Total War Rome II (PC DVD)

Many of the other reviews here on Amazon.co.uk are very negative about Rome II. Personally, I think a lot of the complaints are unjustified, nit-picking, petty and miss the overall point: this is a superb game and a vast improvement on the original Rome, nine years ago. Before you dismiss my point of view, some facts: 1). I have played Total War games since the original demo disk for Shogun TW, which was released with a copy of a magazine in 1999. 2). I became disillusioned with the series after Medieval II was released in 2006 - a game which I think was shoddy, rushed and drastically misrepresented the cultures of the period, with all the attention on western Europe. Other factions such as Byzantium and the Moors were portrayed as bland, weak, historically innacurate and uninteresting. Small factions such as Venice were drastically over-powered. Cavalry charges were broken (cavalry were supposed to charge with lances down, but charged with them up and the formations didn't work). The music was bland and repetitive. The video introductions were generic, rushed and embarassingly 'arcadey' and childish. Diplomacy didn't work. AI armies just stood there while being shot to pieces by arrow fire (the dreaded 'passive AI' bug). The game was a travesty, compared to the original Medieval which had been released in 2002 and which remains one of the best gaming experiences of all time. 3). Now let's go back to the original Rome, which on many forum posts I have seen depicted as some kind of perfect game, which was somehow far superior to Rome II. This couldn't be further from the truth - even a cursory look at the facts will reveal this as utter nonsense. The original Rome wasn't perfect- far from it, it was littered with holes. I can only assume a lot of reviewers here and elsewhere either have a very short memory, or they are looking at the past through rose-tinted spectacles. The original Rome had the following crushing flaws: A). Battles were a joke. The lines clashed, and enemy armies would rout within 2 seconds. Battles were literally over in 2 seconds. They consisted of moving your troops to meet the enemy line, and then chasing them down 2 seconds later. There was no strategy, no tactics, no challenge. It was a broken game. Troops moved far too fast, cavalry could run as if they had jet engines strapped under their saddles, and troops were kitted out in bright pastel colours that looked utterly ridiculous. The voice acting was utterly childish and atrocious, and I felt obliged to turn the sound off whenever family members would come near as I was actually embarrassed to be playing what sounded like a child's game. Generals would just charge straight into the enemy line and get themselves killed. The towers in city defence battles appeared to be equipped with machine guns, and could just mow down entire enemy armies, which would stand there within range of the defences getting killed. It was possible to defeat vastly superior enemy forces, just sitting there and waiting for the machine gun towers to do their work. B). The campaign map was better, but still by no means ideal. Rome was divided into three factions, and as the player you didn't actually even control Rome, which was owned by the AI. The first act of many mods such as Rome Total Realism was to get rid of these AI Rome factions and reunite Rome under one banner. Furthermore, the AI was annoying and would often send a fleet for no reason half way across the map to attack one of your ports, when it was in nobody's interests for this to happen. Diplomacy was irrelevant - as soon as you bordered another faction, you would be attacked no matter what, and there was no chance the AI would accept peace, even if you threatened their last town with utter extinction. Babarian factions such as the Gauls were shown as naked uncivilised savages, and there were ridiculous units such as German phalanxes and Egyptians that depicted a period 1,0000 years before the supposed start of the game. I am sure there are many other failures that I could point out from the past Total War games, but you get the point. Now, to return to Rome II. The developers have gone for a much darker, more gritty and realistic look and feel for the game. Units are much darker- the bright pastel colours are gone, the men are dirty and battle worn with grimy, ugly faces, battered armour and shields. The voice acting is vastly superior, and now adds nicely to the atmosphere of the game. Rome II returns much of the dark atmosphere that the original Medieval had, back in 2002, which modders have long looked back to nostalgically. The barbarian factions are now much more interesting - my first campaign was as Gaul, and I enjoyed the heavier, better armoured units they now have and the respect they are given as a much more advanced culture than even I had previously realised. They weren't savages- they had trade, cities, coins, armour and were even ruled by elected magistrates, not kings. I have been utterly engrossed by Rome II, and often found myself up until 4 in the morning playing. I didn't like Medieval II, and I didn't like the original Rome - I remember when it came out, I actually went back to the original Medieval for a while, and it took me some time to get used to it. Rome II is completely different - I have been transfixed! In fact, I don't think any of the other games in the series have had such an effect. Certainly not since 2002. If this Rome II game is really as bad as all the other reviews make out, why am I enjoying my Roman campaign so much? Why am I so engrossed? Because it's a compelling, excellent game, that's why! I even enjoyed the prologue tutorial campaign - and normally I'm the type of person that hates being told what to do and wants to just jump straight in at the deep end. It's deeply entertaining, rescuing the besieged Roman city of Capua from the Samnites after a major defeat, and then taking the fight to the Etruscan league on the north of the Italian peninsula. None of that was in the original game, and it makes a strong addition to Rome II. In fact, many of the best features of mods such as Rome Total Realism, now appear in the full game Rome II. Units such as Italian spearmen, socii hastati and auxiliary Italian cavalry. The broadened and deepened factions. The rebels from the original are gone - they are replaced by unique factions for every single city on the game. This makes a huge difference, and opens up enormous gameplay options and makes diplomacy far more interesting. Diplomacy actually works in this game, for the first time ever in the series. In my Rome II Romans campaign, I invaded North Africa and conquered the coastal regions, but I then decided to march inland and capture the interior cities in the Sahara, such as Garamantia, to secure my rear before my planned invasion of Spain. I conquered several African factions, and turned them into client states who were then allied to me and support my efforts. Then I was able to march my freed-up armies elsewhere. That brings me to another major campaign map improvement. You are now limited to a preset number of armies you can have, depending on how powerful you are. That means at first you can only have 3 armies - and an army must have a general to command it. There can only be three - so gone are the massed AI stack after stack monotonous attacks of the previous games. Battles are fewer and more decisive - something we have all wanted for a long time. In time as you grow, you will be able to train 6 armies, then 9, and so on - but it's actually quite a challenge freeing up enough forces to expand at each stage of the game, which makes it far more strategic and much more realistic. That brings me to another point - the battles. I actually lost several battles in my first two campaigns, and that is an astonishing experience for someone (like me) who had grown used to simply mopping up enemies in Rome original and Medieval II. The battles had become a mere formality, which were easily won. In Rome II though, you can actually lose! I found that enormously refreshing. In fact, more than this I actually lost a campaign the first time I tried to play as Rome. This is completely unheard of - in all the years since Shogun in 2000, I don't think I have EVER lost a campaign before, but it happened in Rome II. I literally couldn't believe it. I was astounded - and I loved it. For the first time, the fact that you can actually lose introduces a challenge. Maybe that's why I've been so hooked ever since. Reading the reviews on Amazon and looking on the forums, you'd think Rome II was some kind of disaster. I am frankly astonished at the amount of negative reviews, and think people are just jumping on the bandwagon, or enormously ungrateful for what they are getting. Perhaps people love to whine and moan, maybe they think it makes them look 'cool' - I have no idea. It's not like I won't say something negative myself if I think it's true - look at my scathingly harsh comments on Medeival II and the original Rome. But when a new game comes out like this and is just so much better than anything previous, and is so clearly an enormous improvement, I think it merits my time to write a positive review to correct all the nonsense. Like I said, I am experienced Total War player who has been in since the original demo disk for Shogun in 1999 - and I love Rome II. It's a great game and in my honest opinion deserves far better press than it has been getting. Two factors before I finish that might be useful to know why I enjoyed the game: 1). I do have a brand new, customised top spec PC, which I bought in February. If I didn't, it's possible performance eg frame rates etc might be lower, which might explain some of the complaints made by other people. But if you have a good new computer, you'll be fine. I also didn't really experience any bugs, possibly for the same reason. 2). Yes it's true the soldiers in Rome II charge a bit too fast - I would like that toned down. But the battles here are nowhere near as 'too fast' as the original Rome. I still find you can get stuck into a protracted struggle and can easily lose battles, or scrape a narrow victory by the slimmest of margins, and that makes them a worthwhile challenge. The AI on the campaign map is far cleverer, and fleets play a far more useful, effective and challenging role. I found I lost a campaign when the Carthaginians sailed a fleet right past Sicily into Naples. My field army was engaged in Sicily at the time, and I had no defence. Naples was overrun. They then landed a huge army and adanced on Rome. Again, I had no defence and couldn't get any units near enough in time. The city was lost as well. With my armies on Corsica and Sicily beseiged from all sides by multiple enemies (which was my fault, because I had attacked them first, thinking I could win easily like in previous titles) I was forced to withdraw my forced from both to defend the homeland. But when the reinforcements were smashed in a further battle outside Rome, I was forced to concede utter defeat. It was mesmerising and possibly the best total war experience I've had in a long time! In summary, the criticism of this game has been unfair. If you wanted Total War to become darker, cleverer, more sophisticated, more rewarding, more diplomatic and strategic and more convincing than ever, buy this game. You'll love it - I did.

There are many players with install/compatability/graphics issues that await patches, so if you're easily frustrated by such things it's probably worth checking the official forums prior to purchase in order to guage whether your system will cause you to tear your hair out or not @ forums.totalwar.com Well, the new improved AI does frequently seem a little oblivious to the world around it. A do-or-die situation for the enemy, and the AI decides to do nothing - literally nothing for 60minutes, so I win by default protecting my flag and town. I'm not convinced by the new faster battle speed, I find I keep pausing more than I ever used to in previous TW editions simply to issue orders and keep up. I do wonder if the faster speeds gives the illusion of 'smarter' AI as you have less time to react? I kind of feel Rome2 still works on a premise of 'my gang's bigger than yours' and that the unit balancing needs to be tweaked still. Other AI oddments include a 4 unit army taking on my 20 unit army on the campaign map for no strategic advantage whatsoever. However, more positives than negatives for me - excluding initial launcher/fps issues. So far I quite like the emphasis put on the agents this time around. I'm used to the spies to see the 4 corners, but I've literally only just learnt that you really do need them, as my 1st campaign crumbles away. I have in the dying throes of my campaign now generated a truly mental water-poisoner to soften up a garrison before your seige (93% chance of success!) and a strong champion attached to your general enhances the melee ratings of your army etc or frightens and demoralises the enemy the night before battle. The diplomat is needed her for 'religious conversion' as with previous editions, but also she corrupts traders and bribes other agents to join your faction. I like the effort CA put into city growth/food/public order. Steep learning curve, but actually it all makes sense once you realise it has a wealth of 'tooltips' to break up the bar graphs. It's a good balancing act this time, and enhances the campaign tremendously. Diplomacy seems harder, i've negotiated trade routes and within the next few turns almost the entire world has declared war on me within 15 turns of starting as Egypt. Must learn about that... doesn't seem quite right to declare war on someone you've never met or live near. My sole enemy was not their ally/soverign state or anything. However, another campaign later, and a negotiated military alliance pays off as an ally does actually come to my aid which is novel for TW series. Each diplomatic decison you make is recalled and influences your standing with every other faction. I like the enhanced graphics of Rome2 with some tweaking - the 'prettyness' of the heat haze over the pyramids for example, the fauna, flora, flowing water and fluffy clouds are quite relaxing whilst campaigning. The campaign turns are taking a good 10m as there's plenty to do (and currently fps type glitches slow matters) that seems compulsory this time around. Not sure about the political part yet as yet to play as Rome. With non-roman factions you compete for 'gravitas' and favor with the tribal elders or risk civil war. Overall lots to learn and strategy techniques to refine regards the city/empire building which will keep me playing. Research trees are refined and simplified. Conversely, construction decisions are more complex this time around, as you need to account for excess population and food shortgages as you expand. Poor choices can cause a food shortage, thus an unhappy populous, which then impedes both growth and tax coffers, preventing further expansion. Battles are battles and the essence of TW, i'm hoping the topography will be more impactful this time around when I reach europe. The inclusion of ports adds a new element. The textural details of the market stalls and statues of Icis during sieges for example is phenomenal. They reflect your actual chosen constructs. A row of Namibian infantry all show differing tribal shield designs, differing head garments. Cavalry don't look like they're fresh from the dolly-the-sheep lab, they look individual. Although in the minority, I really like the navy battles, set 'em on fire, ram 'em, or board 'em, the choice is yours Admiral. The ships are detailed, the unit variety is good and they look very different on the battle ocean. On the theme of individuality, this time around you get army/navy traditions for a skills boost, and generals/admirals get a whole new raft of characters and skills as experience gains. I'm pleased you're limited to a fixed number of armies, perhaps 6 generals only when you start off, much better. This number expands as you accumulate land. I've only done a few sieges/defences and meh, but i'm hoping that's because I haven't the level ups yet for epic seiges. I don't like that armies now walk on water into magical navy transports. The re-inforcement range seems too big to me. Three auto-resolve battles between the same two opposing armies in a single turn is dull... one of you just die off will you! Likewise the new 'tactics' option seems mute. Stances for armies/navies is new, raid/ambush/tab march, but means an endless cycle of remembering to change it when you right click and nothing happens because you put it in a 'stance' last turn. Oh yeah, the new 'battle cam' is awesome. I really like that, very immersive and for the one liners it's fantastic. The audio actor/actress scripting is top notch for the game. Humerous, engaging, and multiple accent attempts too! Well played CA, there's enough refreshment to keep me amused as a TW veteran and away from Napoleon & Empire for some time to come - so long as all the launcher/fidelity/fps issues become a distant memory sooner rather than later. CA have promised a rapid push of weekly patches to get everyone able to play, and the patches are improving things imho. The ultimate digital chess-axis&allies-toy soldiers hybrid game has possibly arrived to devour those hours.

Odio steam... pero que le voy a hacer... Un juegazo que necesita la dichosa plataforma e internet para jugarlo. Preferiria que no, pero en fin

現在英国版が購入できますのでスチーム認証でのプレイが可能であり面倒なＶＰＮなどの作業を必要としません 日本語化ＭＯＤも二種類ありＤＬＣが発売される度更新されていますので 英語が分からない方も快適にプレイすることが出来ます マシンスペックがかなり要求されますので推奨スペックをよく確認した上での購入をお勧めします

La confezione con curb è in francese, ma il gioco si installa normalmente in italiano. Come gioco di strategia, è il migliore suk mercato

Articolo reso in quanto il codice di attivazione fornito è risultato già utilizzato. Ho provveduto a contattare il venditore il quale non ha risposto in alcun modo. Sconsigliato.

購入者にとって、致命的となり得る情報を、一般的な情報のように、どちらともとれるような書き方で表示するような会社には注意が必要でした。アジア版を販売するならアジア版と書いてほしかったと思いますが、自分が馬鹿だっただけでしょう。勉強料を払ったと我慢します。