Total War: Rome 2 Review

There is one significant problem when it comes to playing Rome 2 on both the campaign map and in battles: the AI of computer controlled factions is currently quite buggy. On the campaign map, computer controlled factions can be very passive, attacking only unguarded cities, or sending suicidal attacks of one or two units against heavily garrisoned settlements. During sieges, the AI will sometimes fail and simply stand outside the city walls without moving. When enemies attack a city using a fleet, they might sail back and forth for ten minutes before finally deciding on a place to land. Issues with AI aren't constant, but when they crop up they can be ruinous.

If you would rather be facing off against another human player in the campaign mode, both the versus and co-op options remain. In co-op, you and another player are permanently allied and must complete a set of objectives similar to what you face in the singleplayer campaign. In a versus campaign you must try and capture the home province of the other player. While these have the potential to be the most enjoyable modes in Rome 2, I was unable to proceed past four or five turns in multiplayer campaigns due to pervasive desync issues where one player would somehow get ahead or behind of the other. It also seems to take an inordinate amount of time for the computer controlled factions to cycle through their turns in co-op, one downside to the gigantic number of different factions that exist in the game.

Roman agents are numerous and nefarious

Fortunately multiplayer battles fare much better in Rome 2's current state. The elaborate progression of Avatar-Conquest has been replaced with a more straightforward but much more flexible custom battle system. You can construct any kind of battle you want that involves any combination of human or computer-controlled armies on either side. Want to join up with a friend and lay siege to an AI-controlled Rome? You can do that. Want to fight an all-cavalry battle in the desert? Sure. The number of combinations of maps, factions and game types allow for hours of entertainment playing with Rome 2's excellent battle mechanics, and when you are fighting with and against humans the AI quirks are of no consequence.

The custom battles can also be fought solo with and against computer-controlled armies, although the problematic AI makes this a less than desirable alternative to human competition. Historical battles fare significantly better, as the AI has been pre-scripted to behave in a certain way during these historical encounters. There is no shortage of ways to play around with Rome 2's robust real-time battles, and if Creative Assembly manage to fix the artificial intelligence through patches there will be hours and hours of fun to be had here.

Flaming projectiles fill the skies in most battles

Visually Rome 2 looks similar to later builds of Shogun 2, although it runs noticeably worse. Some of this can be attributed to the much larger and more detailed towns, although I experienced some severe issues with units lagging in large battles despite my frame rate remaining at acceptable levels. I experienced a handful of crashes, although they seem to have ceased after one of the early patches Creative Assembly released since launching the game. The game scales surprisingly well to weaker hardware; I was able to get it running well on my two year old mid-range laptop with a dual core CPU and GT540m mobile GPU. The amount of visual detail is impressive, especially given the variety of terrain and scale of the battles. Units animate very well; the sun will glint off the shields of soldiers as they raise them to defend against an incoming barrage of flaming projectiles, and formations looks authentic and effective.

Total War games have a track record of excellent music both in and out of battles, and Rome 2 continues this trend. The music fits the setting perfectly, and underlines the grandeur of the battles. The audio is quite strong across the board, from the thunder of troops marching across a plain to the cries of men in the midst of a heated skirmish. Voice acting is in English with a variety of vague European accents that fit the setting well enough, although you will mostly be interested in what is actually being said since voice work informs you of important occurrences both on and off the battlefield.

City sieges are some of the most memorable battles in Rome 2

While Rome 2 sacrifices some of the focus and elegance found in 2011's Shogun 2, the sheer scale and variety found within the game is deeply impressive. Newcomers to the series might be better served starting with Shogun 2, but veterans will quickly become adjusted to the new interface and changes made to this year's release. It is difficult to recommend Rome 2 in its current state, however assuming Creative Assembly make good on their promise to release weekly patches until the game is fully functional in a month or two it will be well worth the asking price for Total War junkies. Rome was not built in a day, and the same holds true for this slightly broken but grandiose strategy sequel.