

Release Date: September 3

Platforms available on: PC

Developer: The Creative Assembly

Publisher: Sega

Genre: Strategy











The Creative Assembly's 13-year-old Total War series grows in scale and complexity with every instalment, much like the grand empires that act as its subject matter.

The latest addition to the fold Total War: Rome 2 was never going to buck this trend considering that it's set within the definitive era for empire building and serves as a successor to the ultra-authentic Rome: Total War.

With a blockbuster budget to play with, Creative Assembly has set out to make the most ambitious entry in the series to date, and the end result is everything the diehard strategists were hoping for.

The developers have strived to build on virtually every one of the Total War series' staples, while adding countless new features and making the experience more palatable for newcomers.

Our campaign begins in 272 BC, an age when the Republic of Rome was undergoing significant expansion and borders were constantly shifting.

Players must choose between nine playable factions, including the Roman Republic, Carthage, Macedon and Egypt, and each offers a considerably different experience.

Total War: Rome 2 is a thoroughly in-depth and absorbing experience, even by the series' own lofty standards.

Playable factions come with many variables such as unique talent trees, different starting points on the world map, their own historical missions and exclusive units.

Offering such diversity between each cultural group makes Total War: Rome 2 perhaps one of the most replayable games of its kind.

Total War: Rome 2 is divided into two separate modes, with the turn-based campaign map and real-time battle mode representing opposite sides of the strategy coin.

The campaign map has undergone sweeping changes here, and many of them serve to streamline the experience and move the emphasis away from repetitive turn-by-turn micromanagement.

The provinces system - which sees regions grouped together in clusters of four - makes the campaign map easier to digest than its predecessors in the Total War titles of old.

For instance, if a player conquers all four regions within a province, they can run them as a single entity, ordering the construction of buildings, recruiting military units and juggling tax and morale levels across the board in one fell swoop.

As the game progresses, players will assume control of dozens of these provinces and encounter the same manageability issues of past instalments.

Dozens of other new features have been added to the campaign side of the game to make it more user friendly, such as a cap on the amount of armies and navies players can field at once.

While this might sound like the developers are imposing restrictions, it has been brought in to prevent things from spiralling out of control.

You won't find yourself having to keep track of dozens of small armies dispersed around the map, and your military force expands at a manageable rate as the game progresses.

Although many of the new features Creative Assembly has brought to the table are designed to make the series more accessible, there are still times when the sheer volume of variables players have to contend with makes it a mind-boggling affair.

A prologue tutorial campaign does its part to lessen the learning curve, but Total War: Rome 2 grows in scope at every turn, and it's easy to become overwhelmed.

This can be costly out there on the battlefield where a moment's hesitation can result in things quickly unravelling, and a what once looked like a certain victory becomes a devastating defeat.

It's easy to get discouraged in moments like these, but that comes with the territory.

Total War: Rome 2 plays host to some breathtaking battles - and we'll get to those shortly - but over on the campaign side of things, there is more choice then ever before for those who favour diplomacy over frontline assaults.

In many ways, the series is taking steps towards becoming a Civilization-esque experience by offering players the chance to pursue economic and cultural victories, as well as military. These targets are entirely flexible, with users able to work towards another goal should things go awry.

Politics and diplomacy now plays a larger role, facilitated by a refined AI system. Players can increase their gravitas and influence through marriages and the odd underhand assassination in Game of Thrones-esque fashion.

While combat remains the most appealing aspect of Total War: Rome 2, the increased emphasis on areas outside of warfare give it broader appeal and make it a more varied experience than its forbears.

When players are drawn into battles, Total War: Rome 2 becomes an entirely different animal, dropping the turn-based mechanics found on the campaign map in favour real-time skirmishes.

The pacing is different to traditional real-time strategy offerings such as the Command & Conquer titles, playing out at a slower, more realistic speed for an increased focus on in-depth tactical gameplay.

Battles are much more sophisticated this time around, with more than 700 different military units, a staggering number of terrain types to do battle on, and countless factors determining your success and failure out there in the warzone.

Your every move must be carefully thought out, or the game will punish you dearly. Scanning the area to map out the surrounding terrain and weather conditions is imperative for formulating an effective strategy.

Naval combat was introduced to the series with great effect in 2009's Empire: Total War, yet only now when players are able to capture cities using their naval units has it begun to fulfil its potential.

Forests can be used to conceal your troops' advance and are particularly useful for hiding archers in. Muddy ground slows units down and causes them to expend more energy, while hilly terrain does not sit well with cavalry.

These are just a few of the factors players must take into account when directing their units out there on the battlefield, and thus the end result is some challenging, authentic and rewarding campaigns.

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One of the most significant new additions in deployment mode is the combined naval and land battles, which are a real game-changer, not least because armies can now cross stretches of water without the need to construct seaworthy vessels first.

Naval combat was introduced to the series with great effect in 2009's Empire: Total War, yet only now when players are able to capture cities using their naval units has it begun to fulfil its potential.

This enriches the game by giving the player new tactical options to play around with, and highly useful ones at that. Combined land and sea assaults are the most effective way to conquer coastal cities, and they're generally intuitive to co-ordinate given the tight integration between land and naval forces.

Battles have always been a spectacle in the Total War series, but with a powerful new graphics engine at its core, Total War: Rome 2 is the most cinematic instalment yet.

Zooming in with the camera, players can make out creases and blemishes on their soldiers' uniforms and watch them react with horror to the death of their comrades while in the midst of battle.

Total War: Rome 2 comes with extensive multiplayer support, with online campaigns, head-to-head skirmishes and co-operative matches all benefiting from its new features as much as the solo mode.

All of the features and core game modes carry over to the multiplayer section of the game, and for the first time in the franchise's history, users have the luxury of choosing any point of the campaign map to do battle on, a feature that is sure to help it amass a dedicated community post-launch.

With Total War: Rome 2's level of complexity comes a degree of inaccessibility and an occasional sense of being overwhelmed, but tutorials help minimise this where possible.

Regardless, the end result is that Total War: Rome 2 is a thoroughly in-depth and absorbing experience, even by the series' own lofty standards.

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Total War: Rome 2

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