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. Silenus
    Sep 12, 2013
    1
    My God, where do you begin with this game? Awful performance, dreadful AI, poorly balanced units and broken features.

    I feel like a complete fool for pre-ordering this.
  2. LastJohn
    Sep 12, 2013
    4
    First let me say this, it pains me so much to give this game such a low score. I have played every game in the series except the original, Shogun. I have put in more than 700 hours into this series, and the Roman era is my favorite in history. Unfortunately, this game fails in almost every regard to live up to its predecessor Total War: Rome as well as the previous game Total War: ShogunFirst let me say this, it pains me so much to give this game such a low score. I have played every game in the series except the original, Shogun. I have put in more than 700 hours into this series, and the Roman era is my favorite in history. Unfortunately, this game fails in almost every regard to live up to its predecessor Total War: Rome as well as the previous game Total War: Shogun 2.

    Due to Creative Assembly's lack of a beta the coding in the game is horrific and causes MASSIVE lag even for people who have multi thousand dollar computers. Not everyone is affected, but most are. Here are some of the issues that plague this game.

    End Turn times -

    There are more than 100 factions that have to make their turn, which cause you to wait sometimes up to 6-7 minutes every time you end your turn which is extremely frustrating as the game is mean to play over the span of 300 years (or turns). The goods news, if you have a Excellent processor these speeds can be brought down to about a minute. I have compiled a lot of information from forums and the *general* consensus is that people with i5 and i7 processors generally take less than two minutes for a end turn (some as low as 40 seconds) while everyone else takes a back seat to about 3-4 minutes on average and some unlucky people 6-7 (especially after unveiling the map).

    Bugs and Glitches -

    There are a lot of bugs and glitches. To name a few, Ship battles are pretty much unplayable by most people which is a shame because they are beautiful. There is also a bug that allows units to burn down gates during sieges exceptionally easy by throwing torches at them, even metal gates, making the use for siege units virtually useless. To be fair, Creative Assembly probably did this on purpose due to the horrible A.I. not using siege units anyways so they needed a way for them to get into cities during siege battles.

    Also, there is a bug (that from I can gather plagues the Romans, which I played for 30 hours) that causes all of your generals to go insane. Literally. For me it almost always starts out with a trait called "Not quite right" which takes away 2 Authority and then after 4-5 turns their trait slots are maxed out with negative Authority traits. This makes the Roman faction pretty much unplayable for me. It doesn't just happen once, it will constantly plague your generals randomly (for me usually ,but not always, 1-2 turns after creating a general).

    Loss of Features -

    For some reason Creative Assembly decided to take away some beloved features. For instance, there is no more guard mode. If you don't know what that is I will explain it. Do you know how in movies armies march in formation? It looks beautiful and is truly epic. In Total War: Rome I they did this. And when a army clashed into yours it was amazing as they held their line. Well, some beyond comprehensible stupid person removed that from this game. When a army attacks you your units do not stay in formation, the battle simply becomes a mosh pit.

    There is also no Family tree and the tech tree has been dumbed down severely.

    Addition of features -

    Most additions are stupid in this game. There is flag sometimes placed in open battles that you must defend, you could have 7,000 troops and the enemy has 300 and if they capture the flag on the field they win. Also, in town battles, sometimes the A.I. will ignore your forces, run through them and try to grab the flag constantly being slaughter all the way there.

    Also, battles last for 3-5 minutes due to moral inbalance issues and the running/walking speed is extremely quick, making Archers useless. Some features are good, such as the Regional hub for provinces, but most are a step backwards.

    A.I. is so so so horrible -

    And finally last but not least. I can't mention everything wrong but this is a must. The A.I. is so stupid. *Most* games they will never declare war on you. They simply wait to be slaughtered. Then, in battles they have no idea how to coordinate an attack making battles way to easy. And they never create good armies. Almost always they will have a army comprised of 70% range units which is extremely annoying.

    I won't go into how stupid this games A.I. is, there is youtube for that and it is hilarious. Look Up AngryJoeShow A.I. fails. All I will say, is that I could forgive everything else until patches came except the beyond belief stupidity of the A.I.

    They should have just copied and pasted Shogun II's A.I. instead of redoing it.

    Final Verdict -

    I wanted this game to be epic. I wanted to love it. But this was a scam if I have ever seen one. More than likely it is Sega's fault. They have a track record of publishing horrific games. They want money and that is it. Some people play this game and overlook the flaws, but I am not blind. This game had no business being release, and maybe they will patch it, but I don't plan on holding my breathe.    … Expand
  3. Roma_19
    Sep 12, 2013
    3
    Rome 2 effectively punished its consumer base by releasing the game unfinished. Even if patches make the game perfect, I mean a completely reskinned Shogun 2 would have been so much better than Rome 2. SEGA and CA are lucky the "press" has given them a total pass, the biggest concern is the streamlining of the game, features that really made the original Rome the epic game we all came toRome 2 effectively punished its consumer base by releasing the game unfinished. Even if patches make the game perfect, I mean a completely reskinned Shogun 2 would have been so much better than Rome 2. SEGA and CA are lucky the "press" has given them a total pass, the biggest concern is the streamlining of the game, features that really made the original Rome the epic game we all came to love.are gone, to favor a more arcade approach... Epic fail CA/Sega… Expand
  4. zz77
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    This is the worst title in Total War series. It's bugged to unplayable level. Both campaign and battle AI is dumb as stone. Developers didn't add any really great and innovative features, but completely wiped out many great features of previous titles. UI is very poorly organized, its modern appearance is just immerse-breaking. Even graphics looks like downgrade of previous Shogun 2 game.This is the worst title in Total War series. It's bugged to unplayable level. Both campaign and battle AI is dumb as stone. Developers didn't add any really great and innovative features, but completely wiped out many great features of previous titles. UI is very poorly organized, its modern appearance is just immerse-breaking. Even graphics looks like downgrade of previous Shogun 2 game. Don't waste your money and time on this crap!… Expand
  5. Coolz
    Sep 12, 2013
    1
    the only good thing about this Total War game is the campaing map size and the number of factions. Rest of the game has taken major steps back. No more family tree, AI is horrible on all aspects, open field battles have capture points, navy has lost it's meaning and moving armies is way too easy, cities are dumbed down and they no longer feel like cities, most battles are sillythe only good thing about this Total War game is the campaing map size and the number of factions. Rest of the game has taken major steps back. No more family tree, AI is horrible on all aspects, open field battles have capture points, navy has lost it's meaning and moving armies is way too easy, cities are dumbed down and they no longer feel like cities, most battles are silly "city-battles" (not sieges really), politics they promised are the most offensive slap into the fans' faces, units are now dumbed down so bad that no unit feels special, battles take less than 5 mins and have lost all epic feeling, diplomacy is meaningless, all provinces feel even more the same than before, agents and generals die too fast and you have no connection with any of them... I could go on with this but I think you get the idea.

    This game is made for the dumb casual players who play the game for 50 hours and then move to the next game. There's no more any dept in this game, no epic feeling and it's so mainstreamed that I almost feel anger towards the devs who made this pile of crap. But then again all companies have their serious flops and this is one of them. Now their only hope is marketing to get this game sold, not the actual game.    … Expand
  6. Tooharsh
    Sep 12, 2013
    1
    I love Total War, I really do. But this game... I don't know if it is proper to call THIS a game.
    I played this for about 30 hours and the more I played, I became more disappointed.
    Huge amount of bugs, crashes, extremely stupid AI, poor optimization, minor UI issues like hidden skill tree for your characters and etc., etc. Now patches every week... CA promised us so much and gave    I love Total War, I really do. But this game... I don't know if it is proper to call THIS a game.
    I played this for about 30 hours and the more I played, I became more disappointed.

    Huge amount of bugs, crashes, extremely stupid AI, poor optimization, minor UI issues like hidden skill tree for your characters and etc., etc. Now patches every week...

    CA promised us so much and gave us so little... They fed us with gameplay videos and interviews, teasing. And then they released this. What a mockery.
    I feel like I was betrayed.

    Disappointment of the year, no doubt.    … Expand
  7. Southers
    Sep 12, 2013
    5
    After playing for 45 hours through a brilliant prologue, some great historical battles, a few (very laggy/ desynced) quick matches and two 100 turn in progress campaigns as Rome and Iceni, I feel like it is time to give my opinion. I have read some real troll reviews, and some real hype reviews, and it may look like i'm sitting dead in the middle but this is my honest opinion so pleaseAfter playing for 45 hours through a brilliant prologue, some great historical battles, a few (very laggy/ desynced) quick matches and two 100 turn in progress campaigns as Rome and Iceni, I feel like it is time to give my opinion. I have read some real troll reviews, and some real hype reviews, and it may look like i'm sitting dead in the middle but this is my honest opinion so please bare with me.

    The game has some serious flaws right now, mainly performance related and AI. Especially a dreadful waiting time for turns-end. It also lacks some really important features such as the family tree, and a capable political system especially for the roman faction. I was also fairly jaded by character progression from agents to generals, with not only a lack of but also no real logic to how it all works or flows. Not to mention them dyeing on you as soon as they become your hero. New province system and transport over sea system seemed great at first but soon came to be a nuisance late game for many reasons. Army traditions is overall a great additions, and one of the best in my opinion.

    Rome 1 was a very long time ago but parts of that could do with returning to this game. Especially if you plan to play as a roman faction. I'm talking about the senate and family system which we shall all remember so clearly. It doesn't feature in this game, instead you have 1 faction panel which tries and fails to convey a poorly designed and rushed system.

    I have also had a terrible experience with Multiplayer desyncs, whilst the singleplayer battles are flawed from the capture points system through to the whole mosh pit over in 5 seconds deal. Naval battles fair worse with many issues from balancing to some really strange auto resolve decisions and spamming of transport fleets (which dominate).

    However, I will be fair to this game because it has some real wow factors. The animations and generally the visuals (if you can get them to work) look stunning. The prologue is also fantastic, if a little buggy/ short. The campaign map itself is stunning, not only extensive, but offering a great detail and historical correctness. The amount of factions added is unbelievable, half the reason for turn end time problems...There is a crazy amount of work that went into the design of this game from all fronts, but again I just feel a serious lack of testing and optimization of the engine has taken place.

    I am not sure what CA plan to do but I 'hope' they make a vast array of changes where needed, and learn that striping out perfectly good features from previous games was perhaps a mistake.

    If they can focus on performance issues and tear down the turn end time to below 30 seconds this would receive a 6 or 7, as I am sure it will get from various patches.

    If they could improve drastically on AI in all areas of the game from battles to simple diplomatic actions such a trade agreements, and balance the many different units in the game, as well as coax in a family tree system with easier marriage and less of an aging issue we might be looking at a near 8, however this should of been in the game for release, as I feel that is what I was really sold.

    If they wanted to head toward or above a solid 8 i would need to see some significant additions. Basics like general speeches and agent action cinematics (absolute favourite), through to more complex additions like a deep political system, polished UI and a deeper multiplayer (fully working) experience.

    Finally I am also skeptical of the DLC direction of the game, similarly to CoH2, another sega game. It feels to me like they will be selling a lot of what is already in the game, such as cultures and factions. They may also add some missing units or even features through DLC, something I would not be happy to pay for. These should have come with a well polished game upon release, not later on as a stab for cash. If CA/ sega want any more of my money I will be expecting a fully finished expansion after a decent amount of work on the base game. I will certainly not be pre-ordering sega games after doing this for both CoH2 and Rome2 until major changes occur in both (free changes).

    I wish CA the best of luck for it will be a massive undertaking to reinvigorate what they have lost. Sadly in its current state as of 12.09.2013 its a mediocre 5/10.    … Expand
  8. shadowstealer
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    I was really looking forward to this game. I've been a Total War fan since Shogun and this was sounding as though it had the potential to surpass the fantastic Shogun 2. Unfortunately this has not been the case. I don't know what game half the games 'journalists' played but it was not the one the general public were promised.

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

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

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

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

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

    Oh yeah and no family tree. Or special agent animations. Or real depth or attachment. Hollow and bland. Urgh.    … Expand
  9. TheWitcher
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    NO WAY!!!!
    THIS IS NOT A TOTAL WAR GAME!!!
    Yeah, just like that: he simply sucks!! AND IT IS NOT YET FINISHED!!! THEY RELEASE A BETA FOR 55 EUROS!! In my opinion, the most relevant problems are: 1- totally idiot AI, both in strategic map and in battle, there is no challenge in single players or co-op multiplayer campaign, and without challenge there is no achievement of any kind: the    NO WAY!!!!
    THIS IS NOT A TOTAL WAR GAME!!!
    Yeah, just like that: he simply sucks!! AND IT IS NOT YET FINISHED!!! THEY RELEASE A BETA FOR 55 EUROS!!
    In my opinion, the most relevant problems are:
    1- totally idiot AI, both in strategic map and in battle, there is no challenge in single players or co-op multiplayer campaign, and without challenge there is no achievement of any kind: the game experience is too boring, it's a self inflicted punishment, it's a loss of time!!! The AI does nothing all the time!!! AND IT SUICIDES AGAINST YOUR CITIES!!!
    2-historical units stats are totaly unbalanced!!! In this game sone elite units are so broken that you can simply spam them and win!!! There is no strategy, both in single and multiplayer.
    3-the morale is surely broken: units flee after 3-4 minutes battles. Even in the major battles (40 units vs 40)!!!
    4-siege equipment broken!!! Each siege is a painful experience, trust me...
    5-naval battles bugged to hell, cannot control ships!!!
    6-FLAGS IN OPEN FIELD!!! O_o!!! You can cap a flag and win in 30 sec for no reason, while the enemy army is fighting you in the real battle elsewhere on the map...
    7-the end turn phase in campaign is 5 minutes long...in which AI only does idiot things...
    8-LAG!!! FIX THE LAG!!!
    9-GRAPHIC BUGS!!! FIX THE GRAPHIC BUGS!!!

    Ok, this is the point: DON'T BUY ROME 2 TOTAL WAR!!!!
    Simply like that.    … Expand
  10. jamesphillip198
    Sep 12, 2013
    3
    This game, in this state, is a complete wreck. I mean I love Total War series, I've had more than +5000 hours of all TW games easily, specially Medieval 2 and Rome 1. But the game is just a wreck. The AI is NON-RESPONSIVE, the fights seem like huge heavy metal moshpits, units don't mantain formations, and I could go on and on and on. Many people seem to have performance issues (2%This game, in this state, is a complete wreck. I mean I love Total War series, I've had more than +5000 hours of all TW games easily, specially Medieval 2 and Rome 1. But the game is just a wreck. The AI is NON-RESPONSIVE, the fights seem like huge heavy metal moshpits, units don't mantain formations, and I could go on and on and on. Many people seem to have performance issues (2% according to CA.) The whole game just feels like a beta-test IMHO, and they overhyped the game way past proportion. The idea is good, I really love TW franchise, but it's hard to love the game as it is. I hope they fix this mess with upcoming patches (bajillion patches). I'll see you in 6 months, TWR2.… Expand
  11. Azazl187
    Sep 12, 2013
    2
    No No No No NO! The game performs poorly on a 780 GTX, the AI is completely stupid. The release looks nothing like the Marketing screen shots and movies. CA were clearly on drugs when they sat down and made the developer vids.

    Most infuriating of all, I paid for an unfinished, rushed, unpolished game. What the hell are the industry reviewers talking about as well! 80!!! more like 40    No No No No NO! The game performs poorly on a 780 GTX, the AI is completely stupid. The release looks nothing like the Marketing screen shots and movies. CA were clearly on drugs when they sat down and made the developer vids.

    Most infuriating of all, I paid for an unfinished, rushed, unpolished game. What the hell are the industry reviewers talking about as well! 80!!! more like 40 my friends. If you have read this than read the user reviews, not the industry ones as they have clearly not played the game at all!    … Expand
  12. Romellispoop
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    Rome 2 is like an abusive husband I don't want to believe how awful it is and how badly it let's me down.

    Angry Joe says it best but I'll try to quantify and express my disappointment. Being a Total War fan since Shogun(like most loyal fans) I have had many years of amazing triumphal conquest, Shogun, Medieval, Rome, Medieval 2, Empire, Shogun 2 but and many amazing mods build on the    Rome 2 is like an abusive husband I don't want to believe how awful it is and how badly it let's me down.

    Angry Joe says it best but I'll try to quantify and express my disappointment. Being a Total War fan since Shogun(like most loyal fans) I have had many years of amazing triumphal conquest, Shogun, Medieval, Rome, Medieval 2, Empire, Shogun 2 but and many amazing mods build on the Total War engine and this is the most diabolical excuse of a stripped down game that looks like its going to console(xbox360 rather than next gen). Even with my explosive imagination I cant create a story to invest my emotions into while playing a campaign. There is no family tree a staple basic for any Total War game for instance which helped create a sense of story and intrigue why strip out something so basic but which added so much!? You get the picture over a tiny point I could rant for days, you let me and the whole loyal community down CA and Sega...Sad face.    … Expand
  13. Gileq
    Sep 12, 2013
    3
    Basically Sega sold alpha state game to us. It's far worse than trailers and preview they presented.
    Non-playabe, casual edition. After years and years of total war games, AI is worst ever, like most of the features. Good modern graphics for Rome 1, a it will be far better game than this...
  14. hardingman
    Sep 12, 2013
    5
    Awful UI, systems explained incredibly badly, multiplayer is unplayable. AWFUL FPS, and the AI is beyond broken. Thank god the time period and epicness of the campaign can carry it off. JUST
  15. Rufsian
    Sep 12, 2013
    3
    If you a Total War fan or love video games, this review is for you:

    This game was advertised with videos of supreme graphics and developers themselves from Creative Assembly talking about how Rome 2 is the biggest Total War they've ever made with 40% more budget than any other project they've done in the past. This is how they turned this AWESOME saga in a complete with NO A.I.    If you a Total War fan or love video games, this review is for you:

    This game was advertised with videos of supreme graphics and developers themselves from Creative Assembly talking about how Rome 2 is the biggest Total War they've ever made with 40% more budget than any other project they've done in the past.

    This is how they turned this AWESOME saga in a complete with NO A.I. WHATSOEVER (even when they fix it, the A.I. will use ATTACK RECKLESSLY TO THE FLAG-strategy.

    SEGA and Creative Assembly DECEIVED with lies but not WORDED LIES, VIDEO/IMAGES LIES HIDDEN AS DECEITFUL FEATURES.

    In Rome 2:

    - Sieges nowhere close the size of anything we saw in videos/panorama pictures

    - The A.I. which had more budget than ever for Rome 2, WAS NO DEVELOPED AT ALL. Just given simple path finding instructions to CAPTURE FLAGS which are bugged right now but even when fixed, it will be the worst A.I. in a TW to date.

    - They completely removed the Family Tree/Leader Figures. You get an infinite pool of worthless generals.

    - There is NO POLITICAL SYSTEM WHATSOEVER and it was advertised as a big feature along with a storyline driven campaign map.

    - Graphically wise, the colors of the armor in the soldiers are washed out, less quality and detail in the armor of soldiers gtx 770 lighting, all max, min fps 25 while on big battles even in high end rig.

    - The diplomacy is completely useless and confusing. There is no diplomacy whatsoever, just "attack here" for your allies. If you want to directly talk to a faction you have to transition into a small list that can only show 5 factions at a time and there are 110 in the game.

    - The detailed straightforward User Interface from Shogun 2 was completely ditched and redone a Java-type-game UI that demands annoying micromanaging for doing simple tasks.

    IF you want a real honest 40 minutes long review of Rome 2 total war done by a real fan of the series for more than 10 years, go search Angryjoe in youtube.

    Avoid this game like them peoples did in middle earth with black pest. Focus your hate on SEGA for pushing CA to meet the deadline so they could show over inflated annual reports.

    I can't believe it but SEGA has turned to be more greedy and worse in every other aspect than EA.

    SHAMEFUL DISPLAY     … Expand
  16. melaa
    Sep 12, 2013
    1
    Just terrible. To purchase a full price game, pre-ordered I may add, and it's clearly a beta test that other's will benefit from our testing by buying it at half price 6 months away.

    The AI is bad. The FPS issues and graphics incompatibility issues (With a high end pc and gpu) are just ridiculous. The worst game release of the decade. Still not fixed!
  17. labbey
    Sep 12, 2013
    1
    I am extremely disappointed in the game. FPS is 10-15 max in battles and just as bad in campaign on my ultra high end pc.

    Within an hour of trying to get the game working, anyone can see, this is not a completed product.
  18. rpuerta
    Sep 12, 2013
    0
    I have this game for over a week and can't even play it. I'm able to play all the other Total War games non stopping for hours at a time, but this one lags big time, very unplayable, boring and not fun at all. HORRIBLE Everything is Broken Nothing works like is suppose to be.
  19. 2484Stryker
    Sep 11, 2013
    6
    Rome 2 is essentially a shadow & husk of its predecessor, albeit with a few more technical glitches and questionable design changes. While some added features such as the provincial system were interesting, what CA took away effectively hindered my ability to enjoy the game as a whole. Rome 2 feels too streamlined, too simplified, too poorly polished. From the campaign map UI interfaceRome 2 is essentially a shadow & husk of its predecessor, albeit with a few more technical glitches and questionable design changes. While some added features such as the provincial system were interesting, what CA took away effectively hindered my ability to enjoy the game as a whole. Rome 2 feels too streamlined, too simplified, too poorly polished. From the campaign map UI interface to the unit stack icons during real-time battles, it feels like CA treated them almost as an afterthought. Furthermore, some features that were added either made very little sense, or were so poorly implemented that they ultimately were self-defeating.

    In the final analysis, Rome 2 is not a horrible game; it's an above-average yet quite buggy game that should have been better designed, beta-tested more thoroughly, then given deeper polish. And while it might not be a failure compared to the plethora of other games released these days, I do consider it a Total War series disappointment.    … Expand
  20. vanderown
    Sep 11, 2013
    3
    Long time fan of the series, thought Shogun 2 was great. Rome 2 is the only game that's every disappointed me enough to make a Metacritic account.

    1. The UI is ONE OF THE WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A VIDEO GAME. Coming straight from EU4 to this is a nightmare. Everything is hidden away in ledgers, or the encylopedia, and a very few things can be found out in tooltips. It's like the    Long time fan of the series, thought Shogun 2 was great. Rome 2 is the only game that's every disappointed me enough to make a Metacritic account.

    1. The UI is ONE OF THE WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A VIDEO GAME. Coming straight from EU4 to this is a nightmare. Everything is hidden away in ledgers, or the encylopedia, and a very few things can be found out in tooltips. It's like the developers have gone out of their way to try to deny me easy access to information. I do not understand why. This is everything from Public Order, what Zeal/Authority/Cunning is when something levels up, what Enslaving Captives actually does. Not hints so vague you don't know if this is a game mechanic or flavor text. This is my biggest problem with the game and the reason I think no amount of patches can ever fix it. Because of the UI, Public Order/Food management is a chore and the campaign map itself drains me of all joy. Why do I need to manually count Public Order to see whether changing a building in X region will take me into negative development into keeping it at 100? Is it listed somewhere completely different, only hidden so well I couldn't even find it?

    2. Before Rome 2 came out, I was telling all my friends how much we could have if they got it to because of how much I enjoyed Shogun 2's Avatar mode with persistent generals and their unique and game-changing skill trees, satisfying progression, customizable unit and army bonuses. I spent many, many hours playing this in Shogun 2, and as soon as I'd played about two-three hours of the campaign I was ready to try Rome 2's. Surely it would be even better, and with all of this unit variety, twice the fun. Well, it's completely gone. It's not there. All of these features are removed. Shogun 2's Avatar mode was my primary motivation for buying Rome 2. It has been completely stripped from the game. You can do a versus battle. That's it. Guess I should have done my research or waited to pre-order.

    3. Battles. And flags. In open field battles. I don't think I even need to explain this. I could see a single flag with a large connected area for sieges, that's it.

    Do note that I didn't even mention the performance issues, the atrocious AI (Battle and campaign) and de-sync issues for the still 2-player co-op campaign. Even if these (mostly launch-related) issues are fixed, the core mechanics of the game and the UI solidify Rome 2's position as a significant step back for the series. This game is spitting in the face of all of its fans. I will be highly skeptical of ordering another Total War title after this fiasco. I was certain this game would be great, but in the last 3 years, this is the game I most regret purchasing. Very disappointing. The only thing I feel has improved since previous titles is unit variety, but everything else is so much worse I don't find Total War: Rome 2 worth playing.    … Expand
  21. 2gutter67
    Sep 11, 2013
    4
    I don't really know what to say after what everyone else has posted in here, but I'll try and give it a shot.

    Basically, the game itself is complete un-immersive. If you have any experience with strategy games and I don't mean Command and Conquer, Starcraft, Company of Heros type RTS then you go into them looking to be drawn in with some kind of complex situations where you must    I don't really know what to say after what everyone else has posted in here, but I'll try and give it a shot.

    Basically, the game itself is complete un-immersive. If you have any experience with strategy games and I don't mean Command and Conquer, Starcraft, Company of Heros type RTS then you go into them looking to be drawn in with some kind of complex situations where you must actually think before you act and try to fix your mistakes before it's too late. This kind of thing doesn't really happen in Rome II.

    I've played only about 25 hours but this has been my experience. I've played as Carthage and have honestly seen no one even come close to challenging me either in the campaign or the battlefield. It's almost laughably easy to take over anything you want, whenever you want. Even Rome wasn't a challenge because they sent their entire army of about 8 legions across the ocean on "insta-boats" which I sank with my 2 fleets in 2 turns.

    To say the AI is bad is a bit of an understatement. I'm pretty sure that my 12 year old cousin who has never played any kind of strategy game before could play at least well as the battle AI in almost any situation be it a siege, naval engagement, or field battle.

    My most "epic" battle was when the civil war broke out which is quite a flawed mechanic btw in which 9 rebel stacks spawned outside Carthage at the random end of a turn. I was lucky and had 3 stacks of my own outside the city, and proceeded to crush roughly 12000 men in about 15 minutes and only losing perhaps 1/4 of my own troops. 15 minutes!!! To finish an absolutely massive battle!! Where is the strategy in this strategy game which prides itself upon it's RTS battles?

    I must say that the multiple victory conditions is a rather nice addition as is a fairly complete and competent diplomacy system. However some rather basic things like region trading should probably be included. When it must be removed from some games because the AI makes too random of trades, should you not fix the AI instead of removing the feature?

    Limited armies and navies is actually not that bad in my opinion.

    Everything involving graphics with this game is far and above my expectations. I've had a few glitches, but running an older system I'm not surprised or upset by those.

    Unfortunately, the thing that kills this game for me is just that I get bored terribly and utterly bored in about one hour of playtime. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I believe it's the lack of good battles which hurts this game. There is just something about Rome II that makes you feel as though everything you do has no substance, and that lack of the substantial makes Total War: Rome II only deserve a 7/10 at the highest.

    Perhaps they can patch the game into something better than mediocrity, but I must say that I probably will not be playing this game very much until I run out of anything else to do.

    I cannot say I won't buy another Total War game ever, but I most certainly will never be part of it's release. I will be watching carefully from the sidelines and hoping that this series can return to the standards of excellence to which it was known.    … Expand
  22. TJarnold92
    Sep 11, 2013
    3
    The game is basically unplayable. I have a Nvidia GTX 760 and 8 GB of RAM, and can run A.R.M.A. III and Metro: LL on MAX settings and get 50 FPS, yet this game on the LOWEST SETTINGS pushes 20 FPS at the most.

    I have no idea what systems the professional reviewers have, the game runs horribly and almost everybody else has this issue. It's just unoptimized.
  23. MERC123
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    I've been playing Total War games for about 8 years. I've spent over 1,000 hours playing Medieval 2, Empire, and Shogun 2. Rome 2 is a massive disappointment in comparison to the incredible previous games. Now I know that Empire was extremely buggy when it was released, but it was a completely revamped and expanded game. CA didn't bother to add anything new to Rome 2. They actuallyI've been playing Total War games for about 8 years. I've spent over 1,000 hours playing Medieval 2, Empire, and Shogun 2. Rome 2 is a massive disappointment in comparison to the incredible previous games. Now I know that Empire was extremely buggy when it was released, but it was a completely revamped and expanded game. CA didn't bother to add anything new to Rome 2. They actually simplified and dumbed everything down. You know what this reminds me of? SimCity. EA promised all sorts of amazing new features and gameplay. Then they released an unplayable, broken game without delivering on anything they'd promised. CA has done the exact same thing with Rome 2. Horrible AI, graphical glitches galore, and unplayable multiplayer are just a few things I'll take the time to mention. And the sad thing is that the professional reviewers don't even punish CA for all these gamebreaking problems. The same exact thing happened when SimCity came out. I've lost all faith in the mainstream game review companies. They're clearly working with the corporations and not the consumers in mind. CA should be publicly shamed and protested for releasing such a painfully disappointing product.… Expand
  24. Datek
    Sep 11, 2013
    2
    This has the potential to be a great game someday. In it's current state, it is and disgraceful embarassment. This game is unplayable, and how it is possible to receive such high ratings from 'respectable' gaming review sites is beyond comprehension. No wonder the barbarians are up in arms. Watch the Angry Joe review on youtube if you are in any way considering buying this game.
  25. legoman775
    Sep 11, 2013
    3
    i have been a fan of total war games from creative assembly for a while now but this is just a slap in the face first of all the f***ing flags WHY next AI is broken completely broken clearly Sega is just pushing Creative Assembly to hard like they did with Gearbox I AM SICK OF THIS SEGA GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER OR I AM DONE BUYING GAMES FROM YOU....

    anyways i give this game a 3/10 just to    i have been a fan of total war games from creative assembly for a while now but this is just a slap in the face first of all the f***ing flags WHY next AI is broken completely broken clearly Sega is just pushing Creative Assembly to hard like they did with Gearbox I AM SICK OF THIS SEGA GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER OR I AM DONE BUYING GAMES FROM YOU....

    anyways i give this game a 3/10 just to be forgiving to CA but this better not happen again Sega i mean it don't let this ever happen again to one of my fav game titles out there since Aliens CM was already butchered and thrown to the curve don't do that again EVER    … Expand
  26. Avonmouth
    Sep 11, 2013
    10
    While Total War: Rome II was a bit of a shock in the beginning, with the different interface for both skirmishes and campaign, I have grown to like it. There is still nothing like watching you siege the city of an adversary or even watch your men engage in a gruesome battle on land or sea. In the beginning, I did not know how I was to like this game. It does have its errors, however, IWhile Total War: Rome II was a bit of a shock in the beginning, with the different interface for both skirmishes and campaign, I have grown to like it. There is still nothing like watching you siege the city of an adversary or even watch your men engage in a gruesome battle on land or sea. In the beginning, I did not know how I was to like this game. It does have its errors, however, I believe that when people become frustrated, they should not take it immediately to the review board. The game has only been out for several days, the errors will get fixed over time. I am not saying this game is perfect as is, however, it has the potential to become one of the greatest PC games I have ever played.

    Of course, that's my opinion. You make your own.    … Expand
  27. messiahua
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    When I first started the game I noticed only some performance issues, but they were not gamebreaking. Overall I liked what I saw and was ready to give this game a decent personal score of about 7/10. I played prologue at that time and had no issues with AI for example, but when I finished it and jumped into campaign by the lapse of time I started to stumble upon more and more bugs and IWhen I first started the game I noticed only some performance issues, but they were not gamebreaking. Overall I liked what I saw and was ready to give this game a decent personal score of about 7/10. I played prologue at that time and had no issues with AI for example, but when I finished it and jumped into campaign by the lapse of time I started to stumble upon more and more bugs and I started to hate a lot of gameplay changes, which I discovered by the time. After first patch game even started to constantly crash. I've tried pvp campaign multiplayer to mitigate completely stupid AI, but it's almost unplayable, because of very long turn times and desync.

    I've played for 50 hours already and I am really disappointed. I don't understand why it was so hard to make similar game as previous titles, leave all old features and add new ones.

    In spite of all negativity there is also some great new features, for example big and detailed campaign map, detailed tactical maps, which precisely correlate with strategical map, LOS feature for units (i've been wishing such feature for every total war), combined naval and land battles, but all this is pointless if the game is crashing, lagging, gameplay dumbed down, ai broken, features removed...

    I would give it 4/10 now, but simply to make this more noticeable I will rate it 0/10 to support community.

    All this hype and marketing, promises and talks, but not actions that's only what is on the table right now from CA/SEGA.

    I'm definitely not going to preorder next title (if such will be) and, if this trend will continue, definitely not going to buy at all.    … Expand
  28. Dr_Fumbles_
    Sep 11, 2013
    10
    Positives
    Love the provincial system. It really lets you turn some cities into big factory or military production cities without it just causing constant riots. Edicts are awesome.
    I actually enjoy the UI a lot. It is different from other games and you will have to learn it, but it wasn't very difficult for me. Like the multiple victory goals. Kinda leans you towards where you want to    Positives
    Love the provincial system. It really lets you turn some cities into big factory or military production cities without it just causing constant riots. Edicts are awesome.
    I actually enjoy the UI a lot. It is different from other games and you will have to learn it, but it wasn't very difficult for me.
    Like the multiple victory goals. Kinda leans you towards where you want to go. Also love that client states and military allies are counted towards your overall territory. Allows you to have the best empire without just murdering everyone.
    Love the different modes armies can be in Raiding, Fortification, forced march. They were something I didn't use for a long time, but realized the use of them later.
    Agents are actually pretty useful, and all seem diverse in what they can do without being OP like in Shogun 2.

    Negatives
    Dumb AI. They aren't bad in most battles, but when they are having offensive siege battles they sometimes just stand outside the walls or run into a wall of pikes. Needs work.
    Turns take a while. Especially late game. When you have lots of trade partners and see most of the world. All the factions can take a while (usually some good diplomacy and battles in that time though)
    Sometimes enemy generals won't die and just try to besiege your city every turn with like 13 guys, but the unit never dies.
    Lots of people are having bug issues (I haven't really had any yet) One freeze during a lot of play.

    Overall this game is probably an 7-8 right now. It needs some work, but the work is being done, so as long as it gets done I'm still giving it a 10. The game has AWESOME potential, and is still very enjoyable to play. I'd suggest waiting like 6 months if you haven't gotten the game so some kinks are worked out. I'm just tired of seeing a million 0's from people who just don't like the AI or UI. Wait a while and get the game. I wouldn't want to miss this game just because of a crap buggy launch.    … Expand
  29. Strategist1979
    Sep 11, 2013
    4
    This game is just broken. The AI is so stupid. This game is not challenging at all. It is very buggy. RIP Total War franchise. The only reason I'm giving this a 4 is because there seriously are worse games out there. I can not believe they spent as much production dollars on this as they did. unbelievable. Time for people to get fired.
  30. Ceaugo
    Sep 11, 2013
    1
    Hey Shprax this is not about gaming Rigs. I do have an I7 core gaming rig with dual video cards on SLI, 32 megs of ram and a 64 bit OS. Which does nothing to enhance a mediocre game. Only 36 critics and 494 reviewers gave somewhat positive reviews. That's 530 people out of 1716 reviews. That's is 70% of true gamers that voiced their opinions for a faulty game that they truly care about.Hey Shprax this is not about gaming Rigs. I do have an I7 core gaming rig with dual video cards on SLI, 32 megs of ram and a 64 bit OS. Which does nothing to enhance a mediocre game. Only 36 critics and 494 reviewers gave somewhat positive reviews. That's 530 people out of 1716 reviews. That's is 70% of true gamers that voiced their opinions for a faulty game that they truly care about. Maybe you got the game version that the critics got along with some perks. out of curiosity.Do you work for CA??… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

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