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. fuzzayd
    Oct 4, 2013
    9
    This is a great game that had an awful release. I had issues with the game, but now, with Patch 4 out, my concerns are addressed and I truly enjoy the whole game. That being said, I already put in 100 hours in its imperfect state!

    What Rome 2 has in bounds, and shares this with the best other TW titles, is atmosphere. And I'd argue that Rome 2 surpasses them on the campaign map    This is a great game that had an awful release. I had issues with the game, but now, with Patch 4 out, my concerns are addressed and I truly enjoy the whole game. That being said, I already put in 100 hours in its imperfect state!

    What Rome 2 has in bounds, and shares this with the best other TW titles, is atmosphere. And I'd argue that Rome 2 surpasses them on the campaign map alone. The map is massive and well designed. The forests of Germania have paths that can allow for chokepoints every so often, while the northern steppes are vast, hard to cross, and frustrating to fight in. The same can be said for the deserts in Arabia and Gedrosia.

    Diplomacy is the best in any TW. Your ally's territory now counts towards your victory goals, so the days of backstabbing allies are over (unless you want to). I cultivated an alliance with Media Atropane and watched happily as they took care of the nomads that were bothering me.

    Battles are fun as well especially with the recent patches. Playing as Parthia, running circles around phalanx troops and crushing then has never been more fun. My strategies had to change for each faction type I faced (Eastern, Greek, etc).

    The role playing aspect has shifted somewhat. If you go slowly, you can sort of get into generals themselves, but the real aspect that makes you attached is the ability to name and level up armies. It's very fun to have specialized armies I had one used for hard siege battles, and another that was more mobile and fast.

    Overall, the games has some flaws I don't feel attached to my generals (just like I didn't in Shogun 2: FotS or ETW/Nap), and the earlier flaws in gameplay were awful.

    I enjoy the new building system. Gone are the days of building everything in each settlement as Rome I had three different coastal cities with three different port types. This adds to the strategic value of settlements, since if the AI takes my military port, my navies will struggle if they take losses. Same goes for the trading port I'll lose a lot of money.

    Non-coastal settlements are the same way. I had an industry and trade-heavy settlement, fed by a few settlements of farms and temples for happiness. The AI took my farming settlement, and suddenly I had a food shortage and less happiness. The ability to have groups of settlements in larger territories, and to issue edicts that benefit multiple provinces is a great way to push for strategic conquests and boost things like trade, food, happiness, and recruitment.

    As it stands, Rome II is a fantastic game and well worth playing. I'm looking forward to taking my best legion and marching off into Thrace now, fighting many unique factions and in diverse landscapes. Love it!    … Expand
  2. GeneralTry
    Oct 4, 2013
    10
    I think a lot of the performance issues have been fixed by now, and CA has been updating weekly, even more.

    The game is a lot more finetuned now, though there are still a few bugs that will get fixed. A lot of people just rode the hate bandwagon on this game and didn't even give it a fair shot. Some people just joined in on the hype having NEVER played a total war game, and found out    I think a lot of the performance issues have been fixed by now, and CA has been updating weekly, even more.

    The game is a lot more finetuned now, though there are still a few bugs that will get fixed.

    A lot of people just rode the hate bandwagon on this game and didn't even give it a fair shot. Some people just joined in on the hype having NEVER played a total war game, and found out it wasn't what they wanted, and blamed it on issues and CA. To those people, I give a big you.    … Expand
  3. xbrick
    Oct 4, 2013
    10
    With the beta patch 4 and AMD beta driver I'm pleased with this product. I will now pour count less hours into this game. It had a rough release but with all the fixes its up to snuff.
  4. Renwault
    Oct 4, 2013
    10
    This game is amazing and it is only getting better. I have played several Total War games and they all seem to start a bit rocky but this game for me ran very well from the start and I have only had minor issues with the game crashing. The UI is very good and easy to understand. The unit cards are really easy to use and differ unit types. Graphics are really well done in the entiretyThis game is amazing and it is only getting better. I have played several Total War games and they all seem to start a bit rocky but this game for me ran very well from the start and I have only had minor issues with the game crashing. The UI is very good and easy to understand. The unit cards are really easy to use and differ unit types. Graphics are really well done in the entirety of the game. Battles are becoming well rounded with more balancing as the game goes on. CA is working really hard to get the balancing right while they fix minor bugs that are left over.

    The campaign I played on very hard the first time around took me over 400 turns to conquer the entire map. Really well balanced AI for the most part on that trek. I do think that it has become the norm to release games early and this is the same for Rome II but this is not a reflection of the game in itself; the game is fantastic and it will only get better as the add in features that players complain about. People tend to compare games to much to predecessors and forget that companies are trying new things all the time.

    Great game I have and will continue to recommend this to my friends.    … Expand
  5. ruarz
    Oct 4, 2013
    2
    This game deserves far worse press coverage than it has received. Thumbs up to the Guardian and the users on here for letting people know the truth. Its just a shame about the reporting standards of PC Gamer and the like.

    Before the patches I would have probably given this game a 0 or a 1. It was utterly broken and reeked of rushing out an untested and unfinished game in ordered to meet    This game deserves far worse press coverage than it has received. Thumbs up to the Guardian and the users on here for letting people know the truth. Its just a shame about the reporting standards of PC Gamer and the like.

    Before the patches I would have probably given this game a 0 or a 1. It was utterly broken and reeked of rushing out an untested and unfinished game in ordered to meet a deadline. Everything in the game or not in the game points towards these guys trying to making a quick buck. Since the patches I have amended my score to 2. The game runs slightly better but it still falls way short from acceptable. Some of the bugs have been smoothed out but it is still a 'buggy' game.

    The gameplay itself remains awful. Everything is over-simplified. There is no need for a fleet as ships magically spawn for you troops at no cost when you send them into water. The public order system is unbalanced and utterly nonsensical. The UI is unnecessarily bulky, especially during joint sea and land battles.

    The graphics are dull and muddy. They look far worse than Shogun 2 yet the game runs far slower. The fonts are not crisp and are blurred at the edges.

    The diplomacy feature is fundamentally flawed by forcing the player to use a minimum of 10% of their treasury in any payment. This is fine in the early stages of gamplay but when you have 200,000 in you get hammered every turn by AI states asking you for 20,000 or 40,000 just for a trade agreement that will generate a fraction of that over the rest of your play through.

    Worst of all, both the Campaign and Battle AI are absolutely dire and seem like a massive step back from the already lacking AI in Napoleon and Shogun 2. The gameplay is incredibly easy, even on the hardest setting and gets boring very quickly. With the long AI turn times you will spend at least half the time on the campaign screen just waiting for the AI to finish their moves. Simply put, this is not a fun game. It is not a good game. It is a shameless exploitation of Total War's existing fanbase. I only hope that fanbase shrinks and these crooks get the bad press they deserve in the mainstream.    … Expand
  6. btemp
    Oct 4, 2013
    0
    I absolutely LOVE the total war games. Aside from bugs, they are everything I'd ever want from a game.

    Unfortunately, RTW2 is just buggy as hell. Major game imbalances, and while I've been able to play it my two friends haven't out of the box. We still can't get multiplayer campaign to work.

    So wait a while (still) before you buy. Game needs to be ironed out... a ton.
  7. Alberto_impact
    Oct 4, 2013
    0
    DON'T BUY THIS ONE.
    This is the worst game I pre-ordered this year.
    Cappy AI and UI, Awful performance optimization, and bunch of bugs to make you angry.
    Give me my money back, you SEGA and CA.
  8. Arturien
    Oct 3, 2013
    1
    Unlike the professional reviewers I cannot give this game anything more then a 1. The reason being simply that the game itself responds like an alpha test. It does to bare any indication of a finished streamlined product. The AI which was praised to the stars before release is actually the worst AI the series has ever seen hands down, without an excuse offered for this absolute failure.Unlike the professional reviewers I cannot give this game anything more then a 1. The reason being simply that the game itself responds like an alpha test. It does to bare any indication of a finished streamlined product. The AI which was praised to the stars before release is actually the worst AI the series has ever seen hands down, without an excuse offered for this absolute failure. Speaking of failure, there was yet another video offered where the narrator claimed: This is way way pre alpha footage. The end product will look much nicer. That is of course what we all wished to hear. Sadly that pre alpha footage was clearly a sham. Since I've not seen a single person play the game and have that level of detail or polish to it. Even some YouTube rookie reviewers, a small number of which have Titan graphics cards and of course the gear to match Have not managed to attain that level of graphical appeal. Now what does this tell us? Either, the video was intentionally manipulated to make the game look nicer. Or that they have in fact managed to downgrade the graphics to such an extreme without informing their customers that the game ended up graphically in the gutter on release. There are of course many other problems in this wonder of modern gaming One of which is the time per turn. Now anyone that has played this game knows, that it has an army of factions. But so did their previous. Granted, there were not as many, but the number was still quite high. Yet it seems somehow, that they've managed to slow down the AI. In fact it has slowed down the AI so much, that in some cases, it takes up to 5 minutes to end a turn. It becomes even worse when/if you decide to play the multiplayer campaign. Added to the already exuberant waiting time, is the danger of desynchronization. It seems that once it reaches the end of the faction listing that is the factions that you've discovered thus far the game decides to simply lock up due to the desynchronization. Which effectively makes the game completely unplayable as a multiplayer product.

    But the technical aspect of the game is simply half of what a good Total War game should provide us. Let's take a look at the game content. We start with political aspect. If we compare Rome 2 to Rome 1, we can clearly see that Rome 1 was far more interesting. In Rome 1 it became clear very quickly when you were either moving too quickly or too slowly. The Senate in Rome 1 was favorable to you if you did as they liked, or turned against you in the elections if you did things that they disapproved of. Their dislike for you could grow to such an extent, that they would send the appointed official to check your family's income. And if that official was not in your pocket a family member you would be fined a good amount of cash. It could further grow in scale until there was nothing left but all out war. Does Rome 2 offer such a political challenge? Sadly no. First of, the Roman senate has according to the game nothing to do with you at all. At times they are mentioned in a mission you receive as the source. But beyond that nothing. There is no extra gain or penalty if you choose to either complete the mission or downright ignore it. The family which you choose, also has no bonuses or individual traits past the bonuses written down when you are asked to choose one. It seems as though the Roman faction is a starved historically inaccurate, melting pot of bad ideas. It is starved of it's charm from the first Rome game, down to an awful anorexic visage. The family tree has been ripped out of the game completely. There is no sense of a family at all. Beforehand you could see who belonged to your family clearly in a traditionally designed tree. Choose an heir, or even focus on specific generals to be successful. For example, picking active generals from the direct descendants of their grandfather. Since we're on the topic of generals. These leaders of men die out far quicker then in any other Total War game to date. This of course, is undoubtedly due to the very unwise decision of turns. One turn equals one year now. Which directly leads to the generals dropping like flies from old age. Not offering you the opportunity to develop them properly in any sense of the word. The women that they marry are thrown in to oblivion. In Shogun 2, a good wife offered your general a great bonus, or could lead him astray even to his death with the decrease of personal security I could have easily written down another few hundred words to max out my 5000 word limit, but let's just leave it there. All in all, the game is filled with appalling bugs, crashes and unpolished material. A black sheep to put it as mildly as I possibly can in the Total War family that does it's best only when it comes to ruining the family name. Personally, it is the greatest gaming disappointment I've had in the last ten years.    … Expand
  9. BrentLauer
    Oct 3, 2013
    0
    Creative Assembly i am disappoint.

    As a long-term customer of TW games i wasn't expecting them to deliver a *perfect* game, but the state of Rome2 surprised even me. The game is in fact worse than beta-status A.I. is as incompetent as hell, the UI is really bad, the Textures are plain ugly and bugs, bugs literally everywhere. And what makes me angry the most is that CA is again relying    Creative Assembly i am disappoint.

    As a long-term customer of TW games i wasn't expecting them to deliver a *perfect* game, but the state of Rome2 surprised even me. The game is in fact worse than beta-status A.I. is as incompetent as hell, the UI is really bad, the Textures are plain ugly and bugs, bugs literally everywhere. And what makes me angry the most is that CA is again relying on the community to fix their broken game.

    Personally i think some kind of lawsuit would help to improve the inbearable way of CA doing buisness. Hyping up the community with flashy videos and promises about some kind of "revolutionary new A.I." when the finished game doesn't look anything like that and has a utterly crappy A.I. is basically screaming "FRAUD" and "FALSE ADVERTISING".    … Expand
  10. Franotix
    Oct 3, 2013
    7
    I change my score now

    After many patches, since the first one, I put a 7 instead of a 3 Now the AI will try to destroy the walls, or the doors and enter in the cities at least at very hard difficulty this is what they do before they were standing in front of the wall doing nothing. The AI turns are now alot more fast from what I can see in my advanced campaing at least 5 time    I change my score now

    After many patches, since the first one, I put a 7 instead of a 3

    Now the AI will try to destroy the walls, or the doors and enter in the cities at least at very hard difficulty this is what they do before they were standing in front of the wall doing nothing.

    The AI turns are now alot more fast from what I can see in my advanced campaing at least 5 time more fast than it was... So Now I play more than i waiting, its already a great improvement.

    some capture point on open battlefield have been remove this is a great improvement too
    But theres many point inside a cities and AI split his army sometime because of this, and its really easy to beat them when their unit are all split across a giant city you just got their stack one by one... Still need improvement

    And in average it seem I have better fps for the same graphics I had.    … Expand
  11. dihnekis
    Oct 3, 2013
    1
    This game is so insulting. I cannot believe that I spent $34 on this, luckily getting it on sale. Seriously, one of the worst financial decisions of my life. I was broke, but loved the first RTW and hadn't played much from CA since then, so I went ahead and bought it. The game is just broken. Technical glitches are not even half of the problem. The AI is so unbelievably terrible, there isThis game is so insulting. I cannot believe that I spent $34 on this, luckily getting it on sale. Seriously, one of the worst financial decisions of my life. I was broke, but loved the first RTW and hadn't played much from CA since then, so I went ahead and bought it. The game is just broken. Technical glitches are not even half of the problem. The AI is so unbelievably terrible, there is no challenge, etc. I'm done with this piece of trash.… Expand
  12. Shu1984
    Oct 3, 2013
    3
    I would gladly give this game a good rating, but unfortunately I can not. It is my first TW series purchase and, being a strategy games' fan for a long time, I expected much more from this title, but so far I can not find a single reason why a seasoned strategy vet would recommend this one. And believe me, I have tried hard (100+ hours of play).

    The game is flawed as hell (3 patches    I would gladly give this game a good rating, but unfortunately I can not. It is my first TW series purchase and, being a strategy games' fan for a long time, I expected much more from this title, but so far I can not find a single reason why a seasoned strategy vet would recommend this one. And believe me, I have tried hard (100+ hours of play).

    The game is flawed as hell (3 patches so far with HUNDREDS of alleged changes and improvements prove this fact), and it seems that it has been dumbed down to the point where it lacks the minimum depth in almost all of its areas: campaign, province management, battles, diplomacy, politics, etc. Former players of the TW series describe it as "lacking any soul". To me its simply shallow, repetitive, unchallenging and in the end boring. There is almost no real reason to go one turn beyond.

    Do not believe the hype (if you still think Santa is out there) and please think twice if you want to spend euro 55 (plus upcoming DLCs of course) on this one.    … Expand
  13. Yoritomo
    Oct 3, 2013
    4
    Rome II the divorce between TW Fans and Developer.
    From Shogun 1 i played all titles in Series and loved the MP Part of Shogun 2. Now i am totaly disappointed from my pre-order after 3 Patches and 4 Weeks trying to find joy in playing this game.
    Singleplayer Gameplay is still broken and cant be fixed by patch. Exploring new bugs every day is not fun. Facing Bugs that are unfixed since    Rome II the divorce between TW Fans and Developer.
    From Shogun 1 i played all titles in Series and loved the MP Part of Shogun 2. Now i am totaly disappointed from my pre-order after 3 Patches and 4 Weeks trying to find joy in playing this game.
    Singleplayer Gameplay is still broken and cant be fixed by patch.
    Exploring new bugs every day is not fun. Facing Bugs that are unfixed since Empire is a insult.
    Seeing the potential of the game and realize that it wont be reached is frustrating.
    Technical aspects may be fixed with upcoming patches, Mistakes in Gamedesign wont.
    This game feels like its a beta version for a console or smartphone TW Title.
    Absolute no depth at strategic campaign mode (from broken AI to Province Design) and no tactical depth at real time battles. Camping, Spamming, rushing, no brain AI better autoresolve it. Wait 4 Minutes till AI done its turn, spend more time waiting than acting is not a game.

    No beta pre-release, a step back for Multiplayer mode. All the inventions from Shogun 2 are gone and the player is draw back to a empire like gamelobby without a chat. Empire MP works fine now, this mode in Rome 2 seems to be alpha. MP Campaign and you will face stupid AI with a player by side and play a waiting game till it crashes for no reason.

    Score 4 cause i belive CA will get the tecnical aspects done and already apologiesed for the mistakes.

    Quo vadis Total War Series?    … Expand
  14. Beeeno
    Oct 3, 2013
    4
    This is an unfinished and broken game released without beta testing with several heavy issues. Advertisement before game release was false as the game is not fully localised in Italian and Spanish language. Untill today we've had 3 patches but the mess is still on. If you want to buy this game wait 'till next Xmas sales and check how patching proceeds. Just my two cents. P.S. I'veThis is an unfinished and broken game released without beta testing with several heavy issues. Advertisement before game release was false as the game is not fully localised in Italian and Spanish language. Untill today we've had 3 patches but the mess is still on. If you want to buy this game wait 'till next Xmas sales and check how patching proceeds. Just my two cents. P.S. I've preordered a CA/Sega game for the LAST time.… Expand
  15. Gulskjegg
    Oct 3, 2013
    0
    As a previous reviewer had commented, the current commercialized review system is very much like the American political system. The average persons desires perspective is completely ignored as big money interests call the shots. The end user is simply not represented in any real way. I have been playing the Total War series since Shogun 1, and my personal favorite of the entire series isAs a previous reviewer had commented, the current commercialized review system is very much like the American political system. The average persons desires perspective is completely ignored as big money interests call the shots. The end user is simply not represented in any real way. I have been playing the Total War series since Shogun 1, and my personal favorite of the entire series is Medieval War 1, which I still play regularly. Creative Assembly lost the plot with Empire, but somewhat corrected course with Shogun 2. However, Rome 2 is completely and utterly broken in every possible way. Glitchy graphics, abysmal AI, boring battles, and the strategic aspects of the game are incomprehensible as well as counter-intuitive. Even after a patch or two, the game remains frustrating and unplayable. This is, officially, the last TW product I will ever buy from CA. The most depressing thing about this whole matter is the fact that CA could have taken the exact, precise gameplay, interface, and engine of Rome 1, updated the graphics and cutscenes a bit, and had themselves a real winner. As an aside, the conventional review sites, Metacritic not included due to this peer review option, are making enemies among the gaming community faster than they might realize. Just as the internet is crushing the "main stream media" dinosaurs, the big name sites might find themselves obsolete if they do not clean up their act. Same goes for CA, too.… Expand
  16. narkoburger
    Oct 3, 2013
    3
    Yaaaaawn.
    I really tried my best to enjoy the game but i can't.
    Together with Sim City this is one of the worst games I've played the last couple of years.

    And I find it insulting that they even dare to charge more money for DLC, at least EA gave us something free to compensate for a poor game
  17. Schmidte
    Oct 3, 2013
    5
    Okay, I originally thought the game was an 8.5 but reviewed this game as a 10 to offset the 0's...but after having it for a full month, I can't honestly say it is even an 8.5. I'm simply NOT enjoying the game like Shogun 2. I've played every single total war game there has been. All the way since the original shogun. This one currently feels like a chore to play though. The turn times getOkay, I originally thought the game was an 8.5 but reviewed this game as a 10 to offset the 0's...but after having it for a full month, I can't honestly say it is even an 8.5. I'm simply NOT enjoying the game like Shogun 2. I've played every single total war game there has been. All the way since the original shogun. This one currently feels like a chore to play though. The turn times get sooooo long. Which makes things very tedious. Generals die too quickly because it is only 1 turn per year. 30 turns and your general is dead. So many UI failures that make things way harder than they need to be.

    IT'S LIKE THEY DIDN'T PLAY THEIR OWN GAME! There are seriously features (like not easily being able to go to characters that need leveling up which was a feature in Shogun 2 but not here) that you couldn't POSSIBLY not notice or want.

    If what they said it true and Tim Heaton designed this game for metacritic it is a shame and horrifying. I honestly I can't rate this game higher than a 5 right now. I hope they can release large patches and really overhaul this game, but that's all on them. I'll edit my score up if they do and I won't if they don't.    … Expand
  18. Upshot
    Oct 3, 2013
    3
    I'm really enjoying this review stuff!

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

    Right.

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

    To the point;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    I've been awake far too long and my brain is melting, but for real if you're a total war fan and you HAVE enjoyed some of their titles do not sour your taste with what you 'expect' from this.    … Expand
  19. JackDDibs
    Oct 2, 2013
    2
    What a joke, the internet is kidding itself Just look to the left and bow down for the might of the.. (wait for it)... "Critics"!! #gotpaidmuch!?
  20. kharnevil
    Oct 2, 2013
    4
    A return to the second most lauded setting after the Shogun period, Rome. The game is graphically pleasing, but for older machines the fidelity will come at a hefty price in terms of frame rate drop.

    The battle AI has no perceived improvement since Rome: Total War, while the campaign map has been reduced to a series of tactical choke points. The simplified campaign map I can live with,    A return to the second most lauded setting after the Shogun period, Rome. The game is graphically pleasing, but for older machines the fidelity will come at a hefty price in terms of frame rate drop.

    The battle AI has no perceived improvement since Rome: Total War, while the campaign map has been reduced to a series of tactical choke points. The simplified campaign map I can live with, the in-battle capture points less so.

    Over all a shamefully buggy release from a well respected developer, blame would probably largely lie with SEGA and their questionable marketing 'gurus'.

    Recommended to wait until Darth comes back from retirement to create a community patch to make it into a game worth buying. Until then, wait for the sales.    … Expand
  21. 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.
  22. remosu37
    Oct 2, 2013
    1
    Very poor. I have been a fan of the Total War series since Shogun, many years ago. Out of the box, Rome 2 was near unplayable, and even with 3 patches, the game remains disturbingly unfinished. The AI is poor, both in battle and campaign map, the stability issues persist, the game progresses very slowly between turns, and the game is simultaneously too simple (not enough strategicVery poor. I have been a fan of the Total War series since Shogun, many years ago. Out of the box, Rome 2 was near unplayable, and even with 3 patches, the game remains disturbingly unfinished. The AI is poor, both in battle and campaign map, the stability issues persist, the game progresses very slowly between turns, and the game is simultaneously too simple (not enough strategic decisions) because of its emphasis on moving army units around, and too complex (due to the horrid interface, poor instructions).… Expand
  23. 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.
  24. 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
  25. 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.
  26. Snorren
    Oct 1, 2013
    0
    DON'T BUY THIS GAME!

    This must be one of the most broken games ever. I have played through two campaigns and was on my third when they released a patch that totally rebalanced all the buildings for the faction I was playing resulting in -264 food and my current 40 hours campaign going to waste. With the number of patches they are pushing out and the magnitude of fundamental    DON'T BUY THIS GAME!

    This must be one of the most broken games ever.

    I have played through two campaigns and was on my third when they released a patch that totally rebalanced all the buildings for the faction I was playing resulting in -264 food and my current 40 hours campaign going to waste.

    With the number of patches they are pushing out and the magnitude of fundamental changes this game isn't close to being finished, why the did they release it in this state?

    The battle AI is really a joke and the only reason to play battles with walled cities was to be amazed how it will up EVERY easy assault.

    The retarded political system that only has one purpose a civil war.

    If this game ever will be enjoyable no one will care about it any longer.

    How can this game get a 79% rating, do they even play?    … Expand
  27. Siphine
    Oct 1, 2013
    8
    I really wish people who rated this a zero would first look at this game again and then review after the first few patches. The user score is always crappy when a TW is released. Mostly because of the bugs, compatibility issues, AI issues, online multiplayer issues, and of course, the retarded flags. All that is mostly fixed! The flags are gone! (for the most part, you still have theI really wish people who rated this a zero would first look at this game again and then review after the first few patches. The user score is always crappy when a TW is released. Mostly because of the bugs, compatibility issues, AI issues, online multiplayer issues, and of course, the retarded flags. All that is mostly fixed! The flags are gone! (for the most part, you still have the option to have them) They fixed a bunch of resolution and crashing problems, and they are working on fixing compatibility issue. At launch this game was unplayable(why I gave it only a 8) but it is getting better. I hope the ones who rated this game badly would give it a second chance, the devs are working hard to fix the game that we all wanted and listen to complaints. They really want you to love this game, and so do I.… Expand
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. Madrin
    Oct 1, 2013
    9
    At first i was fairly disappointed the game, Rome Total War was the first Total War game i got to play back then. The new game, even though it added ton of improvements game-wise over the former Total War games, just didn't played comfortably due to AI errors, graphic issues, bugs and other stuff you probably heard about already. Today though Creative Assembly released their 3rd majorAt first i was fairly disappointed the game, Rome Total War was the first Total War game i got to play back then. The new game, even though it added ton of improvements game-wise over the former Total War games, just didn't played comfortably due to AI errors, graphic issues, bugs and other stuff you probably heard about already. Today though Creative Assembly released their 3rd major patch for the game.

    Thanks to the new Patch the game runs really smooth now, ending turns went from 5 mins to 1 minute, no more crashes, weird bugs or issues and the AI is much improved. The game isn't perfect yet but it sure comes close to what the game should have been from the start. It's absolutely fun now to play. I've completely forgiven the rough start thanks to the efforts to create a proper game again and their is much more coming in the future. I think this game deserves a new review with this new patch, its a life changer compared to the release.    … 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.
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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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