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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. wilm210
    Mar 4, 2014
    6
    Hello, this is my first review I've ever done on Metacritic and on any Review aggregator site for that matter. I'd like viewers to take note that while this is my first public review of a game, it is no less sincere.

    Now as for Rome 2, not a terrible game by any means, but certainly a step backwards from Total War's previous entry, Shogun 2. Putting aside the rocky launch that Rome 2    Hello, this is my first review I've ever done on Metacritic and on any Review aggregator site for that matter. I'd like viewers to take note that while this is my first public review of a game, it is no less sincere.

    Now as for Rome 2, not a terrible game by any means, but certainly a step backwards from Total War's previous entry, Shogun 2. Putting aside the rocky launch that Rome 2 had, it is a visually stunning and decent Strategy game. The campaign map is huge, the faction roster is plentiful and diverse, and the visuals and animations are outstanding. This is where my praise of the games ceases.

    Where Rome 2 falters are in it's far too streamlined gameplay and underdeveloped features. To start off, the new Political System is "Needless" to say the best. The 3 agents variants are redundant as they can all perform the same tasks. Magic boats make the game too trivial .Skill/tech trees are skimp and simplified from Shogun 2. While I am in favor of the new province system, managing settlements have been scaled much too far (i.e. no longer can you build roads or even simple wall defenses such as palisades, buildings trees are skimp and choices are very limited). Wall's are null and void thanks to the ridiculous torches. Multiplayer is very bare-bones in comparison to Shogun 2 and it's general avatar feature. The idiotic decision to add flags in open battles ( I know they have since been remove, but it was such stupid decision I had to bring it up). Abundance of "Magic" abilities for units is also ridiculous.

    A lot of the little details from previous Total War games are completely gone or skimped out on. General speeches are now only 2 brief lines of dialogue. Mini-movies for agents, unit recruiting, faction intros, and events are largely absent. The UI is very generic and uninspired in comparison to previous Total War games. Historical events and info tidbits during the campaign are gone aswell.

    As for Technical issues, the A.I. is extremely incompetent in both siege and field battles and in campaign. Unit-blobbing is still existent as well as optimization issues (the game run just fine for me, but I do not doubt others who have run into performance issues with the game and have adequate machines).

    All in all, Rome 2 is a decent strategy game it's just buried beneath pointless and shallow features and simplification. With the help of mods, the game becomes much more enjoyable. I'm just so disappointed with the game, even with a smaller budget, Shogun 2 achieved much more than Rome 2.    … Expand
  2. Kulagae
    Oct 9, 2013
    2
    Have sunk about 75 hours into this game over the course of launch until today.

    Even after 3 patches, the game is still buggy. Just when they this game breaking "end-turn" crash to desktop bug I had, up comes another ctd bug whenever I click to inspect a town's stats, at which I've completely lost what hope I have had left for this game and is now currently typing this review. Game is    Have sunk about 75 hours into this game over the course of launch until today.

    Even after 3 patches, the game is still buggy. Just when they this game breaking "end-turn" crash to desktop bug I had, up comes another ctd bug whenever I click to inspect a town's stats, at which I've completely lost what hope I have had left for this game and is now currently typing this review.

    Game is not optimized, lagging horribly during the campaign map and strange unit stuttering during the battles. Its not low framerate, unlike the campaign map, since my UI and Camera during the battle is responsive, but the units are moving at 10 fps.

    Once you get past all this you then realize the game itself is poorly designed:
    Bad AI in Campaign and Battle. I have had 3 armies in an enemy's province, with 5 different agents burning buildings and doing all sorts of crap to get the enemy to start a war. Well, they never do. In battle, units have a tendency to charge your lines but right when they are about 4 seconds away they get a morale shock and retreat but after they've retreated far enough, they usually decide to charge again, and then once again they will.... you get the point (also seen in Angry Joe's review).

    Unit balancing issues. Such as an elephant general winning over a 2000-man army.

    Finally, there are also parts of the game that seems either unfinished or just pointless. Some being the faction politics system. Civil War is inevitable, much like realm divide in Shogun 2, once your imperium hits a certain level. After you have crushed the rebellion, the influence system doesnt matter anymore, at least no in my game. My ruling dynasty is forever stuck at 71%, no matter what I do. The options to assassinate political enemies and such is gone. The retainer household card system, which you gain randomly during turns also seems to just stop at a certain point. So if your game is going well into the 250th turn or so, you'll soon notice that you won't be getting anymore new retainers for your household. So eventually, your generals will just not have special stats because apparently CA didn't even intend for your game to go past 150th turn with out you winning, quitting, or crashing permanently.

    Bottomline. Don't buy it.
    People keep saying give it time to patch or wait a couple of months. Well, I'm here to say unless these patches completely overhaul some of the mechanics, it just isn't worth it, for $59.99.
    $19.99 on the otherhand, would be great, just for laughs at least.    … Expand
  3. roland79
    Oct 13, 2013
    1
    This game is awful and its an example of a developers who dont care or respects its fanbase. To put it bluntly, the release of this game was immoral. Ever since the game was announced there has been a heavy focus on visuals and yes the visuals are nice but everything else is terrible.

    The game is bad thats no mystery but the real mystery is how various magazines can give this game a    This game is awful and its an example of a developers who dont care or respects its fanbase. To put it bluntly, the release of this game was immoral. Ever since the game was announced there has been a heavy focus on visuals and yes the visuals are nice but everything else is terrible.

    The game is bad thats no mystery but the real mystery is how various magazines can give this game a good review. I cant help it but I must put on my tinfoil hat and say they have all accepted bribes. The difference between user reviews and official reviews shows it.    … Expand
  4. z12g32
    Oct 25, 2013
    0
    without a doubt the worst game of all time CA.
    Lacking content, boring, poorly optimized, and soulless.

    DO NOT BUY IF YOU DO NOT want to be ripped

    not dubbed in Spanish or Italian
  5. J4MESOX4D
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    It's not very often a series declines game after game but the Total War titles seem to be on a downward spiral to nothingness and Rome 2 highlights the sheer drop in quality from the excellence of the original.

    The ambition of the game seems to be overriding the quality of the finished product. It's a half baked game that is woefully presented, cumbersome AI and a very bland interface    It's not very often a series declines game after game but the Total War titles seem to be on a downward spiral to nothingness and Rome 2 highlights the sheer drop in quality from the excellence of the original.

    The ambition of the game seems to be overriding the quality of the finished product. It's a half baked game that is woefully presented, cumbersome AI and a very bland interface with management options lacking and a dreadfully simplistic challenge which you'll find exceedingly tedious over a session. The shockingly poor technical side adds to disappointment with considerable framerate problems and sloppy realtime battles. As you progress. the end of turn system becomes intolerable with turns taking in excess of minutes as the AI plays catch-up. This boils down to the seemingly dated engine and leaves you waiting without control for an unacceptable amount of time. This kills the flow and adds to the overall dismay.

    CA either need to go back to the games' roots or sell the licence because this series is dwindling to oblivion. If you want a fine strategy game of the Roman era; you'd be better off re-installing the original. It may be over 10 years older but it's streets ahead of today's messy attempt at rejuvenating the Total War collapse.    … Expand
  6. SethFaded
    Oct 28, 2013
    3
    This game is the downfall of TW series. Bad optimisation, low fps, nonexistent AI, extremely quick battles, AI doesn't use siege battles, there's nothing strategic in siege battles, broken formations, useless political system, op transport ships make the battle ships look useless, too many bugs and many more negative things.
    Positive things: Fancy graphics
    To anyone consider buying this    This game is the downfall of TW series. Bad optimisation, low fps, nonexistent AI, extremely quick battles, AI doesn't use siege battles, there's nothing strategic in siege battles, broken formations, useless political system, op transport ships make the battle ships look useless, too many bugs and many more negative things.
    Positive things: Fancy graphics
    To anyone consider buying this game, DON'T! It's so broken, that the current patches made little improvement. Better buy this game when it will be 75% discounted.    … Expand
  7. ThunderHawk
    Oct 25, 2013
    2
    Nothing good came from this game.

    Good things : - Better graphics (of course!) - Naval combat. The naval combat itself is fun enough. But the AI is useless. - Naval and ground combat in one map. Great concept, lackluster execution. Bad things : - Bad campaign, takes hours just to go to next turn. - Troops has really stupid AI. Enemy troops will charge at you, and break off at    Nothing good came from this game.

    Good things :
    - Better graphics (of course!)
    - Naval combat. The naval combat itself is fun enough. But the AI is useless.
    - Naval and ground combat in one map. Great concept, lackluster execution.

    Bad things :
    - Bad campaign, takes hours just to go to next turn.
    - Troops has really stupid AI. Enemy troops will charge at you, and break off at the last moment, and keep repeating it, while taking a lot of fire from your archers. Even though the enemy unit is superior, they don't want to charge you.
    - Stupid flags. Nobody wants to capture flags in the middle of the war.
    - Campaign map LOOKS great, but too bad, the campaign AI sucks.

    This game is an example of a game that put graphics above game play experience. The game has a lot of interesting new concepts, but the AI of the game (which should be a focus of a strategy game) is really really lacking. Nobody wants to look at fancy graphics and fancy ships, we want enemy AI that (at least) give a convincing fight.    … Expand
  8. GeneralBohr
    Oct 28, 2013
    1
    First the good things:
    By the looks it is of the CD cover and graphics it is good looking. There is a big campaign map which gives you the ability to conquer the lands from Asia to northern Europe.
    Multiplayer campaign map where you can play with a friend either as enemies or allies. Many factions. Rolling balls and other traps in the battles. The diplomacy has been improved. Bad    First the good things:
    By the looks it is of the CD cover and graphics it is good looking. There is a big campaign map which gives you the ability to conquer the lands from Asia to northern Europe.
    Multiplayer campaign map where you can play with a friend either as enemies or allies.
    Many factions.
    Rolling balls and other traps in the battles.
    The diplomacy has been improved.

    Bad things:
    It runs slow!
    The campaign map is slow and you have to watch these horrible slow-motion battles on the campaign map after you have played a battle. The movement of troops on campaign map is slow. The battles is slow because you have to wait 5 minutes before the enemy approaches your army even when you choose the fastest speed.

    Stupid AI!
    The siege AI is stupid it throws torches at your wall and only tries to get into one of your gates! You can defeat the AI's greatest army without any troops. Your walls will kill them and with burning oil and some troops based at the gates you get easy win.
    The campaign AI doesn't do much except a few nations.

    Unrealistic!
    In the game you can throw burning torches at a steel gate and get it to burn. In a region you can only have walls in the "capital" in that region.

    Features removed from the original game.
    Building of walls. The family tree is removed which gives you no relationship with your generals and you really don't care if they die or live, because they die so quickly. Population is removed and now you can recruit unlimited troops and build all the buildings you want. The turns is now one turn=one year, and seasons has been removed. There is a limit for elite units in this game.

    Spam in messages.
    You get a lot of messages about agents sabotaging your armies or cities expect around ten of these messages each turn. Slave revolt and some politics you really don't care about and choose a random option.

    Maybe the game will be fixed about one year to 1½ but I will not get my hopes up. But it is a beautiful game and therefore the score 1. But I don't play games for graphics alone so I would prefer the Rome I game instead of this at the moment.    … Expand
  9. ElPortoChris
    Oct 25, 2013
    4
    Horrible game, great marketing campaign. They started the hype early on this one. We are all suckers. I want my money back. Oh wait, it's already gone in that huge marketing budget.
  10. pmatt147
    Oct 26, 2013
    0
    I'm left to wonder: did they even try with this game? Very buggy, box art is impractical and annoying, meters instead of of units...etc. Most facets of the game are unnecessary or buggy. In actuality, the game plays like a 6 but it's clear to me that they just don't care with making Total War games anymore.
  11. Albano
    Oct 27, 2013
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Shame, the worst game in the series total war, incomplete, without translation into Spanish and Italian.
    Full of bugs, devoid of content, 54.99 A FRAUD!!!.

    resort to modders for the game does well,,

    to shame.    … Expand
  12. AMysteryUser
    Oct 27, 2013
    8
    I just picked this game up and frankly Its exactly what I wanted from a total war game that being said it has some fps issues and I had to install a couple of mods to tune the traits and character ageing which were both unwisely setup to say the least (the traits were boring and everyone drops dead of old age way to fast by default). But hey its total war and the AI got patched and can nowI just picked this game up and frankly Its exactly what I wanted from a total war game that being said it has some fps issues and I had to install a couple of mods to tune the traits and character ageing which were both unwisely setup to say the least (the traits were boring and everyone drops dead of old age way to fast by default). But hey its total war and the AI got patched and can now fight back!… Expand
  13. theCID
    Oct 27, 2013
    3
    To put it plainly Rome II has certainly made it clear to all Total War fans that there was no real intention of making this game better even after so many years. Rome I is far superior to this dreadful nightmare. This is most evidently seen in the AI. Holy sh&I?THE AI. Well, I know this statement is seen in almost every review, but I just do not believe this single fact can beTo put it plainly Rome II has certainly made it clear to all Total War fans that there was no real intention of making this game better even after so many years. Rome I is far superior to this dreadful nightmare. This is most evidently seen in the AI. Holy sh&I?THE AI. Well, I know this statement is seen in almost every review, but I just do not believe this single fact can be overemphasized. After more than 15 hrs put in this game I realized for one the campaign gameplay would never get better, as it continuously becomes so dull that it becomes aggravating, and second, the ridiculous time it takes for each turn to end. Sigh. This game is a shame and a mockery to all of us who were sucked in to believing that yes indeed this game would be better than its predecessor.… Expand
  14. jimmypage1992
    Oct 29, 2013
    1
    as a huge fan of the original rome total war, I was eagerly awaiting for the release of Rome II as they hyped this game to death. i can only say that i am utterly devastated by this game ,and it makes me kinda sad to see such a miserable sequel to the game i grew up with and enjoyed playing for more than 3 years.
    from the technical side: a the game is clearly in beta phase, the graphics    as a huge fan of the original rome total war, I was eagerly awaiting for the release of Rome II as they hyped this game to death. i can only say that i am utterly devastated by this game ,and it makes me kinda sad to see such a miserable sequel to the game i grew up with and enjoyed playing for more than 3 years.
    from the technical side: a the game is clearly in beta phase, the graphics can't in any way look even close to what we've been shown in the siege of carthage video a year before the game's release plenty of bugs and game breaking crashes ,utter failure on the optimisation side that was clearly a work of amateurs :the warscape engine is just broken.
    now to the most important issue in this game due to gameplay and design choices it's the lack of overall fun the feeling of the one more turn is dead and gone the game is so boring ,shallow and soulless, due mostly to the removed features in this game ,the ones that made the campaign so enjoyable ,and instead replaced some of them them with new ones that actually make no sens at all take the example of the moronic so called politics system. i don't even get why they called it system where all you have to do is click on random buttons without knowing what result will this have on your faction's politics .also the removal of family tree the burning down of metal gates with stupid torches, the absolutely incapable AI ,units can't keep formation, no strategic sense in battles, playing romans is the same thing as playing barbarians ,fights always develop into major blobs so you can't even see the fancy new animation they were bragging about ridiculous naval battles,arcady battles, restricted liberty in building choices and on and on... i can keep mentioning the major cons of this game all day long .so you got it, as a veteran total war fan from 2004 with rome 1. i am more than disappointed with this game all that have been promised about a masterpiece was all lies and marketing hype i couldn't enjoy the game for it lacks most of what made the total war series so great and is an insult to the customers and especially the total war veterans .
    PS the only thing that i liked was the beauty of the campaign map and there's isn't even seasons changing with turns so mehhh is al i gotta say THIS game is the downfall of the series     … Expand
  15. TheMetalfreak
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    This game just just isn't fun at all. I have no idea what they did, when I got any of the earlier TW games, I always sat in my chair for hours and days and close to months to play the game. But not on this, and the game is broken in every thinkable way possible. At the start I was hyped as hell, probably as everybody else, how could CA screw this up? They couldn't! Even with 40% largerThis game just just isn't fun at all. I have no idea what they did, when I got any of the earlier TW games, I always sat in my chair for hours and days and close to months to play the game. But not on this, and the game is broken in every thinkable way possible. At the start I was hyped as hell, probably as everybody else, how could CA screw this up? They couldn't! Even with 40% larger budjet to the game then Shogun 2 TW. Apparantly they managed to do it. I think personally it has something with their policy of having the minimum demands which they always have had. But anyways, the game is broken. Especially the A.I, they give no challenge whatsoever, they are stupid tactically, invading a harbor with 1 boat, and engaging, people that won't jump of the boat, and locking them stuck in the ship, and making you lose the battle because you cannot target them and kill them. I just hope the community and the endless (but slow) patches from CA can fix it to make it atleast playable.… Expand
  16. SirenSounds
    Oct 29, 2013
    4
    Horribly disappointing game. So much potential lost in this series due to this game and where it could have been and where it went.

    Gameplay is lacking on soo many levels!! As soon as you hit "Start Battle" the whole reason to even purchase a TW game goes out the window as your units and the AI units become a visual mob-mosh pit-pile of black ants fighting at a standing distance. Its    Horribly disappointing game. So much potential lost in this series due to this game and where it could have been and where it went.

    Gameplay is lacking on soo many levels!! As soon as you hit "Start Battle" the whole reason to even purchase a TW game goes out the window as your units and the AI units become a visual mob-mosh pit-pile of black ants fighting at a standing distance. Its such a disappointment. How can CA go from the visually stunning ETW, Napoleon, Shogun II to this?

    Unit abilities are weak, uninspired, difficult to manage, completely unnecessary for battles that last 2 minutes or less. Can you imagine? TWO minutes and a battle between 5,000 vs 4700 men is over with. You barely have time to even tell a unit to move-attack-brace before it becomes a mosh pit of indistinguishable masses. So now you have no idea if your units are using shield wall, phalanx or just some form of chaos/anarchy attack.

    Campaign AI is a complete and total step back from other TW title in that nations-tribes refuse to attack you and will instead wander about the map on sightseeing tours. Imagine if you will an army of 9000 men, just 2 days outside of Rome and the Legions stationed there decided to simply go off to Naples for some R'n'R? This occurs constantly around the map. Or entire armies will become navies to sail around the Mediterranean looking for mermaids.

    Bottomline, even if this game is half price its over-priced in its current state. Even as a $9.99 Steam deal its borderline, and that's being generous.    … Expand
  17. maeglys
    Oct 29, 2013
    1
    Very bad compared to the previous Total War, specially Shogun II. Poorly optimized, bad/bugged AI, clunky and inefficient UI. Naval battles are a joke with free transport.

    Only good thing is the provincial system.
  18. HeresyX
    Oct 31, 2013
    1
    I have many times promised myself "I'll never buy a Total War game again!" The release versions have been too unpolished for my taste, sometimes outright broken. However, I've always been won back. I pre-ordered Rome 2, and my expectations were very high. The previews and hype gave the impression of a superb game. The truth, was honestly quite underwhelming. First of all, the performanceI have many times promised myself "I'll never buy a Total War game again!" The release versions have been too unpolished for my taste, sometimes outright broken. However, I've always been won back. I pre-ordered Rome 2, and my expectations were very high. The previews and hype gave the impression of a superb game. The truth, was honestly quite underwhelming. First of all, the performance is awful. My computer vastly exceeds the recommended specs, but I can still barely play on medium-low settings. The AI is terrible. I easily win every battle, with minimal losses. The between-turn loading times are too long. Naval battles are a total joke why did they destroy the functional naval battles from Empire or Shogun 2? Some game play elements like the senate and the tech tree are useless or odd at best. Worst of all they already started selling DLC, even though the game in itself is hardly finished. In summary: An unfinished game, and atrocious marketing. Wait a year untill this game is in the budget bin, and buy a pack with all DLC included. Maybe then you'll get a finished game.… Expand
  19. allenbsmith
    Jan 8, 2014
    5
    This game is a disappointment for Total War fans, especially the ones who loved the original Rome: Total War game. The game could have been the best in the series, but it is buggy, unoptimized, and unpolished. However, if you're not a fan of the series, and you're new to the total war series, then you might find this to be a fun and interesting experience, especially if you enjoy RTSThis game is a disappointment for Total War fans, especially the ones who loved the original Rome: Total War game. The game could have been the best in the series, but it is buggy, unoptimized, and unpolished. However, if you're not a fan of the series, and you're new to the total war series, then you might find this to be a fun and interesting experience, especially if you enjoy RTS games.

    I believe this game should have had several more months if not an entire year of extra work, and I'll tell you why. Even on a high-end PC, this game runs poorly. Check for benchmarks and you'll see this game only getting 35 FPS average from systems with an Nvidia TITAN GPU. This has bad engineering written all over it. This game also suffers from a tremendous amount of bugs. The AI is really lacking when they can't even make basic decisions such as taking back a victory point from you less they lose in 50 seconds. To be honest, the AI always has been weak, but that's rather understandable. It's probably one of the hardest AIs to program, and being a programmer myself, I can say it would be a rather difficult logical challenge. Most people just don't understand this. Trust me, if it was easy, then the AI would be brilliant, but it's not. However, it does not excuse the AI's inability to perform actions such as climbing a ladder (no, they can't even do that sometimes). Lastly, the game itself just seems unpolished if not lacking a lot of content. The political system is not explained nor is comprehensible. It just seems useless. There are no extra content videos (except for a general death) to give the campaign life as there usually is, and a feature, previous in the Shogun 2 multiplayer, has been stripped from Rome 2. I could be wrong, but it just seemed like the game was rushed and incomplete. It was as though the development had to make some tough decision that would not only leave out content, but cheapen it just so the game could be released on time. This is probably due to an agreement CA made with SEGA. Mike Simpson even mentioned before with the release of Empire (another Total War game) that there biggest customer was SEGA, and that games have to be released on time at the expense of quality.

    On a side note, I am also having trouble understanding how this game got such positive scores from big name reviewers such as Gamespot and IGN. (Actually, if you read the Gamespot review, you'll notice that it is vague and without merit, the reviewer doesn't seem to mention and specifics, and uses "big" words to cover this up. They probably only played the game for a few hours, and called it quits. There are no screenshots or videos by Gamespot to be found post release for that game.) I have just lost faith in those companies.

    Anyway, I don't want to convey anger just disappointment. I was so excited for this game. In fact, I had never been so pumped for a game in my entire life. I pre-ordered without hesitation, and I haven't pre-ordered a game in several years. I'm just saddened by the state of this game. If you're enjoying Rome 2, then I'm happy for you. I just wish I could.    … Expand
  20. poovadol
    Jan 14, 2014
    0
    this game is really worse to buy it. after i played 100. only i get from this crap was increase my hate for the game even im fancier of this series. I will not preorder again in my life. that s all i will gave to CA
  21. ttjwoon
    Jan 18, 2014
    1
    CA not getting behind Multi player community, horrible bugs/AI making poor single player, maddening replay errors, gutted! Where was the promised sequel to the great Rome 1?
  22. The_Shamwow
    Jan 19, 2014
    6
    I have logged just over 100 hours in Rome 2 and I have played at least once every other total war game. I have to say this is not the worst I have played but it certainly is not the best. I have owned the game since its launch date pre-ordering out of my extreme excitement for it but found myself disappointed, if asked then I would have given it a 3 at best but with the patches itI have logged just over 100 hours in Rome 2 and I have played at least once every other total war game. I have to say this is not the worst I have played but it certainly is not the best. I have owned the game since its launch date pre-ordering out of my extreme excitement for it but found myself disappointed, if asked then I would have given it a 3 at best but with the patches it certainly has improved but still not enough to be the game it should have been. Though the diplomacy is still shoddy and honestly the AI has marginally improved the look of the game graphically and the fact that the AI does have it's moments still makes this a decent game but nothing else. Personally I would have still gotten the game BUT I would have to play it mod heavy much like I have for the last month.… Expand
  23. Wazzer
    Feb 25, 2014
    8
    Earlier on, sure, this game was very buggy. The campaign sucked because of bad AI and there were bad system/graphical bugs too. But it has become a much more polished game with consecutive patches and an excellent modding community. OK initially the game was a problem but now it is quite an alluring game all things considered. Loving the multiplayer and the campaigns are now much moreEarlier on, sure, this game was very buggy. The campaign sucked because of bad AI and there were bad system/graphical bugs too. But it has become a much more polished game with consecutive patches and an excellent modding community. OK initially the game was a problem but now it is quite an alluring game all things considered. Loving the multiplayer and the campaigns are now much more challenging (and varied with all the scenario mods).… Expand
  24. GameCommenter
    Jun 2, 2014
    10
    Ever since the game was published, it was BS. There was bad AI, many glitches that really pissed off gamers including me but as the times goes, the game(patched) and became the best total game ever!!!

    Go to www.youtube.com/user/lionheartx10 for awesome rome total war 2 walkthrough
  25. ilovelamp12
    May 13, 2014
    0
    Total War: Nope

    Seriously though, all CA has to do is look at the mods for rome 1 and medieval 2 to see how to make these games awsome. Anyone who has played total war realism or stainless steel knows what I'm talking about. This game is as far from those mods as it can get. Bring on the mods people!
  26. Jomanponer
    Jun 8, 2014
    9
    I think it was a great game could be a ten but a few issues. AI is too easy not a challenge to play campaign. More diverse units and elephants and chariots I find to be to powerful. Campaign is good except for AI but the diplomacy and everything else is fine. I gave it a 9/10 for being rome total war 2 but for being a total war game I would give it a 5/10. I think that CA rushed this gameI think it was a great game could be a ten but a few issues. AI is too easy not a challenge to play campaign. More diverse units and elephants and chariots I find to be to powerful. Campaign is good except for AI but the diplomacy and everything else is fine. I gave it a 9/10 for being rome total war 2 but for being a total war game I would give it a 5/10. I think that CA rushed this game I still think they have potential to make the greatest total war game and the best strategy game ever, which I think their other games are. I think it has improved in campaign in the fact of how you manage everything, and I like the size of the maps and the tons of different battle setting such as coastal battles and such. I just think when it comes to AI and actually fighting it falls short and the other games to me looked more polish, and are much better to play fights on also I think they went backwards on graphics as well. It doesn't really deserve a nine I am just being easy on the fact that fighting battle are not fun and are stupidly easy because I think how the campaign works its an improvement.… Expand
  27. hgcfjghklihj
    Jul 16, 2014
    0
    So this game is poorly optimized and runs difficult even on high end PCs.The AI i soo stupid that makes the player wanna leave the game.Oh there's a ton of glitches and the graphics feel empty even on high resolution.On the campain map the turns take forever to pass and the city management is the worst of the entire series..Want more? never play this game!
  28. Razema
    Jul 25, 2014
    0
    I have loved and owned every Total war game sense Rome 1. But i must say this is the worst one i have ever played. I love total war and i just hope the next one will be better because this one has just made my insides hurt.
  29. Ostrovid
    Jul 27, 2014
    3
    Bad AI? YES / Worse than before? TRUE / What about seasons? BUY DLC / Sieging? STILL FRUSTRATING / Usable formations? WITH MOD / Nice units? DETAILED BUT UGLY / Worth buying? HELL NO
  30. Szlomka
    Oct 1, 2014
    0
    The cradle has truly fallen here. A year has passed, numerous obnoxious DLC's have been released and more money has been asked for, yet we are still left with BUGS THAT ARE HERE NOT EVEN SINCE THE RELEASE BUT SINCE EMPIRE TOTAL WAR. I suppose they are called "features" these days. Ever since SEGA took over as publisher the series has been in decline, by my standards, culminating in thisThe cradle has truly fallen here. A year has passed, numerous obnoxious DLC's have been released and more money has been asked for, yet we are still left with BUGS THAT ARE HERE NOT EVEN SINCE THE RELEASE BUT SINCE EMPIRE TOTAL WAR. I suppose they are called "features" these days. Ever since SEGA took over as publisher the series has been in decline, by my standards, culminating in this sinking of Rome. The theme here is: release a product with content withheld, then force the saddened customer to be drip fed all the proper parts of the game via DLC. The series before SEGA stepped in , lacked only proper multiplayer servers, the rest worked and was a pleasure to play, a work of love. Post SEGA... multiplayer stability is as always not here but the single player experience has been destroyed as well, particularly in this release. The multiplayer campaign suffers from the exact same problems in all it's iterations starting with the beta in empire and throughout Napoleon, Shogun II and now Rome II. There are no bugs in Total War: Rome II, the game itself is a giant Scolopendra on Your hdd.… Expand
  31. ZacharyE
    Oct 11, 2014
    0
    After a year; nothing but bugs and shallow game play. I've spent more time trying to make the game work than playing it, while my computer can run any other game on max settings fine. I'm done with Total War and Sega (after playing and buying every game since Medieval II).
  32. Perun
    Jan 18, 2015
    0
    I have no idea why all "critics" give this game so high scores
    Becasue its huge ass AAA game? So it will get high scores no matter what
    Why only Quarter to Three saw how idiotic game is??? How horrible it is compared to older titles, I dont even start with bugs and crashes, slowdowns and glitches, because after one **** year this game is at least playable (but why would anyone play it    I have no idea why all "critics" give this game so high scores
    Becasue its huge ass AAA game? So it will get high scores no matter what
    Why only Quarter to Three saw how idiotic game is???
    How horrible it is compared to older titles, I dont even start with bugs and crashes, slowdowns and glitches, because after one **** year this game is at least playable (but why would anyone play it is for another story)

    Next game will be Warhammer total war, what the **** this game series died after Medieval 2, with horrible new Warscape engine and transition to causal audience (which is idiotic and half retarded by that scores and sales)
    Empire -idiotic ai, at least enine was good for ranged combat
    Shogun -polished warscape, still retarded melee and arcade-ish combat where your soldiers just mix together into one huge mess
    Rome 2 -total crap (badum tsss)

    I give this game 2 points, one is for funny glitches I had during my short gameplay and one is for hope ...who knows maybe they will return to roots and to their core base ...who am I kidding? its Sega, they will always target wides possible audience and will care about their pockets    … Expand
  33. Finfx
    Sep 5, 2013
    8
    As many others have said, the performance and optimization of this game is absolutely terrible. Furthermore, the graphics are completely unlike any of the alpha footage and they are quite ugly in the final release. The lighting effects, texture quality, shadow quality, etc., is all of a low quality. We were promised a grittier, darker art direction for the game and that was evident in theAs many others have said, the performance and optimization of this game is absolutely terrible. Furthermore, the graphics are completely unlike any of the alpha footage and they are quite ugly in the final release. The lighting effects, texture quality, shadow quality, etc., is all of a low quality. We were promised a grittier, darker art direction for the game and that was evident in the alpha footage. Now we have bloom, bloom lighting everywhere.

    The UI is similarly awful in that it takes the clean, artistic UI of Shogun 2 and turns it into a generic mess that is all too similar to Empire's setup.

    The fact that CA is already working on DLC is absolutely disgraceful. The game is broken. My PC can run BF3, CIV V, Shogun 2, all on ultra settings with absolutely nothing turned down. Rome 2 succeeds in offering worse graphics with worse performance. It's like CA's QA does not exist.    … Expand
  34. blackbird1
    Sep 21, 2013
    6
    After Patch 3 i Re-Rate this game and give it a 6 cause its finaly playable fps are still sometimes to low but its okay now.

    If you make it better and also dont let the fps fall in late game i came back and give you maybe a 7 8
  35. Alekseyev79
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wow, this Game is such a failure compared to previous titles. I had such High hopes and this game broke my wallet and my heart. No refunds for opened pc games. not even when they are garbage. I could say heaps, but bad AI, Bad UI, Bad Management. etc. Game has been destroyed in every way. The Great looking soldiers are not enough.… Expand
  36. Arctarus
    Oct 28, 2013
    0
    Alas RTW2 suffers the same fate as its predecessors, and what's been said of its weaknesses are indeed, true. At first glance, it feels much more a of a game than a beta while playing the prologue, but past that one realizes that RTW2 is much less than what the little positive and so called "reviews" it's been getting. Sadly, the naval battles are more similar to say TW Empire, and noAlas RTW2 suffers the same fate as its predecessors, and what's been said of its weaknesses are indeed, true. At first glance, it feels much more a of a game than a beta while playing the prologue, but past that one realizes that RTW2 is much less than what the little positive and so called "reviews" it's been getting. Sadly, the naval battles are more similar to say TW Empire, and no attempts has been made to revamp it for a more solid naval battle option. The diplomacy makes no sense either; give me gold for a non aggression pact even though you could take my gold, wife, and land for free. There is no AI guard command this ship or this unit either. In the end, RTW2 resembles more of a previous RTW with its problems and bundled together with some "improved" graphics and little new gameplay and rushed for "preorder". Some Pre-order marketing ploy, more a consumer trap than anything else. Just like air in your ice cream for the price of a 100% ice cream. 0 for duping the consumer, 0 for making us buy such trash. F- for failing at making "new" games. Did you cheat on your IQ test?… Expand
  37. Uzumakitony
    Oct 8, 2013
    1
    What is this? The Trailer was terrible. I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and wasted my money to witness it being more terrible. How did it get a high critic rating? Rubbish storyline. Been-there-done-that gameplay....it's sad to play on so many levels
  38. Theodwulf
    Oct 7, 2013
    5
    After two full campaigns, both on easy, Rome (juno) for a Military victory and Carthage (barca) for an economic victory.
    This Game is a Total Tedium(really could use a short campaign)
    I hate the research mechanic, the new provincial mechanic and the building scheme. The map feels "epic" as do the victory conditions but none of the cities feel all that grand, at the ends they are all    After two full campaigns, both on easy, Rome (juno) for a Military victory and Carthage (barca) for an economic victory.
    This Game is a Total Tedium(really could use a short campaign)
    I hate the research mechanic, the new provincial mechanic and the building scheme.
    The map feels "epic" as do the victory conditions but none of the cities feel all that grand, at the ends they are all basically back waters. The more you develop cities the more likely they are to go down the toilet. Rome I did a much better job Just another awful game mechanic.
    Naval battles are incredibly clunky empire was better here) and you are better off auto-calcing.
    Missile troops (specifically slingers) are just silly OP, rate of fire and damage are way over the top, basic levy units maul real professional troops
    Calvary go real slow and get stuck on infantry, so there is little maneuver once engaged
    Armies of Briton chariots harken back to rome I with their OPness, just don't auto-calc with them that goes for elephants and cavalry as well.
    Auto calc is still awful, it's like they feel you need to be punished for not personally overseeing every skirmish.
    Diplomacy is awful as the AI will ask for 10-30% of your total wealth regardless of power differential for trade agreements.
    The first 10-20 rounds can be tough but once you get past that don't expect to much in aggression from the AI, it gets real passive..
    The AI cannot handle the clunky building scheme so it's settlements will eventually rebel, just wait.
    political system does something..not sure what..i just ignore it everything still works.
    Civil war..i have no idea why it happened but ti was real easy to fix, no outside factions noticed or cared

    It is really too bad, the franchise gets more and more clunky game mechanics with every iteration, which makes it more difficult for an AI any AI) to be effective competition for a human player. Without that the game is a Total Dud. Just allowing the AI to cheat isn't the answer, as we have seen it only makes the problem worse.

    they really need to go back to the beginning, using Rome I as a templete    … Expand
  39. Aerth
    Oct 12, 2013
    0
    A total let down, A shame of a game: unfinished, boring, Total War turned to Total Waste. A clear catering for the casual crowds as if such things existed for this kind of games. You play a Roman family but you do not care about it, you senatorial get stronger or weaker but you do not care about it; you have ships but you do not care about them, and enemies? Yes you got them but they areA total let down, A shame of a game: unfinished, boring, Total War turned to Total Waste. A clear catering for the casual crowds as if such things existed for this kind of games. You play a Roman family but you do not care about it, you senatorial get stronger or weaker but you do not care about it; you have ships but you do not care about them, and enemies? Yes you got them but they are so stupid you care even less than the rest.
    Let's hope than the modding community can come with something else all is lost.    … Expand
  40. aimonu
    Oct 14, 2013
    2
    I don't know if all the "critic" reviewers have been bribed by CA or sega or if they didn't even play the game. It's atm. Save your money, mine is already spent and will never come back.

    Because of respect for Rome1 I will give this game a 2
  41. Brawlz
    Oct 21, 2013
    7
    Despite a rocky start, Creative Assembly have managed to fine tune Total War: Rome II, into a game worth of the Total War title, The AI seems vastly improved from launch, with the previous AI battle "Tactics" no longer consisting of running into a solid wall of spears, and actually using the terrain against you. But alot of things were changed from the older Total War games which kindaDespite a rocky start, Creative Assembly have managed to fine tune Total War: Rome II, into a game worth of the Total War title, The AI seems vastly improved from launch, with the previous AI battle "Tactics" no longer consisting of running into a solid wall of spears, and actually using the terrain against you. But alot of things were changed from the older Total War games which kinda hurt the games, with Generals dying really quickly from old age, leaving little incentive to put time into individual generals. The political system has also changed, with faction leaders being absent from the game, where instead you play a House or Party, which has to vie for political power. Not the same as invading a entire nation, your King/Faction Leader at the head of the fighting.

    Overall though a good game, People that didn't like it when it first came out should give it another chance if they were dissatisfied. Your opinions may change after you see the improvements made over the past two months    … Expand
  42. lewisjoel
    Oct 21, 2013
    0
    Rome: Total War 2.

    For me, RTW 2 was one of, if not my most eagerly anticipated game of the year, as were the rest of the games in this once magnificent strategy series. I'd played and enjoyed every game in the series since the first Shogun title and I expected this release to be another successful game in the series, especially as it was the sequel to what many would consider to be the    Rome: Total War 2.

    For me, RTW 2 was one of, if not my most eagerly anticipated game of the year, as were the rest of the games in this once magnificent strategy series. I'd played and enjoyed every game in the series since the first Shogun title and I expected this release to be another successful game in the series, especially as it was the sequel to what many would consider to be the best game in the series Rome: Total War. Unfortunately I was wrong...

    Firstly, I'm hearing from other gamers and reviewers that this is a game that can be fixed and the early bugs can be ironed out. I'm afraid they are wrong as this game is flawed from top to bottom and its problems lie much deeper than just amateur development and testing and I will list why.

    User Interface (UI) The Creative Assembly have ditched previous features from UI such as functionality and historical relevance in favour of some dull, boring and what I must assume they think is a 'trendy' minimalist interface. Unless CA has intentions of patching the UI the game will remain an unmitigated disaster of a strategy game. The minimalist UI has resulted in the removal of a decent settlement information panel which contained both interesting and useful information that would aid any strategy gamer in their campaign as well as providing the gamer with a more immersive and unique experience. The technology ‘tree’ or line as I would rather refer to it as has been simplified, as have the construction and recruitment options. All strategic aspects of the game in which the gamer in past titles would have made decisions are gone. Instead everything is laid out in advance with player just clicking to confirm their destiny.

    Strategy Aspects Gone. Rome: Total War 2 is now on par with Dicewars for strategy and immersion but fear not, RTW 2 can justify the fact it cost me £29.99 more to play that Dicewars due to the fact it has impressive graphics that may one day work when the bugs are finally ironed out. I may even get to experience them first hand if for some reason, I make the horrible mistake of trying to play the game again. For me the majority of the strategy has been victim to the ‘super-cool’ IOS-esque UI.
    However some parts have been maliciously ironed out intentionally. For example naval units, who needs naval units when land-based militia units can be recruited and sent off the cliffs and transform into ships? Who needs a Spanish Armada or a Royal Navy when you’ve got shape shifting peasants?
    Troops can also use magical special abilities and cities are won and lost through giant games of capture the flag.

    In-Game Characters Generals, agents, politicians and family members? What’s the point? All of them are highly susceptible to random deaths and rapid ageing so investing any kind of time in them is generally pointless and/or highly frustrating.
    The final thing that really kicks you when you are down is the time between turns. I actually congratulate CA on replacing rebel settlement with real historically based factions but the extra turn-time that’s resulted from it just destroys any tiny bit of immersion or desire to play the game that remains with you.

    If you enjoyed the Total War series or strategy games in general this is not a game for you.

    lewisjoel    … Expand
  43. ozi
    Oct 27, 2013
    0
    When I first heard about this release, I was so excited, TW is my favourite game series. I'm not a fan of pre-ordering, but I did, as CA used a blackmail technique (if you don't pre-order, we will charge you extra for DLC.) Knowing this would probably be my favourite game ever, I took the risk.

    Biggest mistake ever. There is so much wrong I can't list it all here. But here are the    When I first heard about this release, I was so excited, TW is my favourite game series. I'm not a fan of pre-ordering, but I did, as CA used a blackmail technique (if you don't pre-order, we will charge you extra for DLC.) Knowing this would probably be my favourite game ever, I took the risk.

    Biggest mistake ever. There is so much wrong I can't list it all here. But here are the game-breakers that still haven't been fixed:

    Optimisation- CA believes "running" a game is getting 20 fps in the benchmark. However, the benchmark does not represent the game. If you get 20fps then, then when you have say 4000 on the battlefield, you will get a slideshow.

    AI- I'm sure you've heard the AI is bad. There have been some improvements, open field battle can be interesting, but the siege AI is worse than Rome 1 (no exaggeration, AI can't use engines, doesn't react when fired upon from 10 ft away, always puts skirmishers on walls even if you are using ladders with heavy infantry.)

    Immersion- The game is boring, I remember the amount of time I put into other TWs, in this game I can't get past turn 50 without getting bored of the game. The really is so little to do on the campaign map. If you're like me, and you like to play the economy/diplomacy game, you will find it fun for the first hour, then you will have nothing to do.

    In summary, don't expect it to be even close to any other TW game. Good for a few hours of play if you can get into it, buy it when it goes on sale, I'd say this title is worth spending no more than 10 bucks on.

    Also did the 40% extra budget go on bribing critics or what?    … Expand
  44. deadhunter22
    Oct 27, 2013
    0
    Created a metacritic account just to rate this game. I have been a long time player of Total War series, ever since Shogun I. I am very disappointed in the new game. The economy portion of the game was pretty much wiped out and has made the game extremely boring. Also, you feel very limited on who you can/should attack. Since the economy was removed, you are forced to attack with veryCreated a metacritic account just to rate this game. I have been a long time player of Total War series, ever since Shogun I. I am very disappointed in the new game. The economy portion of the game was pretty much wiped out and has made the game extremely boring. Also, you feel very limited on who you can/should attack. Since the economy was removed, you are forced to attack with very small armies as well which is frustrating.… Expand
  45. xNuahs
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    Quite easily the most uninspired game of Total War. Never mind that the game launched with a beta versions worth of game-breaking problems My game worked perfectly from day one and only revealed to me as a long-time total war fan the worst Total War game I've ever played.

    CA firstly managed to fool everyone with their advertising. They talked the big talk and hyped all their new    Quite easily the most uninspired game of Total War. Never mind that the game launched with a beta versions worth of game-breaking problems My game worked perfectly from day one and only revealed to me as a long-time total war fan the worst Total War game I've ever played.

    CA firstly managed to fool everyone with their advertising. They talked the big talk and hyped all their new features. I'm in no doubt as to where the extra budget went as it never materialized in the game.

    These new features have been implemented without any thought or consideration, some of these new features are OK and Rome 2 has a few extensive improvements such as in diplomacy. But most features are so badly thought out that they killed what made past Total War games great.

    I played this game on max settings on a top rig PC.

    For example, the new mass mechanic sounded fantastic when they talked it up before release but the only thing it adds to the game is that you can force move heavier units through lighter units rather than fight. This new addition had far too steep a price/sacrifice because the mass mechanic is singularly responsible for the games tendency to devolve into 'mob combat' with individual soldiers practically on top of each other. The result of which ruins all of their claimed extensive combat animations (which I can't confirm is extensive because I can't see any of them). In past iterations of total war zooming in and watching the individual combat was one of the highlights of the game for me and Rome 2 was so bad I had to stop myself from puking.

    Similarly, a combination of the new tech paths (for higher tech units) and the way that the new army system work makes the unit pool feel very shallow. While the amount and variation of different cultures and extent of the campaign map is to be applauded you only have to spawn a few armies out of nowhere choosing from a small unit pool a few times before you realise that the extent of variation is a lie. Every cultures unit pool is essentially the same but with units that look different. One looks greek and the other look gallic but those two swordsmen units can't be told apart otherwise. It doesn't help then that the unit pool is copy-pasted for every other faction with the same culture and that unlocking every unit can be done quite early in the campaign. Seriously, play any hellenic faction and you'll get sick of Thorax Swordsmen and Royal Peltasts pretty quickly.

    While CA have proved that they can make really cool battlegrounds to fight on, they really struggle at actually getting you to have a FIGHT on those battlegrounds which use it to its full potential. Siege battles have deteriorated since Total War: Empire (although it seems like they were fixing it in Shogun) and frankly being able to sack Rome in Rome 2 by throwing torches at the gate is ridiculous. Factor in that you can only build 1 piece of siege equipment per turn (1 ladder or 1 siege tower) while taking attrition and torches become the primary method of sacking a city with giant stone walls. It might be fun to have a really big siege battle but the AI ruins attacking you with paltry forces 80% of the time, retreated from their last walled city and letting you take it 100% of the time and attempted to push through all your units after destroying the gates with torches to get to the capture points (which results in them being slaughtered) 100% of the time unless they bug out and simple stand outside the walls and don't move.

    In fact the AI is so atrociously bad in Rome 2 that the game on legendary difficulty is on par with easy difficulty in Shogun.

    CA have been hard at work patching their beta release to fix all the bugs and glitches so actually everyone who bought the game can play it. This would be great but they've f*cked up the core mechanics of the game so badly that you'd wish you were never able to run it and it would just be bugged forever.
    Unfortunately they aren't going to be fixing their core-game anytime soon (or ever really).

    If you're a total war fan avoid and go back to shogun or even the original Rome (which is way better than Rome 2 even now).

    But if you're the kind of gamer who is entertained by any game and appreciate games being dumbed down for you then you'd probably still enjoy Rome 2.    … Expand
  46. tveevers
    Oct 28, 2013
    2
    When I first started playing this game I thought it was pretty good but the further I got into it I have just been left feeling bored and uninterested and consequently after about 20-30 hours of playing time I have finished with it. I have played most of the total war games in the past and enjoyed them all but this one is very poor in comparison. I even went back to the original RomeWhen I first started playing this game I thought it was pretty good but the further I got into it I have just been left feeling bored and uninterested and consequently after about 20-30 hours of playing time I have finished with it. I have played most of the total war games in the past and enjoyed them all but this one is very poor in comparison. I even went back to the original Rome game and found this far more enjoyable in comparison.

    Winning battles are way too easy and I gave up fighting them on the battlefield because after winning every battle with only the loss of about 100 men at a time I just got bored. My worst experience with this was the one and only time that one of my un-garrisoned cities was attacked by a far greater force. I decided to fight the battle to see if I could turn the odds and rather than attack me the AI simply sat on the outskirts of the city and did nothing for the 1 hour time allocation. I actually put it on very fast mode and left it to go and have some food only to find that when I returned I had won and nothing had happened!! Another consequence here is that because fighting is so easy you just don't need to bother with advanced melee units and I have found that having legionaries and a few praetorians is enough even for civil war. Oh yes that reminds me, does anyone actually know the reason(s) why civil war takes place because I don't?

    I like the way they have linked cities together as provinces as this makes managing them much easier but I really don't like the fact that you are limited to the amount of things that you can build in them once all of your plot allocations have been filled. I have some provinces that have stopped growing with no plot allocations left and I have just forgotten about these settlements.

    The use of agents is also a waste of time mainly down to the fact that it is so difficult to actually be able to assassinate/manipulate anyone so I have found that their best use is for military training, military intelligence and administration. My other issue here is that you can only have 2 of each agent to begin with and even by the time I owned 30 cities I still could only have 3 of each!? I just don't get the point of restricting these.

    As for the politics bit of the game it just seems completely detached from the game itself and seems to have no bearing on the potential final outcome. It is hard to see the point of things like gravitas, bribery, assassination and marriage with no apparent benefit to any of them. The loss of the family tree here is also a problem because it is impossible to see how you can make your party/family grow. In fact I don't even think this happens anyway which is just bizarre! Surely in reality, each party would have up and coming family members who are all jostling for power and from a gaming point of view you want to be able to develop these characters to greatness??

    At least I had the sense to wait before buying the game as most of the bugs have been removed and I bought it for less than the original asking price. Having said that if I could, I would take my money back in exchange for the game! Very disappointing!    … Expand
  47. vertibird
    Oct 28, 2013
    0
    Compared to previous total war titles, Rome Total War 2 has:
    1- Serious performance and technial issues. Campaign turn times are also significiantly long. You are waiting more than playing. There are occasional crashes and BSODS. FPS drops to a crawl in game even if you have great rig.
    2- Non-existant AI. Yes the Artificial intelligence is beyond help in this game. This ruins the fun for    Compared to previous total war titles, Rome Total War 2 has:
    1- Serious performance and technial issues. Campaign turn times are also significiantly long. You are waiting more than playing. There are occasional crashes and BSODS. FPS drops to a crawl in game even if you have great rig.
    2- Non-existant AI. Yes the Artificial intelligence is beyond help in this game. This ruins the fun for campaign and battles because you dont have real challenge because there is no AI here.
    3- Cut out content. Best features of previous titles cut out from the game.
    4- Lack of RPG elements. No family tree, no story etc...
    5- 1 turn per year system. Your generals, agents age really fast and die before you can develop them properly.
    6- Lack of inspiration, political system doesnt work.
    7- Magical torches, no siege AI. There is no need for siege weapons in this game because you can just burn the gates down with torches.
    8-Balance issues, bugs etc. Formations are bugged, some units like chariots and elephants dont work properly.
    9- Lack of Creative Assembly's support. They have a thread in total war forums that they dont intend to fix most of the issues they mean ''they are working as intended'' like magical torches...
    10- Naval battles seriously bugged and inbalanced, transport ships are stronger than real naval ships...    … Expand
  48. Dunadd
    Oct 28, 2013
    4
    Rome II has a few nice features the original Rome Total War lacked, like cavalry being able to dismount for assaults on cities and a battlefield AI which, after patching, is reasonably competent and doesn't throw it's generals in immediately to their deaths to try to run down a unit of skirmishers. Unfortunately it not only drops many of the most interesting, enjoyable and atmosphereRome II has a few nice features the original Rome Total War lacked, like cavalry being able to dismount for assaults on cities and a battlefield AI which, after patching, is reasonably competent and doesn't throw it's generals in immediately to their deaths to try to run down a unit of skirmishers. Unfortunately it not only drops many of the most interesting, enjoyable and atmosphere enhancing features that were in the original Rome, but also implements many features in ways that destroy game-play, believability and historical accuracy. It also seems unfinished

    The province system in which cities are grouped into provinces in which buildings in one city affect every city in the province held by the same faction is interesting, but the way buildings work is pretty annoying.

    You can research technology, but the starting tech isn't even bronze age you need a tech advance for battering rams and ladders.

    The level of detail you can see in your settlements population, happiness/unhappiness, squalor etc is massively reduced as is info on where income and trade income comes from.

    The political system and 1 year turns result in generals being recalled or dying as soon as they get any significant experience or skills. Agents don't last much longer.

    The stylised icon interface is annoying and not intuitive.

    The AI and bugs in assaults on walled cities is pretty terrible even after patching.

    There are over 100 factions, but many are out of period or just made up, including client states like Carthage's two and they slow the AI turn down more and more as the game progresses.

    Worst of all are the instant super transports. Any army can create transports to carry it by stepping off a beach, for free. They're capable of fighting in sea battles and beating any starting fleet whether in auto-calc or not by weight of numbers.

    Every faction from Scythian nomad horse archers to Spanish and African tribes goes for a sail in the Mediterranean, with nothing much to fear from enemy navies. Factions which lose all their cities also take to the sea. They then either float there till they slowly die, or hover off the coast forcing you to place armies in all your coastal cities for dozens of turns until they slowly die of attrition, or else they take cities by avoiding your land armies and acting as vikings. What? Build fleets to hunt them down you say? But you can't afford to ships for fleets take time and money to build and require pay. Instant transports don't and your own field armies are tied down on land preventing them from coming back by sea.

    Bizarrely the game designers have decided that transports should be just a slightly inferior version of a large oared warship with the same hundreds of oarsmen and ram and sleek design as a warship. In reality in the Roman and Hellenistic period transports were usually commandeered merchant sailing ships, because they could carry enough troops, horses and food and water for them. Oared warships were good for ramming, boarding and raking the oars off of enemy ships but all those oarsmen and the narrow hulls to make them maneuverable left them with no room to carry more than a few marines. They usually followed coastlines so they could land to get food and water for the oarsmen each day and so they could land if there was bad weather as oared galleys were not very seaworthy. Yet insta-super-transports somehow fit hundreds of soldiers, horses and elephants.

    Unlike in the original Rome you can fight out sea battles rather than just autocalc them. The ships and marines in sea battles look great, but the way sea battles work is pretty lamentable. Boarding is made very easy. No need to use grapples (iron hooks on ropes) to get close to an enemy ship to board it, let alone use a corvus (rotatable boarding ramp with a spike on the end to go through the enemy deck) bumping into them is good enough. Even more ridiculously, once one ship is boarding another no other ship or marines can touch either of them.

    Historically smaller galleys could outmanouvre and defeat larger ships as at the battle of Actium. In Rome II small ships are incapable of doing much damage to larger ones, even where the large ship is a transport or some lightly built viking style ship. Historically a small oared galley with a metal plated ram could turn faster than larger ships and immobilise them by oar raking (shearing off enemy ship's oars using ram). Or they could sink them by ramming broadside and holing it below the waterline.

    The myriad bugs a requiring endless patching and missing features suggest it was rushed out incomplete and without even beta testing.

    Rome II runs poorly and with poor graphics on many PCs and laptops unless the Graphical Enhancement Mod is used. Mistakes made in the ongoing patching process make the game currently not run with mods. Anyone thinking of buying should hold off for at least 6 months and maybe a year or two till patching is over and better mods finished    … Expand
  49. Wolverinemetacr
    Oct 30, 2013
    1
    Having played all Total War Title and playing more than 50 hours in this game I can say this is by far the worst of the bunch. What happened I wish I knew.
  50. JJJMMM1
    Oct 30, 2013
    3
    Unit AI and overall enemy AI in battles is worse than in Empire or Napoleon. Let that statement sink in before I say anything else.

    I've played the game for about 20 hours and I've had enough. I won't touch it again, even if a DarthMod is implemented. I'm saying this because the AI is beyond repair and there's no challenge. Enemy unit behavior in battles is consistently nonsensical and    Unit AI and overall enemy AI in battles is worse than in Empire or Napoleon. Let that statement sink in before I say anything else.

    I've played the game for about 20 hours and I've had enough. I won't touch it again, even if a DarthMod is implemented. I'm saying this because the AI is beyond repair and there's no challenge. Enemy unit behavior in battles is consistently nonsensical and there's never an illusion that the army is unified under one general.

    What happens when you lose a battle? I can't say, since I've never lost one. This is partly because the campaign AI feeds individual units to me one by one, but mostly because all of the battles are autowins. I've been up against armies twice as strong as mine many times, but never felt challenged in the least.

    I believe these are things that cannot be fixed by tweaking variable values or iterating on the current AI engine. The whole thing needs to be redesigned from scratch in a future TW game, using completely different principles.

    Units also move faster than ever which makes the game feel arcade-like. Battles quickly turn into zergling clashes instead of great historical battles which is lame. This change probably takes away the fun of multiplayer as well the one thing that is not by default ruined by the lack of AI.

    The game improves on just about nothing apart from the graphics, which are at this stage very buggy.    … Expand
  51. AncientAcid
    Nov 2, 2013
    3
    This game was broken. Features removed.. it's a gross over exaggeration of hype. The flag on the field of battles was worthless... no fortresses or detail put into the flag zone... just a flag in the field for nothing.
    The infantry units turned navy.. is pointless.. family trees removed... AI can't siege.. nor build siege towers or anything else. This game has been pretty much stripped of    This game was broken. Features removed.. it's a gross over exaggeration of hype. The flag on the field of battles was worthless... no fortresses or detail put into the flag zone... just a flag in the field for nothing.
    The infantry units turned navy.. is pointless.. family trees removed... AI can't siege.. nor build siege towers or anything else. This game has been pretty much stripped of most if not all of the best of Total War.

    They failed to improve upon the existing formula that has been in the game and put in some of the worst design decisions I've seen in years. Medieval Total War 2 was GOLD compared to this. Shogun2 is mind blowingly superior to most of the titles.. and this plain old FAILS to deliver on better and superior content than the old Rome Total War. On the plus side. There are a lot of factions in the game. Cities really don't look bad to me and are nicely detailed. I like a lot about the game.. but plain old stripping out what defined the previous titles in place of this clunky non intuitive GARBAGE UI makes the game TERRIBLE. This game was the most disappointing release of the DECADE,

    Been playing since Medieval total war and Shogun didn't have much to do with the latter. But man oh man was Shogun 2 worth all the wait. This is GARBAGE. It has literally fallen FLAT ON ITS FACE AT LAUNCH. The point is.. it's a reskinned Empire Total War you can see right through it. The most definitive review of this game is the Angry Joe Show's review.

    Everything that made Total War standout is in Rome Total War 1, Medieval Total War 1/2 & Shogun Total War 2 was the BEST in the entire series. Everything else is garbage. Creative Assembly is going to have a hell of a time picking up after this slop of a title. They simply refuse to keep improving what works.    … Expand
  52. Vespa
    Jan 14, 2014
    3
    This game has so many bugs its unreal. But first we should mention that a gamer should have the right to expect a certain standard of a game, from responsive AI, acceptable graphic, Good UI, adaptive Diplomacy ect. well this game fails at all the above. The AI is left wanting its like playing a retro 80's game, AI doing the same stuff over and over, no aggression at all, unfair programmingThis game has so many bugs its unreal. But first we should mention that a gamer should have the right to expect a certain standard of a game, from responsive AI, acceptable graphic, Good UI, adaptive Diplomacy ect. well this game fails at all the above. The AI is left wanting its like playing a retro 80's game, AI doing the same stuff over and over, no aggression at all, unfair programming for minor and major nation (I mean its called Rome 2 Total war, you expect Rome to survive till at least the player meets them in battle but dont be surprised when u find them destroyed by northern Gallic tribes around turn 100, well its happened to me 6 out of 6 times when i was playing as the Iceni tribe). Moving on,The graphics well, one word "joke", I personally would have accepted Shogun 2 style graphics but instead you get blurry effects and poor visuals. The UI on the other hand took a step back from Shogun 2 and well, just sucked, you don't even get to see the trait chose tree like in shogun 2, so you can plan your levelling up of general ect, there is much more wrong with the UI I couldn't tell you all here. But the thing that pissed me off the most was the Diplomacy, nations would declare war on you when you were no where near them and they had no way of attack you, for example Seleucid empire declaring war on the Iceni tribe in Britain, (please Google the nations and see for yourself). Also nations would fight 5 or 6 wars at once leading to them being destroyed out right, know one would do something like that, but the AI would. in short the game is so bad they have to bring out patch after patch to fix the crap game they are on patch 8.1 out of a minimum of 9 patches more will probably need to come out, I wouldnt be surprised if they have to bring a total of 15 patches. But if you like easy to win AI then this game is for you, but if you want a challenge DON'T BUY!!!!!
    Personally I find it had what the critics ever saw in this game are they blind or just stupid and out of touch with the gaming community, or are they just pleasing creative assembly so they don't get fired (giving head more like it), on steam it says 76 meta score well its really 41 meta score from the gamers themselves. so YOU deicide who to believe.    … Expand
  53. BillNyeTheScien
    Feb 8, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Rome 2 total war... What a sad time for TW fans there are plenty of flaws that ruin this game. first of all These critics well most of them are paid off. what is ridiculous. Anyways about the game. Horrible UI. Crashes every 2 seconds. Mentally retarded AI. Acting is nothing compared to the original rome. The music system: Ahh Most people don't talk about the music system the music in rome 1 made you feel like you were with the soldiers. For example If you moved soldiers there would be marching music. If 2 units were fighting there would be intense music. Last of all If you were doing nothing you would only just hear the sound of an occasional bird chirp and harp. Back to more flaws. Mp campaign is extremely hard to play without a crash. Framerate is horrible. all you need in your navy is just a bunch of transport ships and diplomacy is extremely retarded your requests almost never get accepted. This game has no potential. Just like the rest of CA's Total war games. They just do a few patches then just all of the sudden stop patching.… Expand
  54. Kackur
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    The score I'm giving this game reflects it's current state. I feel there may be a decent title hiding here behind the many bugs and performance issues but it is rather hard to see at the moment. Currently the game is very close to unplayable. It is filling with graphical glitches, performance issues and crashes. For the more tech savy of us there are ways to tweak the settings so theThe score I'm giving this game reflects it's current state. I feel there may be a decent title hiding here behind the many bugs and performance issues but it is rather hard to see at the moment. Currently the game is very close to unplayable. It is filling with graphical glitches, performance issues and crashes. For the more tech savy of us there are ways to tweak the settings so the game does run somewhat smoothly and stable, however I feel many people will not get to that point.
    Bugs aside there are other issues with this game that really need to be addressed. The largest of these being the UI. It is complete Don't get me wrong it looks very pretty, but that is all that it has going for it. The biggest grip I have with it is the lack of detail. This is a game with countless stats that you need to manage to succeed at, however there is no way to get a list of the current stats or a description of what they do for either your cities or generals. When your generals or cities gain promotions you get to choose between bonuses such as +1 authority or +10% growth rate. However, since you have no way to check what your current values are or even what these stats do exactly you really can't make an informed decision. I still have no clue what authority does. Searching it in the games online manual comes up with nothing. Additionally the games does not list your cities current growth rates. So how are you supposed to decide if a 10% growth rate increase is a good direction to go in? And this is the same for virtually all the stats. About the only stat that it does show you is food. However it doesn't explain how this affects anything!! Does having more food make my cities grow faster? Or does it affect happiness? Seriously what is the point of all these stats if we can't use them to further the game play...
    Now on to the tactical section. Once again the UI fails here. Every time you reselect a group of units it resets their formation. So you are forced to give them new formation orders every single time you want to move them. Additionally for some reason they decided to do away with the group movement and rotation controls. As far as I can tell there is no way to just tell your troops to walk forward. Additionally when you have multiple units selected you often can't tell them to run as a group. Sometimes you can sometimes you can't. This is true even when all the units are capable of running.
    That being said there are things done right. The best thing that this game currently has going for it is the extreme diversity in troops and cultures. It is obvious the developers put a lot of time in fleshing out the various factions and I really appreciate that. This was one thing that I couldn't stand about Shogun. All the factions were just slight variations of a common set, which made sense for historical reasons, but at the same time deprived it of re-playability.
    Other than that Rome II does right what many of the other titles in the series do, however in many aspects UI especially it is a step backwards.
    I really hope that CA fixes this title. I see potential here, but as it currently stands I can't give this a score higher than a 6.    … Expand
  55. Jingo
    Jan 11, 2014
    7
    I gave this game 4 when it first came out. But now that it's up to build 1.8 it's time for a re-review. It is much better now! Still the AI is hopeless, particularly on settlement defence mode. That is simply not a challenge. All you need to take an enemy settlement is long range units. Line them up, and the enemy will line a target up for you, one after the other until they're all gone.I gave this game 4 when it first came out. But now that it's up to build 1.8 it's time for a re-review. It is much better now! Still the AI is hopeless, particularly on settlement defence mode. That is simply not a challenge. All you need to take an enemy settlement is long range units. Line them up, and the enemy will line a target up for you, one after the other until they're all gone. They will never charge out to get your slingers or catapults or whatever.

    But I'm giving the game a 7 now, because various other things have been improved and I'm enjoying it now.

    The VERY HARD and LEGENDARY difficultly modes give the other factions enormous bonuses, but their AI in the settlement defence battles is the same. It's a poor way to make things difficult.    … Expand
  56. BrainStain
    Oct 15, 2013
    0
    The intro alone tells you how hurried the game feels.

    With a horrible UI, disgusting avatars and misleading difficulty settings, it won't take you long before you just quit the game in a bizarre reverse-frustration (you want the game to match the others, you want a challenge!) There are no challenges. You can beat the game on legendary without much effort. I really feel let down by CA.    The intro alone tells you how hurried the game feels.

    With a horrible UI, disgusting avatars and misleading difficulty settings, it won't take you long before you just quit the game in a bizarre reverse-frustration (you want the game to match the others, you want a challenge!) There are no challenges. You can beat the game on legendary without much effort. I really feel let down by CA.

    Little things like the missile fire symbol which is now a crosshair instead of a bow and arrow just get to me. The unit cards are not very helpful, they all look too similar and break the game's atmosphere. Well. What little atmosphere it had. There is even a map called: ARSE! For god's sake! Errors like this just shouldn't happen.

    It's a massive steaming pile. And I'm a fan of their other games!    … Expand
  57. Numinex
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    A travesty. Shame on you CA. Learn from Stardock and do something to compensate the people who pre-purchased this grossly sub-standard product. This has done much damage to a well-respected franchise.
  58. WayT101
    Jan 4, 2014
    0
    Everything that needs to be said about the state of this game at release and as of now even with all the patches has been said, I can tell you from my own experience that the vast majority of issues listed in the negative reviews for this game on this site I have experienced for myself. This game gets a 0 from me for being worthless to play at release and for still being unfinished evenEverything that needs to be said about the state of this game at release and as of now even with all the patches has been said, I can tell you from my own experience that the vast majority of issues listed in the negative reviews for this game on this site I have experienced for myself. This game gets a 0 from me for being worthless to play at release and for still being unfinished even with all of the patching and for the disgusting business practices, examples being the pre-order bonus, blatant false advertising and paid-off professional critics. Don't waste your money on this if you want a good Total War or strategy game for that matter; buy Shogun 2 the entire package has been in on steam sales for less than £10 which is great value for money and even scales well with your PC capabilities. In my opinion Companies like The Creative Assembly and especially scum like Sega should be boycotted into bankruptcy.… Expand
  59. Duckers101
    Sep 4, 2013
    5
    Its a good game but its just not quite there the performance isn't very good and the UI is awful its still fun to play but does not quite take off from where Rome 1 left off, i am disappointed but i hope that patches will fix the issue and the issues are things that patches can fix.
  60. Bovara
    Sep 17, 2013
    0
    This game invested heavily in marketing and advertising and made well documented highly hyped promises. It has massively under delivered on those promises. Graphics, AI and game play are well below what they promised, leaving many fans very disappointed. Yes it looks great, if you aren't suffering the numerous bugs and technical issues, which suggests it should have been more thoroughlyThis game invested heavily in marketing and advertising and made well documented highly hyped promises. It has massively under delivered on those promises. Graphics, AI and game play are well below what they promised, leaving many fans very disappointed. Yes it looks great, if you aren't suffering the numerous bugs and technical issues, which suggests it should have been more thoroughly tested. The AI at release is awful units brake formation the minute the engage in combat and it turns in to a mob. Battles take 6 minutes for me on average and that is hardly any time at all for any strategy, or enjoyment. There are no family trees and worse one or two line pre battle speeches. Both of which rip much of the character and depth out of the game. What shocked me was the ability to make post Marian units after one building upgrade over a hundred years before it occured. They have really stripped the game down and made it very fast and simplistic. Things I would expect in an action console game. Sadly this is more flash than substance. For a strategy game and total war title it will disappoint those who have played previous title from the catalogue. We can only hope they learn from the mistakes on this game and return to the elements that have made them so popular in the next game. Unfortunately that is likely to be 3 or 4 years away. I have to agree with other reviewers this scores a zero for me not just because it fails to live up to expectation or advertising, that is nothing new. It is as others have said hardly a strategy game atall.… Expand
  61. Typo
    Sep 6, 2013
    6
    So after logging about 10 hours into the game it is safe to say that there are issues with RTW2 but, unlike some on this board (which I understand after dealing with these issues for all of the recent TW games) I still see a very bright future for RTW2.

    The biggest issue I have is that the learning curve, because publishers have gone away from printed manuals, is very steep. I found    So after logging about 10 hours into the game it is safe to say that there are issues with RTW2 but, unlike some on this board (which I understand after dealing with these issues for all of the recent TW games) I still see a very bright future for RTW2.

    The biggest issue I have is that the learning curve, because publishers have gone away from printed manuals, is very steep. I found myself stumbling about as the Iceni not really understanding or knowing the effects of putting an army in "Raid" would be. I couldn't grasp for awhile how to manage population growth (it makes you choose, essentially, which settlement to expand instead of being able to do every settlement whenever) or how to split armies. However, once you do figure these things out, it becomes apparent what RTW2 was going for, authenticity.

    I know there are skeptics out there who just wanted a more awesome Shogun 2 with Rome or a high end Medieval II with stellar graphics and I'm not excusing CA for not delivering on that end (that being said, my machine, which is not top of the line, has run the game without crashes and enjoyable level graphics. Crashes which, on the same machine, I still experience with Shogun 2) but I think I can see that CA was going for which was a motif of authenticity. Those unit cards you hate? Those are based of black-figure vases from Ancient Greece that were treasured across the classical world. Armies weren't individual units that were recruited and sent out the were raised en masse and meaningful, empire defining clashes were mammoth affairs, not dozens of smaller armies running about (that is what the Raid stance implies). Contending with internal political rivals was a way of life for nearly every political unit from those times. These were choices CA made to convey a sense of realism and reality of many of the classical world's most prominent leaders.

    Again, if we want to talk about AI, bugs, and disappointing graphics, I couldn't agree more. CA most certainly should've put more time and effort into those areas to make sure they were the best they could be. But did anyone really find the AI that atrocious its worthy of a 0? I still command my armies with the same sense of ability as I have in any other TW iteration (minus Empire's of course) and with just as much enjoyment.

    What I'm saying is this game makes you put in the time. You aren't going to get high end units within 50 turns. You aren't going to wipe out half of the Eastern Mediterranean and start a new campaign because you are bored (admittedly, aided by the army and fleet cap limits) you will have to build trust with allies slowly throw NA pacts, trade agreements, defensive alliances, etc. RTW2 is about actually building an empire not flexing muscles instantaneously.

    In the end does this game have its issues? Yes. Should these have been resolve prior to release? Absolutely. But I can't sit here in good conscience and bash a game where I was able to crush Epirus with a fleet based army while my Athenian allies attacked from land. I can't bash a game where I was able to defend my Iceni city from two armies but pulling them into a choke point, watching them break on my shield wall, and then run them down with skirmishers and chariots. Where my generals are in just as much danger from the enemy as they are, truly, from rivals within their own faction. Or where you have to make a snap decision as a leader about a celebrity citizen. Or a game that allows me to "Raid" and destabilize an entire hostile region inciting civil wars to soften it up for my true thrust.

    Rome 2 is a flawed game but, when, not if, these issues get corrected I think the players who stick around, learn, and dig are going to find a very enjoyable gaming experience. Its these gems of gameplay mentioned above that have left me with a sense of hope for RTW2 future and, hopefully, you revisit it and see some of them for yourself as well.    … Expand
  62. CptCasual
    Sep 4, 2013
    6
    Whilst the game certainly isnt without fault, i would give it a six. Not great, but not awful. One of the major complaints seems to be that there wasnt a beta test, but that we are now the beta test. Is that not a good thing? to all those waiting until Xmas, but i bought my game 33% off on steam, i get to play the game now, find the flaws and have a part in their remedy. You complain atWhilst the game certainly isnt without fault, i would give it a six. Not great, but not awful. One of the major complaints seems to be that there wasnt a beta test, but that we are now the beta test. Is that not a good thing? to all those waiting until Xmas, but i bought my game 33% off on steam, i get to play the game now, find the flaws and have a part in their remedy. You complain at the lack of an organized beta and yet shun the opportunity for an unofficial one. That said, the AI is awful. I can assault a town with a garrison stronger than my army, defeat that, and then defeat their 1000 reinforcements.… Expand
  63. Nashvilleman
    Dec 12, 2013
    0
    Wow! What expectations I had for Rome II! Needless to say, they were blown to bits!! I played this game for 12 hours before I was able to get an Army strong enough to have my first combat! I outnumbered my AI opponent by 15 to 1 and lost hands down!! It takes forever to get to a scientific technology that allows you to keep the population fed and to expand the cities! By the way, I usedWow! What expectations I had for Rome II! Needless to say, they were blown to bits!! I played this game for 12 hours before I was able to get an Army strong enough to have my first combat! I outnumbered my AI opponent by 15 to 1 and lost hands down!! It takes forever to get to a scientific technology that allows you to keep the population fed and to expand the cities! By the way, I used the EASY mode for battle and gameplay! This game takes forever to do anything!! I have really enjoyed the Total War Games of the past, but this one SUCKS!! It is boring, long and drawn out, but if all you have is time on your hands then this game is for you! Otherwise, I'd avoid buying this game until the creators do some serious patching, upgrading, etc!!… Expand
  64. Simon1979
    Oct 15, 2013
    0
    No italian and spanish full localization/dubbing, it was stated on the game's box completely in these languages, and on steam untill 5 hrs after the release, the game is boring nothing even near the first title Rome Total War, AI is baaaad!, campaign is boring exc. for sure if arma 3 has a metacritic of 73 this deserve a 0, if arma 3 was at a metacritic of 90/ 98 this deserves a 60
  65. Diraffe
    Oct 19, 2013
    0
    I am thankful they did not call this Rome: Total War II and instead called it Total War: Rome II as it is entirely undeserving of following up such an amazing predecessor. Everywhere Rome: Total War got something right, Total War: Rome II got it wrong.
  66. GoosemanGamer
    Oct 18, 2013
    0
    Horrible UI
    Broken AI
    Downright wacky graphical issues and horrible performance. Ships sailing on land and zombie soldiers. Instant Fleets from armies making the naval aspect pointless. 1 year turns so generals die off instantaneously. AI can't use siege equipment and uses magical torches that burn down reinforced gates and then bum rushes them with the whole army to be slaughtered.    Horrible UI
    Broken AI
    Downright wacky graphical issues and horrible performance. Ships sailing on land and zombie soldiers.
    Instant Fleets from armies making the naval aspect pointless.
    1 year turns so generals die off instantaneously.
    AI can't use siege equipment and uses magical torches that burn down reinforced gates and then bum rushes them with the whole army to be slaughtered. Oh yeah and CA refuses to even address this.
    1 minute arcade style battles.
    Endlessly long AI turns.
    No political system.
    Units don't hold formation and battles become giant mosh pits requiring no strategy.
    Campaign videos gone, general trees gone, every multiplayer feature in Shogun II gone.

    It's quite simply the worst total war ever, a shameless cash grab and an insult to every fan.

    It's actually one of the worst games I've ever played.

    Do not buy this game. It should be called "Total Garbage Rome Blues". And it can't be patched to get better. There are too many design flaws and CA already stole everyone's money.

    I'm sure they're spending most of their time getting this trash ready for a stupid console port. What a joke.    … Expand
  67. Razgriz44
    Oct 31, 2013
    0
    Agree with avaspara, horrible AI, Sluggish graphics, Poorly optimized Lacks any of the soul of other Total War games. An abysmal launch that is characteristic of Creative Assembly.

    Paid reviewers got paid to give this game high marks. The average joe who had to spend $60.00 on this got taken advantage of. Avoid at all costs!
  68. generalryan
    Nov 13, 2013
    0
    Have been playing total war since the original medieval total war and I have to say even months post release this game is still a sore sight. I hope CA's image is destroyed enough so they release quality games again. This company has gone from quality to trash very quickly. Their getting greedy off the fat cash cow they have created.

    For those who says "they will fix the game soon".    Have been playing total war since the original medieval total war and I have to say even months post release this game is still a sore sight. I hope CA's image is destroyed enough so they release quality games again. This company has gone from quality to trash very quickly. Their getting greedy off the fat cash cow they have created.

    For those who says "they will fix the game soon". When I buy a game I expect my money's worth. For a game to cost me 60 dollars I have some expectations. I don't expect to be waiting months after launch to have the game playable. I don't care how hard their working to fix it right now I care that I got an unfinished game they decided to sell me. I am a fanboy of this franchise and I for one can tell you that I will personally not buy any more total war games for a long time. After very very careful observation after launch will I even consider buying any new releases.

    Shame on CA what they are doing to their franchise. Hopefully people wake up and stop patting them on the back for their mistakes. I'm not being impatient when I say this game is crap and their still release patches. They released the game, it should be solid upon release as a costumer that is my expectation.

    Either way stay away I lost my $60, no reason you should too.    … Expand
  69. AlexCe
    Nov 16, 2013
    0
    Jeux pas fini: bug, synchronisation aléatoire en multi, unité débile (on pose l'échelle, on regarde l'échelle, et on attend de crever), icône des bâtiments très moche, interface largement inférieur celle de Shogun II. Bref un formidable bon en arrière
  70. Iconoklast
    Oct 26, 2013
    2
    As a professional developer and huge fan of this series I am unable to comprehend the degree to which this franchise has degenerated. It clear that the design team from the previous games, especially the Shogun 2 people who made an excellent, cristaline perfect strategic wargame, where not invovled in the development of this one. How a team can unlearn so many good lessons in design canAs a professional developer and huge fan of this series I am unable to comprehend the degree to which this franchise has degenerated. It clear that the design team from the previous games, especially the Shogun 2 people who made an excellent, cristaline perfect strategic wargame, where not invovled in the development of this one. How a team can unlearn so many good lessons in design can only be explained by Sega's corporate shortsightedness and CA internal politics.

    Whatever the cause for the sudden case of stupid at CA, the results are in and here is my professional assessment of the title's failures:

    Battle:
    The most important element of the game, tactical battles, has been gutted of any meaningful gameplay in exchange for pretty 3D models and animations. The Camera has been moved so far back and the fov change means that you can't really tell what is going on. Just a bunch of pretty animations that I can never afford to see unless I want to see my entire flank collapse in 2 seconds. Cinematic mode indeed, it feels like an Art Director was designing the game.
    - Unless you zoom way in you cant even you can't tell what is infantry, cavalary, etc...The high level LODs are so poor at a glance you have no clue what is where in your battle line, the icons are of no assistance and the flags now give no information at all thanks to their minimalist and unclear labels.
    - The art direction for the icons is baffling and obscure, not to mention ugly. How they decided to go for this abstract look instead of functional icons and labels is beyond stupid for a strategy game, where information has to be clear and available at a glance (real time people, dont want to hover over a button to get the menu)
    - The changes to grouping and orders for battles are beyond frustrating. Why would you gut the previous system and replace it with this baffling set of useless instructions? The super powers for various units are unrealistic and incomprehinsible, they are just a confusing mess of buttons with unclear functionality and effects, and labelled with even more baffling icons that bear no resemblance to whatever it is they are supposed to indicate. Who ever changed the battle system should file for mental incompetence and go live in a care home.
    - Tactics? What tactics, the worse part of the battle system is as glossy and uselessly slick it may look, there are no tactics to speak of. Units have to be told what to do all the time, its like an RTS, and the speed of some units is baffling. There is no clear relationship between cavalry, missile troops, and infantry. Battles turn into a chaotic blurr of incomprehensible pop ups, you cant maintain a line, you cant hold flanks, there are no charges or any of the elements you expect from ancient warfare. A catastrophe. This has marketing written all over it.

    The Strategic Game

    -- More baffling icons, hidden information in pop up menus, illogical menu logic, the art direction for the UI sucks to high heaven.
    - Getting rid of transport fleets was stupid, oceans are now super highways for large armies. I guess Hannibal forgot he could have sailed straight to Rome instead of crossing the Alps for a year. What a retarded decision this was, and would shure like to know who on that team came up with that dusie.
    - Hate the research tree, dull and overly simplistic. Compare it to Shogun 2 for the extent of the fail that this tree represents.
    - Diplomacy, annoying flaws that make it a chore. The menu is a chore. The sound effect for a turned down offer gets so grating after the 20th time, play test your own game for sake.
    - Character development, boring. Its so simplistic and repetitive it became a chore. No real sense of achievement in growing personalities. All the characters look like they have the same ugly face. Stupid to animate these ugly facial models, if you are going to make them all uniformly dull and ugly ditch the animation.
    - Politics are incomprehensible, I appreciate the attempt to add some more subtlety to the political dimention but the result is a non interactive, baffling and ultimately irrelevant system to the game. Gravitas? Who came up with that? How about Political Power? Or Popularity? or Influence? just a few suggestions to making the labelling more meaningful.
    - No seasons Not even two? Winter Summer? Too much art work? Cheap bastards. You can't have a cool feature in your franchise and then expect no one to notice when you ditch it for your follow up. How about spending the budget on animating the stupid looking ugly characters on seasonal terrain art? Or even the Cinematic Mode budget? The way features were prioritized in this game suggests that you were being told what to do by a console publisher. Oh wait.........

    The greatest tragedy is that this represents the end of Creative Assembly as a powerhouse of Strategy Game development. This is a tremendous blow to gaming, and the dev team should be ashamed of themselves.    … Expand
  71. StrategosLC
    May 8, 2017
    3
    -Terrible optimization
    -Terrible graphics in comparison to Shogun 2
    -Clunkier user controls than ever before -Awful AI -More bugs than in any other TW game -Terrible unit cards -UI is confusing and downright ugly -Feels very unpolished I HIGHLY recommend Shogun2 over this. Edit: These issues have mostly all been fixed by now, but I'm leaving the score the same because it took    -Terrible optimization
    -Terrible graphics in comparison to Shogun 2
    -Clunkier user controls than ever before
    -Awful AI
    -More bugs than in any other TW game
    -Terrible unit cards
    -UI is confusing and downright ugly
    -Feels very unpolished

    I HIGHLY recommend Shogun2 over this.

    Edit: These issues have mostly all been fixed by now, but I'm leaving the score the same because it took a year post launch for this game to actually become playable.    … Expand
  72. OverdueReview
    Sep 18, 2013
    5
    I've been lucky enough to actually play this game from day one and boy what a dissapointment. The AI is stupid, the family/faction/politics system is totally forgettable, diplomacy is still broken (was it ever fixed?) and battles are short, very short. It becomes painfully clear that there is NO QA at Creative Assembly and Sega. They've never played their own game otherwise 90% of the bugsI've been lucky enough to actually play this game from day one and boy what a dissapointment. The AI is stupid, the family/faction/politics system is totally forgettable, diplomacy is still broken (was it ever fixed?) and battles are short, very short. It becomes painfully clear that there is NO QA at Creative Assembly and Sega. They've never played their own game otherwise 90% of the bugs would have been found before they released this. Paying for beta testing a game. This has sadly become a trend with big titles and this game is no exception.
    There is a good game in here somewhere but it's going to take a lot of digging to bring it to the surface.    … Expand
  73. Jonathan117
    Oct 27, 2013
    1
    Rome 2 was supposed to be the best TW game as of yet... this is sadly far from the truth, the game is broken in every way possible, even worse than Empire Total war. I can't stress this enough; DON'T SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF SH*T!
  74. Eviltoast
    Sep 5, 2013
    5
    First off there are some really great things about this game. The factions are really well done and I like that you have sub-factions (Roman Houses, Carthaginian dynasties etc.) within. I like the unit cards and I enjoy adding items to your household. Diplomacy is slightly better, but could use more polish. My biggest praise goes to the campaign map, which is simply gorgeous.First off there are some really great things about this game. The factions are really well done and I like that you have sub-factions (Roman Houses, Carthaginian dynasties etc.) within. I like the unit cards and I enjoy adding items to your household. Diplomacy is slightly better, but could use more polish. My biggest praise goes to the campaign map, which is simply gorgeous.

    However, there's a lot of stuff that is lacking and just plain confusing. Creative Assembly has removed the Family Tree and basically taken a huge source of enjoyment out of the game. The family system matters little when your generals don't have any really connection to your family tree other than recruitment telling you they do. The AI is simply not good and that's sad because it was hyped up to be amazing. The turn system takes FAR to long to actually get back to your turns. It removes immersion from the game and leaves you feeling frustrated. The battles and units devolve into a blob, the Units simply dont maintain formation or act like units as in previous TW games. Lastly, the politics and factional intrigue are vague and simply not fun. They had the right idea but they just missed the mark.

    Is this game fun? Yes. Is it the best Total War game ever? Not even close. This game had some great ideas but it really missed the mark on a lot of them.    … Expand
  75. Rethmeier
    Sep 5, 2013
    5
    I'm a longtime fan of the Total War series and have been with them since the first Medieval Game. However, Rome 2 left me disappointed. The wait time in between turns and loading screens is prohibitive to game play and I often find myself leaving the room in between turns. This has the effect of ruining immersion and leaving me dreading the next time I have to press "end turn".

    The    I'm a longtime fan of the Total War series and have been with them since the first Medieval Game. However, Rome 2 left me disappointed. The wait time in between turns and loading screens is prohibitive to game play and I often find myself leaving the room in between turns. This has the effect of ruining immersion and leaving me dreading the next time I have to press "end turn".

    The AI leaves a lot to be desired and while I love the replacement of the old style Rebel faction with independent 1-2 province factions, I do not agree with Creative Assembly's choice to level the playing field between all factions. I look forward to facing Macedon, Carthage, Rome, and Parthia in the future and it is upsetting to find Carthage has fallen to an unknown Celtic tribe 10 turns into the game (This has occurred in all three games I've played so far).

    Much of the game has been streamlined/simplified to the point where most of the things that I loved about the previous Total War Titles has been removed. On top of this, the online encyclopedia is both difficult to maneuver and tedious to try and use, leaving me to trial and error when it comes to new game mechanics. At this point, while I actually like several changes made to the game, like the provincial system, the information and explanation necessary to enjoy these mechanics is either absent or too difficult to find. The political factions and intrigue are a nice touch, but the 1 year 1 turn and lack of a family tree make it hard to understand and hard to get involved with. By the time I've figured out who is who and attempt to increase the level of my characters they're dying of old age.

    The battles have also been changed and not for the better. It is now rare to experience a battle over 10 minutes long, which might seem nice, but in reality it's frustrating. Units rout/ are decimated at such a rate that flanking maneuvers, ambushes, and other prolonged tactics become impossible to execute. Additionally, unit behavior in battle is frustrating as melee quickly devolves into a large blob until one army routs 20 seconds later. Other changes such as the removal of the guard button, fire at will for non-skirmishers, and the tendency for units not to pursue broken enemies makes battles less entertaining than in other Total War Games. Add in the immense amount of time spent in loading screens and I find myself auto-deciding battles much more frequently than I have in the past.

    Overall, while Rome 2 is not a "bad game", it has lost many of the aspects of previous Total War games which made them entertaining. I found mods for the first Rome: Total War (like Rome Total Realism) to be more enjoyable and would wait to buy Rome 2 until it's on sale. It is bound to be more enjoyable after CA makes some game play tweaks and modders have a chance to overhaul it.    … Expand
  76. Lord_Slop
    Sep 9, 2013
    6
    I pre-purchased the game, first pre-purchase for me ever. I'm also an old TW player since the days of Rome, started in 2004 more or less.

    The game has one keyword, potential. There are a lot of possibilities for the game, but they're mostly not working or buggy. Pros: 1. Very nicely made campaign map overall. 2. The new province system is an improvement. 3. Unit roster from the    I pre-purchased the game, first pre-purchase for me ever. I'm also an old TW player since the days of Rome, started in 2004 more or less.

    The game has one keyword, potential. There are a lot of possibilities for the game, but they're mostly not working or buggy.

    Pros:
    1. Very nicely made campaign map overall.
    2. The new province system is an improvement.
    3. Unit roster from the few factions I've played seems diversified.
    4. Replayability is high, given the number of playable factions.
    5. The limit on the number of armies and agents you can field depending on your empire's size adds a lot of depth and strategic planning to the game.

    Cons:
    1. Waiting time between turns is simply too long, starts with around 30 seconds at the start of the campaign and goes as far as 3 or 4 minutes around turn 50 as more of the map is revealed (While disabling the show AI movements option).
    2. Naval battles are broken, the units won't obey commands when told to board unless you babysit them and re-issue the command, even then it might not work.
    3. Land battles turn into a brawl once the initial cross fire is over and it's down to melee. The units seem to congregate in the center losing any semblance of being anything than angry mobs fighting it outside a tavern.
    4. The game is laggy, both on the strategic and battle views.
    5. Diplomacy needs improvement, they won't agree to most negotiations (Including trade agreements) unless you're way stronger than the AI faction you're negotiating with.
    6. Region resources don't add any bonuses as far as I could tell,
    7. Land armies can traverse oceans by turning into transports, which makes fleets rudimentary if not obsolete.
    8. Campaign AI is too passive, not to mention that the game seems to be cheating, even on easy, I've seen one province factions fielding 3 full stacks, regardless of the impact of upkeep.

    So, overall, the game has a lot of options to explore, provided they patch up the errors. Given proper patching and fixes, the game could be brilliant. But in its current state, it's nothing really special.    … Expand
  77. Dralord
    Sep 10, 2013
    5
    I'm disappointed by Rome 2. This game should have been better than Rome 1 but only the battle map and graphics has been improved the rest is worse.

    -There is a stone age Multiplayer -Almost no city management -No family tree and ruler information -Very hard diplomacy -Now we have land AND naval army(better than the navy we recruit) -And very confusing units cards system. I    I'm disappointed by Rome 2. This game should have been better than Rome 1 but only the battle map and graphics has been improved the rest is worse.

    -There is a stone age Multiplayer
    -Almost no city management
    -No family tree and ruler information
    -Very hard diplomacy
    -Now we have land AND naval army(better than the navy we recruit)
    -And very confusing units cards system.

    I suppose that I'll get back on Rome 1 after 1 or 2 more try on Rome 2 campaingn    … Expand
  78. ymakushin
    Sep 10, 2013
    6
    I was very excited for this game as many were, but after finishing the main campaign things have changed.
    So here are a couple of things wrong:
    AI doesn't care about anything. It either goes for the flag behind you even in retreat or doesn't even attack. The graphics are horrible in today's standards. Lots of cool features were stripped out. Fps drops Though despite all those    I was very excited for this game as many were, but after finishing the main campaign things have changed.
    So here are a couple of things wrong:

    AI doesn't care about anything. It either goes for the flag behind you even in retreat or doesn't even attack.
    The graphics are horrible in today's standards.
    Lots of cool features were stripped out.
    Fps drops

    Though despite all those features I quite enjoyed the game so from me it gets a 6/10.    … Expand
  79. pcgameadictus
    Oct 10, 2013
    1
    I am a long time fan of Total War. But I am very much DISAPPOINTED in this new Rome Total War II. We waited for a bunch of crazy innovation of the game. What does the game designer and developer thinking? I would rather play RTW 1 than this newly scrap they created.
  80. sgtmiller3
    Oct 14, 2013
    1
    This game is a total buggy mess. The state this game was released is unbelievable. The graphics have frequent errors, major random frame drops and the AI in this game is broken. The only reason why i gave this game a 1, was because of the new feature the unit camera which was a nice cinematic improvement to the game but this being its only good feature this game has a lot of explaining toThis game is a total buggy mess. The state this game was released is unbelievable. The graphics have frequent errors, major random frame drops and the AI in this game is broken. The only reason why i gave this game a 1, was because of the new feature the unit camera which was a nice cinematic improvement to the game but this being its only good feature this game has a lot of explaining to do. I also find the gameplay quite bland, because instead of adding to shogun 2 they took away many nice features and messing up the tech tree a whole lot. This game should not be getting the review of critics it should be getting and a 50 meta score is the maximum this game could get, but even that is stretching the limit. Overall this game is a waste of money and should not have been pushed out by the creators because of the hype. It upset many fans turning their backs on the total war franchise making the total was series in need of redemption. fix AI, fix frame problems and textures, shorter turns (PLEASE) and maybe this game deserves a 70… Expand
  81. Mesner
    Oct 24, 2013
    10
    After all the performance issues, poor optimization and all the things people have complained about, here comes the fourth patch (more to come yet), and I have to say that this game is awesome. The AI is a lot better than when the game was released and in fact minor factions declare war on you (in the released game they didn't). In fact I'm in a world-scale war as a Roman, allied withAfter all the performance issues, poor optimization and all the things people have complained about, here comes the fourth patch (more to come yet), and I have to say that this game is awesome. The AI is a lot better than when the game was released and in fact minor factions declare war on you (in the released game they didn't). In fact I'm in a world-scale war as a Roman, allied with Carthage and the Greek city states against Seleucid faction, eastern rising empires and all the Gaul tribes. Battle AI is improving, and now is not always easy to win a battle. A month after the release I can say I'm beginning to have fun with this game. Hope you can say the same.… Expand
  82. afro_natisch
    Oct 25, 2013
    0
    simply unacceptable. no comment!!!....................................................................................................................
  83. VOP2288
    Nov 5, 2013
    6
    As the game stands now I would've given it an 7 or even an 8 but since I bought it on release I have to dock it down to a 6 for its less-than-stellar launch.

    First and foremost I just want to throw out there that this game doesn't deserve its current 3.9 user score. 75% of the reviews giving this game under a 5 are nothing more than butt-hurt children and/or man-children who got caught    As the game stands now I would've given it an 7 or even an 8 but since I bought it on release I have to dock it down to a 6 for its less-than-stellar launch.

    First and foremost I just want to throw out there that this game doesn't deserve its current 3.9 user score. 75% of the reviews giving this game under a 5 are nothing more than butt-hurt children and/or man-children who got caught up in the hype and truly believed that Rome 2 was going to be an absolutely (and unrealistically) flawless game that was going to cater to every single one of their personal fantasies and desires.

    Truth is Rome 2 isn't actually that bad of a game, in fact it's easily one of the better strategy games out there on the market right now and I'd be willing to say that it's also one of Creative Assembly's better Total War installments. Don't get me wrong though, the game has its flaws and its launch issues and apparent lack of proper testing was a travesty but by now they've squashed the most significant issues and fixed/tweaked a lot more.

    I honestly could gone on for quite some time about the game but in the interest of being straightforward I'll just list off the game's positives and negatives.

    Pros -

    - Fantastic looking campaign map that really captures the scope and size of the ancient world.
    - Noticeably different culture-based faction groups that each have their own strengths/weaknesses and play styles (economically and militarily).
    - Individual soldiers are no longer carbon copies of one another and feature different faces, hair colors/styles, clothing/armor types, and other small differences that make them feel like actual people.
    - The changes to city-building and introduction of the province/region system adds a nice layer of strategic depth in how you grow and maintain your empire.
    - The new military tradition system.
    - Though disliked by some, the army/navy limit puts greater emphasis on how you use your military forces, adds gravity to your victories and defeats, and for the most part keeps the TW AI's long running disposition towards force spamming in check.
    - Battle maps are large and vary in environmental details, the cut-and-paste city siege maps are thrown out and replaced by unique ones that actually feel like true urban environments.
    - A LARGE assortment of unit types spread out amongst all the factions.
    - Battles have never looked better in a TW game.
    - Slightly better consistency between campaign map and diplomacy AI (was a BIG issue in all past TW games).

    Cons -

    - Units tend to rout too easily in battle, leading to some battles taking no longer than 3 or 4 minutes.
    - Ranged units (Slingers, Archers, Javalinmen, etc) are just as overpowered as they were in Shogun 2 and some battles can be entirely won with three or four units of them.
    - Naval battles are simply broken. Seems to be a massive bonus granted to the AI during sea engagements even when you're fighting a fleet of the same size and composition. Too much micromanaging needed and ships can be unresponsive much of the time.
    - AI in general can be at times too passive, too aggressive, and just all-around quirky in general. Pretty much a common factor in ALL Total War games that CA has yet to really master and perfect.
    - Absolutely terrible manual and tutorial that only explains the very basics of the game but NOT the list of small and large changes made to the gameplay, reminds me of Paradox tutorials...
    - The "War Target" feature just plain doesn't work very well (you're supposed to be able to target enemy military forces but you can only target settlements).
    - The politics aspect is broken and unfinished. A true shame as it could've brought even more strategic depth to the game.

    I'm not going to bother mentioning the little bugs and glitches b/c CA has been cleaning those up pretty consistently since launch as well as the more glaring performance issues. And that's another thing that I'm not going to acknowledge performance issues given that TW games have ALWAYS been GPU and CPU hogs that will just plain not run or look its best on release unless you have a top of the line PC (which many incorrectly presumed they had).

    Overall Rome 2 is the not the disaster that many here have claimed it to be (it's also not the pristine 10/10 that many "professional" critics painted it as either). Much of its significant launch issues have been tackled by now and CA continues to clean up the smaller bugs. Fact is, this game is definitely a good time and one of the best current strategy games out there.    … Expand
  84. Bertzilla
    Oct 28, 2013
    8
    Finally purchased Rome II this past weekend after Patch 5 was released. I will state now that I am an old time Total War fan and I have quite a high end system. Having said that I have had no frame rate problems even with all the settings cranked up. Also, I have been reading all about how long it takes for the AI to run through its turn; no issues here, takes about 10 seconds. NowFinally purchased Rome II this past weekend after Patch 5 was released. I will state now that I am an old time Total War fan and I have quite a high end system. Having said that I have had no frame rate problems even with all the settings cranked up. Also, I have been reading all about how long it takes for the AI to run through its turn; no issues here, takes about 10 seconds. Now granted, I have only just started playing and I am sure I will run into some glitches soon enough but so far I am impressed, but can only imagine how rough it must have been to play this game before all the patches were released. Although CA and Sega really screwed up the launch of Rome II, it seems like they are committed to making it the epic strategy that we all know it can be and I even think it can easily surpass Shogun II, although there is still work needed to be done especially on the AI. Keep at it folks.… Expand
  85. Duczek
    Oct 30, 2013
    0
    Preordering this game was one of my biggest mistakes in my life. Right now I feel naive and cheated.
    The Ai is terrible, plain stupid and broken, every previous game had a better one even the Rome1. It feels as it's scripted to charge from the front and push cav from the flanks and that's all. Every single battle... But camparing to siege Ai it is great as siege Ai is completely broken, I    Preordering this game was one of my biggest mistakes in my life. Right now I feel naive and cheated.
    The Ai is terrible, plain stupid and broken, every previous game had a better one even the Rome1. It feels as it's scripted to charge from the front and push cav from the flanks and that's all. Every single battle... But camparing to siege Ai it is great as siege Ai is completely broken, I don't even understand how it is possible to fail so badly, they aren't even able to use the machines they have...
    The unit cards are ugly and confusing. The campaign Ai is stoopid and useless.

    Multiplayer in Shogun 2 was a major step forward, that is why I have no idea what were they thinking leaving this well built formula and creating this Quick battles which were fun in Shogun are terrible here, you can;t choose whether to play siege or a normal battle.

    I feel cheated or even robed. Sega should refund money to all the people and after a year release a normal product, but I doubt it will happen :/
    This isn't a game, this is a Beta Version and I don't remember buying early acces... I wanted a complete product.
    I am really ashamed as I respected CA and Sega and right now I am sure that I won't buy their games in preorder and I will think twice on buying them.

    With regards, cheated customer.    … Expand
  86. Escobar
    Feb 28, 2014
    8
    Yeah this game was not "perfect" at the time of release, not even close it. But now, after many months they have published patch and as an result this game is playable now. Campaign is good old same and graphics are awesome! This is quite heavy game so you`re gonna need good PC if you want to play it with max graphics..
  87. DudeWithGun
    Aug 2, 2014
    3
    Still broken nearly a year later. I bought this game at launch, multiplayer was poor at best due to all the crashes and the game breaking bugs. Plus the campaign had unintelligent AI and ridiculous bugs, one of which made it so after I hit end turn around turn 90ish it didn't do anything, even if I went back to turn 60 and tried something else, it just ended once I got back to turn 90ish.Still broken nearly a year later. I bought this game at launch, multiplayer was poor at best due to all the crashes and the game breaking bugs. Plus the campaign had unintelligent AI and ridiculous bugs, one of which made it so after I hit end turn around turn 90ish it didn't do anything, even if I went back to turn 60 and tried something else, it just ended once I got back to turn 90ish. So I uninstalled and WAITED AN ENTIRE YEAR to try again. So I re-installed a few days ago and everything seemed great, campaign ran smoothly, hell even the AI kind of knew how to fight battles now. Which was a big plus since before they'd just derp around your walls like it was a kid wearing a chastity belt in a whore house. They still pile up during village battles like it was a big orgy and you weren't invited, but whatever.

    So I siege Carthage, which was under control of Syracuse (Good job making major factions still awful after a whole year CA, I always knew that generic faction that was wiped from history would make a comeback and rule the world someday) and look at that, 2 massive army stacks are protecting it, which is normal on hard+ difficulty. So I start the battle, and everything seems great for about 5 minutes, it's a huge battle, everyone is getting ready to die and then suddenly CRIPPLING unit lag sets in like my grandmothers alzheimer's and no one can remember how to even **** move. My FPS is still around 35fps and the camera is fine, it's the units that are moving at a snails pace and stuttering helplessly. So I pray to the Total War gods and turn my settings to Low, still doesn't work. I set it to max speed, no change, everyone just stutters about occasionally dying.

    You know for a game based on warfare with massive armies numbering in the tens of thousands, you'd think they'd figure out a way to have 3000 vs 3000 work. Also the DLC I bought - Blood and Gore, isn't working right now, apparently the last patch broke it. CA charged you for blood in a game solely about killing people in huge battles that don't work, and lookit that blood doesn't work either, no wonder everyone just stuttered about like zombies.

    /delete local content
    again.    … Expand
  88. Kotmalevich
    Feb 17, 2015
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Terrible mechanics, enemy agent a permanent stop my army and the enemy was able to capture two of my main city, after which I lost and then went out and departed this game. HOW? As a small bum could stop an army of thousands of people for 5 years? !!!! 1 day maybe 2 days, too, the week is almost impossible, but not f***ing 5 YEARS!… Expand
  89. gdwitt
    Jan 19, 2014
    4
    Uhhh. I played the game before I read the reviews.
    I bought all the DLC's before trying it.
    I didn't encounter too many battle bugs because I autoresolved due to graphic issues. I believe CA knows everywhere it's broken. The campaign map is awesome, a wonderful work of programming and graphics. I would urge then to loosen up the city-province options and let us empire build. All the    Uhhh. I played the game before I read the reviews.
    I bought all the DLC's before trying it.
    I didn't encounter too many battle bugs because I autoresolved due to graphic issues.
    I believe CA knows everywhere it's broken.
    The campaign map is awesome, a wonderful work of programming and graphics.
    I would urge then to loosen up the city-province options and let us empire build.
    All the new petty restrictions break the game.
    Penalize unhappy civilizations like CIV5.
    Let us leave standing armies.
    Just let this game be like Medieval 2TW.
    Please don't give up yet.    … Expand
  90. Garloz911
    Oct 24, 2013
    5
    I really like the art. It's pretty. Sadly that is just about it for this game. The battlefield AI was recently made slightly more intelligent which is always nice. However the world map AI is garbage. I really wish we the players were given as good a copy as the "professional" critics. They seem to have gotten a good working version.
  91. deadmeat2k
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    This review is based on the game, as it currently is (patch 5). I have played for about 25-30 hours. I fancy the new region based system, which makes it so much easier to manage cities compared to earlier TW games. The graphics are really great and run pretty well with the latest patch applied. However a number of things, seriously spoils the game: The agent system, screws up the gameThis review is based on the game, as it currently is (patch 5). I have played for about 25-30 hours. I fancy the new region based system, which makes it so much easier to manage cities compared to earlier TW games. The graphics are really great and run pretty well with the latest patch applied. However a number of things, seriously spoils the game: The agent system, screws up the game completely, being way too dominant, the civil war system is impossible to understand, and is really just an annoyance and the diplomatic and trade systems are fundamentally flawed simply doesnt work in their current state. The battles are some fun, but often feel too chaotic and arcade style. All together the game is a dissapointment. Would have wished for a Darthmod for this TW game too, to fix all these things, but that will unfortunately not happen.… Expand
  92. LordSolar
    Sep 20, 2014
    9
    Although this game was quite bad when it was released, it has become a pretty good game because of CA's continued patching. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
  93. Boney_N
    Jun 17, 2014
    5
    On the plus side: the graphics that are really cool and....that's it. The rest, especially when you have played the original Rome before, is rather mediocre. Battles are over in a minute after all units entangle into a large blob, no real roman tactics like coordinated pilum throwing available. AI really (empirelike) baaad, Battles take place often in cities that for some reason not fullyOn the plus side: the graphics that are really cool and....that's it. The rest, especially when you have played the original Rome before, is rather mediocre. Battles are over in a minute after all units entangle into a large blob, no real roman tactics like coordinated pilum throwing available. AI really (empirelike) baaad, Battles take place often in cities that for some reason not fully walled. Battlefleets are not useful and too expensive since transport fleets not really much worse in combat, I could go on but that should give an impression. The game could be so much better but is just average… Expand
  94. Alienpope
    Oct 20, 2013
    6
    As a hardcore TW fan even since rom 1 i can say that this game is good. It is not amazing, not mind blowing... Just... Good. The game released with hundreds of problems and i am not talking about the minor problems. The AI was horrible. I've played all factions by now on very hard and breezed through it all.

    But now... 5 patches later.... Things are looking better. Much better i have to    As a hardcore TW fan even since rom 1 i can say that this game is good. It is not amazing, not mind blowing... Just... Good. The game released with hundreds of problems and i am not talking about the minor problems. The AI was horrible. I've played all factions by now on very hard and breezed through it all.

    But now... 5 patches later.... Things are looking better. Much better i have to say.

    It went from the worst pd release of the year (not including sim city) to a decent game. The AI will still make the worst possible decisions at times... But overall it will challenge you.

    The real reason to buy this game however is not because of the campaign. If you want that you can try crusader kings or maybe civ5. The battles are what makes this game good. Realistic looking fighting with a quite deep strategy depth to it. So the multiplayer really brings this game up to a 6.0 instead of a 3.0    … Expand
  95. DrPancakez
    Sep 5, 2013
    5
    Well this game is a buggy mess. Does it mean that it deserves a zero score? No! These people giving it 0/10 scores are just hate band wagoning, yes it's a horrible mess in its current state but go play Ride To Hell, or the release version of Sword in the Stars 2 for a game deserving a 0/10 score. On the same token I won't even play his game at its current state, but most likely by the endWell this game is a buggy mess. Does it mean that it deserves a zero score? No! These people giving it 0/10 scores are just hate band wagoning, yes it's a horrible mess in its current state but go play Ride To Hell, or the release version of Sword in the Stars 2 for a game deserving a 0/10 score. On the same token I won't even play his game at its current state, but most likely by the end of the month, it should be fixed, or already in a more payable state. But why do I give it a 6? Because minus the glitches it's a very good 4x strategy game. Excuse poor grammar/ spelling, writing this on phone.… Expand
  96. g4br1x
    Oct 13, 2013
    5
    Not as I expected.
    Confusing UI and unit card
    You cannot un-zoom the map
    Not optimized for any hardware/ GPU Awful performances.
    Audio not completely translated from English
    Bugs and glitches everywhere.
    Fortunately i spent only 30€ to buy this badly-done game....
  97. BuddyNugget
    Sep 26, 2013
    5
    Ok so first off i HATE metacritic. Having said that there needs to be some truth in these reviews from users and this is why Metacritic should be demolished. Now i have been playing Total War since Shogun I. Im a huge fan and although Creative Assembly has always released games a little buggy the majority of their games have been pretty damn good. Rome II is the WORST of the series. BugsOk so first off i HATE metacritic. Having said that there needs to be some truth in these reviews from users and this is why Metacritic should be demolished. Now i have been playing Total War since Shogun I. Im a huge fan and although Creative Assembly has always released games a little buggy the majority of their games have been pretty damn good. Rome II is the WORST of the series. Bugs and performance issues aside (which there are many) the game is barebones. They cut so many immersive features and a lot of the things that added depth to the game. I have yet to finish a campaign over my 170+ hours of gameplay because the game is just so repetitive. The game now is very much playable for most but its the core gameplay that is severely lacking in depth. The political system is a travesty. It doesent have any real value and most people just ignore it because it doesent have any real relevance to managing your provinces, armies, and doesent add to the storytelling of the game (which has been damn good in the past). They did ass some cool things too of course. The new cinematic camera in battle takes you to an overhead zoomed in view of a unit and you can watch them as they fight. The province system (although streamlined) is much easier to manage and will be great for newcomers to the series. Army traditions add a new line of depth to the game (not nearly enough to make up for the cut family tree though). Really thats about all it added aside from better graphics which most people cant enjoy because of performance issues (that will be fixed at some point though). This game was overhyped and the marketing was a straight up lie to the fans and future buyers. Trailers and gameplay interviews look nothing like the game. Its sad really because this could be the greatest TW game to date but they streamlined it too much and cared way too much about Metacritic Critic Reviews (which actually turned out horrible with a 79, should be lower). They need to fix the bad design decisions in the game. We need to see a proper family tree, maybe a timeline, a total overhaul of the political system, more turns per year (generals/agents die way too fast for you to care about them), they need to add more skins to units/generals/agents (they all look exactly the same), they need to bring some immersive features into play, and they need to finish fixing the bugs. Once these things happen we will be on the right track and these game could be at an 8/10. As of now i do NOT reccommend buying the game in its current state. Wait for some expansions to drop that add actual features with immersive and depth adding qualities otherwise youll be bored to tears after a dozen or so hours of gametime. This is the most dissapointing TW game ive ever played. If your looking for an even fresher view and some footage goto YouTube and check out AngryJoes review of Rome II he hits the nail on the head beautifully. Really its sad when companies push so hard with lies just to make sales. CA has let all their fans down by making this game the way they did. Pay NO attention to the 0/10 10/10 ratings from users those people are flat out lying to your faces. Thats my 2 cents on this game. I hope this small review can help someone out whos thinking about buying the game. P.S. Metacritic needs to die a fast death lol.… Expand
  98. 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
  99. jase1974
    Oct 15, 2013
    5
    Is a real shame that one of the finest makers of strictly PC games has let us all down. Of all the complaints to make, I feel this is the most important. Certain aspects have been streamlined. Just as certain pockets must have been streamlined in mainstream media to get the reviews it got at release.

    Hopefully CA will learn a lesson from this. Also, professional reviewers, actually play    Is a real shame that one of the finest makers of strictly PC games has let us all down. Of all the complaints to make, I feel this is the most important. Certain aspects have been streamlined. Just as certain pockets must have been streamlined in mainstream media to get the reviews it got at release.

    Hopefully CA will learn a lesson from this. Also, professional reviewers, actually play the game before you bend over and drop your pants for Sega.    … Expand
  100. william16
    Oct 24, 2013
    2
    I have invested 10 hours and most of the points I am going to make are cons so lets get started: There are massive frame rate issues, especially when seiging a city which requires you to use battering rams or other seige equipment, lag is also a problem I can barely play the game due to the amount of lag, AI is basically stupid they show up on the battlefield and never charge, flank orI have invested 10 hours and most of the points I am going to make are cons so lets get started: There are massive frame rate issues, especially when seiging a city which requires you to use battering rams or other seige equipment, lag is also a problem I can barely play the game due to the amount of lag, AI is basically stupid they show up on the battlefield and never charge, flank or attack in general, the UI is good on the campaign but worse in battle and the whole thing feels like a beta test and the list goes on and on.

    But there are some good: Visuals are better, you can see each city expand on the campaign map, armies are now more realistic they can't move without a general, land battles and sea battles are combined to give each battle a better feel.

    But I feel like I need to add more bad points on: Enemy's never declare war on you and the game is way to easy and last but not least,sometimes your enemy will send one unit to attack a city on the hardest difficulty up against your 1000 men garrison army.

    This is why I can only give Rome 2 Total War a 2/10, I really wanted it to be good, I am a huge fan of the franchise, CA really need to step it up in the next Total War.    … Expand
Page:

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.
    Read full review
  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]
See all critic reviews »