I really hate
feeling disappointed by computer games. Empire: Total War was the biggest disappointment of my life, mostly because I was really poor at the time and spent my last $50 or $60 on it thinking it would be amazing. It was one of the worst games I've ever played.
Well. The jury is still a little bit out on Total War: Rome II, but I can definitely say it is not as good as Total War: Shogun 2. Shogun 2 did everything right. The graphics are great, the performance is great, the music is great, the sound is great, the gameplay is great, the strategic value is great, the battlefield maps are great, the campaign game is great, the multi-player is great. I know that some of this is a matter of opinion, but it really did everything great. The expansion packs were lackluster attempts to piggy back on the success of the original game, but the original certainly is a gem of a game.
Total War: Rome II? It is massive on a grand scale in all the wrong ways. It is a behemoth machine that is in no way finely tuned. The graphics are horrible, the game lags in the campaign map mode, the sheer amount of units means it understanding their subtle strategic differences is almost impossible. Actually, this is the primary flaw that I see in Rome II. It is a cumbersome game that stretches across the whole of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, but it presents the player with an endless list of subtle choices that will have no impact on how the game actually turns out. Will +1 authority make a difference for my general in battle? No, not that I will notice. Will I remember that time I agreed to sacrifice a goat to a foreign god for a two turn bonus to happiness? No. Rome II is comparable to a game that gives you the task of sailing the Titanic to America and asks how many sugar cubes you'll be needing in your coffee. You'll have to memorize the nutrition facts for the coffee first, though. In short, I am disappointed but not surprised. Shogun 2 was a lot to live up to and they really dropped the ball.
Well. The jury is still a little bit out on Total War: Rome II, but I can definitely say it is not as good as Total War: Shogun 2. Shogun 2 did everything right. The graphics are great, the performance is great, the music is great, the sound is great, the gameplay is great, the strategic value is great, the battlefield maps are great, the campaign game is great, the multi-player is great. I know that some of this is a matter of opinion, but it really did everything great. The expansion packs were lackluster attempts to piggy back on the success of the original game, but the original certainly is a gem of a game.
Total War: Rome II? It is massive on a grand scale in all the wrong ways. It is a behemoth machine that is in no way finely tuned. The graphics are horrible, the game lags in the campaign map mode, the sheer amount of units means it understanding their subtle strategic differences is almost impossible. Actually, this is the primary flaw that I see in Rome II. It is a cumbersome game that stretches across the whole of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, but it presents the player with an endless list of subtle choices that will have no impact on how the game actually turns out. Will +1 authority make a difference for my general in battle? No, not that I will notice. Will I remember that time I agreed to sacrifice a goat to a foreign god for a two turn bonus to happiness? No. Rome II is comparable to a game that gives you the task of sailing the Titanic to America and asks how many sugar cubes you'll be needing in your coffee. You'll have to memorize the nutrition facts for the coffee first, though. In short, I am disappointed but not surprised. Shogun 2 was a lot to live up to and they really dropped the ball.