the battles are a disorganized mess and over in 5 minutes. I don't feel I am a general in this game as victory is assured by simply clicking attack, with the scope for strategy and tactics severely limited.

    The strategy map on the other hand is quite easy to deal with, and the strategy AI certainly has improved over Shogun 2. However    Rome 2 is unfortunately a disappointment. Essentially the battles are a disorganized mess and over in 5 minutes. I don't feel I am a general in this game as victory is assured by simply clicking attack, with the scope for strategy and tactics severely limited.

    The strategy map on the other hand is quite easy to deal with, and the strategy AI certainly has improved over Shogun 2. However the user interface is a bit clunky.

    The game as a whole is fairly bug free, however it is poorly optimized. My computer exceeds the recommended specs but still struggles to run this game in the lowest graphical settings. Overall, if you are looking for a good Total War style/strategy game, don't buy this game!    … Expand
  2. Allentrorn99
    Sep 10, 2013
    2
    Such a disappointment since there was so much hype I paid full price, in fact pre purchased and they just over complicated the UI. The new mechanics are horrible. what happened? If you played Shogun 2 this would be considered a big slap to your face. All of these dishonest reviews that hide the fact that it's obviously bugged a lot. No cut scenes to make it immersed like Shogun 2.Such a disappointment since there was so much hype I paid full price, in fact pre purchased and they just over complicated the UI. The new mechanics are horrible. what happened? If you played Shogun 2 this would be considered a big slap to your face. All of these dishonest reviews that hide the fact that it's obviously bugged a lot. No cut scenes to make it immersed like Shogun 2. Creative Assembly said they had 40% more of a budget in this game. I wonder what they spent it on definitely not the game maybe instead on the photo editing they used on the pics they released. Or the trailers maybe even for their hotels or casinos. Everything they said that built up our expectations are lies, ALL OF THEM!!! Well I know these bugs can be patched but they should of known when they released it. It seems Creative Assembly used their interns to do the A.I. Well... "Rome wasn't built in a day," but it seems this game was made in a day.… Expand
  3. Lex_Luger
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    This game has a massive cpu bottleneck. No cpu at stock speed is fast enough to run this game, espeically siege battles involving capitol cities.

    From what i hear this game only uses 4 threads. Hyperthreaded 4 core cpu's run faster with hyperthreading turned off. If the game is bottlenecking on fast 4 core cpu's, dont even think about trying to run this game with 2 core cpu. Also, since    This game has a massive cpu bottleneck. No cpu at stock speed is fast enough to run this game, espeically siege battles involving capitol cities.

    From what i hear this game only uses 4 threads. Hyperthreaded 4 core cpu's run faster with hyperthreading turned off. If the game is bottlenecking on fast 4 core cpu's, dont even think about trying to run this game with 2 core cpu. Also, since game can only use 4 threads, AMD 8000 series FX cpu's dont stand a chance unless overclocked to the moon.

    To put it into perspective, my intel 2500k processor at 4.8 had a bottleneck on the main cpu thread. It was running at 100 percent, with other 3 cores running at about 60 percent. So a intel 2500k at 4.8 isnt fast enough to run siege battle properly in this game.

    What I think happened is the game was compiled with SSE 2.0 instuction set in order to ensure max compatibility. Problem is SSE 4 has been out since 2008 and no cpu that isnt a quad has any business trying to run this game. I think if game was recompilied using the most modern instruction set like AVX, people with high end cpu's should be fine. Of course I could be wrong and game is already using latest cpu instructions, but I doubt it.

    Also Creative Assembly has already come out and blamed AMD and Nvidia for poor graphics drivers, which I believe is completly untrue. Yes, you need new drivers for crossfire and SLI, but single cards wont be seeing massive performance increase from new driver alone. CA has done this many times in the past. Medieval 2 had a problem with blob shadows on Nvidia dx10 hardware. CA came out and blamed nvidia for over a year until finally THEY FIXED the problem with the medieval 2 expansion kingdoms. (and never patched fix into main game)

    It wouldnt be the first game to include a AVX exec, as GRID 2 already has one, and it runs fine.    … Expand
  4. uziel
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    ehhhh.... poor graphics (ugly sometimes water, trees, commanders`s faces), poor performance, too fast foot mobile units, sometimes stupid AI. rest is good
  5. Matrosen
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I have played this series since 2004 and i am shocked this game is so bad.It is essentially a reskinned Shogun II that manages to run worse,look worse and feel worse even when they had a massive amount of money which seems to have went on PR and false reviews

    Firstly the promise of slower grittier battles never happened and battles are so fast they are over in no time at all giving the    I have played this series since 2004 and i am shocked this game is so bad.It is essentially a reskinned Shogun II that manages to run worse,look worse and feel worse even when they had a massive amount of money which seems to have went on PR and false reviews

    Firstly the promise of slower grittier battles never happened and battles are so fast they are over in no time at all giving the user a huge load time wait and feeling underwhelmed.Units are also quite small and unmoddable at around 160 per unit.And the unit movement speeds are just insane with horses running with wild cheetas.There is a huge ugly and intrusive UI blocking most of the up close action when you control 40 units which is supposed to be a huge new feature.    … Expand
  6. tomhardy
    Sep 4, 2013
    5
    The worst gaming experience in my life. Played only few battles, but graphics look worse than tetris and AI sucks. For some reasons game crashed 2 times.Definitely unfinished product

    Now I will give it 4/10 because game needs a patch.
  7. 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!
  8. velvetpetanimal
    Sep 3, 2013
    2
    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.

    2/10 for releasing.

    Glad I paid 60$ for beta testing.
  9. EroOu
    Sep 3, 2013
    4
    As a long time Total War fan, I was disappointed by this title to say the least.
    Unlike some, I have had absolutely no technical problems, and I'm not basing my judgement on something as petty as that. The technical problems always get fixed later.
    However, I found some of the new "features" quite counter intuitive. For example, the amount of armies you can field is limited (this    As a long time Total War fan, I was disappointed by this title to say the least.
    Unlike some, I have had absolutely no technical problems, and I'm not basing my judgement on something as petty as that. The technical problems always get fixed later.

    However, I found some of the new "features" quite counter intuitive. For example, the amount of armies you can field is limited (this penalizes good players who know how to divide their forces and encourages players to rely on mass.) You can no longer divide an army, not without first starting a new one in the nearest town, then moving that close enough to transfer units. If you want to have specific type of unit in your army, you need to start your own FedEx company (and by doing that, you're committing part of your army capacity, just to get the units you want in the front lines.)

    The information was obviously designed for the GUI, not the other way around. Someone thought that making everything small and inconveniently placed (I got standard GUI scale, 1600x1080) was a good idea. For example, the economy summary that used to fit in one page for easy one look glance, is not in a small box with a scrollbar. Same amount of information, horribly inconvenient to access.
    Unit information cards that used to pop up where you howered over with the mouse are now in the far left corner of the screen, whereas the units you're examining are on bottom center. You'll be looking like MeGusta going through your unit capabilities.
    And what about the tech tree? It is divided to 6 branches, just so you wouldn't notice how boring it is. Shogun 2 FotS had interesting tech tree, interesting and diverse technologies, easy one glance look and you could plan it all out. Now you need to go to 6 different branches, and nothing seems worth researching. But I guess that is just my personal opinion. Someone could think that researching {+Income, -Cost} 5 times in a row for agriculture is interesting and diverse tech tree.

    And of course the AI is derping worse than a mad horse on weed. But I trust that will get fixed, eventually.    … Expand
  10. WillensKraft
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    The AI is still not able to attack or defend a Town properly, even on 'Legendary'.
    - AI pathfinding is still up.
    - The optimization is horrible, it looks worse than Shogun2 but the framerate is unacceptable, even on high end rigs that play BF3/Metro 2033/Crysis3/ArmA3 on ultra with mostly over 60 frames. - Day 1 DLC. That is always a negative thing. - Texture bug, selecting "Extreme"    The AI is still not able to attack or defend a Town properly, even on 'Legendary'.
    - AI pathfinding is still up.
    - The optimization is horrible, it looks worse than Shogun2 but the framerate is unacceptable, even on high end rigs that play BF3/Metro 2033/Crysis3/ArmA3 on ultra with mostly over 60 frames.
    - Day 1 DLC. That is always a negative thing.
    - Texture bug, selecting "Extreme" settings does nothing although I have 3GB Vram and yes, I enabled "unlimited Vram" in the settings. Doesn't do ****
    - Round endings/CPU calculations for the AI factions: >2.5min in the mid/late game, this is a problem from Empire TW and hasn't been fixed since then (Empire, Napoleon, Shogun2, FotS). It only gets worse because they increased the factions.
    - No SLI/CFX support.
    - Day 1 patch, releasing unfinished software.
    (-) possible DLCs in the feature.
    - UI is just a massive joke. Is this ment to be played with a Gamepad?! Shogun 2 was good. Don't change what ain't broken CA.
    -Unit cards look as if they hired cavemen to draw them. They look terrible and they are useless if want to know how each unit looks like.
    - Battles take less than 5 minutes, enemys rout after less than a minute after they started fighting.
    - For some reason the Roman Legions turn into massive blobs upon contact although that's what made the Roman army special and superior unlike the barbarian factions.
    -They removed alot of features such as lose or tight formations, hold ground etc
    - Random flag in a ground battle as defender. Who had this brilliant idea?! Imagine You are outnumbered 3:1..what would you do? Go on a Hill and defend it? Oh you can't because there is a ****ing flag randomly spawning, mostly on open ground that changes this great tactical franchise into a capture the flag blob war with no strategy what so ****ing ever.
    - Testudo formation is broken, you take less casulties charging towards the enemy.
    - The campaign AI is just ridiculous, I'm 130 turns in and not a single time someone declared war on me and I don't even bothered building fortifications on my borders. This game is called Total War. Also the trade AI will refuse to accept win-win offers.
    - alot of people who pre-ordered this on amazon don't got their free DLC code. SEGA says it's the retailers fault, they say SEGA never gave them codes.
    - MP is completly broken, desync errors everywhere. We already had this error in Empire.. but it was rare..
    - COOP campaign is unplayable, for some unknown reason the AI turns take almost 3 times longer than in the SP.
    - the free transport ships from the Campaign map are OP compared to expansive Navy ships from your harbour. Just head-on ram them with your transporter and they break!
    - Naval combat in general is unbalanced and bugged.

    As a "true" fan of Rome 1 with over 1500h playtime I am more than disappointed. This is a step backwards from Shogun 2 and even worse than Empire TWs release.

    Sadly I joined the hype and waisted 55€ (~80 USD).    … Expand
  11. Affiliator
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    If one would somehow extract the residue of gold atoms in the sweat of my arm pit and make a tiny gold nugget out of it, it would be worth more than the value of this game right now.

    I am a sweaty man.
  12. ecapone1
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    I WAS a big fan of the total war series (played every game since the first one), but unfortunately although I'm not an expert, I have to admit this game is really bad. AI is no AI at all, multiplayer simply doesn't work, coop campaign neither. CA has released this game far too early. I would have waited another year to get a good game, but THIS game is just UNACCEPTABLE. Goodbye CA.
  13. ChingPowWingWow
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    This is going to be a very detailed review of the game, it was a huge disappointment so far for me. For readabilitys sake this is the things that I (and most other people) hate about the game

    -Retarded AI -Capture Points, The AI will neglect your army and go to the capture points straight and even sometimes break throuh your superior forces -Graphic issues (CA has announced a patch on    This is going to be a very detailed review of the game, it was a huge disappointment so far for me. For readabilitys sake this is the things that I (and most other people) hate about the game

    -Retarded AI
    -Capture Points, The AI will neglect your army and go to the capture points straight and even sometimes break throuh your superior forces
    -Graphic issues (CA has announced a patch on that one though), soldiers faces look incredibly stupid even on ultra
    -Balance Issues (Some factions are so overpowered that there is simply no fun found in battling with or against them)
    -Formations break after a few seconds (Even in phalanx the soldiers will break out of formation and shuffle around the map weirdly)
    -Insane battle speed (The battles are over even faster than in Shogun 2, I had no battle over 10 minutes so far)
    -Immersive Feeling Lost (No family tree, Recruitable generals, etc.)
    -Bugs (Roman units can't throw pila except when attacking, Phalanx units can't attack or will go out of phalanx)
    -Ridiculously bad UI (It takes up half of your screen and is totally dumbed down, there isn't even loose formation or guard mode!)
    -The power bar is out of control, the balance of forces is totally against you on the campaign map, but on the battlefield your power bar occupies 90%, what is that?)

    Me and most other people feel this way, I was overly excited. This game stil has some potential though, as long as CA decides to get on their asses and fix all those gamebreaking things.
    I give it a 4/10 as it is right now and will look forward to future patches and user overhauls. I really hope that this game gets fixed, at the moment it is absolutely unplayable for me.    … Expand
  14. Jokkie
    Sep 8, 2013
    2
    The only people who like this game are the same type of people that liked Star Wars: Episode I when it came out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    ::No guard mode or loose formation.

    ::No faction intro or agent videos.

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

    I could go on and on.

    Save your money. This isn't a kick starter project. I put a score of 2 for the cool animations, which is pretty much the only enjoyment I got out of this beta mix alpha.    … Expand
  15. supercrackpuppy
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    I have waited years for this game ever since it's announcement and i am surly disappointed we have the modern version of empire total war it sucks. Where to begin they have taken out core features of the total war franchise i can't move army's and units independent of generals on the campaign map anymore. Therefore i can not leave a garrison force in cities to protect them i have lost 2I have waited years for this game ever since it's announcement and i am surly disappointed we have the modern version of empire total war it sucks. Where to begin they have taken out core features of the total war franchise i can't move army's and units independent of generals on the campaign map anymore. Therefore i can not leave a garrison force in cities to protect them i have lost 2 cities to this already. You have a max number of armys and they all need generals the new imperium system sucks. As-long as my economy can support them i should be able to have as many army's as i dame well please. Also not mentioning the Ai is not effected bye this system at all i found myself the roman empire only able to have 4 army's while a 1 province county is sporting 6 massive army's. Now lets get to the technical stuff the game is poorly optimized. I have a 2600k i7 quad core a gtx 660 ti and 6 gigs of ram pretty standard mid range build. The optimization is so bad that i cannot run the game on anything higher than low without getting under ten frames. And get this on low i am lucky if i hold 20 to 25 frames not to mention constant lag spikes. I have had units run through enemy units and not engage there was one battle were i could not get my units to engage they were not routing they would not move. I have also experienced major texture issues and before anyone asks no my graphics card is not having artafacting this only occurs in Rome 2. Overall i am extremely disappointed and this game was over hyped and is not worth 60 in it's current state. Most of the technical issues will be fixed after a year of patches. At this point i am so fed up and want a refund. I will now go play other strategy games that surpass this like erurope universallis IV and Hearts of iron 3. Also on a side note i am a vet to the total war series i have been hear since shogun total war the first one… Expand
  16. Bangell
    Sep 3, 2013
    2
    This is not a game this is a beta. With optimisation issues that make it unplayable more often than not, Rome 2 is so broken it's a disgrace it was allowed to be released in this state. Aside from the frankly game-breaking performance issues, the gameplay is a real step down from previous titles. The AI is as incompetent as ever. The campaign map has been taken in completely the wrongThis is not a game this is a beta. With optimisation issues that make it unplayable more often than not, Rome 2 is so broken it's a disgrace it was allowed to be released in this state. Aside from the frankly game-breaking performance issues, the gameplay is a real step down from previous titles. The AI is as incompetent as ever. The campaign map has been taken in completely the wrong direction, with all areas of gameplay dumbed down, and soul-sapping load times rubbing it in. Battles are simply no fun to play. Combat is resolved in minutes, with units destroying each other near-instantaneously. The array of stupid unit abilities emphasises the arcade-like nature of the battles.

    I won't go into the host of minor complaints with the game. Creative Assembly have released an unfinished product that you SHOULD NOT BUY. Those of us who have bought the game now wait for CA to fix the performance issues and independent modders to fix the gameplay. You decide for yourself if this is the state a game should be in at release, and whether this is the sort of product that you should pay for.    … Expand
  17. rotwfighter
    Sep 3, 2013
    3
    The reviewing companies were obviously paid off. What CA has released is a bug riddled, unoriginal waste of hard disk space. The few positive changes made by Shogun 2 have been reverted, high end systems can't even play it (not because of graphical requirements but because of some error), AI is broken-- as usual to the point where non aggression pacts or trade agreements are basicallyThe reviewing companies were obviously paid off. What CA has released is a bug riddled, unoriginal waste of hard disk space. The few positive changes made by Shogun 2 have been reverted, high end systems can't even play it (not because of graphical requirements but because of some error), AI is broken-- as usual to the point where non aggression pacts or trade agreements are basically impossible to negotiate. All in all, it's the same old wine in a new bottle. I'm off to play the Shogun 2 Sekigahara campaign till patches fix Rome 2. See you all in 2014.… Expand
  18. harry74
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    After playing all day I need to admit that this game is very different what developers promised. Optimization doesnt exist at and graphics look not great. Gameplay is very messy and many things just missing. I regret preordering this game. I was fooled by their marketing campaign.
  19. 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
  20. Woopya
    Sep 7, 2013
    0
    Let me start by saying I am a fan of the previous TW games for about 5 years. This however, barely qualifies. They tried to streamline the game and failed miserably. Since getting the game a couple days ago they have patched more than a couple times. I would like to be clear here: if your game is not ready to be played, don't release it. This game is full of bugs. Most notably the game hasLet me start by saying I am a fan of the previous TW games for about 5 years. This however, barely qualifies. They tried to streamline the game and failed miserably. Since getting the game a couple days ago they have patched more than a couple times. I would like to be clear here: if your game is not ready to be played, don't release it. This game is full of bugs. Most notably the game has a nice little feature where out of nowhere it "alt tabs" out of the game. This is not something only I am experiencing either. It wouldn't be a problem if you could simply alt tab back, but often you cannot.

    As for the game itself, wow I don't know what to say. In my heart I think that they realized they should try to hurry this game out prior to the new consoles systems due out in a couple months. I am not sure why because traditional TW fans would not be affected by consoles. I feel when Im playing it that the various nation "campaigns" are a lot more scripted than previous games and I hate it. It ruins replayablity. I kept Medieval Tw on my Comp for years and loves Shogun 2. I would play either 1 of those with my butt cheeks before I would play this money grab garbage. Releases this bad ruin great titles and make customers like me not want to trust those developers again.    … Expand
  21. m0ngy
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Well, I've been (trying to) play this for a day and a night, and I can officially confirm this game is an absolute POS. I don't even had too many technical problems, a few, but my opinion is based solely on the experience of the game thus far. Here are some of my observations;

    i. Where the hell are the seasons? Even Rome I had seasons, and that was ten years ago! ii. OK, so the turns    Well, I've been (trying to) play this for a day and a night, and I can officially confirm this game is an absolute POS. I don't even had too many technical problems, a few, but my opinion is based solely on the experience of the game thus far. Here are some of my observations;

    i. Where the hell are the seasons? Even Rome I had seasons, and that was ten years ago!

    ii. OK, so the turns advance a whole year, which means my generals drop like flies. Just when they increase rank and you think they're getting somewhere, boom, they're dead. Awesome... NOT!

    iii. Battle are just blob on blob, there's far less battle strategy than I've ever seen in any TW game, and I've been playing since the original Shogun. They just end up in a huge, blob on blob sh!t fight, where's the strategy in that??

    iv. Do units get tired anymore? Who knows, they've dropped that all altogether!

    v. Do units slow down according to the terrain? Apparently not, because they appear to advance up hills at lightning speed. Gone are the days of having a decent missile squad up the hill raining death, great, how fun?

    vi. The new interface for combining units is appallingly bad, who the hell thought this garbage up? What was wrong with dragging and dropping, how can you go wrong with that? What where you thinking CA, FFS??

    vii. Again, what the hell is up with food? I'm a master of Civ, the only compatible game. One of the best things about Civ is you know what you're going to get when you build something, or neglect to build something, it's all right there in the numbers. In Rome II, indeed most TW games, the 'economy' and 'food' remain completely ephemeral. You don't really have clue what's going on most of the time. Instead of planning your economy and carefully balancing your unit count with building upgrades, you're just running around fixing things after the fact, the entire time. Oh, that cities unhappy and the citizens are rioting, for no apparent reason! Who knows why these things happen in the TW universe, they just do, and there's sweet FA you can do to pre-empt it. This entirely reactionary approach means you're spending most of your time putting out spot fires, so to speak, instead of getting down to business and taking territory.

    viii. The 'help tool' or dictionary isn't very helpful either.

    ix. The unit cards are garbage, just more poorly presented, useless information.

    x. And the AI... LOL, the poor old AI... I actually feel sorry for it, I really do. I'd buy this AI flowers and give it a hug, God knows it needs one. Easily the worst AI of any TW game I've ever seen, and that's saying something.

    xi. No guard mode! WTF? How the hell could they have removed guard mode? So, now my units will midlessly chase down fleeing enemy instead of holding formation with the rest of my army? Great, more micro management, and they're actually saying the AI's improved in the marketing spiel? Can I get my money back for false advertising? I'd upload this crap back to Steam if I could.

    xii. Very limited armies and units. In every other TW game you could field as many units and armies as your population could support, which was a lot. You could also divide up your armies as you liked; leave half to garrison the town, and take the rest out on an expedition to scout around... Not anymore, none of it, it's all gone, everything has been simplified specifically to cater for idiot noobs. What a sick joke.

    I could go on... and on... it's a HUGE step back from Shogun II, a massive, unfathomable dumbing-down for casual gamers. All the years of technical and gameplay innovation and that led up to and was perfectly distilled in Shogun II is GONE. It's just GONE, forget about it, it may as well have never happened.

    You know, there's a reason why EA has 'won' the worst corporation in America award two years in a row. They're greedy scum, and this is a prefect example. They've simply rehashed the old Rome, jazzed-up the graphics a bit, screwed-up the interface (severely), and sold it as something new. EA/CA have clearly attempted to 'casualize' one of the few remaining strategy franchises that had any depth, any soul left at all. Gone are the layers of depth and refinement forged over so many years and various iterations, in favour of streamlining and easy conversion to Xbox One. I mean, really, we all shoulda seen it coming, it was only a matter of time.

    Well, shame on you CA for releasing this un-optimized filth, and shame on me for falling for the unbelievable marketing hype surrounding this absolute POS game.

    Please, don't buy this game. Don't reward CA/EA for treating their customers like mugs and releasing a half finished product simply because they know we'll buy it. I pre-ordered it, but you have the benefit of reading posts and review such as this, honest reviews, not the paid-off drivel spouted by so many 'professional' review sites. Just don't do it, have some self control.

    I'm going to try and get a refund through Paypal. Dispute opened...    … Expand
  22. 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!
  23. Pannon
    Jan 2, 2014
    0
    Gamers please, do not listen to paid off "reviewers!"
    Notice the latest trend of "big name" reviewers (gamespot, gamefront,pcgamer,IGN etc) are LYING right into your face with their bought and paid game reviews. They are corrupt and they are not telling the truth. It seem to become a trend now, forcing thousands off their websites who doesn't agree and keep lying! They are paid off by    Gamers please, do not listen to paid off "reviewers!"
    Notice the latest trend of "big name" reviewers (gamespot, gamefront,pcgamer,IGN etc) are LYING right into your face with their bought and paid game reviews. They are corrupt and they are not telling the truth. It seem to become a trend now, forcing thousands off their websites who doesn't agree and keep lying! They are paid off by the companies, who release a mess of codes and call it a game! You are buying trash! You are buying unplayable trash! It's time to punish these companies and their paid off reviewers by not going to their sites and not buying the games! One of the sites just about the name Rome Total War Rome 2 as "Game of the Year" while 4 patches ahead, the game is still unplayable!    … Expand
  24. Beqany
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    I'm a huge fan of total war series I played this series from Shogun total war which was relished in 2001 and I played this series non stop since than. So I thought I would write MY OPINION on this game!

    I just want to say that Rome 2 is the disaster iv been waiting for this game for a long time and its a huge disappointment. Simply to say this game is NOT FINISHED! I would say that    I'm a huge fan of total war series I played this series from Shogun total war which was relished in 2001 and I played this series non stop since than. So I thought I would write MY OPINION on this game!

    I just want to say that Rome 2 is the disaster iv been waiting for this game for a long time and its a huge disappointment. Simply to say this game is NOT FINISHED! I would say that this game is between Alpha and beta stages.

    1) Bad optimization (I think Arma 2 was better optimized than this game )
    2) Stupid Ai Medieval total war 2 had better AI)
    3) Bad UI Just my opinion )
    4) This is my PC Specs i7 4770k 3.5 8gb corsair vengeance Nvidia 770GTx 4gb ssd drive 500gb, and I could not enjoy this game at any graphic settings if you lower the settings, like say medium the game looks worst then medieval total war even on the extreme settings the game still looks bad! and it lags a lot! on any graphic setting!

    5) The units move unrealistically fast when the combat starts and two armies clash at each other you won't be able to make out what is happening with your or enemy units because they just became a large moving blurb on the screen!

    6) Loading times are extremely annoying

    And the list of goes on..............

    I don't understand why people are giving a positive review on this game? this game has a big potential but at this moment it is far away from been finished. By giving it a good reviews you guys are encouraging the game developers to publish the unfinished products!    … Expand
  25. carthoris
    Sep 15, 2013
    1
    Dear customers, you've been brainwashed by the marketing team.At least they're doing their job properly ...but we know its Rome Total MESS !!
    Two steps backwards for the Total War franchise and a well orchestrated PR campaign releasing a broken product that is not fit for purpose like ..robbing people? CA you should be ashamed Not only they have removed features for no other reason than    Dear customers, you've been brainwashed by the marketing team.At least they're doing their job properly ...but we know its Rome Total MESS !!
    Two steps backwards for the Total War franchise and a well orchestrated PR campaign releasing a broken product that is not fit for purpose like ..robbing people? CA you should be ashamed Not only they have removed features for no other reason than to attempt a horrid console cashgrab, but the features that DO remain have been completely dumbed down, broken and ruined.How can you mark a game so highly when its literally a broken game that's unfinished as well as missing all of the series features?How?    … Expand
  26. ironbrigade
    Sep 7, 2013
    1
    The worse battles in any tw series. They added magic special buffs to this game, you click a button and magi adds morale or takes away fatigue, makes unit better at x and o etc. The game is just a click fest and even the largest battles are over in 2-3 minutes. units run around like gazelle,no strategy,no fun.
  27. BongoAch75
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    After I played 10 hours I would say:

    -Bad AI,
    -Little armies,
    -Awful user interface.
    - Boring campaign
    -LAGS

    55€ on steam is absolutely joke.
  28. AmyWalker
    Sep 3, 2013
    3
    Rushed and clearly unfinished, Rome 2 Total War is a disastrous mess.

    The game suffers from countless bugs, terrible AI, awful and inconsistent visuals a poor interface, and some of the worst optimization I've ever seen in a PC game. If you must buy this game do yourself and wait 3-4 months when the bugs have been worked out.
  29. Issoy
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Review is based on the current release:
    Huge letdown and worst TW game ever made rolling on the hype of rome nothing more)
    Horrible UI and Layout: - too big unit cards and info windows (covers nearly 40 of the screen) - no artwork at all (looks like Windows reminds me of dragon age 2) Gameplay: - Poorly optimized waiting for turn to end ... - Poor region information on strat    Review is based on the current release:
    Huge letdown and worst TW game ever made rolling on the hype of rome nothing more)
    Horrible UI and Layout:
    - too big unit cards and info windows (covers nearly 40 of the screen)
    - no artwork at all (looks like Windows reminds me of dragon age 2)
    Gameplay:
    - Poorly optimized waiting for turn to end ...
    - Poor region information on strat map
    - No family tree system
    - Poor tech tree.
    - No Rome era immersion.
    - Next to no tactical possibilites (no guard button, units do not hold lines, super quick battles just charge and forget. Moral system seem to be related to a unit only and does not effect nearby units at all.
    Most battles end in    … Expand
  30. SmokeScreen
    Sep 4, 2013
    1
    I tried liking this game but I just don't, and it looks like I'm not the only one who feels let down by Rome II.

    The graphics look amazing on the highest setting, but for some odd reason my GTX 660 can't handle more than medium graphics which makes the game look A LOT worse than Shogun 2, Napoleon and even Empire. Which doesn't make sense right?? I have no idea why that is, but it    I tried liking this game but I just don't, and it looks like I'm not the only one who feels let down by Rome II.

    The graphics look amazing on the highest setting, but for some odd reason my GTX 660 can't handle more than medium graphics which makes the game look A LOT worse than Shogun 2, Napoleon and even Empire. Which doesn't make sense right?? I have no idea why that is, but it really takes away from the whole experience.

    Biggest issue I have with the game though is the battles. In sieges no matter if you are attacking or defending the AI doesn't move, or if they do they just run around in circles...plane and simple, yet again the AI is beyond stupid.

    I don't like where CA took the Total War series with Shogun 2, it was just too arcadish for my taste. CA promised this wouldn't be the case with Rome II, but here we are...most of my battles are over in 4 minutes and it's like watching Usain Bolt when the units are running.

    This game is big disappointment.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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