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. DylanMBlaine
    Nov 11, 2013
    1
    Terrible game in every sense; 1/10. The game is worse than its predecessors and yet it was developed with a larger budget. The AI system is horrible to the point where if it were the only problem, which it is not, it alone would be a game breaking feature that earns the game a score of 0/10. This artificial "intelligence" provides no form of challenge to the player on even the highestTerrible game in every sense; 1/10. The game is worse than its predecessors and yet it was developed with a larger budget. The AI system is horrible to the point where if it were the only problem, which it is not, it alone would be a game breaking feature that earns the game a score of 0/10. This artificial "intelligence" provides no form of challenge to the player on even the highest difficulty level (when playing as Rome, the faction that the game is named after and pretty much about). I could go on and on about the AI, such as how it is unable to use siege equipment (YES! That's right, the AI doesn't even know how to use siege equipment, so you either auto-resolve or play the battle and feel like you cheated), but as I said it is not the only problem and the others deserve a mention. Other problems like the game not launching, AI turns taking so long that a multiplayer campaign is nearly impossible to endure, and the fact that the AI sends all their troops into small divisions and sails them around just asking to be sunk while you steamroll through their cities on the hardest difficulty, I know I promised to move on from the AI but it's just so pathetic! Every employee that even touched the AI in development should be fired and shunned from the PC gaming industry. Let them go develop the next COD for xbox, at least there they won't be found out for the fraud that they are because the children that are their customers won't even realize that they've been scammed for years to come.… Expand
  2. Andddreass
    Nov 25, 2013
    0
    This game is buggy as hell, the coop is broken beyond belief, it freezes regularly and sometimes crashes after a battle. Whatever you do, do not buy this game, the developers doesn't deserve money for this game, go and download it from Piratebay instead.
  3. BillyBobSusanMa
    Dec 4, 2013
    0
    My review is somewhat limited because I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO PLAY A SINGLE BATTLE since the prologue, now before you wonder i do have a top gaming Rig that far surpasses even the recommended specs yet every time i choose to fight a battle the effing game crashes? its so frustrating!

    To play this game at all i'm forced to auto-resolve every battle and just play the campaign map,    My review is somewhat limited because I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO PLAY A SINGLE BATTLE since the prologue, now before you wonder i do have a top gaming Rig that far surpasses even the recommended specs yet every time i choose to fight a battle the effing game crashes? its so frustrating!

    To play this game at all i'm forced to auto-resolve every battle and just play the campaign map,

    Diplomacy? what the hell again, you have more chance of winning the lottery that making a trade agreement with a friendly faction never mind forging an alliance, i receive declarations of war from factions that i've never even met or had any dealings with and trying to broker peace is impossible even when you are far more powerful than your opponent.

    Spy's & Diplomats OK, but champions WTF is that? a single Guy can just wonder into Rome and beat the out of an entire legionary army? please i know its a game but there needs to some plausibility

    Walls? whoever decided doing away with walls needs shooting,

    Rebellions & Slave revolts -this is the core of the game because its what i seem to spend all my time auto-resolving, it seems impossible to keep the population happy, every building built every town garrisoned, plenty of food and they still revolt every other turn, its just ridiculous,

    I'am very very disappointed in what Sega and the CA have offered up, it basically looks like Medieval 2 and plays.....? well it doesn't does it,

    You really have to wonder about the seemingly massive disconnect between the "Professional" reviews and the reviews of the buying public, it really does raise issues about the credibility of these fellows, its obvious from the thousand of negative reviews that this game is a broken piece of crap, giving this game review scores of 85-90% is just insulting to peoples intelligence,

    Never again, I'm going back to Darth Mod Empire, this piece of Crap, Sega and the CA wont see a dollar from me again.    … Expand
  4. aoetje
    Nov 8, 2013
    0
    A perfect example on how NOT to treat your customers...

    Releasing unfinished game that looks worse than previous instalment but boasts the opposite? Ridiculous approach. Very poor optimization...the campaign map...waiting for other factions movement takes up 90% of your time...we did not pay to sit around waiting to play... Multiplayer desync problems. Avoid...unless you are    A perfect example on how NOT to treat your customers...

    Releasing unfinished game that looks worse than previous instalment but boasts the opposite? Ridiculous approach.

    Very poor optimization...the campaign map...waiting for other factions movement takes up 90% of your time...we did not pay to sit around waiting to play...

    Multiplayer desync problems.

    Avoid...unless you are very patient and loaded...    … Expand
  5. Cloud7
    Oct 1, 2013
    3
    I'm surprised at all the dishonest critic reviews. Surely we didn't play the same game? "This is not an easy game and require a learning curve" What?! This is by FAR the easiest Total War game I've ever played and the only Total War game that is a complete walk in the park on legendary. It's a joke. Nothing but a rushed poorly optimized game at the moment. Depending on your hardware youI'm surprised at all the dishonest critic reviews. Surely we didn't play the same game? "This is not an easy game and require a learning curve" What?! This is by FAR the easiest Total War game I've ever played and the only Total War game that is a complete walk in the park on legendary. It's a joke. Nothing but a rushed poorly optimized game at the moment. Depending on your hardware you will get pretty much the same exact FPS whether you have all settings on very high or the lowest possible settings. I will be honest and say I do like the concept that they had here, with how the UI was designed and innovative from the past Total War games. But besides that this game has nothing to offer in it's current state. The campaign map is still unplayable for some players, someone would be lucky to average over 25 frames. The player will normally dread ending his/her turn because not being able to get over 15 frames when waiting for over 100 factions (although I do like competing with a large amount of factions) is just a terrible experience. I found myself ending my turn and physically leaving to go do something in the mean time, it was that bad. This is all after CA's patch 2.0 (patch 3 beta is just a broken mess from what I've heard). The naval battles are still broken. I experienced a battle where all of the enemies routed off map but one unit couldn't leave the map. It seemed as if an invisible force field wouldn't let the enemy off the map despite me using all 4 of my units left to ram the unit (which was invincible at this point by the way) to try and force it off the map or just destroy it. However after trying to do anything that would let me just win the battle the clock ran out and I LOST. That was honestly one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had, I just couldn't believe it. Another issue I personally experienced is that the AI factions will almost NEVER declare war on you no matter what you do. They possibly might have agents commit actions on you but never more than that unless you declare war on them. If this game was to be properly patched and all of the issues fixed (that won't happen anytime soon) the most this game deserves is a 7/10 bottom line.… Expand
  6. Sergey_Nabrusko
    Oct 1, 2013
    1
    If you will buy this game, you will buy just a part of game: there are some stupid DLC. Is this a game at all? Of course it is not strategy, cause there is no strategy at all: not in global nor multiplayer. Multiplayer in Rome 2 is the worst thing CA ever made: it's unbalanced and not interesting. These british guys prove that they love money.
  7. Rayven
    Oct 1, 2013
    3
    1.) The UI is dumbed down
    2.) The game is poorly optimized
    3.) Numerous bugs
    4.) Loooong campaign load time
    5.) AI is stupid
    6.) Balance of power bar is inaccurate
  8. crimy_x
    Oct 2, 2013
    0
    NO FREAKING SLI SUPPORT! NOT FOR ROME 2 NOT FOR COMPANY OF HEROES 2!!! On top of that the last two game you put out have been buggy, broken low qual games. I am never gonna buy another one of your games.
  9. Iakesm
    Oct 5, 2013
    0
    City management is pathetic. Nothing to do!
    Technology development is for a 2 year old to manage.
    Increase food creates more squalor??? One year per turn and only one season. The enemy is tame as they did not grow and I conquered all of Northern and Easter Europe with 3 armies??? If there is a civil war early on, when one can have only six armies, where does the competitor get 12 full    City management is pathetic. Nothing to do!
    Technology development is for a 2 year old to manage.
    Increase food creates more squalor???
    One year per turn and only one season.
    The enemy is tame as they did not grow and I conquered all of Northern and Easter Europe with 3 armies???
    If there is a civil war early on, when one can have only six armies, where does the competitor get 12 full armies from???
    Then strange things where armies can sail seas without fleets and destroying fleets? What is the use of having fleets???

    Just a bad repackage of the old, with no imagination or ingenuity, making this game a huge disappointment after 8 years of waiting.

    Complete and utter rubbish.    … Expand
  10. genesix32
    Nov 9, 2013
    0
    Rome 1 is one of my highest rated game, and there I was anticipating for how godly Rome 2 would be after the trailer with the graphics, but I spend 60 USD for this bloody piece of junk that is even worser than it predeccessor for almost everything.

    (-) First of all, the AI is outrageously dumb for the campaign as each faction does not try to expand and tries to make alliance which is    Rome 1 is one of my highest rated game, and there I was anticipating for how godly Rome 2 would be after the trailer with the graphics, but I spend 60 USD for this bloody piece of junk that is even worser than it predeccessor for almost everything.

    (-) First of all, the AI is outrageously dumb for the campaign as each faction does not try to expand and tries to make alliance which is useless as when I attack one of them, the rest does not help. Also there are times when I attacked a faction with last city with only the garrison troops, making the most important aspect of the game crappy. Initially when they released the tutoberg forest trailer, I was expecting the campaign to have short cutscenes and evens such as the forest ambush.

    (-) Next, the building and economic. Rome 1 building and layout was simply beautiful (Amphitheather, Cohort Barracks) with each aspect to building being really realistic when gave me a sense of building a great empire, Rome 2? Step 1, Building the god damn farm followed by town temple economy building which seems like I am playing a small kids game. The province system sucks especially which completely robs away the empire building fun.

    (+) The only thing that was good in rome 2, The graphics for the campaign map, the campaign map for Rome 2 really uses high-end graphics, however the trade off would be how realisticness of the distance of city as each city is only 1 turn far away from each other and upon expanding it is even easier to invade a nearby city. Just a little bit of tweaking would make it perfect.

    (-) I'm not a battle crazy fan so I wont go into details, firstly when zoom out the units looked more like bunch of black ants running across my screen than armies, I rather they used Rome 1 unit collision. Next is the siege where the same bug requires all units to climb the ladder before they are able to move properly.
    one improvement to be made for the siege could be to have AI controlling a part of the army to assault another wall to take advantage of multiple capture points, also multiple ladders should be able to assault the same walls and all tower should have peasant to should (killable) as the tower is like a complete rape.

    Seriously this game seems like created by a bunch of who cant make game as I am able to list out all these problems in the game. Its like being promised to see heaven yet was given hell.

    CA really needs the help of modders to save this game by giving them the power to mod the game. As for the AI this is my opinion that a randomising engine can be added to the game code in complement to the possible actions AI may take (lets say skirmishing has 40% success rate while going all out has 60%, the engine may choose skirmishing and further randomising causes the butterfly effect where AI uses a good tactic.

    I am really interested in help this game become better but I do not have any programming skills, my strengths would be coming out with ideas to help improve the game, if I can be of any help do PM me    … Expand
  11. gandalf55
    Nov 9, 2013
    0
    Best my game Empire Total War and Shogun Total War
    Rome 2 Total War not normal total war its another game. I am very disappointed that I bought the game.
  12. John_Sterling
    Dec 4, 2013
    0
    50 hours of play on patch 7. The AI makes me feel as if I'm playing Risk against my 8 years old cousin. Fun at first but quickly boring. There is no reason for any of its actions. I'm not even mad about the money I wasted, I'm just really sad. I had really been looking forward to this. This was supposed to be the game that kept me entertained for years like Rome 1. Every time I think about50 hours of play on patch 7. The AI makes me feel as if I'm playing Risk against my 8 years old cousin. Fun at first but quickly boring. There is no reason for any of its actions. I'm not even mad about the money I wasted, I'm just really sad. I had really been looking forward to this. This was supposed to be the game that kept me entertained for years like Rome 1. Every time I think about it I feel like Obi Wan, "You were supposed to be the chosen one" Just Sad… Expand
  13. gjgfjgfjgfjjgfj
    Apr 8, 2014
    0
    Utterly and entirely disappointing experience . A broken game months after release. The product released 10 years ago by the same developers was 10 times better. This is such an abysmal product its hard to put into words.
  14. Panopticon
    Oct 1, 2013
    3
    Got burned again. Told myself I'd never buy another Total War after Empire. Well, fool me once, shame on you, CA. Fool me twice, shame on me. I should have known better.

    In short, a terribly broken game missing many features that I just KNOW are going to cost me £10 each to implement. Sega need their pound of flesh.
  15. Orthogon
    Sep 25, 2013
    8
    It's shocking to play a Total War game where features people use *all the time* have been dropped from the battle (guard button anyone? No loose formation, etc.)

    The AI can't put up a good fight, which makes the battle mode fun : I know formulaic games get boring, but they've taken the formula and broken the fun bits, you won't be recreating your Rome: Total War battles or any    It's shocking to play a Total War game where features people use *all the time* have been dropped from the battle (guard button anyone? No loose formation, etc.)

    The AI can't put up a good fight, which makes the battle mode fun :

    I know formulaic games get boring, but they've taken the formula and broken the fun bits, you won't be recreating your Rome: Total War battles or any episodes of Time Commanders with this, it just can't do it!    … Expand
  16. Maragavin
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    This. Was. Bad. Gods. Hell, even blacklist was less over-hyped and less riddles with developer/publisher lies.
    Do not buy. It will be in a 5£ bin soon enough.
  17. FATBOYONADIET
    Sep 29, 2013
    0
    I love TW games but this game is at best described as "hollow". It is a shell of a game which no right thinking person should waste their money on. Simply put, don't buy it.
  18. fruitloopeater
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    I have played since the original Rome Total War. I have many problems with this game. It had a ton of potential, it still has some. I am going to use bullet points so you can read this easy. I think CA made a serious error and will not ever pay for a Total War game again. This is a pump-and-dump game made by vulture capitalists stealing your money.

    The fact meta critic gives it a    I have played since the original Rome Total War. I have many problems with this game. It had a ton of potential, it still has some. I am going to use bullet points so you can read this easy. I think CA made a serious error and will not ever pay for a Total War game again. This is a pump-and-dump game made by vulture capitalists stealing your money.

    The fact meta critic gives it a 77 right now is testament to the corruption for paid reviews. The game is unplayable due to bugs. Also, I have a great computer and whatnot- these bugs are related to the game and prevent play.

    Main Problems:
    Campaign

    -buggy, will crash a good deal, impossible to complete
    -the graphical interface has no labels so you must memorize what button means what
    -if you mess up with food by conquering a city that has none and you are low on food, it can destroy any chance you had at that game because your entire empire will starve to death.
    -every army must be lead by a general, of which you are given a limited number. These armies cannot be split which takes away hugely from the experience
    -in general the game feels cartoonish and there is not the strategy of the old CA games. The game path is far more linear.

    there are other problems with the campaign but those are the ones that render it none-fun and completely unplayable.

    Battles:

    -Siege Battles are broken and very buggy and will crash games constantly. Siege Towers will move through walls, units on walls will not fight right, siege equipment for defenders will crash game if moved.
    -Capture points have been added to maps and make game play very silly. A single unit of horse can often capture the lone capture point on the map while the rest of your army is crushing the enemy. These are on land battles, not siege battles as in the old Rome. It essentially breaks the battles with these involved.
    -Naval Battles are very unresponsive in general and after the initial charge it is hard to get anything to obey
    -Units are not organized after a small amount of fighting and will form blobs. Unit formations are bugged. Many easy features of Rome 1 were removed. This includes loose and tight formations and toggle fire at will mode for Roman Legions among others.
    -Cav Camels in general are none-responsive and after the initial charge will not obey orders to retreat even if ordered multiple times.
    -Some people have FPS issues, I do not though. I have a Intel Core with a 580 twin frozer though.

    Multiplayer Issues

    This is what I do not understand most. Shogun 2 was perfect, all they had to do was copy it and they would have been set.

    -Maintaining connection- I have a great internet connection. I would estimate that 70-85% of all matches end in a desync or disconnect (none-intentional) of those involved. Siege Battles disconnect at a near 90% rate.
    -Game cannot handle large amount of soldiers- they are improving this with patches
    -Global Chat gone
    -You must click to bring up chat box. When you start game it makes it go away and you can no longer type in it. So you cannot be "ready" and still type. which is frustrating in multiplayer lobby. I don't understand once again why it cannot be how it was in Shogun 2, and like every other Total War series game ever.
    -No avatar campaign customizable general/units as in Shogun 2
    -None-moveable artillery available for reduced cost needs to be removed from the game as it encourages camping and is very cheap. You cannot beat Macedonia if they go full cheese.
    -Maps are smaller than Shogun Two. However there are beautiful custom made maps for each city. There is a huge plus.

    Overall I hope that CA listens to customers and fires the person responsible for managing this (I think we all know who that is... hint he ruined other franchises as well). They did a terrible job when they could have copy pasted multiplayer from Shogun 2 and it would have been amazing. The Campaign is currently a buggy mess and not possible to finish. Most stuff can be fixed with patches but the core problem is more that they released an unfinished product with a laughable campaign and entirely unstable multiplayer.

    This game is borderline fraud do to unplayability. Most BETAs have more stability than this game.    … Expand
  19. themasterconnor
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    Terrible, just utterly terrible.

    They have dropped everything you would associate with total war and cut corners to the extent where the events in-game stop a quarter way through the game, conveniently just when the reviewers demo ends, they cut corners on purpose and sold a broken game to all of us.
  20. YouLiedToUs
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    Campaign AI is extremely passive. Battle AI is simply broken. It doesn't work. It ignores your troops and just suicides into you. Its easily possible to win with 100 man against 5000. No joke.
    With far lower settings than Shogun 2 I get not even half the FPS.
    With the latest patch siege battles crash making it impossible to continue my current campaign. At least I don't have to look at    Campaign AI is extremely passive. Battle AI is simply broken. It doesn't work. It ignores your troops and just suicides into you. Its easily possible to win with 100 man against 5000. No joke.
    With far lower settings than Shogun 2 I get not even half the FPS.

    With the latest patch siege battles crash making it impossible to continue my current campaign. At least I don't have to look at the horrible Battle UI which clearly nobody tested on 1440x900 resolutions. It takes up half the damn screen.

    I hope there will be an Achievement for participating in the Beta.    … Expand
  21. tom_gr7
    Oct 1, 2013
    2
    Rome II: Totally Casual.

    Streamlined features, zero diplomacy, no family tree, lack of character progression, magical transports, complete lack of battle, siege and campaign AI, blob style fighting formations, 3minute battles, magical fire burning torches, zero seasons, 1 turn per year, awful performance on high end systems, monotonous and incredibly tedious campaign,
  22. smith1604
    Oct 1, 2013
    2
    wow what a horrible game this has turned out to be gone are the family tree gone are the little assassination cut scenes it has a complicated UI the AI is the dumbest i have ever seen in a video game.I have a high end PC i see some people stating get a better PC well i have one and the fps are pretty crappy.Really big disappointment.
  23. katzenkrimis
    Oct 2, 2013
    0
    It deserved 2/10 on release day.

    +1 for sound effects, and +1 for the lead designer admitting failure and apologizing to the world.

    But one month after release, nothing has improved. So it now gets a big, fat 0/10.

    When you play this game, you can actually smell the cattle farms. It's amazing.
  24. Pa23kings
    Nov 10, 2013
    0
    DO NOT BUY!!! This game is so bad. Waited till it went on sale thought with all the bad ratings might be ok with the sale price, boy was I wrong, Not worth anything. Can't seem to be able to make my towns happy spend all my money just trying to keep them happy but what can you do when it is 58 unhappy and the largest your army can get is 40 which by the way breaks you if you go thatDO NOT BUY!!! This game is so bad. Waited till it went on sale thought with all the bad ratings might be ok with the sale price, boy was I wrong, Not worth anything. Can't seem to be able to make my towns happy spend all my money just trying to keep them happy but what can you do when it is 58 unhappy and the largest your army can get is 40 which by the way breaks you if you go that route.bad graphics really considering, the date it was put out, should have been better then Empire. Cannot really think of one good thing to say about this game worst $45 I have ever spent. I really do not know what steam can do about it but I will not be buying another game from steam again till they start screening these games… Expand
  25. sungod
    Nov 29, 2013
    3
    After holding off playing Rome 2 for several weeks while it's been relentlessly patched, I finally started it up tonight and gave it a go, and here are my first impressions. Bear in mind I'm a HUGE Rome 1 fan and still play it. I've played Medieval II, Shogun 2, Empire, and Napoleon as well, so I'm quite familiar with CA titles.

    As a whole, I think Rome 2 is pretty boring. I have to    After holding off playing Rome 2 for several weeks while it's been relentlessly patched, I finally started it up tonight and gave it a go, and here are my first impressions. Bear in mind I'm a HUGE Rome 1 fan and still play it. I've played Medieval II, Shogun 2, Empire, and Napoleon as well, so I'm quite familiar with CA titles.

    As a whole, I think Rome 2 is pretty boring. I have to agree with others who've said that they feel R2 really has no soul I just don't see it. Yes, it's pretty, but it's boring just like a supermodel looks great on your arm, but as soon as she opens her mouth, your eyes glaze over. The UI is just awful the font is hard to read, the informational display is scattered and chaotic, it's hard to follow what's going on. The audio well, the music is fine, but all the voice overs sound like they were recorded in an empty music hall with a horrible echo. The unit cards are terrible; I don't want to have to decipher what I'm looking at, a unit card is supposed to be obvious; these are not. And as for the AI blech. I lost interest in the game after the second battle. I *never* lost interest with battles in Rome 1.

    So, I'm sad to say that I've joined the chorus of other long-time CA and Rome 1 superfans that think CA really tanked it on Rome 2. Without question the most disappointing game release since the disastrous SimCity reboot by EA. I spent a good 6 hours playing XCom Enemy Within today and loved it. I just spent 60 minutes playing Rome 2 and could care less. So sad. Such a missed opportunity by CA, and a wasted $60 by me. I'm never pre-ordering a CA title ever again. Lesson learned.    … Expand
  26. therand
    Nov 30, 2013
    1
    Bad game. Waste of money. SLOW performance. Bugs and unfinished GUI. I've only played this game about 4 times after buying it. I won't play any more. A total waste of money.
  27. Arabian_Knight
    Dec 1, 2013
    3
    An extreme disappointment-it really makes me wonder what version the critics were playing, because I would have liked to have tried it. The game's graphics are not optimized well at all, and it eats up video memory at a catastrophic rate. The graphic quality WILL be poor, it seems, no matter what you do.

    The AI is not only awful, but aggressively so. Diplomacy is broken, so there's not    An extreme disappointment-it really makes me wonder what version the critics were playing, because I would have liked to have tried it. The game's graphics are not optimized well at all, and it eats up video memory at a catastrophic rate. The graphic quality WILL be poor, it seems, no matter what you do.

    The AI is not only awful, but aggressively so. Diplomacy is broken, so there's not much dealing with them either. Territories can only be gained through battle as well, so an alliance with another faction usually turns into an impediment, since you cannot trade territories to allies. The UI is confusing and takes up much of the screen, and unit cards are nondescriptive and are stylized, so it is difficult to tell which card is which unit.

    The game feels very temporary; factions die out within ten turns usually (including supposedly powerful factions such as Egypt), battles last only around five minutes and are just a contest to see who can make who break and run first. Family trees have been removed, so forget grooming or developing characters. Characters only live a few turns before dying, and traits have been severely cut back so that characters usually only end up with two or three on average. Because characters and factions come and go so quickly, and conquering territory is so easy, the game feels very unattached and inconsequential, especially if playing as a non-Roman faction. There is nothing to unlock, or build up to. Where you start is where you are. You may research technologies to enable new buildings, but everything is pretty much set before you when you start. The game is also very buggy-certain bonuses do not work, and the graphics issues are unresolved. Despite this, the publishers think that it is appropriate to charge users for DLC packs that should have been included alongside the handful of playable factions (all of which have limited rosters) when the game shipped.

    Regions are split into provinces, usually composed of three cities, each of which is a separate region. Only around three-six buildings can be built in a city, and only the biggest city in each province has walls. The most important cities (Rome, Carthage, Athens, Babylon) have specific city maps, but these are underwhelming at best. Each building, if it does not add to public order, subtracts considerably from it, and many cost food as well. By midgame, public order strangles any sort of construction available and forces the player to either build temples en masse or put down numerous revolts. Food also becomes a problem, as most public order or wealth buildings subtract from food stocks, and food producing buildings consume massive amounts of public order. It seems that random bouts of revolts and starvation hit every now and again, which severely limit the type of buildings the player can construct and also leaves the player's armies severely drained.

    The positives are few, but are still there. Though the graphics are buggy and flawed, they on the whole are an update to the first Rome: Total War. The voice acting is very, good though there are only four or so voice sets (Barbarian, Roman, Near Eastern, maybe one more that I do not recall). While diplomacy is broken, defensive alliances have been added and so has a "point balance" to measure how well factions get along. Unit animations are much improved, and the soldiers themselves are designed better. Armies now have names and "unit traditions"-or in other words, armies can "level up" just like characters and receive bonuses. Armies also have (and this may be considered a negative) "the ability to transport themselves across water without being loaded onto ships.

    My personal recommendation is to wait if you are intent on buying this. The game's problems are too deep to fix with patches, other than maybe the graphical and lag issues. Since the later Total War games are not as conducive to modding as the earlier ones were, these gameplay problems are likely permanent. If you are intent on trying Rome II, wait until the price drops, or you will be kicking yourself for paying so much for this game. Its best positives come from the fact that it is a Total War game; unfortunately, it feels hastily put together and rushed. The best way to describe it, unfortunately, is haphazard. I personally was looking forward to playing this, but I was disappointed.    … Expand
  28. Publius-Defecus
    Feb 4, 2014
    2
    This game was a complete disappointment and well beneath the capabilities of this franchise. The game on it's own and in it's current state, I would give a 6/10. HOWEVER, because this game is part of a well known and previously respected franchise I would have to give it a 2/10 as it fails miserably in doing what the previous titles did so well.

    Simply put this game is just not fun.    This game was a complete disappointment and well beneath the capabilities of this franchise. The game on it's own and in it's current state, I would give a 6/10. HOWEVER, because this game is part of a well known and previously respected franchise I would have to give it a 2/10 as it fails miserably in doing what the previous titles did so well.

    Simply put this game is just not fun. I've lost count of how many times I've played through the original Rome, Medieval II, and even Empire in the past. I sunk over 750 hours of gameplay into Empire alone, even though I considered it to be the weakest title (until now). I can understand CA trying something new and it not working as they had hoped and I could forgive it with ease but this game was simply rushed and felt completely half-♥♥♥♥♥.

    The AI has never been worse, the battles started as mobs and now consist of awkward formations, kill animations are poorly implemented as they are the only way to kill a unit and therefore result solely in 1v1 combat amongst troops. In the original games, troops were able to help one another meaning that multiple units could engage a single unit and kill it with ease whereas now we have Shogun II stand-offs where a single soldier can take forever to kill because your individual soldiers just stand around looking like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ until it's their turn to participate in a kill animation. The buildings in this game are very unimaginative and have effects that are completely illogical to the point where the CAI has no idea how to build a proper city and instead is constantly being taken over by rebels. Unit collision is FUBAR as units just clump up together, walk through each other, and feel fake as a whole making any level of immersion impossible.

    I recall seeing similar things in Empire which leads me to believe that the Rome II engine is based off of the Empire engine which is complete nonsense as the Empire engine was built for guns and not close-combat. I could go on for hours talking about how this game disappointed me and listing (in great detail) all the things wrong with it but you could go on youtube and find numerous hour-long rants on the subject.

    All in all this game is a shell of what the Total War series used to be as many great features have been stripped from it (including good music, good voice-acting, key UI and battle components, family trees, a good diplomacy system, etc). This game feels like more of a cash grab than anything else as CA seemed to only care about DLC whoring, advertising, and focusing on silly gimmicks such as facial animations as opposed to core gameplay elements. They also flat-out lied about what they were selling as the game looks NOTHING like the advertisements.

    I honestly doubt that any amount of patching will be able to fix this atrocity and even doubt that the mods will be able to keep this title alive for much longer. If this is to be the future of the Total War series than I can honestly say that this franchise is dead as it will be further turned into the strategy equivalent of Call of Duty.

    P.S.
    To all of the apologists that see themselves as the Knights in shining armor defending CA from the onslaught of "neck-beard losers" that have valid criticisms of this game and CA's business practices, I say that you are the reason that more and more game franchises are turning to DLC whoring, releasing incomplete products, and simply worse games in general because now they know that they can get away with it. They are literally crapping in your mouths and you are thanking them for it in cash. You praise CA for listening to it's community and for actively patching it's game but remain blind to the fact that it should be unacceptable for a game to be released in such a state in the first place. Moreso, this is not even the first time CA has done something like this.

    I challenge the apologists to tell me how this title improves upon the franchise in some major way.

    - Better graphics? Not really as Shogun II looks MUCH better when looked at side-by-side.
    - Better design? No, since the game is horribly optimized (if at all) and has countless design flaws (such as huge cities preventing armies from moving)
    - Better AI? Lol no. Just no.
    - Better UI? No, since most features are missing (such as family trees and general/agent trees).
    - Better Battles? Absolutely not. See reasons in review above. Also, capture-points.
    - Better Diplomacy? No, since factions can barely be reasoned with and many diplomacy features have been stripped down.
    - The addition of something new?
    - Politics system is a joke.
    - Facial animations are useless and take up unnecessary space, time, and money.
    - Units shouting during battle sound (almost comically) terrible, repetitive, and break immersion.

    I do not hate CA or the Total War series. I am a die-hard fan of this series as it has been with me since I was 12 years old. I fear that the direction CA is taking however, will lead to the death of this once proud series.    … Expand
  29. triladar
    Sep 23, 2013
    8
    Seriously, the only thing I want to comment on this game is: What a fu**ing dissappointment!
    I'll try it again in like a year and hope the patches they release until then make it playable.
  30. Merwanor
    Sep 25, 2013
    5
    I have been a big Total War fan ever since the first Shogun TW game came out, which I bought on impulse back in the day, having no idea what kind of game it actually was, and I am so happy I did. Shogun 2 is by far the best in the series as it has the nostalgia feeling going for it, and the amazing depth and passion that CA put into the game. Everything was an improvement over theI have been a big Total War fan ever since the first Shogun TW game came out, which I bought on impulse back in the day, having no idea what kind of game it actually was, and I am so happy I did. Shogun 2 is by far the best in the series as it has the nostalgia feeling going for it, and the amazing depth and passion that CA put into the game. Everything was an improvement over the previous games in my opinion.

    And so it is sad to say that with Rome 2 they have taken a few feet forwards in some aspects, but a big step backwards in the core gameplay. First I want to say that the performance part of Rome 2 is not a big concern for me, as I run the game better than I ran Shogun 2 when it was released, but some of the design issues are puzzling and the game seems to lack the passion that CA has put into previous games.

    Let us start with the good parts of Rome 2.

    The new city/province system:
    This is a big welcome to the game, especially when you start to conquer large parts of the map, it gets much easier, but still retaining the tactical choices of what to build and how to manage, so even if it may lack some depth, it is a step forward for the series. Also the graphical representation of the cities and towns are a great new addition as it really shows the size and type of each town clearly.

    Legacy armies:
    I love the fact that an army has a name, history and well a legacy, you don't care about generals, but you do care about an army.

    Some battle animations:
    I love the physical look of javelins, rocks and arrows have when they hit shields, walls etc. Also some of the fighting animations are great, especially sword wielding units and their clashing of shields.

    The Graphics:
    The game looks good, but so did Shogun 2 and there is not that much of a difference, Rome 2 may have some better looking units, vegetation and lighting, but right now it runs much worse than current Shogun 2.

    The bad things about Rome 2:

    The User Interface.
    The interface lacks so much personality, it looks as if it taken from some iphone game or something, it is so out of place for a TW game and it lacks so much information and depth, and it is not scale able, as it is way to big and covers most of the screen. Those who made it really put no sense of passion into making it I feel. Shogun 2 has a much more authentic and helpful UI.

    The Political System:
    This is the most annoying and pointless system ever, as it seems that Civil War happens randomly or no matter what you do, and some of the options makes no sense, for instance, why do I lose senators if I assassinate a general or statesman, should it not be the other way around? We lost the familiy tree for this piece of garbage feature, I would rather have the annoying pope from Medieval 2 than this system.

    1 year turns:
    Not only have we lost seasons, which I loved in Shogun 2, but generals are pointless because of this as they die so fast. In shogun 2 it was amazing to see the change from winter to summer, you knew that now I can send my armies out without losing men to attrition, now attrition is specific to special places on the map instead. A big step backwards.

    AI:
    As stupid as ever, and even dumber in many ways than in Shogun 2. Why are they demanding loads of money from me to make peace when they are about to be crushed, makes no sense. And it is so easy to win as they seem to only produce slingers, create just a bunch of cavalry and you win all battles.

    Diplomacy:
    Some of the new features here is actually great, like being able to set a target for your allies to attack a city, but the whole system is bugged as client states are supposed to give me tribute, which never happens and AI keeps demanding crazy amounts of money for trade rights, and somehow they know how much money I have since they keep demanding more the richer I get. And there is no freaking give or demand city option, man I miss this.

    Cavalry animation:
    They just run through enemies, they don't seem to do much in battle, just Rome 1 level type stab animations. Compared to Shogun 2 this is just lame.

    Generals and traits:
    Since a turn lasts a year, they die so fast I just don't care about them, and they are annoying as they keep leveling up and gaining useless traits. I wish I could rid myself of generals all together.

    Armies requires generals and there is a army cap:
    I hate that I can't just make a few groups of soldiers here and there to keep order while i move my main armies around, this is a big step backwards. And the army cap is way to small and I require those annoying generals to lead an army. Sure it may be more realistic, but it is still annoying.

    Victory Points:
    Remove these game breaking victory points, but I get the reason for them when talking about naval/land battles. Only instance where they can be used.

    No Cutscenes:
    Where are the awesome assassin cutscenes, man champion cutscenes would be awesome, lack of passion.

    Rome is a big disappointment, so it gets a 5/10 from me.    … 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

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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.
    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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