Rome : Total War

The Rome : Total War front-end loads to reveal a variety of game modes. Single player options include the historical campaign, a tutorial, as well as the rather cool feature of re-enacting and re-fighting some of the most important battles in history. Fancy your chances against the Roman Empire as the state of Carthage? Then take a swing at them, through the Historical Battles mode.

Multiplayer mode is also featured in Rome: Total War. We’ll cover more of that later.

From everywhere they came…

The premise of Rome: Total War is simple. Conquer over 50 provinces, create an empire, and declare yourself Emperor by controlling the Senate of Rome. You control one of 16 factions determined to try and take over Europe and North Africa, although in the beginning, the game only allows you to play as one of the three Roman families – the Julii, the Brutii and the Scarpii.

Note: For the purpose of this review and for readability’s sake, all gameplay mechanics are viewed from the Historical Campaign perspective, playing as one of the Roman families.

However, it’s not that simple in practice. You will scheme, rampage, battle and march your way to glory, but not just on the battlefield. You will have to do the same in the Senate. You will have to do the same in Trade Markets. And you will find that arrows and swords during battle are not the only ways to die, because an Assassin’s blade is just as effective. You can attack everyone from every conceivable angle… but so can they, on you.

The beauty of Rome: Total War lies in its conceptual genius. For the money that you spend, Creative Assembly have basically given you TWO games, for the price of one. The game is divided into two parts. There is Empire Management, a scenario aptly described above, and there is Real Time Strategy, the mode in which you actually fight out the battles that will either glorify you, or humiliate you.