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Rome: Total War
by Jolex Del Pilar

Thursday, October 14 2004

The best PC strategy game of the year?

Title: Rome: Total War

Platform: PC Windows, Pentium III 1ghz, 256MB Ram, 3 gigs of HD space, 64 MB video card.

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Creative Assembly

# of Players: 1 + online play

Genre: Strategy

Origin: U.K

Expected Release: September 22, 2004

Grapevine: The Total War series has always had a soft place in my heart, which is a funny thing to say about a game that takes great liberties in representing the violent, chaotic nature of massive pre-firearm battles.

Activision is having another banner year in terms of the quality software the company is releasing on various platforms. Tony Hawk's Underground 2, X-Men Legends, Call of Duty: United Offensive, and then there is Rome: Total War.

The latter is perhaps the jewel of the crown, so to speak.

The Total War series has always had a soft place in my heart, which is a funny thing to say about a game that takes great liberties in representing the violent, chaotic nature of massive pre-firearm battles. The simple fact is, that Shogun, and Medieval, sucked many hours of my life away, and Rome is no different.

For those of you new to the series, Rome: Total War is a 2-sided sword. On one side, there is the combat aspect, which not surprisingly is what attracts most gamers to the game. On the other side, there is the empire management which deals with the politics and economics of running an empire. Both aspects can be automated in Rome, though I don't suggest gamers take that course if they want to get the full experience out of Rome.

The basic premise of the game revolves around the three houses of Rome during its Republic era; the Julii, the Brutii, and the Scipii. At the beginning of the game, these are the only factions that you can pick (more are opened later after you complete the imperial campaign). Once you pick one of the houses, you must manage your faction into a fully fledged empire though at least in the beginning, you will have to answer to the senate. You see, in the beginning of Rome's history, they were a republic and not an empire. Using a government thinly veiled in democracy, the senate dictated political matters for Rome. In the game, they represent a somewhat annoying power that you must listen to initially, until you gain enough popularity with the common folk (the plebs) to sieze power yourself.

Greek Hopilites are effective, and dangerous units when you oppose them. Keep the horses away and use your heavy infantry or skirmishers to handle them.

Once you get a few cities, engage in a few scuffles with barbarians, and establish a genuine base of power, the real game begins. You must really pay attention to balancing military expansion, and economic growth or you will soon find yourself poor, with barbarian hordes at your city walls. This isn't a guide, but I will give one piece of advice that lead me to many glorious victories; keep your citizens happy at all cost. Happy citizens will bring in my tax revenue, produce things, and not revolt. Dealing with internal strife was one of the accurate and annoying aspects I had to deal with. It's really frustrating to have to quell a mini-rebellion when my best armies are hundreds of miles away conquering Egyptians. Another thing to remember is not to open too many fronts at once. In the early game you will have two other Roman houses as allies which will make combat matters a lot easier. However once civil war breaks out, and it will, you will have to be mindful of who you attack, and who you ally with.

The combat side of the game is perhaps the epitome of where our industry is in visual grace, depth, and design. It isn't without it's flaws however. If you've watched the History Channel's "Decisive Battles" program, then you've already seen Rome: Total War in action. It's beautiful, elegant, even surreal to look at sometimes. Watching thousands of troops (Pentium 4, or AMD 64's only please) storming an imposing castle by climbing siege towers to take the walls is something I would have only imagined seeing in the movies (The siege of Minas Tirith comes to mind), but to actually control that siege is a thing of beauty. Battle on the open field is equally visually stimulating. Archers will fling deadly arrows towards oncoming cavalry, only to be run over by the charging horses and be put flat on their backs. Roman Legions will charge into masses of barbarian swordsmen, hacking, slashing, and dying. I am really incognizant of a word to describe the experience, oh wait… spectacular.

Parthain Cavalry is the best in the game. Too bad their standard infantry units lack power, and defense.

However, even with the visual splendor displayed by the game's battle engine, there are a few flaws. The biggest of these deals with the A.I, and sieges. The A.I is relatively competent in defending against a siege, and provides a challenge at the higher difficulty levels. However, even on "very hard", I have yet to lose a castle to a computer army even when they outnumber my forces 2 to 1. First, the A.I doesn't build the right amount of type of siege equipment to conduct a good siege. I've seen the A.I charge my walls with ladders and skirmishers, not a good idea against arrow towers, and legions of archers. Secondly, the A.I has a nasty habit of sitting in arrow range during the siege process. A smart commander might safely place his troops out of range until the siege equipment has done its job. Even if all this fails, bribing enemy armies is far too easy in the game and is especially easy during the latter part of the game when the income is really pouring in. Why fight a battle when I can just payoff the army, and have them walk away.

Another minor complaint I have is in the way missile troops are handled. Never, and I mean never, put missile troops behind your main infantry lines in RTW. In Medieval Total War, I would usually do this to "protect" them from incoming infantry or cavalry charges. However in Rome, it seems as if these cheeky bastards enjoy shooting your own troops in the back for the fun of it. It's annoying, but not exactly game crushing in terms of playability. I solved the problem by creating gaps in my front lines, and then placed archers within those gaps. That way, when enemy infantry target my archers, I can rush my own infantry from the sides to meet them. However I am still hoping the upcoming patches will fix the "friendly fire" quandary this game currently has.

Still, these are not fatal flaws. I made it a personal policy to not bribe armies EVER, so that solves that. As for sieging armies, I remain confident that a patch will solve this problem very soon (as well as the friendly fire archers) as Creative Assembly has a good reputation when it comes to fixing their games.

As a whole, Rome: Total War is a beautiful mix of Civilizations II, Age of Empires, and WarCraft III. It takes the best elements of these games, and intertwines them into a nearly perfect package that any strategy gamer can enjoy. With it's visual, and audio splendor (the score is one of the best heard in a game thus far), Rome epitomizes the meaning of "audio/visual experience".

If Rome: Total War isn't on your wish list, it should be. It's quite simply, the best strategy game available on the PC right now despite its minor flaws. Only a few times before has a game sucked so many hours out of my life, buy Rome Total War now.

--- Jolex Del Pilar

	Gameplay: [9.1] The right balance of action and micro-management, Rome Total War is a joy to play. A.I issues hurt the experience slightly however.
	Graphics: [9.6] Simply stunning, if not unbelievable. Top notch systems only in some of the larger battles.
	Sound: [9.5] The beautiful score is only overshadowed by the stunning visuals. Each arrows, and sword can actually be heard.
	Presentation: [9.5] Rome has all it's gears in the right places. With an intuitive menu system, and high production values, it's just a slick running game.
	Replay Value: [9.0] Once you play through once, you unlock all the other factions. Most gamers, myself included, will play this game multiple times (online and off).
	Global Score: [9.4] With it's visual splendor, and nearly perfect execution, Rome: Total War has to be considered a serious contender for game of the year.

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