Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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103 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent price for a great game, February 9, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Not only do you get the full game but also the expansion pack for a reasonable price. The replay value of both titles alone definately justifies the expense. I cannot recommend this game enough. Even after almost 2 years on the market I can still pick it up every couple months and march my Legions to conquest.
Below are my comments for each game.
ORIGINAL ROME: TOTAL WAR
This is the game I've always wanted to play. It has such a superb blend of strategy and real time action. Ever play a turn based strategy game and want to really watch your troops battle it out and control the formations and tactics? Now you can. Of course there will be something people don't like, but there are many mods out there to tweak it to your exact taste. The Total War community is healthy in that there is a significant population tweaking and modding the game to your particular flavor.
Let me just say also I am not a RTS fan. I do not like "whomever clicks the fastest wins" games. Each single soldier is represented on the battlefield. It's truly amazing watching your Legions march across arid deserts, snow covered mountains to engage the enemy and clash together right in front of your eyes. Each battle is like a scene out of Braveheart or, more appropriately, Gladiator.
No other game can capture the scope of an immense battle like Rome: Total War can. Especially the battles consisting of many units, it's like an epic battle from your favorite movie.
It is not purely the battles, it has a strategy element in it to where you will manage cities, build structures and conduct diplomacy.
Overall, even if you are not a fan of Strategy or RTS games you will find this to your liking. There is so many good things about this game, it would fill many pages writing about all the pluses and things the developers did right here. A definate must have for any gamer.
BARBARIAN INVASION
The Total War community has given a lot of feedback to the developers on the improvements they would like to see. I'd say pretty much all of the biggies were addressed and added in Barbarian Invasion. Rome: Total War is hands down one of my all-time favorites and a game I can still pickup and play again and again.
There is a lot of upgraded features you would expect from an expansion...little better graphics, upgraded units and increased functionality. The upgrades to the AI are the most noticeable, in my opinion.
The Total War community waited over a year for this to be released and it is readily apparent the developers spent this time to deliver an outstanding expansion. The price tag is definately worth it as well. The time period for the expansion is set in the declining years of the Roman Empire so basically you are getting a whole new game with this expansion.
The new game element rearranges the map to take into account what has happened historically in the last three hundred years. The Roman Empire is split between west and east and all the old factions from Rome:Total War have been assimilated into the Roman Empire. An interesting historical note when the game begins for the Eastern Roman Empire is the Faction Leader Valens. His defeat against the Goths was considered a milestone in the decline of the Roman Empire (for both halves). Not only was his army defeated, but the Emperor Valens was also killed. Oh and the Goths will come for you...Oh yes, they will come.
The Parthians have been surplanted by the Sassanid Empire in the east, but essentially all the old factions have become roman provinces. Basically, it's the barbarian factions battling it out for the choice pieces of real estate.
The new expansion is noticeably harder depending on which faction you play. The Western Roman Empire is by far the most difficult which took a great deal of time to beat. Why is it so difficult? Barbarian factions with a few exceptions don't die when you take their last city - they become a Horde. This is challenging in that you can't just move through and conquer cities to annihilate the Huns, Vandals, Sarmatians,etc. You need to not only conquer all their cities but kill every single family member in order to wipe the faction from the map or they will just keep spawning as new Hordes. You must fight them out in the open which pits you against their horse archers. As you play you will find different strategies on dealing with them, but needless to say it's very fun and challenging. My personal method is the very liberal use of assassins and fortifying cities while I pick apart their horde until I get their family members eliminated.
Bottomline - 5 out of 5 and highly recommended no matter what game genre you typically lean towards. You won't regret it.
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strategic combat at its best, May 11, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
While I am personally more fond of Rome's predecessor, Medieval: Total War, the latest in the Total War series is nothing short of excellent. Much has been improved on, especially the real-time combat and gameplay mechanics. The meek AI, underdeveloped naval combat, and drab visuals that marred Medieval have been done away with for the latest installation.
One of the greatest strengths of the series has always been its ability to capture the truly epic feel of worldwide warfare, regardless of whether you are looking over the whole of Europe or watching rank-and-file armies advancing upon each other. This is especially true with the new 3D combat engine, which is vastly superior to Medieval's. The units are all fully modeled and animated, and the camera is much more maneuverable, allowing you to get up close. This isn't very handy from a command standpoint, but it really makes the battles come alive. Battles in cities and forts are also much more fun, since they are more balanced and take place in full-sized replicas of the cities you see on the world map, down to the individual buildings you or your opponent have constructed.
The mechanics of the strategy portion of the game are different. Instead of treating each provence as a whole entity, with units being able to move between them once per turn, units move relative to the physical distance they must cross on the map, with cities being the points of interest you must find. While this adds more strategy and realism to the game (since it will obviously take longer for an army to cross an African desert than the Italian peninsula), this makes the game move much more slowly and, I feel, detracts from the excitement and fun. Fortunately, the game compensates for this and does not require conquering the entire map to win; under the new rules of the game it would take a very, very long time.
The expasion, while not lacking in content, is slightly on the boring side. I believe my opinion may be slightly tainted since I am not as fond of the play styles inherent in choosing tribal factions which compose virtually all the playable ones in Barbarian Invasion. Still, after playing several full games of Rome, I found that the expansion did not offer enough new material to hold my interest for very long. Besides, there is plenty of fun to be had without the expansion, due to the wider range of factions and units.
Fans of the series will not be disappointed, which seems to be a rarity these days. Newcomers should be prepared for a challenge, but the game does a good job of breaking people in and letting them enjoy the game from start to finish.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More addicting than Civ or Pirates, April 25, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm not what would be called an intensive gamer. I buy maybe 2 games a year. This is the most addictive game I've played since the original Pirates came out for the Commodore 64 home computer. I would play that game for literally 6 hours or more at one sitting. This is just as bad. I'm 37 now and not 14 like I was then too, but I'm having flashbacks LOL! It helps that I'm absolutely fascinated with the late republic/early imperial period of the Roman empire. I've played the historical campaign of the original through twice. Haven't even touched Barbarian Invasion yet, except to watch the intro. Has the "4X" feel of a Civilization style game, but without all the micromanagement. New buildings provide benefits to population control, revenue, and combat units. Pretty basic. Where the game shines is in the tactical battles. You can literally zoom in on an individual soldier.
My only criticisms are that there aren't enough historical battles in my opinion, and that when creating a custom battle you can't choose the "rebel" faction. Also in the custom battles, the various Roman factions don't have access to all Roman units. I wanted to create a "Spartacus" style battle. I couldn't use "rebels", so I choose two Roman factions. Each Roman faction has access to one style of Gladiator, not all three. I wanted to make an army of the gladiator types, but I couldn't.
If you are interested in the historical background of the era covered in the game you might like Rome - The Complete First Season and Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome
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