Total War: Rome II

 PC
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Sep 2, 2013
User Score
4.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3974 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,184 out of 3974
  2. Mixed: 613 out of 3974
  3. Negative: 2,177 out of 3974
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  1. tbird1979
    Sep 7, 2013
    3
    Rome 2 Total Mess. This is the first game that I ever pre-purchased; it is now the last game that I will ever pre-purchase.

    To the Creative Assembly, I will say this; gamers know a poor game when they see it. The average score on metacritic and other review sites is going to continue to plummet, until you sort out the substance of this game. How could you forget that substance    Rome 2 Total Mess. This is the first game that I ever pre-purchased; it is now the last game that I will ever pre-purchase.

    To the Creative Assembly, I will say this; gamers know a poor game when they see it. The average score on metacritic and other review sites is going to continue to plummet, until you sort out the substance of this game. How could you forget that substance always beats style? I am off to play Napoleon or Shogun 2 once I've written this. Remember them? Two games which, although they certainly look good, both manage to place the emphasis on substance and usability for the gamer above style. Consequently, they manage to beat seven bells out of this badly put-together, un-enjoyable, cynical, money-gouge of a game.

    To anyone reading this who is considering buying Rome 2, I would strongly advise you not to, at least until the Creative Assembly fix it properly. Even then, exercise caution. The feel of this game is nothing like previous entries in the Total War series. If you didn't enjoy them, then you may be the kind of person who would like this. If like the rest of us, you thought the first Rome, Empire/Napoleon and Shogun 2 were masterpieces, then don't do it to yourself don't buy this game!    … Expand
  2. BillyJ
    Sep 7, 2013
    0
    I bought this game, with all promise, hope that it would be good I loved the original. I should of known as soon as i loaded the main CGI i started to drop frames that i would be disappointed. I played the game maybe for 30 minutes with frames dropping to 5-10 per second on the worst graphics settings. At that point i took the copy i bought from best buy and smashed it with a hammer. DoI bought this game, with all promise, hope that it would be good I loved the original. I should of known as soon as i loaded the main CGI i started to drop frames that i would be disappointed. I played the game maybe for 30 minutes with frames dropping to 5-10 per second on the worst graphics settings. At that point i took the copy i bought from best buy and smashed it with a hammer. Do not buy this game.… Expand
  3. Andrey1111
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    Very bad.

    with these mods as Europa Barbarorum and Roma Surrectum releasing game similar to Rome-2 should just be ashamed of.

    0 points for Historicism
    0 points for the strategy
    0 points for tactics
    and 11 points for advertising, but the advertising we do not play.
  4. xSw4gL0rd_420x
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    The swag level in this game is too damn low. I mean, just look at those soldiers, what the Where is the swag? I honestly don't know what the developers were thinking not implementing the appropriate amount of swag to cater for SwagLords like myself.

    -xSw4gL0rd_420x
  5. hr00kjw1
    Oct 8, 2013
    0
    bad bad bad worst total war game ever CA must see that AI is stupid as same graphic as shogun2 but very bad optimized where is the 40% budget gone bad bad bad bad bad whole game is unpolished and it looks like even more bad compared with alpah testing vid that they showed to us
  6. TM4
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    This game is the biggest disappointment ever!!

    I am 35 and i have been playing the total war series since shogun1,back in 2000. Every game was better than the previous. It seemed that the team was becoming better with each release,learning from its mistakes. Ok,there were some issues with empire,but compared to rome2,vanilla empire seems like a perfect game! This game is such a    This game is the biggest disappointment ever!!

    I am 35 and i have been playing the total war series since shogun1,back in 2000.
    Every game was better than the previous.
    It seemed that the team was becoming better with each release,learning from its mistakes.

    Ok,there were some issues with empire,but compared to rome2,vanilla empire seems like a perfect game!

    This game is such a mess!!Bugs to the point that you can say that is a pre beta release!
    Gameplay?AI?The I in AI stands for intelligence?!?No...not in this game!

    Shogun1 had a better Ai than this game!
    Unbelievable,but it is true!

    How did this happen??How?After the near perfection of shogun2??
    Did they fire everybody from shogun2?

    Incredible...They released a broken game..

    To all those lucky ones who didnt buy the game(I as a fool fan preordered it) dont buy it!!

    Wait,and maybe after 100 hundred patches,around Christmas,we will have a playable game,and something remotely close to what we where promised!    … Expand
  7. 2484Stryker
    Sep 11, 2013
    6
    Rome 2 is essentially a shadow & husk of its predecessor, albeit with a few more technical glitches and questionable design changes. While some added features such as the provincial system were interesting, what CA took away effectively hindered my ability to enjoy the game as a whole. Rome 2 feels too streamlined, too simplified, too poorly polished. From the campaign map UI interfaceRome 2 is essentially a shadow & husk of its predecessor, albeit with a few more technical glitches and questionable design changes. While some added features such as the provincial system were interesting, what CA took away effectively hindered my ability to enjoy the game as a whole. Rome 2 feels too streamlined, too simplified, too poorly polished. From the campaign map UI interface to the unit stack icons during real-time battles, it feels like CA treated them almost as an afterthought. Furthermore, some features that were added either made very little sense, or were so poorly implemented that they ultimately were self-defeating.

    In the final analysis, Rome 2 is not a horrible game; it's an above-average yet quite buggy game that should have been better designed, beta-tested more thoroughly, then given deeper polish. And while it might not be a failure compared to the plethora of other games released these days, I do consider it a Total War series disappointment.    … Expand
  8. gamertens
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Core 2 Duo E7500@2.93 GHZ, 3 GB RAM, ATI HD RADEON 6570 GDDR5. Good enough to run the game on high settings at 1366*768 as mentioned in official pc requirements. Tried latest drivers both non beta and beta.
    Well I received quite a shock when I tried all my might and couldn't get the fps to rise above 10-11 fps even on the lowest settings. Seeing that people with much better rigs are    Core 2 Duo E7500@2.93 GHZ, 3 GB RAM, ATI HD RADEON 6570 GDDR5. Good enough to run the game on high settings at 1366*768 as mentioned in official pc requirements. Tried latest drivers both non beta and beta.
    Well I received quite a shock when I tried all my might and couldn't get the fps to rise above 10-11 fps even on the lowest settings. Seeing that people with much better rigs are having same problem so the least I can say about it is its unplayable and a terribly optimized game. Waste of time and money for me. Waiting for the proper patches to be released which could take a few weeks. Though they released one patch today but it didn't work. Still waiting for a solution and hoping they sort it out.
    Right now its unplayable. If you haven't bought it yet, don't buy it right now. Wait for xmas when it has been optimized and its price reduced. Dunno how they get away with it.    … Expand
  9. Yoh-lo
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    AI ability is the heart & guts of a RTS game, on this occasion CA promised great things and failed to deliver even the most basic elements. Thankfully I was able to get an exchange on the game. Software failures happen, what doesn't make sense however is CA pretending in their community campaign that the AI was anyway worthwhile.
  10. Pikko79
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    One of the biggest fails in gaming industry this year. I preordered this game and was hoping to enjoy it. However, this game doens't play as good as Medieval and Shogun. CA removed many things such as city management and family tree. I loved these features and now the are gone. Interface looks not so good indeed. I will continue to play because I paid money, but I really dislike this game,
  11. limonata
    Sep 7, 2013
    4
    There are too many problems right now for this game to be considered playable.
    - The AI is absolutely terrible, every battle they simply bunch up together in the middle of your army. The siege AI is broken entirely and they often don't even move.
    - Naval battles are terrible. Ships become unresponsive and ignore orders, the boarding/ramming mechanism is bugged and often decides to do the    There are too many problems right now for this game to be considered playable.
    - The AI is absolutely terrible, every battle they simply bunch up together in the middle of your army. The siege AI is broken entirely and they often don't even move.
    - Naval battles are terrible. Ships become unresponsive and ignore orders, the boarding/ramming mechanism is bugged and often decides to do the wrong thing.
    - Ships become stuck and continue to attempt to row forward (they cannot row backwards), units become stuck walking into trees.
    - Capture points in the middle of field battles eliminate a lot of tactics and make it impossible to win with an inferior force.
    - Game is so badly optimized it makes me wonder if they even tested it on more than one computer, nVidia have even stated that they can do little with a new driver release and that the problems come from the terrible optimization.
    - Removal of the family tree it's not the end of the world but it is missed by a lot of people and it makes me wonder why they bothered to take it out? It means I have no attachment to my generals and means I don't care when they die.
    - Politics system is a complete waste of time, no one I know who plays the game even bothers to check the politics screen.
    - End turn time is abysmal and on a coop campaign it is much worse and has stopped all my friends from playing them.
    - Unit cards are terrible and the building cards are even worse what is wrong with a simple picture of the unit, like in every other total war game?
    - The UI is terrible and needs some serious work.

    If all they had done was take the first Rome and improve the graphics it would have been far better than what we have in Rome II. There are some good things about the game but they are overshadowed by everything that is wrong. It's possible that patches could save this game but it will be months and even then there is so much to be fixed I think it is doubtful.    … Expand
  12. KunsM
    Sep 9, 2013
    1
    First off, I am a HUGE fan of the Total War franchise. The first Rome was my overall favorite game for several years when it came out. I cannot say the same for Rome 2.

    Game is huge failure. I can't really think of anything good about this game, so I'll focus on the bad. Features that existed in previous games are gone. They removed family tree and made city management very simply.    First off, I am a HUGE fan of the Total War franchise. The first Rome was my overall favorite game for several years when it came out. I cannot say the same for Rome 2.

    Game is huge failure. I can't really think of anything good about this game, so I'll focus on the bad. Features that existed in previous games are gone. They removed family tree and made city management very simply. Units now have ridiculous magical abilities. Map look huge but empty. Graphics way to cartonish. UI is awful.

    I am very disappointed.    … Expand
  13. Nathanshawn
    Sep 9, 2013
    1
    Worst Total War release yet. How can you possibly give this a 81/100? The AI is completely retarded. Optimization is horrible. The only good things that have improved over previous Total War games in the combined naval and land battles, and even that is wrecked by the glitches that happen.
  14. Aspirinix
    Sep 10, 2013
    0
    As a Total War veteran i urge those who haven't buy this game to wait, maybe a month, or 6 months, or a year, or better until they announce release of a new Total War game, so then you can buy Rome 2 on sale, otherwise you will be just wasting your money.

    Maybe next Total War game will be much, much, much better, provided that Creative Assembly survives this disaster.

    Shameful display CA
  15. mav3003
    Sep 10, 2013
    1
    The core concept of the game is there but too many optimization and bug issues sit high above this game...in fact they are crushing Rome2 it deserves a poor rateing..the AI seems like its been programmed by a rabbit too many promises never delivered...if you havn't figured out yet what is wrong with this game then your not much of a fan...Hopefully with patches this game may rise but iThe core concept of the game is there but too many optimization and bug issues sit high above this game...in fact they are crushing Rome2 it deserves a poor rateing..the AI seems like its been programmed by a rabbit too many promises never delivered...if you havn't figured out yet what is wrong with this game then your not much of a fan...Hopefully with patches this game may rise but i have my doubts maybe a DLC adding some new stuff with some fixes may change its value...they have a lot of work in front of them..lets hope they are up to it.… Expand
  16. NattyDread
    Sep 10, 2013
    3
    3/10
    By far the weakest Total War game we have been delivered.
    - Graphics are jerky and buggy and at the same time the game performs much worse than Shogun II - Dumbed down UI (no more graphs, much less information etc.) - Victory Points in land battles (seriously, just WTF?!?!?!) those were by far the MOST idiotic battles I've ever been playing in a TW game - The lack of units.    3/10
    By far the weakest Total War game we have been delivered.
    - Graphics are jerky and buggy and at the same time the game performs much worse than Shogun II
    - Dumbed down UI (no more graphs, much less information etc.)
    - Victory Points in land battles (seriously, just WTF?!?!?!) those were by far the MOST idiotic battles I've ever been playing in a TW game
    - The lack of units. Haven't been counting them exactly, but from what i remember Rome II has far less units than Rome I.(Oh right, i forgot.....CA still needs to make more money and will sell us some fancy, over-priced dlc-units)
    - I've been playing the game for like 50 hours now and even on legendary difficulty battles are ridiculously easy, due to a very crappy AI that isn't able to build armies consisting of anything else but 20% levies and 80% skirmishers
    - When you play as a minor faction (like barbarians), so-called "major-factions" like Rome are being overrun by celtic tribes within the first 100 turns. So the expected "big war" against rome won't happen for me in my legendary arverni-campaign, which kind of spoils the complete campaign and i'm already bored to death with it, because there is absolutely no challenge.
    - Even on Legendary battles are extremely short lived. Pretty much everything's decided after one big clash. Due to this fact battles become very chaotic, too. There is no battle-line, no flanks, no order, nothing... There is no need to keep reserves in a battle for example. Just throw in everything you have at once and you'll win, because the enemy ranks immidiatelly start to crumble within a few SECONDS. Yes, whole enemy armies will route within only a few seconds into battle, because they haven't learned how to defend themselves and keep on dying like flies.
    - 1 Year turns: Add to the dumbing down of the game. You can only attack in one season, which is apparently winter. So you can't avoid attrition by summer campaigning. DERP
    Oh....I still could add dozens of points about this game, that I don't like at all.
    To me this is NOT Rome II: Total War. This is Beta II: Total Fail.
    All my hopes lie in Europa Barbarorum II, which will hopefully be coming soon for Medieval II (which in my opinion is the best TW game in the Series.)    … Expand
  17. Thatweirdguy
    Sep 11, 2013
    7
    Totally horrible stupid A.I and graphics buy even with my high end PC and flag points on the battlefield totally ruined it .Horrible campaign matches that serge battle depend on a stupid flag point
  18. Batman6794
    Sep 14, 2013
    0
    Even as a stable working game (which it isn't for most people) it still sucks! All of the trade off decisions that made the game interesting and deep are gone in favor of stupid arcade simplicity.

    Old total war: Roads are EXPENSIVE and take a LONG time to build, but they will grow your economy and help your troops move faster. Invest in building them too earlier and your small military    Even as a stable working game (which it isn't for most people) it still sucks! All of the trade off decisions that made the game interesting and deep are gone in favor of stupid arcade simplicity.

    Old total war: Roads are EXPENSIVE and take a LONG time to build, but they will grow your economy and help your troops move faster. Invest in building them too earlier and your small military will be starved of needed funds. Invest too late and you fall behind in the economic race.

    Rome II:Roads build themselves automatically. You have zero control.

    Old total war:Navies are very expensive and take a long time to build. A small one can protect your ports from pirates but is vulnerable to enemy navies, a larger one (HUGE investment) can protect your shores from invasion, and a massive one can project your power throughout the world with a relatively small army. Should you invest in a fleet now, or will one of your enemies land some large armies on your shores while the boats are being built and your army is not in condition to repel them?

    Rome II: If your army walks to the ocean, transport ships magically appear and they can go anywhere. Put them on double time so they can reach a safe landing zone each turn and you'll never need to build a navy to move your troops. Also, your enemies get free magic transports too, so no point in investing in a Navy to hunt down and destroy theirs. Its just not possible. Just don't worry about it.

    Old Total War:Units have lots of abilities that increase one aspect but sacrifice something else. (Increased defense, decreased movement rate.)

    Rome II:Those abilities are still there, but the vast majority of abilities are new ones that can only be described as "magic". They are all benefit and no downside. (For example, increased rate of fire for missile units, generals can select an tired friendly units and restore them to "fresh" instantly). What archer wouldn't fire as fast as he could just because you hadn't told him too yet? His life is on the line! He's gonna kill as many of the enemy as he can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Worst of all, these super magic bonuses are time limited, but there is no limit to the number of times you use them. So instead of picking the critical moment of battle to use your brief increase in abilities, you have to constantly micro-manage the abilities, waiting for the clock to run out so you can instantly re-enable it. The new SUPER fast pace of the battles also means that managing these abilities well can have a greater impact than actual maneuvering! Winning battles is no longer about good positioning and timing the critical charge, instead its about how fast can you click magic buttons that are associated with different units. Game ruining feature.

    Old Total War: Deploying for battle? The defender can use a large hill or cliff to make a stand, or use woods to conceal units for a small but critical surprise attack. The attacker must read the terrain and try to anticipate how the defender will choose to use it.

    Rome II:Introduced a new battle realism option that limits your view of enemy to the line of sight of your troops. This enables you to use terrain to mask the movements of your army, makes hills more strategic because they reveal more of the battlefield, makes scouting units actually useful on the battlefield, and adds the excellent tension of "Where are they?!?!?" This is all awesome and a change everyone should be excited about.
    Too bad its entirely undercut by the fact that randomly generated flags determine the outcome of the battle. Capture the flag, win the battle. Doesn't matter if you have the larger army. Doesn't matter if you're holding the best hill ever. If the enemy stands on a stupid flag on the other side of the battlefield, you lose and your army is forced to retreat. That hill/forest/ravine perfect for deploying your army and controlling the outcome is now meaningless unless it happens to be near the flag the just kinda pops up out of nowhere for no reason. Worst feature of any strategy game EVER.    … Expand
  19. Badajoz95
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    And I promised never to pre-purchase again... and this is exactly why. Great game history. I've bought every Total War previously but Total War: Rome 2 has SO many faults it is basically unplayable for a rewarding experience. Worst is the fact that the AI is completely broken for battles, so broken that the game is essentially completely broken.
  20. Hunter555888
    Sep 15, 2013
    0
    Horrible everything. Its another Empire total war, but dont get me wrong I love the total war series (excluding now Rome 2 and empire.) It has horrible amount of bugs and horrible Ai. This is just a mini review, watch videos on youtube for more indepth review of Rome 2. Youtube: Total War: Rome II Angry Review by AngryShowJoe, really depicts the worst of Rome 2.
  21. Vorlon66
    Sep 16, 2013
    0
    This is a disgracefully incomplete & flawed game incomplete, bugged, poorly designed & broken. The list of faults with this game are so long a review cannot begin to enumerate them. Effectively you are being asked to pay to Alpha Test a game that is, at best, 6 to 7 months away from being release ready.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Buyers should be demanding money back (I will be) & suppliers like Amazon asking for compensation from the publisher for providing a defective product.    … Expand
  22. Gruenzone
    Sep 18, 2013
    2
    As a strategic game it fails on many points:
    chaoticc user interface.
    Non intuitive user menus
    Many glitches
    The advisor looks useful but the feel of the game is that one does not know what is happening or what you are at.
    What is the point of this game?
  23. fosso94
    Dec 25, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Although many problems have been addressed and fixed the game is still a complete mess, and is flawed down to the bones. A game that could have been the flag ship of the total war games is probably the worst ever made.… Expand
  24. Dark_Awakening
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    I was blindfolded by the hype and good experiences of former Total War titles to buy this.

    Don't make the same mistake! I'm a huge fan of the series but this game is such a horrendous fail, it feels like a scam!
  25. motaclown
    Sep 11, 2013
    0
    CA is in denial.
    They posted an "I'm sorry" letter today claiming that only 2% of users are experiencing any problems.
    The problem is, EVERYONE is having problems with this game. They keep trying to make everyone who hasn't yet bought the game that they have a 98% chance of success but the sad truth is that you will be among the 100% of us who have already been there and done that.    CA is in denial.
    They posted an "I'm sorry" letter today claiming that only 2% of users are experiencing any problems.

    The problem is, EVERYONE is having problems with this game. They keep trying to make everyone who hasn't yet bought the game that they have a 98% chance of success but the sad truth is that you will be among the 100% of us who have already been there and done that.

    The bottom line is...

    No matter how lucky you get as to which graphical problems you get (campaign mode or battle mode) you are still stuck with the stupidest computer AI seen in any game since Dos based games.

    You will have problems with this game. CA can say only 2% but the bottom line is100% of people are having some sort of problem.

    Save your money. Buy a proven game that gets good reviews.    … Expand
  26. bombrero
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Oh dear, here we go:

    System specs: i7 3770 3.4 GHz (3.9 GHz when auto-clock triggers) nVidia GTX 660 2 Gb video memory (up to 4 Gb dedicated when the ram sync is prompted) 16 Gb ram Its certainly not a god-like computer (really far from it), but its still a performance beast. All the new games run maxed at a perfect 60 Fps rate. In fact, it doubles the the performance rate that    Oh dear, here we go:

    System specs:
    i7 3770 3.4 GHz (3.9 GHz when auto-clock triggers)
    nVidia GTX 660 2 Gb video memory (up to 4 Gb dedicated when the ram sync is prompted)
    16 Gb ram
    Its certainly not a god-like computer (really far from it), but its still a performance beast. All the new games run maxed at a perfect 60 Fps rate. In fact, it doubles the the performance rate that recommended settings ask for. Then:

    Why does this game run at 30 Fps average at minimum settings?

    That, folks its the million dollar question. Me, and a seemingly huge amount of costumers couldnt answer this by ourselves, so we went to CA support to let the "masterminds" answer that for us. The answer: the game seems to have some compatibility issues whit most of the graphic cards out there, but dont worry, nVidia and ATI will soon release new drivers that will solve the problems.

    So, naturally I go to the nVidia support forum to find the info about that magical driver, and we are told that even though nVidia technicians are working on said driver, it will barely improve performance since said issues are caused by a horrible game coding (zero optimization).

    So, back to the forums of CA, the million dollar question is answered: they admit the game was not optimized neither for nVidia nor ATI GPUs, and that they dont even had nVidia nor ATI official support until now.

    So, I have a million dollar question for CA people: if the game is not optimized nor supported by neither of the main GPU marks of the market... WHY IN HELL DO YOU RELEASE IT???

    As far as the gameplay goes, I cannot tell anything because on top of the ridiculous performance issues that makes hard to keep playing, the game crashed 4 times when I was trying to get past the first impressions of it, so... that sums it up

    I will give it a 0 because its an UNPLAYABLE product for me, its as if I had never bought it, which I remember doing.    … Expand
  27. Quatra
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    This game is such a step back from every Total War predecessor... Every last one. The AI is the dumbest I have ever combated, the map is limited and linear. Unit cards can take up half of your screen with 20 units, and there is no option to adjust size or remove them.
    Units all look the same, and are difficult to distinguish, even with the 3x larger unit cards. The building and general    This game is such a step back from every Total War predecessor... Every last one. The AI is the dumbest I have ever combated, the map is limited and linear. Unit cards can take up half of your screen with 20 units, and there is no option to adjust size or remove them.
    Units all look the same, and are difficult to distinguish, even with the 3x larger unit cards. The building and general tabs are hidden, confusing, and not even easy to see. Technology is set to two linear paths. You can choose military or civillian and its just one path from there essentially.
    Definately not worth the 3 year wait since Shogun 2, and even less added than shogun did.    … Expand
  28. metem51
    Sep 4, 2013
    0
    Probably the worst total war I ever played (I play TW games since the first shogun!)

    Graphically the game is ugly (shogun 2 was far better) I don't like to eat pixels that much especially when I play in 1080p. The color choice is at best very inappropriate and depressing. There are too many factions (it takes forever between each turn) and the game performs very poorly despite my    Probably the worst total war I ever played (I play TW games since the first shogun!)

    Graphically the game is ugly (shogun 2 was far better) I don't like to eat pixels that much especially when I play in 1080p. The color choice is at best very inappropriate and depressing.

    There are too many factions (it takes forever between each turn) and the game performs very poorly despite my configuration (GTX 680 4go, etc.).

    The game is not fun, not difficult, not good at all. I'm disgusted. Last TW I buy.    … Expand
  29. pallepumpgun
    Sep 5, 2013
    0
    Well, where to start. This game is as big a disappointment as inviting a bunch of orphans for my birthday; it sounded like a great idea on paper, but ended up taking all my resources and the payoff was pathetic.

    I'm a vet of this genre. I'm a critical one, but I am; I've taken over feudal Japan twice in both Shogun I and II, likewise with Europe in MEI and II, the same goes for Rome I    Well, where to start. This game is as big a disappointment as inviting a bunch of orphans for my birthday; it sounded like a great idea on paper, but ended up taking all my resources and the payoff was pathetic.

    I'm a vet of this genre. I'm a critical one, but I am; I've taken over feudal Japan twice in both Shogun I and II, likewise with Europe in MEI and II, the same goes for Rome I and Empire and NTW; all with all applicable expansions. I know this genre, and I know how there is a dangerous precedence where CA has buggy launches. But that, bugs are one thing, gameplay's another. Especially when it's missing. After playing a 10 hour campaign with Sparta so far, I've come to the following conclusions:

    Even on very high quality, the textures look like a spastic three year old with a crossdiagnosis of Parkinson's went nuts in Paint, it's a detail compared to gameplay.
    The battles are predictable and repetitive: The A.I. will just ****ing stand there. When charging a full stack-defended settlement, line your army up in front of the enemy, then take your general's unit to the side of the enemy: The A.I. will completely disregard it. I got 1300 kills with my general alone by plowing through everything from the flank. Every battle is like this. Or move artillery or missile units in position and blast away till the enemy is routed. They do nothing. Also, I haven't had a single field battle yet; the lack of armies sees to that. No minor faction or other empire will have more than two armies at any given time, and these are always defending settlements. So you'll get boring sieges and that's that. Hurray.
    Also, due to the lack of armies, you'll never get attacked. Sure, there are enemy agents to harass you, but since Generals are a dime a dozen and have no uniqueness to them and die off after a couple of turns (seems like it, anyway), you won't mind getting a couple assassinated.
    Despite "unit variety" with a couple hundred differently named units, they're all just reskins, and they play the same.
    There's no diplomacy. People either love you or hate you. If they don't love you, just give up on ever trading or getting peace. But hey, being at war with everyone; they're not going to attack you anyway, so why would you care?
    Technology is tiresome and seems a chore to do rather than an accomplishment to get done.
    The same goes for province management as well as the partial goals under your objective-page; seriously, total war games are supposed to be open ended. There shouldn't be rewards for fixed objectives forcing your gameplay.
    Turn times are excessive. Even on a decent rig. Who the figured 144 factions was a good idea? Just call 'em rebels and be done with it.
    The UI is without charm or personality and takes up too much space as well. As for agents: What are all those ****ing attributes? I don't mind that they're there, just ****ing explain them. At last there's a bit of complexity to this dumbed-down cluster**** of a botched up release, and then you won't tell us about it? Ingenious, CA. Plain ingenious.

    Ultimately, I don't feel for this game. It runs slow, it's ugly to look at (compared to what we were promised), it's dumbed down and most actions seem pointless. There's no action; it's a Total WAR game, for ****s sake: Someone attack me already! Even with numerous fixes and patches, this game won't be a 10 or even an 8. It might be a 6, but currently it's a 3,5. I'm still giving it a 0, though. Primarily for wasting my time and my money, but mostly because CA said you, man," and I intend to back. If, in the process, I counter the equally meaningless 10's, I won't feel bad, because they will prompt people to do as I and countless others and waste money on this steaming pile of ****

    Cheers everybody!    … Expand
  30. Affiliatorz
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    bro this game sucks BIG TIME BRO. u all got scammed. GG

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  31. bbnj
    Sep 6, 2013
    0
    Words cannot express how broken this game is, beyond performance problems making computer turns easily last 10 minutes. 6 turns where you just wanted to do some reasearch? One hour! But that could be magically fixed sooo:

    So the UI design is on par with the rest of the game. One of the keywords here is 'streamline', if you know what I mean. In other TW games you could plan your    Words cannot express how broken this game is, beyond performance problems making computer turns easily last 10 minutes. 6 turns where you just wanted to do some reasearch? One hour! But that could be magically fixed sooo:

    So the UI design is on par with the rest of the game. One of the keywords here is 'streamline', if you know what I mean.

    In other TW games you could plan your economy. In this one you get a black box number representing various territories which tells you almost nothing. But that's ok, because generals have been 'streamlined' too so now they are mostly anonymous, replaceable, disposable units. Gone are family trees. Gotta streamline. Which is probably for the best because seasons have been 'streamlined' too, and now a turn is one year instead of a season. Guess how long generals live. Trained uinits on the other hand are immortal.

    Do you like naval battles? TWR has naval battles! In fact you can grab any unit, move it to sea and it instantly spawns a battle capable transport. For free.

    Did I mention trained units? Its fun' you can as usual kill stuff and they get xp and level up and improve their skills. This has been 'streamlined' too. Before if a high xp unit got nailed down to a man, reinforcements would bring down the xp of the unit (since they would start with 0). Now they don't. As long as a man survives, reinforcements are as skilled up as that man. Gotta streamline.

    Streamlined too was the guard button. Who cares if their archers decide to leave their defensive positions and chase that unit all over the map. Indeed, who cares? The speed of the units is so fast most battles are over in 5 minutes.

    Which is telling, movement speed. By default clicking on an enemy unit makes yours charge. Which has the nasty habit of breaking formation. I'll repeat this so it sinks in: the default action breaks unit formation and "tires" the unit. This should have easily been Total War: Blob.

    Then we have lovely "features" like capture the flag points, general magic "spells/skills", totally broken AI, even worse AI at sieges, drooling moron AI levels at the campaign map even when it "cheats"...

    I wish I could like this game. Or even tolerate it. Unfortunately I don't see how they could manage to salvage this through patches. Not sure what happened through the development, but it ended up in an unmitigated disaster. It's sad that the company that gave us Shogun more than 10 years ago ended up doing this piece of excrement.    … Expand
  32. Electric123
    Sep 7, 2013
    0
    If you have to pay 60 bucks which is more than average for new titles, and as it turns out you got the ability to take the occupation of a beta tester...not that big of a deal.
  33. vidusia
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    Yet another game series has been killed off by the likes of casualization in the industry. They removed so many great features. My biggest problem were the visuals. How does Rome 1, a pretty old game, look so much better than Rome 2? The new cartoony artstyle and modernistic ugly UI doesn't fit at all, the textures and models are horrible. 55 euros just waisted for crappy beta.
  34. ManRammer
    Sep 8, 2013
    0
    Well, this game is just one enormous let down.

    How are they allowed to release a game in this state? Just bought my high end computer, and I must admit: this game beat it. In campaign map (late game, most of map visible due to trade everywhere) I keep dropping down to 18-24 fps. Sometimes down to 2-7 if I end the turn. And should I mention end the turn? I often go away to do    Well, this game is just one enormous let down.

    How are they allowed to release a game in this state? Just bought my high end computer, and I must admit: this game beat it.

    In campaign map (late game, most of map visible due to trade everywhere) I keep dropping down to 18-24 fps. Sometimes down to 2-7 if I end the turn.

    And should I mention end the turn? I often go away to do something else for a couple of minutes and come back, only to find it still running.

    AI. Don't get me started. I played a game against my friends kid today (9 years of age). He put up a better resistance than the highest AI setting. Incredible.

    EVERY battle: I march towards enemy move 2x2 horse units out on both his flanks his entire army just starts running around in circles until it forms a blob because AI doesn't know what to do I charge from all directions routing him instantly. Unless he just separates his army in 2 parts: archer blob and spear/sword blob making my cavalry happy, but me extremely bored.

    Sea combat: just autoresolve. No need to play it, most of it is just luck of the boarding-dice. Just board and hope his ship is the first to catch fire. And also, that your entire ships crew doesn't decide to miss the enemy ship and jump into the water and drown. And if u have more ships than him u stand a greater chance of losing, because your other ships will block eachother from being able to board. Even if u just send 1 ship for 1 ship, somehow 8 out of 10 ships just stop next to the other ship and refuse to board.

    For the love of Mars, Jupiter and Juno, I must stop here. I could write so much more. I could fill pages upon pages with information of how this game is a fail of gargantuan proportions. But I will not. I will just.. Leave it.

    Back to Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV. CA needs to learn from Paradox. How to actually improve your game series over time.

    Over and out, guys    … Expand
  35. msamitas
    Sep 14, 2013
    0
    All 100 & 10 points are nonsense.
    AI is terrific and there are so many graphical issues. AI armies are not fighting just hanging around.
    Play Shogun II or Civ 5 instead.
  36. meru
    Sep 14, 2013
    0
    It seems that only four of fifty reviewers were the only ones who actually tested the game, instead of writing a canned review the other magazines were told to fabricate by the publisher. A game that was dead on arrival. And a nice example of what the game reviewing industry has come to. "Being corrupt" is a mild expression for it. Whoever has seen the CA pimp in the video who ranted aboutIt seems that only four of fifty reviewers were the only ones who actually tested the game, instead of writing a canned review the other magazines were told to fabricate by the publisher. A game that was dead on arrival. And a nice example of what the game reviewing industry has come to. "Being corrupt" is a mild expression for it. Whoever has seen the CA pimp in the video who ranted about the fantastic AI they had included in the game "with the highest Total War budget ever" will only be able to think "When was this fluke fired?"… Expand
  37. iamymr
    Sep 7, 2013
    4
    This review spoils the prologue:

    I am depressed. From the moment this game was announced, I was so excited. The Carthage footage, checking the forum every week for a year to see the new factions. I love Shogun 2, and this was looking to be S2 and then some. Rome Total War is my second favorite TW game. Conquering northern Africa as my Scipio family, managing my family, doing cool    This review spoils the prologue:

    I am depressed. From the moment this game was announced, I was so excited. The Carthage footage, checking the forum every week for a year to see the new factions.

    I love Shogun 2, and this was looking to be S2 and then some. Rome Total War is my second favorite TW game. Conquering northern Africa as my Scipio family, managing my family, doing cool events, building up epic armies, managing settlements .
    R2 was going to be all this and more.
    So they led us to believe.

    The game's development was very tightly kept secret. There were only about 10 gameplay footage videos or so, with various CA/Rally Point "presentation" ones being the most prominent.
    With what I did see, the UI looked a little meh. I wasn't in love with the unit cards or the city management, but I would reserve judgment until it came out.

    3AM EST, September 3rd. My body is ready. The 9.9 gig download is ready to be unpacked and be played immediately.
    4am EST. Apparently it takes an hour for me to unpack this thing. Okay. I'm still going strong.

    I boot up the game, I watch the epic intro. Awesome. First thing I do is go to settings. I have an old Macbook pro with a 330m graphics card (bare minimum.) The game had me in Very High settings. That can't be right. I'll do medium.
    And then I start the prologue. My first impression. Why am I playing an N64 game? Why are Rome 1's graphics better? Oh well, let's actually play!
    I beat up some Samnites or whatever, I kill some catapults. My allies are yapping. Yada yada yada, I'll get there eventually, let me cross this river.
    "Sir, we are overrun!" DEFEAT!
    Uh what? It was timed? Hurm. Okay.
    So I replay the prologue, this time rushing to past that stupid river. Cutscene here cutscene there, and I beat it. Cool.

    Prologue 2 starts. City Management. All right. I learn about buildings and stances and reinforcements cool.
    I expand all my land to see what I can build. This is a mistake. If you expand your land and not build anything, you get punished via slums that appear. But you have to expand first to see what you can build. But you have no idea how much the buildings cost. This is stupid.
    I have to attack a port or something. I put my army in the water, and some boats magically appear (and count towards my unit upkeep, thanks, so now I'm making negative money.)
    "Merge with the navy." All right. Hold on I'm getting attacked by these boats, I'll wait a turn. Nope. Since I didn't merge then and there, I have some annoying checkbox that won't go away. So I reload. And the screen gets stuck. I can't move, I can't click on anything, I can't interact This is not a good first impression.
    I am barely making enough money, I sort of stop caring. I eventually have to siege some capital city or something. I build what looks like the Rams from the first game. BIG MISTAKE. They are just wooden shields or something. I reload realizing my mistake. But the game FORCES you to attack that turn. If you move away, you can't do anything. Crap. So I reload again earlier (glad I saved often.) I build stupid ladders this time. And I beat the prologue. Yay. (Irony: I can apparently take out gates with units. Thanks for telling me this game.)
    I did not get an achievement. It's called like Quaestor or something. So I reload and do it AGAIN. No achievement. And I view the prologue screen and it says Prologue 3, which I just beat, is still locked.

    Aye aye aye.

    I do an actual game. It's pretty cool. I choose Cornelia Rome. I get a negative penalty to Latin Culture. All right. I won't spread any culture.
    Food problems. Public order problems. I have 2 armies. If I want to move back and upgrade/buy units from Rome, I have to move the whole army. I do that, I get attacked by a two stack army from the north. Okay. I have to WASTE a general to act as a courier to move troops around. Sheesh.
    No family system. No sons, no daughters. There was some random thing about an adopted son. I said, sure he's mine. And nothing happened. It said "General" in green as a reward, but I didn't get a new son. Okay that's bugged.
    I was looking at some traits. The tooltip didn't show up. Bugged.
    I was doing a naval battle. I have a ship with like 40 dudes. Let's board this enemy. He gets stuck, and I lose all my units. Bugged.
    Province screen? Don't like it. You have client allies in the other three? Sorry you can't issue an edict.
    Cities have limited slots. And all the buildings are boring and lame. And there are like 60 of them. Let's have 4 different docks with barely any change in stats.
    Can't do 1v1 custom battles. Generals have to be present. Custom battles have limited slots for some units.
    Units are just reskins of each other. Iberian Swordsman! Cool! Nope, just reskinned Hastati. :(
    And the turn times! 2-5 minutes waiting for these other factions that I don't care about.

    So depressed. I am going to go play the older games. Oh Shogun 2. My dear love. You never let me down.    … Expand
  38. 2gutter67
    Sep 11, 2013
    4
    I don't really know what to say after what everyone else has posted in here, but I'll try and give it a shot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    I cannot say I won't buy another Total War game ever, but I most certainly will never be part of it's release. I will be watching carefully from the sidelines and hoping that this series can return to the standards of excellence to which it was known.    … Expand
  39. tomtucker09
    Sep 6, 2013
    4
    A flawed product. Even discounting the terrible performance issues (which will no doubt be ironed out over the course of the next 6 months, as per Creative Assembly's Standard Operating Protocols), I felt like this game didn't capture the 'soul' that it's original did.

    Ironic, since Shogun 2 did this very well in my opinion it truly immersed you in the time period and the 'zeitgeist',    A flawed product. Even discounting the terrible performance issues (which will no doubt be ironed out over the course of the next 6 months, as per Creative Assembly's Standard Operating Protocols), I felt like this game didn't capture the 'soul' that it's original did.

    Ironic, since Shogun 2 did this very well in my opinion it truly immersed you in the time period and the 'zeitgeist', while providing an enjoyable game experience. Rome 2 on the other hand... meh. Maybe the mod community can make this the engrossing epic is should have been. The battles are particularly bad the AI is terrible, and the fights are just brawls with no real tactics involved. They're over so fast that there's no opportunity to flank, or skirmish, or anything really. Want to use a classical Hellenistic 'hammer and anvil' tactic? Or recreate a Roman legionary maniple formation? Don't bother, it's pointless. Doesn't matter which faction you are: form a straight line, and march that line towards the enemy. Rinse and repeat.

    Too many resources went to marketing this one, and not enough to actual design (or even proper beta testing). I'd only recommend buying this if you are a Total War maniac, with money to burn and even then, expect a lackluster experience.    … Expand
  40. ADABUD
    Sep 7, 2013
    0
    Wow, looking at the critics reviews you would think they were playing a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT version of Rome, meaning that there version has had a years worth of updates ahead of the present time, Why do you with us CA SEGA?, Why do I have a BETA/DEMO version of Rome 2, I PAID for the FINAL Release, i'd like to see my moneys worth delivered when I pay for it, NOT after a years time
  41. wilbhaas
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    system:
    NVIDIA Geforce GTX 670
    i5-3570 CPU 3.40GHz 16GB Ram 45 hours of gameplay extreme settings with ~38 fps ~5 crashes creative assembly has laid siege to the total war series and they are willing to raise the franchise to another level of depth. the worst: The AI in Total War Rome 2 is very persistent in doing nothing or sending one unit at once into the ensured death    system:
    NVIDIA Geforce GTX 670
    i5-3570 CPU 3.40GHz
    16GB Ram

    45 hours of gameplay
    extreme settings with ~38 fps
    ~5 crashes

    creative assembly has laid siege to the total war series and they are willing to raise the franchise
    to another level of depth.

    the worst:
    The AI in Total War Rome 2 is very persistent in doing nothing or sending one unit at once into the ensured death and no they aren't trying to lure you into a trap.
    The game is rushed like their ground Units are rushing, but god thanks they are only a pack of suicidal morons, who are absolutely free of any creativity besides waiting, smashing gates, running to the flag.

    the bad:
    On some maps:
    can't deploy units near a ledge or on other accessible places (walls, meadows)
    lack of anchoring places, the AI can't debark all units
    AI smashes a gate of a building which isn't connected to anything and then they wait

    units die to fast
    nearly extinguished Units replenish instantly without loosing experience
    no family tree
    Generals spam
    Generals now have magic abilities
    no skill-tree
    ugly UI
    town system and research looks and feels like a part of a browser game

    total war has changed to another pretty shallow game for people who want no challenge and their enemies in a vegetative state

    auto-resolve or you will die mentally    … Expand
  42. Tinnesa
    Sep 10, 2013
    0
    If a game is unplayable, it's not even a game. It's a pile of ****.

    >Terrible UI that takes up 50% of my screen
    >THE FLAG!!! REMOVE IT
    >Broken naval battles
    >Navies now worthless
    >Terrible senate system
    >No family tree
    >Terrible skill upgrade system
    >A.I. worse than rome 1 total war.

    0/10. Entire franchise ruined. Good damn job.
  43. Ogtoma
    Sep 10, 2013
    0
    Holy DAMN I can't believe it Is CA and Sega is sleeping on victory after Shogun 2. The game is not even compete to ROME 1
    - Why the flag appear in the game. We want to enjoy the battle. Not go straight to the flag and end the game. HOLY ****.
    - Where the god damn awesome agent cinematic in shogun 2 - 6 9 Playable factions and 3 of them are in 8$ DAY 1 DLC. In Rome 1, I play for    Holy DAMN I can't believe it Is CA and Sega is sleeping on victory after Shogun 2. The game is not even compete to ROME 1
    - Why the flag appear in the game. We want to enjoy the battle. Not go straight to the flag and end the game. HOLY ****.
    - Where the god damn awesome agent cinematic in shogun 2
    - 6 9 Playable factions and 3 of them are in 8$ DAY 1 DLC. In Rome 1, I play for 180+ Factions for FREE
    - What the is that stupid AI. ROME 1 is even better than that.
    - Holy crap, my super high end gigs is playing ROME 2 in 30 fps and lag in Campaign maps. Holy !
    - Where the is speech when battle begin.
    Even graphic better. It's not important. CA removed enjoyable stuffs and let us play god damn ****ty game. Even the game have some good point but They destroy it all. I did not enjoy the 60$ title at launch till now. And look at the SIMCITY. They promise the game will be better but it's NOT. I am scared and lose hope of CA. I moving back to Shogun 2 now. Better get your refund and buy the game back if it' get better as promise. Holy I still can't believe. Those day are sad days of my life. That some hope of my life got totally destroyed.    … Expand
  44. pierrem
    Sep 25, 2014
    0
    This game is mostly made of frustration. Frustration of having a game that could have been great, but made terribly bad by stupid new features. Frustration of having paid full price for a beta version, that was solded -50% before it was even reasonably working.
    To sum up:
    - limitation in armies number; therefore you can't leave a garrison, and this is made worse by the fact that armies    This game is mostly made of frustration. Frustration of having a game that could have been great, but made terribly bad by stupid new features. Frustration of having paid full price for a beta version, that was solded -50% before it was even reasonably working.
    To sum up:
    - limitation in armies number; therefore you can't leave a garrison, and this is made worse by the fact that armies walk a huge distance in a single turn, by the possibility the AI has to always refuse battles, by the possibility of taking a city within the turn. You simply chase flies (5 units armies) with hammers (full stacks), for the hammers cannot be splitted, the flies fly too fast to be hit, but can still take one of your cities; which you'll retake next turn while another city falls. So you get humbled by ridiculously bad armies because you can't fight them.
    - My elephants replenish within a few turns if I'm in Britain. The local elephants are known worldwide.
    - Navies are useless (so the joint battles feature has no use)
    - Battles are boring (but at least as of 09/2014, UI is correct, was not reasonnable before)
    - Politics are stupid & useless
    - "decisive event" : the worst ever. You get a rebellion... Like 12+ full stacks of high level veterans of the best units you can recruit (even if it was unlocked last turn and you don't possess any) appear out of thin air, while you possess 3 full stacks. Well the AI is so bad you can win if they did not appear in your capital, but... so ridiculous!
    - Bad AI, not nearly as good as the Shogun 2 AI
    Try Shogun2, especially FOTS instead. or Rome TW!    … Expand
  45. Mikimax
    Sep 24, 2013
    4
    Well, what can i say what others haven't.
    I had high hopes for this game, expected it to be the pinnacle of the franchise and then it all fell down.
    Maybe after 2 expansion pack this game will be in line with Shougun 2.
  46. Kluge
    Oct 4, 2013
    1
    Hey look another CA Total War game, with all the same caveats poor computational optimization, lack of unit diversity, only masochists play naval combat manually, AI turn times which progress about as fast as a legless donkey, useless combat AI which stands around while you slaughter them (it's been such a long-running problem, I'm starting to think CA believes AI you massacreHey look another CA Total War game, with all the same caveats poor computational optimization, lack of unit diversity, only masochists play naval combat manually, AI turn times which progress about as fast as a legless donkey, useless combat AI which stands around while you slaughter them (it's been such a long-running problem, I'm starting to think CA believes AI you massacre effortlessly is a selling-point because the player's supposed to feel like a bad*ss, instead of cheated), a boring and unengaging "metagame" (campaign map play), and sadistic camera settings which don't let you really grasp everything going on without breaking flow to move the camera and see all the different engagements while the game's paused (seriously there's no excuse for this. If I wanted "realism," or whatever it is they're going for, I'd just keep the camera zoomed in). Modders rush in to fix the many deficiencies of the game, and do a fair job with it but I'm not going to take mods into account when vanilla gameplay is so awful, I uninstalled the game after less than 5 hours of play. In defense of CA itself, however check out Extra Credits Extra History, which CA's marketing division funded. I imagine it's the most fantastic history lesson on the Punic Wars ever given.… Expand
  47. Bedlam
    Sep 26, 2013
    0
    I don't know what it is but it seems that companies are getting more and more money grubbing. First Strong hold 3 and now this. I can't possibly see how this can get a good review. Rome was my favorite strategy of all time and they've done it a complete disservice. I'm pretty sure CA must be seeding the reviews. I have a very solid computer and this thing lags to hell. Crashes are rampant.I don't know what it is but it seems that companies are getting more and more money grubbing. First Strong hold 3 and now this. I can't possibly see how this can get a good review. Rome was my favorite strategy of all time and they've done it a complete disservice. I'm pretty sure CA must be seeding the reviews. I have a very solid computer and this thing lags to hell. Crashes are rampant. "Normal" speed on battle map is at least x2. They've patched this twice and its done nothing... oh well, as long as they get our money they don't care about the game they make.… Expand
  48. Tubey
    Sep 13, 2013
    3
    This review score isn't based on the bugs (of which there are a lot, but they'll be patched out of existence soon enough). It's not based on day one issues of crashing, not being able to play etc. It's not even based on the ridiculous balancing issues (this is a world where an elephant could destroy the entire Roman legion on its own if it were so inclined) or the terrible AI andThis review score isn't based on the bugs (of which there are a lot, but they'll be patched out of existence soon enough). It's not based on day one issues of crashing, not being able to play etc. It's not even based on the ridiculous balancing issues (this is a world where an elephant could destroy the entire Roman legion on its own if it were so inclined) or the terrible AI and ridiculous overall simplicity of the game (currently, you have to actually try to lose a game, it's the easiest strategy game I've ever played in my life!). I recognise all of those things as issues, but they're not deal breakers for me. They can and will be fixed.

    No, the score is so low because of one completely unforgivable and unfixable problem in particular; the capture the flag mechanic is mind-numbingly stupid and a central facet of this game.

    It's beyond bad. OK, so armies charging through impossible odds to take the shortest route to the flag etc. "may" be fixed, but the mechanic will remain and thus the game will forever suck. It had no place in this game and it's difficult to comprehend exactly why the devs thought this was a good idea. It would have taken one proper strategy game enthusiast an hours testing at best before telling them it sucked, so the question has to be asked: did they test this game on any scale at all before releasing?!

    And it's such a shame, because there's a classic game waiting to burst out from under the surface here, but there's just too many stupid and/or lazy decisions by the devs which weigh it down to the point where there's little to no hope for it.    … Expand
  49. Broadnick
    Sep 14, 2013
    3
    Big deception all over this game. Too long between tours (take your coffee), very poor AI, bad research system, battles are too easy, Navy battles are ridiculous. City and Army Management is dull.

    General Map is nice.

    I return to the original Rome Total War
  50. Irrelevant
    Sep 13, 2013
    1
    Over 60 hours now and I just can't take it any more. I tried to be a good little fanboy but this game is sh*t in its current state. SHAME on sega and SHAME on ca for taking advantage of a loyal fan base.
    -Battles are now capture the flag
    -AI is the most broken its ever been. Set the battle timer to 20 minutes because they wont even attack half the time and youll end up just waiting out a    Over 60 hours now and I just can't take it any more. I tried to be a good little fanboy but this game is sh*t in its current state. SHAME on sega and SHAME on ca for taking advantage of a loyal fan base.
    -Battles are now capture the flag
    -AI is the most broken its ever been. Set the battle timer to 20 minutes because they wont even attack half the time and youll end up just waiting out a battle, suicide AI charges
    -Super streamlined. No politics, no family, no senate, no Factions Ranking scroll, cant base taxes on a city to city basis only faction-wide, units replenish in 2 turns
    -Glitchy graphics, poor AI pathfinding, poor unit responsiveness
    -FLAMING JAVELINS
    -On "legendary" difficulty enemy agents have 99% succes rate, yours have 10%, which doesn't make it hard but unfair
    -NO AGENT CUT SCENES
    -Armies make a fleet automatically by entering water. Those fleets of transports easily defeat the "real" fleets of warships
    -Random lag on campaign map and battles
    DO NOT BUY DO NOT BUY DO NOT BUY wait several months for the 9,875,889,785 MB of patches that have to go through this game    … Expand
  51. twfan
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    i am a big fan of TW series and I try really hard to like this one, but I just cant. Battles are completely spoiled, they last for few minutes/sometimes seconds Morale and daying speed are just to low, armies cannot hold formation. It is not about strategy anymore. All you have to do is select all your troops, click charge, wait awhile and if you are lucky you win. No walled cities werei am a big fan of TW series and I try really hard to like this one, but I just cant. Battles are completely spoiled, they last for few minutes/sometimes seconds Morale and daying speed are just to low, armies cannot hold formation. It is not about strategy anymore. All you have to do is select all your troops, click charge, wait awhile and if you are lucky you win. No walled cities were supposed to take away boring sieges, but in reality it didnt help at all. You are still forced to fight in narrow streets and thus you will face lots of pathfinding issues. Things such as ugly units cards, bad UI, boring soudntrack are just minor problems, but terrible AI and fast paced arcade battles with no strategy involved makes this game unplayable.(at least for me)… Expand
  52. purpleparthian
    Sep 6, 2013
    2
    Rome Lite is an arcade game designed for the casual player. Boring things like strategy and depth have been done away with, and by mid-2014, once it's been patched, it will look very pretty and be good for several hours of gameplay. Take no notice of all these reports of bugs, for they are immaterial and transient; what really matters is the vanity and incompetence of the design team.Rome Lite is an arcade game designed for the casual player. Boring things like strategy and depth have been done away with, and by mid-2014, once it's been patched, it will look very pretty and be good for several hours of gameplay. Take no notice of all these reports of bugs, for they are immaterial and transient; what really matters is the vanity and incompetence of the design team. Given these two qualities, no way will Sega CA allow full modding tools to allow enthusiasts to create a beautiful sequel to one of the greatest games of all time.… Expand
  53. Yoke
    Sep 7, 2013
    0
    Total War fan since shogun. Loved Rome and Medieval2, was TWs prime time. Been downhill since ,and this launch is just a fiasco. Soooo much content missing I just feel so let down and missed chances with this game. Been wanting it for months
  54. Geordan
    Sep 7, 2013
    1
    Almost nothing redeems the flawed structure and tacky feel of this game. I got Medieval 1 when I was 7 and have loved every total war game since (Empire was ok). But this game just sucks, it's no so much the slowness as much as the arcade and disjointed layout and of course bad AI. Anyone who honestly says they enjoy this game/alpha is pretty stupid.
  55. Dasfencen
    Sep 9, 2013
    0
    This game is pathetic, it feels like creative assembly had nothing to do with the development, they hired somebody else to do this crap…, every known feature common to the series is lost, doesn´t feel like a total war game.

    Resuming some of the messed up features: First, AI: Retarded, both in campaign map and battle map. In the campaign map is stupid because it does nothing, stays    This game is pathetic, it feels like creative assembly had nothing to do with the development, they hired somebody else to do this crap…, every known feature common to the series is lost, doesn´t feel like a total war game.

    Resuming some of the messed up features:

    First, AI:
    Retarded, both in campaign map and battle map. In the campaign map is stupid because it does nothing, stays still waiting for you to destroy them. In battle they are stupid because they do stupid thing or they do nothing as well…, like in mi last battle when I was able to occupy a city without fighting at all…, none died. I separated my army in two, while the AI was worried with one part the army I was able to walk mi way through the back of the city and grab the wining point and win, with no opposition at all. They tried to do something but they couldn´t reach me, they get lost in their own city.

    Second, Multiplayer:
    Too much time doing nothing, there are a lot more factions than previous games so I believe is ok waiting for them to resolve, is part of the business, but why they take much longer in multiplayer campaign?. The big problem with multiplayer is that you can´t do almost nothing while your friend is playing his turn, you can´t choose what to build or queue units, this could be done in previous games like napoleon, shogun and fall of the samurai. Here you must take note of all the things you must do in order to do them as quick as you can when your turn comes, before your friend gets angry of doing nothing and says, enough. We both quit in turn 4, with only a few cities to run, we saw it coming... If that was annoying, imagine having 30 or more regions each, one player waiting doing NOTHING, and the other one doing what he could have done while the other one was playing his turn.

    Forth, Battles:
    Units routs out to quickly, move to fast, seem to be immune to fatigue, ridiculous button press abilities: we have some of this in shogun and fall of the samurai but this is abusive. They say: “we want to take out some of the micro management”, they took it out from the campaign map and put it into the battle map.
    I like generation of maps based on campaign map, but I´ve seen some cities that looked essentially the same...

    Fifth and Last, Campaign Map:
    No seasons, looks pretty bad compared to previous campaign maps, probably because it´s made with the battle map engine I don’t know. It´s bigger but armies seem to walk much further than previous games so that makes it smaller than it looks. Nothing happens after taking a region with a wonder on it, no screen, nothing.

    Me: never pre ordering again.
    You: don´t buy it, wait for Christmas!!!    … Expand
  56. WalkinWoundd
    Sep 14, 2013
    3
    I loved the other Total War titles and was keen to play Rome 2. Unfortunately the game is a step backwards in almost every way. Within minutes of started a new campaign the game descends into 'click 'End turn', wait 3 minutes for the computer turn, move army, and then repeat the cycle until you die of boredom.

    The strategy and interesting world is gone. There are far to many factions to    I loved the other Total War titles and was keen to play Rome 2. Unfortunately the game is a step backwards in almost every way. Within minutes of started a new campaign the game descends into 'click 'End turn', wait 3 minutes for the computer turn, move army, and then repeat the cycle until you die of boredom.

    The strategy and interesting world is gone. There are far to many factions to care in anyway about any of them. I literally have NO idea what Creative Assembly have been doing for 2 and a half years making this game.

    So disappointed with it.    … Expand
  57. WastedEfforts
    Sep 19, 2013
    3
    Game is unfinished beta version. Whole budget went to PR. It's like they only spent 1 year on this game.
    Hopefully Rome 2 will be a playable game after a year of fixing and with the help of the mods.
    Pros: Big map Province and Regions system (ported from EU:Rome by Paradox) Cinematic camera Graphics and visuals {when they are working properly) Cons: Bad voice acting in ALL    Game is unfinished beta version. Whole budget went to PR. It's like they only spent 1 year on this game.
    Hopefully Rome 2 will be a playable game after a year of fixing and with the help of the mods.

    Pros:
    Big map
    Province and Regions system (ported from EU:Rome by Paradox)
    Cinematic camera
    Graphics and visuals {when they are working properly)

    Cons:
    Bad voice acting in ALL languages
    Bad battle UI
    Magic abilities for units
    Magic torches for melee units makes siege constructs like ladders waste of time and troops due attrition
    Automatic transports for your army when you want to cross the sea
    Dead AI
    Lack of formations and stances for units (Tight/loose, troops always in guard mode)
    Mediocre music
    No Family Tree
    No season changes
    Broken Diplomacy
    Useless trade system
    Government system not finished
    Cut content for future DLC
    No game optimization, tons of bugs and cut content.

    I will never pre-order future CA game again or buy their DLC. Only if it's on Steam Sale with 75% off.
    I urge you to do the same.    … Expand
  58. silkjc
    Sep 25, 2013
    0
    Perfect definition of a pre-order scam, over 120 million dollars in pre-order sales for a boring game.
    Excellent marketing department... I do not know how the CA developers sleep at night with the outright lies they spun before hitting the release button.
    This game is a shadow of any other Total War title. Missing features or design decisions that make little sense are rampant, once    Perfect definition of a pre-order scam, over 120 million dollars in pre-order sales for a boring game.
    Excellent marketing department... I do not know how the CA developers sleep at night with the outright lies they spun before hitting the release button.

    This game is a shadow of any other Total War title. Missing features or design decisions that make little sense are rampant, once you overlook the hoards of bugs and terrible AI. Assuming you can open the game.    … Expand
  59. BrentLauer
    Oct 3, 2013
    0
    Creative Assembly i am disappoint.

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

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

    Personally i think some kind of lawsuit would help to improve the inbearable way of CA doing buisness. Hyping up the community with flashy videos and promises about some kind of "revolutionary new A.I." when the finished game doesn't look anything like that and has a utterly crappy A.I. is basically screaming "FRAUD" and "FALSE ADVERTISING".    … Expand
  60. Ukiro88
    Oct 6, 2013
    0
    Rome 2 is epic fail
    Damn retards do this holy Shi***
    Damn is all around thic crapy games
    Ai is stupid
    100500+ lag lag
    you don t need ram in city siege
    and mach more
  61. ymk0307
    Dec 12, 2013
    0
    Regret for the rest of your life for buying this game.

    I played shogun for like 300 hours plus. This game is soooo bad that No one wants to play this game even if they are given a free copy Do not believe the critics reviews. They are literally lying through their teeth (maybe they are bought out by the publisher? corrupt?) What is happening to this franchise? what is    Regret for the rest of your life for buying this game.

    I played shogun for like 300 hours plus.

    This game is soooo bad that No one wants to play this game even if they are given a free copy

    Do not believe the critics reviews.

    They are literally lying through their teeth (maybe they are bought out by the publisher? corrupt?)

    What is happening to this franchise?

    what is happeneneneneiningnnng!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    … Expand
  62. ROK1992
    Dec 16, 2013
    0
    Big BIG disappointment.. and insulting

    Honestly, this will shock you 10 times more when Empire total war came out (at least ETW featured totally different game style from its predecessors)

    Bugs, glitches, horrid graphics and the most boring and dumbest AI ever

    Plus one of the most poorly optimized games I have ever seen
  63. icanmakefakerev
    Dec 24, 2013
    0
    I honestly have no idea why the user score is so high. The people who are writing reviews are either Total war newbs or easy to please toddlers. There is no way in hell this game should EVER have been rated a 10 by anyone. The game isn't perfect by any means, but it is still a top 8 in the series. You need to learn how to review, of course, and there are some design decisions that areI honestly have no idea why the user score is so high. The people who are writing reviews are either Total war newbs or easy to please toddlers. There is no way in hell this game should EVER have been rated a 10 by anyone. The game isn't perfect by any means, but it is still a top 8 in the series. You need to learn how to review, of course, and there are some design decisions that are questionable. But overall, great hype, and a negative step forward for the series… Expand
  64. BoughtCritic
    Dec 24, 2013
    0
    When you can't bare to play the original vanilla game without mods you KNOW the game is bad. Mods enhance the game not make it. Developers should be giving their salaries to the modders for keeping their game a decent playable total war. Don't bother buying the game until it's properly priced at 15 dollars. Its a DLC with DLCs, don't be fooled by the easy to please, easy to manipulateWhen you can't bare to play the original vanilla game without mods you KNOW the game is bad. Mods enhance the game not make it. Developers should be giving their salaries to the modders for keeping their game a decent playable total war. Don't bother buying the game until it's properly priced at 15 dollars. Its a DLC with DLCs, don't be fooled by the easy to please, easy to manipulate Total War "players" who think they know a good total war game. The outcry is obvious, players who think this game is decent or even is worth the title of total war are the minority.

    Unless you don't care about your money or how the company treats its customers & fan base go ahead and spend the time and effort for this game.    … Expand
  65. zlamaj
    Dec 31, 2013
    1
    A shallow ill-fated attempt at making total war games more accessible to the masses. Sadly the developer/publisher didn't realise that total war games are very accessible and easy to get into without making things dumber.

    AI is confused, both on the battlefield and campaign. Campaign mechanics are strange and illogical. They threw away things that worked in Shogun 2 for example, and    A shallow ill-fated attempt at making total war games more accessible to the masses. Sadly the developer/publisher didn't realise that total war games are very accessible and easy to get into without making things dumber.

    AI is confused, both on the battlefield and campaign. Campaign mechanics are strange and illogical. They threw away things that worked in Shogun 2 for example, and replaced them with unwanted rubbish "features"! Politics system is a laugh. They promised to release a guide for the politics (i.e. explain how it works) late January 2014! 5 months from release to explain a feature they created? You got to know something is not right when you read this.

    And after 8 patches, and 4 months, we still don't have the game performing well on high end PCs! This is simply unacceptable!

    Unfortunately, this is the end for this particular fan's love story with this franchise. Paradox games care way more about their games, and deserve my support. As for this developer and publisher rubbish tag team, I have nothing but pity for them.    … Expand
  66. GYOME
    Mar 11, 2014
    1
    This game is just an embarrassment, nothing works in this game. The alpha stage of the game looked much better than the actual game and how that happened is beyond me. Poor perfomance, crap settings and horrible AI compared to the first rome game.

    Do not buy this!
  67. Mako
    Jan 10, 2014
    0
    The AI is still completely broken! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME YET!!! It is practically impossible to loose any battles in this game! The game provides no challenge what so ever. If you want to play total war games stick to Shogun 2 instead!
  68. DrMutomofobo
    Sep 26, 2013
    3
    Several weeks after launch now and the game is still broken and unfinished. Many people can't play it because it keeps crashing and most of the people who can play it is unable to enjoy it due to it's many bugs and flawed gameplay. AI is still retarded battles aren't properly optimized and many of the features one has come to expect from a Total War title are either stripped awaySeveral weeks after launch now and the game is still broken and unfinished. Many people can't play it because it keeps crashing and most of the people who can play it is unable to enjoy it due to it's many bugs and flawed gameplay. AI is still retarded battles aren't properly optimized and many of the features one has come to expect from a Total War title are either stripped away completely or not functioning as they should.

    The mechanics that are in place makes for great promise if they continue to build on them but I don't grade products based on what they *can* be a year from now I grade them based on what the game's current state is at.

    And right now I wouldn't advice anyone to buy it unless they're willing to be paying beta-testers. In it's current state I'll give this game a 3/10 and say to all prospect buyers wait for six months and spend your money elsewhere.

    This isn't Total War in it's current state it's Total Waste. And anyone who preordered it or bought it at launch should be compensated if CA has any form of integrity left. Hyping a product into high heavens only to release it in an unfinished and broken state constitutes fraud where I'm from.    … Expand
  69. Nircin
    Nov 1, 2018
    0
    I own all the TW games and love this, however -
    "If you don't like it, don't play it." - CA dev
    OK.
    Also Modern Politics and Political Correctness in games is a pure ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥t and please stop with this :/
  70. Phsic
    Oct 25, 2013
    8
    What was once bug ridden and simplistic, is now a challenging successor to the legendary series Creative Assembly. Unfortunately, the player base continues to be ignorant of the updates and continues their bashing of a perfectly polished successor.
  71. TGMode
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    I am a huge fan of this game series and have played all the others to death. What happened to the AI? It's unplayable, I have tried and tried but I can't play it. I really hope this is fixed.
    Who gave these high scores? Have you actually played this game or for that matter any game?
  72. Luprical
    Sep 23, 2013
    3
    In it's current state the game is just broken. If you want the ultimate TW experience go with shogun 2 series, Fall of the Samurai in particular. It really is a big failure on the TW teams part that the game hasn't incorporate any of the lessons they've learned over the years. The AI is terrible, both your units and campaign wise, and it's just plain not fun. Give it a year or 2 and itIn it's current state the game is just broken. If you want the ultimate TW experience go with shogun 2 series, Fall of the Samurai in particular. It really is a big failure on the TW teams part that the game hasn't incorporate any of the lessons they've learned over the years. The AI is terrible, both your units and campaign wise, and it's just plain not fun. Give it a year or 2 and it will be a 7/8 out of 10. But now, it's a 3 at best.… Expand
  73. Grieferbastard
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    What a painful thing this was. It's one of those situations that just makes you want to blame society. Total War: Rome II just feels like a cash-grab in the end, a pandering offering to the lowest denominators of gaming and it's thrown an incredible brand and IP up on the alter for sacrifice.

    The graphics are probably better than RTW 1 but it's hard to tell the game is so poorly    What a painful thing this was. It's one of those situations that just makes you want to blame society. Total War: Rome II just feels like a cash-grab in the end, a pandering offering to the lowest denominators of gaming and it's thrown an incredible brand and IP up on the alter for sacrifice.

    The graphics are probably better than RTW 1 but it's hard to tell the game is so poorly optimized. A new Crysis game comes out and I expect performance to be crushing but on an RTS? They're not that good. Not good enough to warrant the stutter it creates.

    The UI is an abomination and from the moment you start will likely spend a lot of time going 'Why... what the.... why THERE? I can't see anything! What does this mean? When did this seem like a good idea? Is this layout optimized for playing with a steering wheel and foot pedals?'

    The AI is so incompetent that it feels more like you're supposed to just be Leonidas and his Spartans, out killing Persian auxilliaries. The original Shogun: Total War released 13 years ago quite literally had a better AI.

    Stripped features too numerous to mention. If it had depth, meat and crunch in the original RTW it's cut out of RTW 2. Maybe they'll let you buy it as DLC later.

    I'm relatively forgiving of bugs. They're fixable and represent simple mistakes. The design choices, the removal of depth, feature and character from the game and turning an excellent franchise into a flat out humiliating cash-grab though is harder to forgive.

    I've talked several people out of this game and will continue to do so. If you buy this game you deserve to feel duped.    … Expand
  74. vic_travers
    Sep 5, 2013
    5
    Well, there's a few positives (Agent's, some politcal intrigue, Art direction, prettiness of the map etc) but....This game does not seem to build on the foundations of Shogun 2 or even Empire before it.

    My issues: AI bugs (both in the turn based and RTS elements) Graphics lag (it auto-tuned to my system and picked extreme graphics etc, I turned it DOWN to ultra and it still lags,    Well, there's a few positives (Agent's, some politcal intrigue, Art direction, prettiness of the map etc) but....This game does not seem to build on the foundations of Shogun 2 or even Empire before it.

    My issues:

    AI bugs (both in the turn based and RTS elements)

    Graphics lag (it auto-tuned to my system and picked extreme graphics etc, I turned it DOWN to ultra and it still lags, even on the campaign map)

    Hitpoint system and moral both seem to be flawed when compared to previous titles.

    Army movment is a big bugbear for me (perhaps my own character flaw) and I'll tell you why dear reader.
    Caeser pacified Gaul in 6 years. In this game, it would take 6 years (turns) or longer just to march to Gaul from Rome, never mind conquer it.

    End turns take way way too long.

    3D advisors waste of CPU and memory

    The grand strategy map, whilst pretty, seems to be a little too cartoony, a bit... sort of.. Tellytubby land

    Hopefully, once the fixes start rolling in this game will be worth your money (CA already have mine). My advice, keep an eye on the MOD community for this game. Once they've cracked it (DarthMod) you'll see the game shine. (check out Empire with the darthmod!!)

    In closing. Get Shogun 2, play it for a few months whilst CA fix Rome 2 and then get Rome 2 and get the MODs.    … Expand
  75. sifuxu
    Sep 5, 2013
    5
    I would describe my feelings about this game as huge disappointment. For 5 years after release of Empire CA promises us a good AI. However when we play final product it all looks like a marketing lies. I am very unhappy about this game because of bad optimization, horrible AI, ugly ui, removal of family tree. Developers should stop treating their customers as beta testers and listen moreI would describe my feelings about this game as huge disappointment. For 5 years after release of Empire CA promises us a good AI. However when we play final product it all looks like a marketing lies. I am very unhappy about this game because of bad optimization, horrible AI, ugly ui, removal of family tree. Developers should stop treating their customers as beta testers and listen more to community when they make very controvercial decisions.… Expand
  76. Flam1ng
    Sep 8, 2013
    6
    The game started out with poor graphics and iffy AI but with a good friend it can be alot of o fun, the single player is fine but naval combat is very weird and Seriously underdevolped
  77. Neopsyko
    Sep 23, 2013
    1
    This episode is a return back. The media is not playable and unstable. There should never have been put on sale, Sega took the cash and left leaving CA fend avoiding confrontation exit opus October! Invest in other games in the immediate future, except those who want to play the beta tester unofficial free Note 1 to the box only! And still no apology Sega compared to CA!
  78. strohl
    Sep 23, 2013
    2
    A TOTAL slap in the face to gamers everywhere!
    this game is far from what they showed in demo videos. C.A. flat out lied to the public. NEVER PRE order anything from them!
  79. Psybear
    Sep 25, 2013
    1
    Lipstick on a pig sums it up. It seems as if they spent more effort on making marketing movies and promo material than on the actual game. As such, Rome II is a soulless shell. It's as if the folks who designed and coded this iteration never played the original or had the maturity to appreciate the love the fan base had for this strategy game. Instead, they chose to prey upon the hopes ofLipstick on a pig sums it up. It seems as if they spent more effort on making marketing movies and promo material than on the actual game. As such, Rome II is a soulless shell. It's as if the folks who designed and coded this iteration never played the original or had the maturity to appreciate the love the fan base had for this strategy game. Instead, they chose to prey upon the hopes of the community with shameless harlotry on the part of the developer.… Expand
  80. jim_mojo
    Sep 27, 2013
    4
    I was very hopeful seeing the trailers and as i loved the sieges in med 2 total war, was hoping this would be great. Weeks after the game has been released and after a few patches the bugs that anooyed me are still there or not really improved. The enemy AI has a habit during sieges to stand there sometimes for an hour even though they outnumber you 10-1 The only way to win was put itI was very hopeful seeing the trailers and as i loved the sieges in med 2 total war, was hoping this would be great. Weeks after the game has been released and after a few patches the bugs that anooyed me are still there or not really improved. The enemy AI has a habit during sieges to stand there sometimes for an hour even though they outnumber you 10-1 The only way to win was put it on speedx4 and wait until the siege was over. Sending out troops did nothing other than lose a unit entirelly or they flee. If a 2gb patch came in the morning and fixed everything id stick to my guns with the rating some people were waiting for this game for years and were dissapointed… Expand
  81. AbaDe
    Sep 27, 2013
    3
    GOOD
    Top Surveillance Mapping system nicely made (Aerial View Mode)
    Ability to now create generals on the way rather than a son to achieve 16 Generals decide battle decisions more decisively as a general can win you a impossible battle and also can lose you a favorable battle once dead I Liked it !!!! BAD Only 4 Historical Battles and those really does need much brains to resolve    GOOD
    Top Surveillance Mapping system nicely made (Aerial View Mode)
    Ability to now create generals on the way rather than a son to achieve 16
    Generals decide battle decisions more decisively as a general can win you a impossible battle and also can lose you a favorable battle once dead I Liked it !!!!

    BAD
    Only 4 Historical Battles and those really does need much brains to resolve
    Seasons system which was there in ROME- I has not been included
    Too many number of fractions means too much time more in the Later years one reload takes about 5 7 mins practically
    Long ranged units causes minimal damage to opponents even if taking direct hits
    Unit card displays really looks we are living in the "Black and White" Era
    Unit cards are too confusing if have multiple same unit
    No defense terrain bonus to units due to units lacking a guard or defensive stance mode Units either kills or gets killed This is not the way War used to happen.... Front takes the damage flanks used to remain strong with a reserve fresh unit to deploy.
    Rome Without a FAMILY TREE

    SO
    Worst game ever played LOST all my pocked money for this     … Expand
  82. mastro_akq
    Oct 1, 2013
    4
    Bought Rome 2 inspite of the critics, and now I know why everyone is upset about the game. Not counting all of the bugs and horrible AI that seems to take 10 steps back in the franchise, the cupboard is bare so to speak. The game is boring, and featureless. Sometime before release they decided to take out almost all or any interesting features and the gameplay is super basic and poorlyBought Rome 2 inspite of the critics, and now I know why everyone is upset about the game. Not counting all of the bugs and horrible AI that seems to take 10 steps back in the franchise, the cupboard is bare so to speak. The game is boring, and featureless. Sometime before release they decided to take out almost all or any interesting features and the gameplay is super basic and poorly done at that. The UI's, encylcopedia, tech tree exct are all out of place and look like something from a sci-fi game. The units cards are stylized art, most faction literally have about 10 troops, most are all clones shared across each faction. There is nothing epic about the campaign and you will find it dull and repetitively unappealing. From a TW fan that has played since Medieval 1, spare yourself the upset that is Rome2. Its a stripped, dumbed-down TW game $20 game being sold for $60 and an $8 DLC that should be free since the game is so basic and uninteresting.

    There is a ton more one could gripe about, but I hope this review helps some.    … Expand
  83. SouthMiddleton
    Oct 1, 2013
    4
    The main problem I believe is with Sega and not the game, making people pay for DLC and forcing an unfinished game out, they've put lining their own pockets before the fans which are the ones that actually buy their games.
    Everything that matter is wrong, the basics have been stripped down, more bugs than the amazon and the "all new and improved AI" is not just broken but smashed into the    The main problem I believe is with Sega and not the game, making people pay for DLC and forcing an unfinished game out, they've put lining their own pockets before the fans which are the ones that actually buy their games.
    Everything that matter is wrong, the basics have been stripped down, more bugs than the amazon and the "all new and improved AI" is not just broken but smashed into the dust. The difficulty now means nothing, no one attacks you or declares war, the multiplier always de-syncs, battles look like moshpits no tactics needed to win battle anymore, the cinematics are all but gone and where is the politics system that was talked about?!!?
    On the flip side the map is beautiful to look at and fun to move around, the city build system has more effect through out the campaign map and the units look good at best when they're not bugged out.
    All in all this is a once amazing game with an unlimited amount of play ability that only does as much to anger me and wipe out any historical accuracy. I might even go as far as to say this could be the last C.A. game I buy for a while until EVERYTHING is fixed, the most loyal fans of the franchises who have played almost every game can agree and see this has let everyone done and a lot will need to be done to get them back to where they were and to get their hardcore fans back on board.    … Expand
  84. thepoomonger
    Oct 6, 2013
    2
    This game is atrocious. A very poorly optimized game. I have read around the forums and people with Core i7s are complaining about CPU bottlenecking. My FX 8150 is bottlenecking so hard that my gpu underclocks itself due to lack of load. The unit cards are very confusing and hard to tell whether the unit is attacking or being attacked. Also the button icons for special abilities are hardThis game is atrocious. A very poorly optimized game. I have read around the forums and people with Core i7s are complaining about CPU bottlenecking. My FX 8150 is bottlenecking so hard that my gpu underclocks itself due to lack of load. The unit cards are very confusing and hard to tell whether the unit is attacking or being attacked. Also the button icons for special abilities are hard to distinguish from each other. The graphics even on extreme look nothing like what they advertised in the trailers and in the alpha footage. This game regresses back to Empire Total War graphics quality (not bad for back then but bad for todays standards). The unit animations are laughable considering how much CA hyped over the motion capture technology and the realism of the game. The campaign map is fuzzy and lags extremely bad. In battle holding down the space bar to see unit formations and paths orders results in extreme lag resulting in you already low framerate being reduced by nearly half. Terrible game and i would not recommend this to anyone. If you want a good game Rome total war game go back to the orginial Rome Total War or if you want a good modern Total War game get either Napoleon Total War or Shogun 2.… Expand
  85. cooltofool
    Oct 6, 2013
    1
    the game was released as a beta for users to find problems and take more than a month after release to fix all the bugs. Pay full price to experience a beta no this is bad service.
  86. eric77
    Oct 8, 2013
    0
    I could give the game a 4 or 5 out of 10 but because of the false advertising in Rally Point it gets a 0 from me.
    These are Rome 2 main problems, even after 1 month and nearly 4 patches i only see really small improvements, So;
    -horrible battle AI, almost not existing -laughable campaign AI -visual downgrade to Shogun 2 (even on Extreme) -no family tree -greek states dlc -rubbish    I could give the game a 4 or 5 out of 10 but because of the false advertising in Rally Point it gets a 0 from me.
    These are Rome 2 main problems, even after 1 month and nearly 4 patches i only see really small improvements, So;

    -horrible battle AI, almost not existing
    -laughable campaign AI
    -visual downgrade to Shogun 2 (even on Extreme)
    -no family tree
    -greek states dlc
    -rubbish politics system
    -unit rosters of nations like epirus are a bad joke
    -horrible UI, unit cards are ugly and too big. they dont even have unit numbers
    -generals arent important at all because they die really fast
    -1 turn per year.... WTF ?!
    the list goes on and on. NEVER preorder a CA game again. (Julian McKinlay, Will Overgard, Craig i hope you guys get fired, you useless     … Expand
  87. CensedPie
    Nov 4, 2013
    0
    Total Rome 2 is not worth money at all. Find other ways to play it if you really care to play it, because the game is just plain horrible all around. I have a pretty good computer with 780 GTX and it lags and has low FPS and the UI is horrible, the AI is retarded and there is no Anti Aliasing at all. If you watch the trailer, its the opposite of what they say and show. It looks nothingTotal Rome 2 is not worth money at all. Find other ways to play it if you really care to play it, because the game is just plain horrible all around. I have a pretty good computer with 780 GTX and it lags and has low FPS and the UI is horrible, the AI is retarded and there is no Anti Aliasing at all. If you watch the trailer, its the opposite of what they say and show. It looks nothing like what they said was pre Alpha. Monkeys and even cavemen can make better video games. A ridiculous game not worth it at all.… Expand
  88. Bandicot123456
    Nov 7, 2013
    0
    The game sucks as hell.Total War is dead with this game.
    CA what did you do?
    Magic flags?
    I am done.
    Going back to Shogun 2 and Rome 1.
    Goodbye CA
    Rating:
    0
  89. pirate108
    Nov 7, 2013
    0
    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.

    2/10 for releasing.

    Glad I paid 60$ for beta testing.
  90. Dogtanian81
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    Major dissapointment. Magic abilities, way too easy etc etc. No guard mode. You cant plan skills for your generals. UI is terrible. I could go on and. Campaign map is nice though.
  91. WebMonkeys
    Nov 10, 2013
    3
    I pretty much agree with everyone else that this game is I'm running AMD 6x CPU 3.4Ghz GTX 560 TI, 8GB Ram and SSD and the game still plays terrible. Now its not really the game play that bothers me that much it's the waiting for my turn that really pisses me off. And because of that i rate this game 3/10. For me to wait over 1:30 2 minutes maybe even more sometimes is unacceptable.I pretty much agree with everyone else that this game is I'm running AMD 6x CPU 3.4Ghz GTX 560 TI, 8GB Ram and SSD and the game still plays terrible. Now its not really the game play that bothers me that much it's the waiting for my turn that really pisses me off. And because of that i rate this game 3/10. For me to wait over 1:30 2 minutes maybe even more sometimes is unacceptable. Plus all the frame rate issues along with the MP having problems.

    Again i don't have much to say cause its all been said. but in simple terms fix your Don't release something that doesn't work. And iv'e downloaded the patches and i'm still having issues.    … Expand
  92. dcee
    Nov 10, 2013
    3
    This game is a MASSIVE let-down, i have played and mostly loved all of the total war games, my favourite being Medieval 2.
    Where to begin on what makes Rome 2 such a huge disappointment!,each installment in the franchise has been an improvement, until now!!! They had the opportunity to make one of the greatest games of all time, the hype, the adverts, the trailers, the anticipation,    This game is a MASSIVE let-down, i have played and mostly loved all of the total war games, my favourite being Medieval 2.
    Where to begin on what makes Rome 2 such a huge disappointment!,each installment in the franchise has been an improvement, until now!!! They had the opportunity to make one of the greatest games of all time, the hype, the adverts, the trailers, the anticipation, Cleopatra, allure, intrigue et al!
    I pre-ordered, and looked forward to playing the game at long last.
    What the hell happened????
    Ok, the battles work ok after the patches were installed, but the campaign gameplay?!!!!
    In order to sit through the machinations of every roman era tribe during the endturn phase, the hours spent developing provinces that facilitate the raising of elite armies, you need to be able to empathise with/have an interest in the characters in the game, ie generals. There is no family tree, this is too myopic for this genre of game! Oh and if you do manage to find a general young enough to build up, it is highly likely that your own side will assassinate him, for no good reason. This is due to the unexplained internal politics system, no matter what you do, eventually your internal position deteriorates!

    And then there is the online content, again what happened here? Totally stripped back, no ranking system, regressive!

    To hype a game with such vigour, showing RPG elements (ie Cleopatra) in the trails, and then deliver a game that has completely lost the balance between simulation and gameplay, is astonishing!

    This game is simply not enjoyable, the brief moments of battlefield brilliance, do not compensate for hours you will spend maintaining a dull campaign map that often transcends common sense.

    I can only hope that if they make Medieval 3, they follow this simple process :

    - Look at Medieval 2, well done, you made a great game

    - Make Medieval 3 just like 2, only with better graphics/engine    … Expand
  93. americ
    Nov 11, 2013
    0
    I cant believe I'm taking the time to write a review on this, but I've been a huge fan of total war since their original releases. I've noticed that major releases since Empire Total war were released being completely broken. I think that it's unfair of CA to ask people to pay to Beta test their games, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt each time they released something new it wasI cant believe I'm taking the time to write a review on this, but I've been a huge fan of total war since their original releases. I've noticed that major releases since Empire Total war were released being completely broken. I think that it's unfair of CA to ask people to pay to Beta test their games, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt each time they released something new it was the same thing. We're paying to Beta test.

    I'll give high marks for this game crashing infrequently for me, that's better than many other of their releases. I'll take away all those marks since this shouldn't be something that we are impressed with. It's really that sad to say, but CA once again has dropped the ball.

    I'll give low marks for everything else:

    Economy Terrible. City management is based on tiles, of which you rarely upgrade past level 2 since the cost benefit simply isn't worth it. This makes city management boring and brain dead.

    Turn based AI The AI is terrible at developing itself so economically and in terms of it's armies it's crippled. The only bright spot I can think of here is that it can be decent at times with army stacking to pressure you

    Battles A complete joke, not worth my time other than when the auto win battles show that I'll lose. When I do a manual battle I get a "heroic victory" where all I did was click one unit, click one of theirs... and move on down the line. There is no management required really. What the hell was CA thinking releasing this?

    Agents actually, I liked the 3 different paths you can take for your agents based on zeal, cunning, and authority. It gives the rock, paper and scissors game a less predictable endeavor.... until you have a few of each all hanging around each other along your battle front killing everything they see.

    Overall, this game feels like a cash grab. It's non engaging and not worth my time. CA, you've finally done it. I will NOT be buying any DLC nor will I be buying any of your subsequent releases. I'll give it 1 out of pity for the kind of franchise this used to be.    … Expand
  94. Trivial2
    Nov 12, 2013
    0
    I am not gonna write all problems.To many of them.
    Game dosent feel like Total War.
    One thing shows what this game is: MAGIC FLAGS!!!!! Realistic Total War games are dead. Wtf is this crap? MAGIC FLAGS in a battle? Alexander the Great beat the persians at Gauglmela by charging to the MAGIC FLAG. Not by using strategy.No. SEGA and CA say it was with MAGIC FLAGS!!! SEGA and CA i    I am not gonna write all problems.To many of them.
    Game dosent feel like Total War.
    One thing shows what this game is:
    MAGIC FLAGS!!!!!
    Realistic Total War games are dead.
    Wtf is this crap?
    MAGIC FLAGS in a battle?
    Alexander the Great beat the persians at Gauglmela by charging to the MAGIC FLAG.
    Not by using strategy.No.
    SEGA and CA say it was with MAGIC FLAGS!!!
    SEGA and CA i will never,ever buy anything that you make.    … Expand
  95. Eagleslb
    Nov 13, 2013
    1
    Rome 2 is the self claimed top notch project of ca(Creative assembly), with the biggest development budget ever, regardless, its a major setback to the series ,the ai is beyond dumb utterly useless ,i ve never been declared war on with two finished campaigns IN LEGENDARY ,Campaign lacks depth with an oversimplified research and build tree ,no family tree ,the FPS is infernal for someRome 2 is the self claimed top notch project of ca(Creative assembly), with the biggest development budget ever, regardless, its a major setback to the series ,the ai is beyond dumb utterly useless ,i ve never been declared war on with two finished campaigns IN LEGENDARY ,Campaign lacks depth with an oversimplified research and build tree ,no family tree ,the FPS is infernal for some (with recommended specs) ,and the Multiplayer is a hive of cheaters with a useless ladder where the top 1 had already over 100 Victories in the end of the release week with a couple hours of game plug cheat over9000000000, and if you think this is bad enough do hear this :after the patch 4 they made those that press the admit defeat button or simply exit the exe be awarded with a draw making the faithful side look like idiots this made the cheating epidemic to the point the MP (battle) becoming unplayble .with no fix in sight only vague promises like this is a very complex problem ,a problem they created themselves with patch 4 ,they care not ,the money from these poor creatures that pre ordered or bought at a usuary price of 54 euros was already harvested .

    No balance whatsoever ,Spam pike units and oathsworns/ galatian guard /elite unit and you are done ,good game if your opponent didnt leave/admited defeat/o the unplug the net cheat which is unlikely.
    They sold us all kinds of lies :Best ai ever ,an optimized game regarding your rig capabilities ,Balance, best Tw ever historical accuracy all lies. They supressed the loose/tight button ,the guard mode ,fire at will button only in certain units with missiles not all ,the players are dumb they must play how we tell them to play(thinks the CA),Surprisingly they have introduced an historical discovery: Celts used pillum!!! Suebic/iceni(iceni lmfao)/arveni /galatians/thorax all do throw pillum! how proud must the roman be!.

    It seems like im angry, why should i be This is such a splendid game loool

    Oh wait i forgot the magic powers now our guys can run arround the field 4 or 5 times and the by pressing the secound wind the general will surpress their fatigue ,or by pressing the shout button the general will shout so loud that the nemy will flee! OMG OMG    … Expand
  96. jeanluq
    Nov 13, 2013
    1
    This game is just plain boring, turns still taking forever after all these patches. Will give it 1 because CA marketing spend a lot of money to bribe critics for positive reviews, also 10 reviews by users showing up on the top, does not make sense. This game true score is about 4. Never been this disappointed with a TW game.

    - Battle deployment is clumsy, armies too far away,    This game is just plain boring, turns still taking forever after all these patches. Will give it 1 because CA marketing spend a lot of money to bribe critics for positive reviews, also 10 reviews by users showing up on the top, does not make sense. This game true score is about 4. Never been this disappointed with a TW game.

    - Battle deployment is clumsy, armies too far away, invisibility is not cool at all, AI still dumb as heck, no pleasure, strategy whatsoever.
    - Turns are painfully slow, diplomacy messages pop-up and ask for double confirmation, very very very annoying.
    - Unit cards are Greek looking instead of Roman, and it is nearly impossible to distinguish among similar units.
    - Gladiators, Praetorians need more power, need to be more expensive, elite units, not marginal.
    - Battle and diplomacy speeches are very annoying and repetitive, someone yelling and screaming all the time while you are playing this game makes it total ****.
    - Music is total mood-killer, sad, pity tunes, no excitement even during battles.
    - Fast forward does not work with large armies, we only need normal and fast forward, not 5 freaking different useless speeds.
    - Now, one of the biggest disappointment is an introduction of "magic", general super-powers, heroes etc. not going to even comment on having to assign different trait to generals every turn, and lack of family tree. Nonsense.
    CA, Sega Why did you mess up this game so much, and how did you manage to mess up every freaking aspect that was working well in the previous TW games???    … Expand
  97. texasyankee2002
    Nov 17, 2013
    0
    No seasons? The AI is dumber. SLOW to load SLOW to take a turn. 1 YEAR turns. Tactical battles are a useless, as you have no real control over when your units fire or not. No defense button? Groups that's all you got. Groups. No improvement in GFX and it seems that was the major focus. I am uninstalling, and going back to Rome Total War 1. WAYYY more enjoyable. At least I canNo seasons? The AI is dumber. SLOW to load SLOW to take a turn. 1 YEAR turns. Tactical battles are a useless, as you have no real control over when your units fire or not. No defense button? Groups that's all you got. Groups. No improvement in GFX and it seems that was the major focus. I am uninstalling, and going back to Rome Total War 1. WAYYY more enjoyable. At least I can tell what the unit cards are, and what faction I am playing. UGH.… Expand
  98. dlfrutos
    Nov 17, 2013
    2
    Terrible. Worse than Total War: Rome. The only good thing are the graphics.

    Horrible UI.
    Horrendously confusing unit cards.
    Poorly optimized.
    Fix the triremes.
    Where is my guard button.
    Make a unit card that covers half my screen.
  99. gobble-de-goop
    Nov 17, 2013
    1
    I really wanted to like this game and have now played it quite a bit and it is terrible, big waste of money and because i bought it through steam I can't get a refund which just adds insult to injury.
    -no guard mode
    -skirmish mode occasionally works, but most of the time involves babysitting every skirmishing unit and totally takes the fun out of the battle -most battles become a great    I really wanted to like this game and have now played it quite a bit and it is terrible, big waste of money and because i bought it through steam I can't get a refund which just adds insult to injury.
    -no guard mode
    -skirmish mode occasionally works, but most of the time involves babysitting every skirmishing unit and totally takes the fun out of the battle
    -most battles become a great big scrum, with little chance of using tactics and are over far too quickly
    -unit card is way too big, and very hard to differentiate between your different unit groups
    -little variation in units between different factions
    -AI is still too dumb
    -can't split your armies up as there always has to be a general in the army
    -armies can have there own ships making navies pointless
    -naval battles are rubbish, little room to maneuver and controls don't work properly, i fought the first few but after much frustration i just auto-resolve now.
    -graphics aren't much of an improvement from the original Rome
    -1 turn per year so no seasons, and not that much movement considering your turn spans an entire year
    -when you do anything with your various agents you can't move them anywhere else in the same turn, even if you only moved them a short distance in the first place
    -projection of the campaign map is distorted

    Really to make this a fair review I should mention the good points of this game, of which there a few, but as CA can't be arsed to release a properly working game and instead have come to rely on the lovely modders to make their games awesome, I can't be arsed to write about the good points. I came, I saw, I got pissed off.    … Expand
  100. Motcritic
    Nov 28, 2013
    2
    If you liked the previous total war games, then welcome to the children friendly version.

    My suggestion is to get the first Rome Total War and download one of the best mods for it, it will provide you with plenty more fun. I was hoping for a new Rome Total War since 2004, almost 10 years later never have I been so disappointed at a game. What were they thinking? The bugs, the AI,    If you liked the previous total war games, then welcome to the children friendly version.

    My suggestion is to get the first Rome Total War and download one of the best mods for it, it will provide you with plenty more fun.

    I was hoping for a new Rome Total War since 2004, almost 10 years later never have I been so disappointed at a game.
    What were they thinking? The bugs, the AI, omg the AI... is just so so bad, did they evolve it since 2004? I doubt it. The gameplay in general, the absolutely ridiculous battle changing general super abilities, seriously?

    The only reason someone might enjoy this game is if they never played any other total war game.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 71
  3. Negative: 7 out of 71
  1. Worth Playing
    Nov 18, 2013
    74
    The game is far less polished than Shogun 2, and a few more patches will help, but Rome II is still a flawed game that is underwhelming when compared to previous titles in the franchise.
    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]
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