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. mehican
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    I was very excited for this game, and expected the very best from CA, however what I got was a bad, unfinished and dumbed down game. The main issue I found during the first couple of days was how horrible the AI is, and being a primarily single player game I had expected a more appropriate AI skill, besides the fact that my fairly new upgraded pc had some performance issues.There are justI was very excited for this game, and expected the very best from CA, however what I got was a bad, unfinished and dumbed down game. The main issue I found during the first couple of days was how horrible the AI is, and being a primarily single player game I had expected a more appropriate AI skill, besides the fact that my fairly new upgraded pc had some performance issues.There are just far too many issues and I highly recommend you wait or simply not buy this.… Expand
  2. Solores
    Sep 16, 2013
    10
    This is the most amazing total war game ever! AI is now fixed, some lag fixes and better campaign UI.
    I think the game deserves more then this and if the people just waited for the patch the game would have a higher rating.
  3. DanielCorfour
    Sep 16, 2013
    1
    I would like to make a clarification. Objectively the game rating should be about 6.5. Not quite a 7 but not quite a 6. The only reason I gave a 4, is because the reviewers, the critics, decided to give it a near perfect score, which is pure bull, and would only encourage companies to flood out more unfinished/unpolished games.

    "It's not about the score, it's about sending a message"    I would like to make a clarification. Objectively the game rating should be about 6.5. Not quite a 7 but not quite a 6. The only reason I gave a 4, is because the reviewers, the critics, decided to give it a near perfect score, which is pure bull, and would only encourage companies to flood out more unfinished/unpolished games.

    "It's not about the score, it's about sending a message"

    The jist of it is summed up in the last two paragraphs, if you don't want to read the whole review. Basically it's a 4, plus points for size and beauty and a whole bunch of negative ones for it being a complete mess playability wise.

    As of date I have spent roughly 80 hours in Rome 2, but I have no idea why. Every two seconds in the game a random bug appears which makes you want to tear off your scalp. And although the Beta 2 patch solves a lot of issues, it is still way too easy to call the entire game a Beta test.

    Don't get me wrong, I looove the game, I absolutely adore it. At least that was my first impression of it, which I'm guessing is all the "official" critics bothered to get: a first impression with one hour of gameplay. Or they were just pandering to the company. Either of the two. After your tenth hour you start noticing annoying little things and after about 20 hours, you want to smash your PC. But you'll still love the game, and this is why.

    It is stunningly beautiful. And huge. I mean the campaign map is unbelievably huge, with over a hundred factions on it. And the smallest thing which i love the most is that the cities expand on the map visibly when they grow.. it;s amazing, with all the other little improvements it makes the game fantastic. Best of all it actually makes you feel like you're in the time period, it gives you that feeling. even more so than any Total War game to date. And again, incredibly beautiful. I cannot even imagine the amount of that went into making this game, and to the developers I say bravo.

    But then there is the game as a whole. It's a buggy mess, and some of the game mechanics are completely retarded. That amount of work that they put into it is not even noticeable compared to that. And yes the current patch tries it's best to get it to work, but it;s still bugged to the core. Ships riding sand dunes armies just dancing around for no reason, soldiers flying, 12 elephants killing an army of 3000 strong.. one time I did a siege, broke the enemy's gates, and when I ran my army through it, they all died for no reason. wtf? And that is just a few of them. But I would be able to look over them if not for the two biggest problems the game has.

    The streamlining and the AI. I mean holy what the huh? The AI is incredibly stupid, it's the worst one I've seen in years... it is a passive moron on every difficulty. Both the campaign and the battle and naval. By the way, naval battles are bugged to the point of unplayable, so don't even bother. Just to give a hint at how stupid the AI is, I've won a battle where outnumbered 10 to 1. 10 to 1!!! This is Sparta? And no, not because of some strategic chokepoint or anything, it was a plain field, no high ground, no nothing. All it was that the AI sacrificed half their army for no reason, and the rest did nothing even after that. And the game is streamlined to the point of it makes no sense. Random capture point flags appear in battles, which makes the AI go crazy and destroys any option of strategic maneuvering. Battles have been sped up, now the whole thing looks like a mosh pit, you can barely issue a few orders and the battle is over. A lot of features have been stripped and replaced with some easy nonsense, and it adds nothing substantial. Granted it does add a few minor improvements, like provinces and cinematic cameras, but the core of it is bare. General's speech has been shortened to almost nothing, there are barely any cinematic cutscenes, and so on.

    Here's the jist of it: overall it seems to me that it the biggest issue it has is that it's been rushed like most games as of late. It's a shady business practice that I will not stand for. It's not that it's unfinished, it's unpolished. The only thing they seemed to care about was the aesthetic of the game, so they can sell it based on pre-release advertising. And they botched that up as well, because the graphics are a mess. It's been overhyped and underdelivered, and it's not optimized at all. The best PCs could barely run the high settings. The Beta patch seems to fix this one issue, for which I am grateful. The streamlining and brain dead AI only further proves that they tried to sell as many copies as possible to retarded teenagers, rather than making a quality game.

    In closing I highly doubt that it will be ever fixed completely. Your best hope is the modding community, who already did tremendous progress towards solving certain issues. I would advise checking the TWcenter,and downloading the mods you think are needed. It's a hug    … Expand
  4. Deadplate
    Sep 16, 2013
    2
    After playing this game for over 15 hours, I have just come to find this game way to easy. The AI just seems to be on easy mode, even thou I switched it to the hardest setting. The loading times are just way to slow, The time between turns even more so, This with other countries that will not even attack you. Units running around doing nothing, Boats going right threw everything includingAfter playing this game for over 15 hours, I have just come to find this game way to easy. The AI just seems to be on easy mode, even thou I switched it to the hardest setting. The loading times are just way to slow, The time between turns even more so, This with other countries that will not even attack you. Units running around doing nothing, Boats going right threw everything including shore, docks and everything else. This game seems as if it is still in the Beta format, and Once again. The FPS is bad, and this whole 1 year per turn is just over the top. 2/10… Expand
  5. tafoya77n
    Sep 16, 2013
    8
    I love this game, so far I have put 150 hours into it, I'm defiantly past the honeymoon stage. I honestly can't stop myself from saying one more turn every time, then get a chance to study and read its a perfect set up to compensate for the long turns. In all of the hours I have played I have experienced one crash and no graphics errors so I cannot speak to those complaints at all.
    I    I love this game, so far I have put 150 hours into it, I'm defiantly past the honeymoon stage. I honestly can't stop myself from saying one more turn every time, then get a chance to study and read its a perfect set up to compensate for the long turns. In all of the hours I have played I have experienced one crash and no graphics errors so I cannot speak to those complaints at all.
    I got in on patch 2 beta and that just made it better fixing my largest complaints about the game, the AI is now aggressive and battle formations are held much better. Over all the game is great and they seem intent on patching it to make the game even better.    … Expand
  6. MuttleyGrouch
    Sep 16, 2013
    1
    I can see a game in there, unfortunately its a game that is only part way through development. Two striking points about Rome 2 first, game companies clearly have weighed up the market and decided they can release in pretty much any state, and the consumer base will take it. This game shouldn't be through beta testing let alone released into a commercial marketplace I struggle to thinkI can see a game in there, unfortunately its a game that is only part way through development. Two striking points about Rome 2 first, game companies clearly have weighed up the market and decided they can release in pretty much any state, and the consumer base will take it. This game shouldn't be through beta testing let alone released into a commercial marketplace I struggle to think of any other commodity that you could get away with this sort of treatment of the customer. Second, this really shows up the reviewers whose opinions are worthless. I hope that there is some sort of club where game reviewers meet and currently the ones who think this is a 80-100 game are being made to pay some sort of forfeit for either being an idiot, or just making it up without playing it. Hopefully their editors will be taking note.… Expand
  7. Fredwitt
    Sep 16, 2013
    6
    Rome 2 is a disappointment, however not a travesty. All those giving it 0's and 1's are just in the heat of the moment about how much of a disappointment it was. I can play this game for 66 hours, because i want to experience Rome like i experienced it all those years ago. It doesn't bring anything new to the game, it is just a streamlined new looking box, with the content being hollow andRome 2 is a disappointment, however not a travesty. All those giving it 0's and 1's are just in the heat of the moment about how much of a disappointment it was. I can play this game for 66 hours, because i want to experience Rome like i experienced it all those years ago. It doesn't bring anything new to the game, it is just a streamlined new looking box, with the content being hollow and annoying. Please don't give this game a extremely low score because if you compare it to, for instance, ride to hell redemption, i would play Rome any day of the week over it. Rome can be saved here with patches, but its going to leave a nasty scar… Expand
  8. Heben2
    Sep 16, 2013
    9
    Great game, some changes on how the campaign map works (cities, regions etc.), which works nicely. Same awesome battles, now with astonishing graphics.
    There are some problems though, where some people (as always) cannot play the game from release. They seem keen on fixing this though.
    AI is a bit ambivalent some times really 'smart', some times amazingly dumb.. Really heavy game to    Great game, some changes on how the campaign map works (cities, regions etc.), which works nicely. Same awesome battles, now with astonishing graphics.
    There are some problems though, where some people (as always) cannot play the game from release. They seem keen on fixing this though.
    AI is a bit ambivalent some times really 'smart', some times amazingly dumb..
    Really heavy game to run, as it feels like it was not optimised at all. I have only small problems, but I read that a lot of ppl have great difficulty even running the game. I expect this to be handled in patches.
    I believe they will fix a lot of the problems, though it does not seem likely they change the ai too much, as it is such an advanced part of the game.
    As with all Total War-games, I still love this title and must give it 9/10 so far.
    I understand ppls frustration and why the rating is so negative right now, but releases has been rough on all aaa-titles the last 5 years, so this should, unfortunately, be expected by now.    … Expand
  9. MrJade
    Sep 16, 2013
    4
    This game looked to be a new era in the Creative Assembly's star studded history. The pre-release hype, coupled with the amazing screen shots, and stunning CGI footage certainly seemed to reinforce this belief.
    Then the game was released. Not only did the single player campaign have bugs, but it had bugs that rendered the game nearly unplayable (minutes of wait time between turns, massive    This game looked to be a new era in the Creative Assembly's star studded history. The pre-release hype, coupled with the amazing screen shots, and stunning CGI footage certainly seemed to reinforce this belief.
    Then the game was released. Not only did the single player campaign have bugs, but it had bugs that rendered the game nearly unplayable (minutes of wait time between turns, massive frame rate issues, and more). The game's AI is equally crippled. The enemy will hardly ever build a large army, and even when it does the army is comprised entirely of early game units, even 100's of turns into the game. The major factions, Carthage, Sparta, Egypt, Rome, Macedon, are all swallowed up by smaller factions because of the ignorance and idiocy of the game's AI.
    Battles rarely present a challenge, and this reflects poorly on the Creative Assembly.
    All in all, this game is a bust. Hardly worth your time, and you should only pick it up out of the bargain bin.    … Expand
  10. firemoth
    Sep 16, 2013
    5
    I have played this game with multiple factions and I must admit the AI is awful the map and political aspect is good however with the use of spies, dignitaries and Champions is good. I think they need to patch this game to improve it but as it stands this is distinctly average
  11. Vigil
    Sep 16, 2013
    1
    This is a massive downgrade from Creative Assembly's last entry, Shogun 2. Rome 2 is absolutely worse in every aspect than it's predecessors;
    - awful, clunky, intrusive UI
    - baffling interfaces which require you to use the in-game Encyclopedia (which contains information about mechanics cut from the game, no less) - severe graphical issues - half of the unit features from the original    This is a massive downgrade from Creative Assembly's last entry, Shogun 2. Rome 2 is absolutely worse in every aspect than it's predecessors;
    - awful, clunky, intrusive UI
    - baffling interfaces which require you to use the in-game Encyclopedia (which contains information about mechanics cut from the game, no less)
    - severe graphical issues
    - half of the unit features from the original Rome: Total War
    - completely broken unit AI
    - broken maps
    - awful naval combat
    - no politics
    - no family trees
    - no diplomacy (factions will ALWAYS demand a monetary payment for diplomacy actions)
    - no unit variety
    - horrifically overpowered Roman melee units

    I'd go on, but others have said the rest, probably. Phenomenal disappointment. I'm not sure what happened to CA, but they've lost the plot. Avoid this entry in the Total War series at all costs. It is not worth your money.    … Expand
  12. Yoh-lo
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    AI ability is the heart & guts of a RTS game, on this occasion CA promised great things and failed to deliver even the most basic elements. Thankfully I was able to get an exchange on the game. Software failures happen, what doesn't make sense however is CA pretending in their community campaign that the AI was anyway worthwhile.
  13. klungo
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    This is not a total war game. This is basically just starcraft with roman legions. Battles end within a few minutes and nearly every unit has some stupid arcade like "special ability" that gives them some magical damage boost or faster running speed. Units run and perform actions like throwing javelins way too fast and you can have your men run extremely long distances without gettingThis is not a total war game. This is basically just starcraft with roman legions. Battles end within a few minutes and nearly every unit has some stupid arcade like "special ability" that gives them some magical damage boost or faster running speed. Units run and perform actions like throwing javelins way too fast and you can have your men run extremely long distances without getting tired.

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

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

    P.S. WTF were you thinking CA by hiring Richard Beddow instead of Jeff van Dyck? The empire and napoleon soundtracks composed by Beddow were boring as and it clearly shows in Rome 2 with it's generic monotone music that doesn't build up to anything. Jeff's music is what brings life to the total war series and the game feels dead without it, no matter how good the game is in other regards.    … Expand
  14. Vorlon66
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    This is a disgracefully incomplete & flawed game incomplete, bugged, poorly designed & broken. The list of faults with this game are so long a review cannot begin to enumerate them. Effectively you are being asked to pay to Alpha Test a game that is, at best, 6 to 7 months away from being release ready.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Buyers should be demanding money back (I will be) & suppliers like Amazon asking for compensation from the publisher for providing a defective product.    … Expand
  15. RedBlueThunder
    Sep 16, 2013
    7
    While the initial game is still fun and enjoyable, i do feel that Rome 2 is slightly bare-bones. A huge amount of features have been removed and replaced by simple mechanics that make the game feel simple.

    During my time playing Medieval 2, i was indulged in politics and creating glorious family "dynasty's". It actually felt like i was running an empire. In Rome 2 it feels like your a    While the initial game is still fun and enjoyable, i do feel that Rome 2 is slightly bare-bones. A huge amount of features have been removed and replaced by simple mechanics that make the game feel simple.

    During my time playing Medieval 2, i was indulged in politics and creating glorious family "dynasty's". It actually felt like i was running an empire. In Rome 2 it feels like your a band of raiders conquering city after city with no real purpose or motivation.

    Land battles are a more like two mobs clashing into one another rather than two unique armies using advanced tactics to outwit one another. Naval Battles are hugely dull, more like lots of floating bowls clumsily knocking into one another.

    Overall, Rome 2 is still fun, but can barely be considered to be a proper "Total War" game. I hope after this, creative assembly will learn from their mistakes and create much much better and feature filled games in future.    … Expand
  16. Slapshot
    Sep 15, 2013
    3
    After playing the game for over 20 hours I have come to the conclusion that this game obviously is suffering from a very poor release. I am not alone in my complaints of the many bugs, AI problems and graphics issues but my biggest problem is that I simply do not like or agree with many of the fundamental changes that have been made to the game itself.

    - Control points in battles. To me    After playing the game for over 20 hours I have come to the conclusion that this game obviously is suffering from a very poor release. I am not alone in my complaints of the many bugs, AI problems and graphics issues but my biggest problem is that I simply do not like or agree with many of the fundamental changes that have been made to the game itself.

    - Control points in battles. To me this was just an awful idea. In battle an objective should be an objective because it is important to secure victory on the map. What is important should be up to the general to decide. Not something the game holds your hand and tells you is important "just because". Not only are these points not usually placed in strategic areas but I can not justify why the control of them would win or loose a battle outside of a siege or open city fight. It is a tool that oversimplifies battles.

    - UI. I find the UI to be cumbersome and leaves mostly everything hidden away inside of the encyclopedia. It makes dealing with the changes to the campaign mode that much harder to figure out.

    - Characters. I honestly feel no connection to any of my generals. For one there is no coherent or dynamic way of viewing them. For the most part the family and political system is meaningless in it's current state and appears like it was never fully realized.

    - Lack of formations in battle. Units do not maintain any semblance of formation once they engage the enemy. It makes things confusing and is completely unrealistic to see certain units behave this way. At one point I felt compelled to play a barbarian faction just so it would feel somewhat realistic when my men abandoned any form of discipline and ran about hitting things. The good news is that you can usually win without much effort on your part anyway as I found myself coming out of battles victorious when at the ground level I had really lost any idea of what my confused ill disciplined troops were actually doing.    … Expand
  17. AmishPanda
    Sep 15, 2013
    9
    If you liked Shogun 2, buy it. I liked Shogun 2, but I felt like the factions where copy-paste, just reskinned samurai. Rome 2's factions feel different, the units feel like they have various subtle differences even though they're functionally similar. Overall, the conquest is scale is turned up to 11. More cities to conquer, more cultures, more environments. Great game, differentIf you liked Shogun 2, buy it. I liked Shogun 2, but I felt like the factions where copy-paste, just reskinned samurai. Rome 2's factions feel different, the units feel like they have various subtle differences even though they're functionally similar. Overall, the conquest is scale is turned up to 11. More cities to conquer, more cultures, more environments. Great game, different than Shogun 2, not worse, just different.

    Also, I've had NO bugs. None. Literally none. No graphics bugs, no gameplay bugs, no AI bugs. Nothing. Only issue is non-optimized textures for my graphics card. But every game CA released has had something along those lines. And the DLC is whatever. Its a business practice, and it works, if you don't want to spend the money just wait. Not like its going away.

    All-in-all I'm happy with CA, they've responded within the week and from all looks the beta patch is improving performance on machines across the board and improving the AI's tactics. Wait to buy the game if you want great textures and cheaper dlc.    … Expand
  18. Surg3on
    Sep 15, 2013
    9
    In under two weeks patches have made enough difference for me to rate this game a 7. While there are still bugs and same questionable design decisions this is still a solid improvement in the Total War franchise. AI is now quite solid and its a heck of an improvement over the constant siege battles of Shogun2 (which I still loved but ...urgh so many sieges).
    If you have brains enough to    In under two weeks patches have made enough difference for me to rate this game a 7. While there are still bugs and same questionable design decisions this is still a solid improvement in the Total War franchise. AI is now quite solid and its a heck of an improvement over the constant siege battles of Shogun2 (which I still loved but ...urgh so many sieges).
    If you have brains enough to get your settings right it is absolutely gorgeous.
    While this game partially deserves all those zeros for being rushed out the door too early I do wonder if these people will come back and rescore in a month.    … Expand
  19. Hardcard
    Sep 15, 2013
    9
    This game is a solid 8 at least, no matter how low it's rated here.
    The only thing these haters are right about is the pathetic AI, which, well, it is indeed pathetic.
    You don't want to pay for a flawed TW game? Wait some months until a solid body of patches and mods fix AI and major bugs, and then buy the game. You should already know by now that CA likes to release games that need    This game is a solid 8 at least, no matter how low it's rated here.
    The only thing these haters are right about is the pathetic AI, which, well, it is indeed pathetic.
    You don't want to pay for a flawed TW game? Wait some months until a solid body of patches and mods fix AI and major bugs, and then buy the game. You should already know by now that CA likes to release games that need patching/modding in order to achieve the quality we all like.

    But, anyway, what about Rome II's virtues? Only half of the people here are talking about those.
    I've played all TW titles since the original "Rome: Total War" and Rome II has absolutely the best graphics by light years (anyone who says this is a "repixelated" version of Rome:TW whatever that means...LOL, is either a fool or a liar (or has a rig that can't handle Rome II and the game is lowering texture and model quality according to the system capabilities).
    Rome II isn't a pain in the arse to micro/macro manage and has, AT LAST, a clear diplomacy system that makes sense, unlike the original Rome:TW.
    A pretty lame AI is the only real flaw of Rome II, the rest rocks big time. Give them time to improve AI/develop mods and this stuff will be a milestone in ancient era strategy games.

    I don't understand why people is saying Shogun II had a better UI when Rome II has pretty much the same. But anyway, some of them are rating this game a 0 only because they don't like the UI.
    Don't worry guys, someone will patch it or make a mod soon enough that will end your misgivings.
    You think Rome:TW had an intuitive UI? LOL. I hated spending 10 entire minutes endlessly clicking different windows and icons only to manage my construction reports, and after that I had to manage my unit recruitment reports which meant 5 additional minutes of clicking, and after that I had to spend 5 more minutes managing diplomacy and agent actions. So we are talking about AT LEAST 20 minutes of clicking all sorts of things just to manage the basic elements of my faction EVERY TURN.
    The rest of the time I spent moving troops, warring and checking my settlements INDIVIDUALLY (when I had a few of them it was fun, but when I had 30+ it started being really annoying). What many people here is complaining about is that they no longer get to spend nearly half an hour in managing their settlements and getting sick of it in the process.
    Rome II's provincial managing makes it so much faster/easier to handle settlements and troops I can't believe you guys don't like it. And what about the building tree? How many buildings do you need?
    I hated it when I had 10 different types of shrines and temples, when I didn't need a third of them.
    In Rome:TW you didn't need half the buildings available for construction, so what was the point? Immersion? Don't worry, I'm sure someone will make a mod adding hundreds of buildings.
    I like the number of buildings Rome II offers, but if someone makes a mod including more buildings I'll sure give it a try. The same goes for the tech tree, you are complaining about things that are easily solved and don't have a major impact on the game. I'm glad of the simple fact that Rome II has a tech tree, unlike Rome:TW, and If someone makes a script to add even more technologies I'll be even happier, but I won't start complaining about something I regard as an improvement .

    What about naval battles and landings? They are great features, something Rome:TW lacked and has been included in Rome II, so what's wrong? The problem is the AI which is a totally different matter and will disappear when it gets fixed, the rest is absolutely amazing and I'm glad CA included it in the game.

    It's true Rome II doesn't let you split your forces the same way Rome:TW allowed ok this is a setback but, again, I'm sure it can be changed. And what about unit recruitment? It's pretty much the same as always, you can only train troops at the settlements were you have developed the technology to train them so what's wrong about it?
    Someone complained about units becoming a blob after entering combat (losing their formation)...
    first, this also happened in the rest of TW games, second, it's realistic, when you are hitting and getting hit your concentration shifts from keeping your formation to not dying...
    And what about chariot/horse impacts? Of course units fly away and get crushed into the ground, it's kind of what happens...

    And yes, there are no family trees in Rome II, at least not like in Rome:TW, big deal... Rome II deserves a 0 for this?

    Battles are too short and easy... well, that's because the AI is lame. Again, once it gets fixed you won't stand a chance. This is the same problem all the previous TW games had and were eventually solved.
    Rome II runs at decent fps on my rig but, like the rest of TW games, it lags over time. Well, I'm amazed Rome II can run 4000+ hugely detailed units, terrain,sky, water, effects at 50fps, so that's that...

    Great game with a nasty AI and lots of potential.    … Expand
  20. Makko_Mace
    Sep 15, 2013
    7
    Rome II is an amazing game, unfortunately it is deeply bugged at the moment which is unacceptable at release yet sadly common in this day and age. I would spend much more time writing out what I honestly think about every aspect of this game, but since everyone votes 0 or 10 on this site, I won't waste my time.

    In a few months it should deserve something like a 9/10 right now, it simply    Rome II is an amazing game, unfortunately it is deeply bugged at the moment which is unacceptable at release yet sadly common in this day and age. I would spend much more time writing out what I honestly think about every aspect of this game, but since everyone votes 0 or 10 on this site, I won't waste my time.

    In a few months it should deserve something like a 9/10 right now, it simply is lacking.    … Expand
  21. Lemonadrian
    Sep 15, 2013
    3
    Where did the 40% larger budget go? Marketing?

    At it's core, there is a good game in here, however it was so rushed and unpolished that it is left nigh unplayable. The developers were too ambitious in terms of scope and scale, yet attempted to streamline key aspects to meaninglessness. Yes the map is larger and there are now hundreds of factions and units, but what's the point when the    Where did the 40% larger budget go? Marketing?

    At it's core, there is a good game in here, however it was so rushed and unpolished that it is left nigh unplayable. The developers were too ambitious in terms of scope and scale, yet attempted to streamline key aspects to meaninglessness. Yes the map is larger and there are now hundreds of factions and units, but what's the point when the factions slow down the turn rate horrifically, the units are just renamed clones and the map is stuck on summer with a horrid yellow/red pissfilter. The battle interface is a clunky mess, a huge step back from every other game in the series, and the AI was dropped on it's head too many times in development. The entire game has an interface that would be more appropriate on a console, which is worrying. The frequent crashes, bugs and general design flaws are infuriating.

    Go play Shogun 2 for a few months til this stillbirth of a game is patched, modded and fixed into something resemble a true Total War game. Even then, I doubt CA and SEGA will learn from this.    … Expand
  22. BlitzNor
    Sep 15, 2013
    10
    As Total War veteran I find the game very enjoable. The campaign map is beatiful. The battle graphics are great. The province system, squalor and food system means you actually have to plan when developing your provinces and empire. The unit rosters of the different factions are diverse and interesting. The battle maps are varied and very well made. Character and army development is great.As Total War veteran I find the game very enjoable. The campaign map is beatiful. The battle graphics are great. The province system, squalor and food system means you actually have to plan when developing your provinces and empire. The unit rosters of the different factions are diverse and interesting. The battle maps are varied and very well made. Character and army development is great. Faction politics add further depth to this character development.

    This is a Total War game and a very ambitious Total War game at that. Se of course it is full of buggs and be completely unbalanced on release. The AI is bugged (though all ready getting much better with the 2.0 patch), but when not bugging out is actually doing good things like circumventing my armies and attacking unprotected settlements. When the buggs are worked out I am confident that the AI will be good. Turn time are overly long because of all the factions, but I find it much more exiting with all the factions instead just lots of characterless rebels.

    As for ballance I actually find this game far more balanced then the first Rome on release were cavalry and elephants literally just trampled everything (stacked Equities death armies were all you needed to conquer the world as Rome). Sure slingers are to strong, but they are easily be chased down by cavalry and wardogs. Larger Naval battles are sadly a mess right now with boarding overpowered, but for now navies are useful for autoresolving against transport fleets.

    This game will be a classic. It will take some patches and mods, but this is the norm for ambitious Total War games and should not surprise any Total War veteran. Stop whining about paying to be a beta tester, you knew what you were getting into. Enjoy empire building for now and make yourself epic battles by charging heroically into superior enemy stacks. The challenging gameplay and campaigns will come later when the game and mods have matured. This game is so big you can enjoy it from different angles.

    10/10 for limitless potential to counteract all this downvoting done by ragers    … Expand
  23. cleavland
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    They copied the AI, lack of collision physics, and monotonous city-building from Empire and tacked it onto this mess. SAVE YOUR 60-70 BUCKS! The troubles start when the game crashes for no good reason and the how user interface became downgraded to the point of being patronizing. NO MORE CUSTOM FORMATIONS!?. Massive lag on the campaign map with 100+ factions together taking 1+ minute on anThey copied the AI, lack of collision physics, and monotonous city-building from Empire and tacked it onto this mess. SAVE YOUR 60-70 BUCKS! The troubles start when the game crashes for no good reason and the how user interface became downgraded to the point of being patronizing. NO MORE CUSTOM FORMATIONS!?. Massive lag on the campaign map with 100+ factions together taking 1+ minute on an optimum gaming computer to finish the turn, then there's the battle lag... This game was pushed to release and I have a feeling that the talent who actually make the game did not have a say in the matter as no self-respecting programmer should accept money for selling such a broken and falsely-advertised product. The punch-line being that some empty-greedy suit decided to do some DLC whoring by announcing DLC BEFORE the game was released. If money is no object, buy the first Rome Total War and this one, play them both and you will find a perfect example of what has gone wrong with gaming within the past 10 years.… Expand
  24. Defengar
    Sep 15, 2013
    7
    I did not have as many issues as everyone else seemed to have had on launch, but i did have several glaring ones (mutilated textures, retarded AI, ships thats would glitch out of control, and of course ridiculous lengths of time being taken up by AI turns). This is really unacceptable from a company thats been making these games for over a decade now and themselves said they had a farI did not have as many issues as everyone else seemed to have had on launch, but i did have several glaring ones (mutilated textures, retarded AI, ships thats would glitch out of control, and of course ridiculous lengths of time being taken up by AI turns). This is really unacceptable from a company thats been making these games for over a decade now and themselves said they had a far larger budget for this game than any they have done in the series so far, and that it was the best TW yet. I wish I could give this game a 9-10, but i just cant.… Expand
  25. Hunter555888
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    Horrible everything. Its another Empire total war, but dont get me wrong I love the total war series (excluding now Rome 2 and empire.) It has horrible amount of bugs and horrible Ai. This is just a mini review, watch videos on youtube for more indepth review of Rome 2. Youtube: Total War: Rome II Angry Review by AngryShowJoe, really depicts the worst of Rome 2.
  26. axec
    Sep 15, 2013
    9
    Whilst the game has its technical problems, the sheer scope and the passion that oozes from every part of the game is clear, it will become better over time.
  27. Badajoz95
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    And I promised never to pre-purchase again... and this is exactly why. Great game history. I've bought every Total War previously but Total War: Rome 2 has SO many faults it is basically unplayable for a rewarding experience. Worst is the fact that the AI is completely broken for battles, so broken that the game is essentially completely broken.
  28. Dcruize
    Sep 15, 2013
    1
    A step backward for TW arcadey and simplistic combat, ugly graphics and a really weak campaign mode. I dislike the 3D portraits and found the unit cards to be be too hard to distinguish between at a glance. So glad I was able to try it before I wasted money on it, I'll go back to playing MTW2, RTW or even ETW.
  29. Goodis
    Sep 15, 2013
    10
    Horrible launch, but all their titles had horrible launches and they all eventually got to be all times best strategy games and I'm sure this one will get patched and fixed! Best in the series. Good investment worth every penny.

    + Graphics + Gameplay + Map size + Factions + Culture system + Sieges + Requires detailed city planing and management - Diplomacy - AI (Temporary) -    Horrible launch, but all their titles had horrible launches and they all eventually got to be all times best strategy games and I'm sure this one will get patched and fixed! Best in the series. Good investment worth every penny.

    + Graphics
    + Gameplay
    + Map size
    + Factions
    + Culture system
    + Sieges
    + Requires detailed city planing and management

    - Diplomacy
    - AI (Temporary)
    - No Family tree
    - No Skill tree    … Expand
  30. Kain292
    Sep 15, 2013
    8
    Total War: Rome II is a solid release into the long-running franchise by Creative Assembly. Though enduring a rough first two weeks, after some support the game is now wholly enjoyable, giving me yet another excuse to sink hours of my life into a TW game.

    Empire management is streamlined in Rome, with all provincial management being condensed into one screen. While veteran TW fans may    Total War: Rome II is a solid release into the long-running franchise by Creative Assembly. Though enduring a rough first two weeks, after some support the game is now wholly enjoyable, giving me yet another excuse to sink hours of my life into a TW game.

    Empire management is streamlined in Rome, with all provincial management being condensed into one screen. While veteran TW fans may pan this new system as pandering to new players, the new system is a welcome take to the clunky system of some of the older entries, where each building would have to be found and upgraded individually, instead of from a single screen.

    One sad omission from the game is the family tree system, which in previous TW games added a nice aspect of management to your empire. Instead, your generals are now broken down into a "Ruling family vs non-ruling family" list, where you can use political power gained by your family to promote your generals, hinder non-ruler generals, or adopt/marry them into your family to secure your power base. This is an interesting, if clunky, take on the political intrigue of the time (especially in the Roman world), and highlights the fact that though you are in control of your faction, you are not the only one hungry for power.

    The secondary aspect of any TW game, the battle mode, is brilliant. Though originally the battles were too quick, due to a sped-up fighting and running mechanic, after the recent patch the game feels more like an old-school TW game. The enemy AI can be surprisingly devious, using flanking maneuvers and hiding units effectively, to the point where even on normal difficulty a player who doesnt give a large fight their full attention can quickly be facing a rout as his shield wall is attacked from the side, or their archers are run down by cavalry which skirted the side of the battle.

    Campaign map AI is, so far, the most disappointing aspect of this game. Endlessly blockading an enemy city preventing you from capturing it, fleeing from, instead of defending against your army sieging their capital city, and launching attacks that are doomed to fail can make the player feel like their victory is hollow. After marching my armies across Greece to face Parthage, only to have their army (which was roughly the same size) up and run off into another province left me with a sour taste in my mouth, but it does open the possibility of a counter-attack in the future, should I leave my new conquest without a proper defence.

    Rome II is not the greatest Total War game. Though fans of the series will argue until their faces turn blue about which one deserves the honour of best, Rome II is nonetheless a solid entry into the franchise. Any fan of empire-building strategy games should seriously considering adding Rome II to their collection. Though hampered by initial poor performance, within two weeks the game is up and running to a very healthy level of playability. Early purchasers have every right to be frustrated at the game's poor initial performance, but more often than not, the standard of this industry is to release a far-from-perfect initial release of the game, with early patches to bring it up to snuff. If one can look past these issues, and simply play the game, I think most will find it to their liking.    … 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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