Total War: Rome II

Gameplay

Total War: Rome II is set in the classical antiquity period, and provides a more sophisticated portrayal of each culture, which in the original game had been portrayed anachronistically. The grand campaign begins in 272 BC, and lasts for 300 years. However, the player also has the option to play further, as there are no timed victory conditions.

The Warscape engine powers the visuals of the game and new unit cameras allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the battlefield, which may contain thousands of combatants. Creative Assembly has stated that it wishes to bring out the more human side of war, with soldiers reacting as their comrades get killed around them, and officers inspiring men with heroic speeches.

Armies and navies have changeable stances on the campaign map. Stances determine factors such as total movement points per turn or the ability to deploy traps for an ambush. The "Forced March" stance allows an army to march further, but will tire out its men, reduce their fighting ability and leave them vulnerable to ambush; the "Defensive Stance" enables fortifications such as stakes or redoubts, and the "Ambush Stance" enables traps such as fireballs and sulphur pits. Armies and fleets can be a maximum of 20 units, and must have a general or admiral to lead them. A faction's power, or "imperium", determines the number of armies it can raise. A faction can gain more imperium by conquering more regions or acquiring more gold. Players can also name units in an army and change their emblems.

When an army is formed, the player must pick a general to lead it from a list of available faction members. When it recruits new units, the army enters muster mode and cannot move until they have been added to the army. Both armies and generals can gain skills and traits from experience in battle. Each skill can be upgraded up to three times. If an army loses its general, a new one will be appointed by the player. These rules also apply to fleets and admirals.

As with Total War: Shogun 2, the player is prompted with decisions throughout the game. The Creative Assembly has expanded on this mechanic, with each decision leading the player down a particular 'decision path' based on previous decisions. These will then affect the way the campaign plays out; for example the Roman Republic may become the Roman Empire through civil war. Additionally, rather than solely assigning traits to generals and family members as with previous Total War games, the player can assign traits to legions as they gain combat experience. Players can customise legions by choosing their weapons. Players can still determine the composition of individual cohorts, even though they will be building entire legions at a time, unlike in previous Total War titles where all units had to be created separately.

Navies play an important role in Total War: Rome II. The Creative Assembly introduced mixed naval and land combat for land battles and city sieges, to reflect the naval strategies of the classical era. Legions can attack the enemy's ground forces and cities, while naval units provide supporting fire or engage in naval warfare on the seas. Navies can conquer poorly guarded coastal cities by themselves. In addition, naval combat has been modified. Navies are now composed largely of troop carriers, designed to ram and board opposing ships, and land units can now commandeer merchant vessels as naval transport units. Naval units are bigger in size and a player may recruit several at a time. Naval regions, which were introduced in Medieval: Total War, have returned. Their purpose is to prevent players or the AI from slipping an invasion force right past a huge enemy fleet. Entering a naval region where an enemy fleet is present will trigger naval combat.

There are three core types of agents in Rome II: the dignitary, the champion and the spy, and each culture has its own variants. When spawned, each agent has a "profession" that is determined by its supposed background or ethnicity. A player can invest in an agent's profession as well as its skill tree. Each agent can try to assassinate other characters or convert them to their faction. When an agent is asked to perform a certain task, there is a deeper set of choices on how to complete the task. For example, when getting rid of an enemy agent, one can bribe him, convert him or murder him.

The Creative Assembly has tried to ensure the uniqueness of different cultures and fighting forces. Lead unit designer Jack Lusted stated that instead of the "rebel nation" of the original Rome: Total War representing minor states, there are a large number of smaller, individual nations and city states represented by their own faction. Each ethnic group has a unique play-style. A tribe of British barbarians looks and feels different to a disciplined Roman legion. Different agents and technologies are implemented for different factions. There are over 500 different land units in the game, including mercenaries. Over 30 different city variants avoid siege battles feeling and playing out the same every time.

In addition to traditional sieges and field battles, a myriad of battle types are available in Rome II. These include:

The diplomacy system has been revamped with a new artificial intelligence. The Creative Assembly has acknowledged anomalies in previous games, where the AI could perform strange or even suicidal actions, such as small factions declaring war on the Roman Empire, and the AI is said to be more "intelligent" and cunning. The player's own actions will determine whether or not the enemy AI will be a trustworthy ally or a suspicious traitor.

The political system of Rome II has been completely redone. The factions of Rome and Carthage each have three political entities that vie for power. Players will choose to be part of one of the entities once they select the faction they want to play. Other factions have internal politics between a single ruling family and a class of nobles. The political standing of different entities is based on a resource system, in turn based on the deeds and actions of its generals and characters. If one's standing drops too low, they may find themself powerless to affect their nation's affairs, or if they become too powerful, rivals might unite against them. In certain cases, a player can attempt to take all power for himself to become emperor or king, which requires a civil war—another part of the game completely redesigned.

Generals can now be both military leaders and skilled politicians, depending on their traits and skill trees.

Campaign

The campaign map extends from Bactria (Afghanistan) to Lusitania (Portugal) and from Caledonia (Scotland) to Garamantia (in the Sahara), and is divided into 173 regions. The 57 provinces are groupings of up to four regions, and each region can be conquered separately. However, control of an entire province allows a player to pass edicts at a provincial level, which provide bonuses such as increased public happiness or military production. Construction options for regions within a province are displayed on a single menu, while public happiness is also province based. This means that if public happiness drops too low, the most unhappy region will rebel instead of the entire province.

Individual villages and resource buildings are absent from the campaign map, and are confined to the regional capital. Each regional capital generates an automatic garrison, the size defined by its population, which can be increased by constructing various buildings. Armies now have a raid stance, which automatically generates loot and reduces their upkeep cost. A player can raid in both friendly and hostile territory, although raiding one's own regions is detrimental to public happiness.

Each province has a provincial capital with walls. Siege battles will only occur when fighting in a provincial capital. Because of their larger size, provincial capitals also have more building slots than regional capitals.

Factions

The game features 117 different factions, each with its own unit roster and agenda, and overall bonuses and penalties. Eight of these are playable on the initial release, with more included either free or as paid downloadable content. The playable factions are divided into ten cultural groups: Hellenic, Latin, Punic, Celtic, Germanic, Desert Nomadic, Iberian, Tribal Nomadic, Balkan and Eastern. Each has unique traits. Some factions focus on military conquest (such as the barbarians), while others (like the Hellenic or Eastern) focus more on diplomacy and trade. Playable factions from the classical era include Rome, Egypt, Carthage, the Iceni, the Arveni, the Suebi, Parthia, and Macedon.

The Caesar in Gaul DLC pack added numerous Gallic tribes not present in the main game while Hannibal at the Gates added two new Iberian factions as well as Syracuse. Imperator Augustus added Lepidus', Mark Antony's, Pompey's, and Octavian's Roman Factions, as well as several other factions such as Dacia and Armenia.

Downloadable content

Much like in Shogun 2, Total War: Rome II has several packs of downloadable content (DLC) adding Factions, Units and new standalone campaigns which play off the base game.

Campaign packs

Released: 17 December 2013

Caesar in Gaul is the first standalone campaign pack for Total War: Rome II, which covers Julius Caesar’s war of expansion against the Gallic tribes. Three new playable factions, the Nervii, Boii and Galatia are also included in this campaign pack.

Released: 27 March 2014

Hannibal at the Gates is the second standalone campaign pack for Total War: Rome II, which focuses on the Mediterranean during the outbreak of the Second Punic War. Three new playable factions, the Arevaci, Lusitani and Syracuse are also included in this campaign pack. Carthage also received some free units.

Released: 16 September 2014

The third standalone campaign pack for Total War: Rome II was announced and released simultaneously with the Total War: Rome II: Emperor Edition. It focused on the Second Triumvirate War between Sextus Pompey, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus in the closing years of the Roman Republic. A new playable faction, Armenia is also included in this campaign pack. Emperor Edition was available free of charge to owners of Total War: Rome II.

Released: 16 December 2014

The fourth standalone campaign pack for Total War: Rome II. It focused on the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and features two factions exclusive only to its campaign, League of Corinth and the Boeotian League.

Culture packs

Released: 3 September 2013

This pack included three new playable factions, Athens, Epirus, and Sparta. This DLC was free for Pre-purchase customers of Rome II, but was made available for purchase upon release date.

Released: 22 October 2013

This pack included three new playable factions, Massagetae, Roxolani, and Scythia. This DLC pack was free for the first week upon its release, available for all Rome II owners.

Released: 29 May 2014

This DLC pack included three new playable factions, Ardiaei, Odrysian Kingdom, and Tylis.

Released: 20 November 2014

This DLC pack included three new playable factions, Cimmeria, Colchis, and Pergamon.

Add-on packs

Released: 31 October 2013

The Blood & Gore DLC added to the savagery of front-line combat to viscera-splattering life with decapitations, dismemberment, and devastating impalements.

Released: 17 February 2014

The Beasts of War DLC added seven new battlefield units to Rome II. Beasts of War brings further variety to Rome II’s already diverse unit roster.

Released: 26 March 2014

This DLC introduced seasons into the main Rome II game, and added some of the ancient wonders of the world to the battle fields within the base game. The DLC was included in the 11th patch update free of charge.

Released: 15 August 2014

This DLC added some female units to the factions of the Suebi, Lusitani, Rome, Sparta and Egypt. The Suebi and Royal Scythia received some free female units. The Suebi also received some other free units as well.

Faction packs

Released: 3 September 2013

Pontus was added to Rome II's playable faction roster on release day as the first free DLC for the game.

Released: 18 October 2013

This free DLC added the Seleucid Empire as a playable faction to Rome II.

Released: 5 December 2013

This free DLC added Baktria as a playable faction to Rome II.

Released: 29 May 2014

This free DLC added the Getae as a playable faction to Rome II.

Released: 16 September 2014

This free DLC added Armenia as a playable faction to Rome II.

Released: 20 November 2014

This free DLC added Massilia as a playable faction to Rome II.

Novels

According to The Bookseller website, Pan MacMillan and Thomas Dunne Books have purchased the rights from The Creative Assembly to publish a series of novels based on the video game Total War: Rome II. Author David Gibbins has been tasked to write the aforementioned novel series. The first of the novels were released in October.

Critical reception

The game has received an average score of 76.67 on GameRankings and 76/100 on Metacritic, with the latter indicated as "generally favorable" on the website's rating scale. PC Gamer scored the game 85%, praising the cinematic scale of the battles and attention to detail, calling them "stunning" and "the most marvellous moments of the fifty plus hours I've played so far". In the same review however, there was also criticism towards apparent glitches on its initial release, including issues with the AI, calling it "floppy". Edge similarly praised the visuals and battles while noting on release bugs, stating that "even as it topples, it's glorious to look at, and to live through." Daniel Starkey of GameSpot enjoyed the variety of units and what it called "spectacular sound design and great attention to visual detail". However, in the same review he also noted "problematic" camera angles and control, particularly during siege and larger field battles. Justin Clouse of The Escapist also enjoyed the unit and visual variety, stating "to its credit, Rome II does an excellent job of giving all the factions a unique feel", in what it called "impactful variations".

Outside of the battles, Game Revolution called the campaign map "a treat to look at" while also praising the new features and depth, yet took issue with the wait times between player and AI turns., a view echoed by Steve Butts of IGN who reported "a single turn can take as much as 10 minutes... those little inconveniences add up. Don't get me wrong; Rome II is a game worth savoring, but it also asks you to tolerate difficulties that don't need to exist". Paul Dean of Eurogamer enjoyed the new additions to the game play systems while also felt "stagnation" with others, concluding that "for all that the game may have promised, it isn't such a big step forward for the series. It's Total War done a bit bigger, a bit better and a bit different." Adam Biessener of Game Informer unfavorably compared the game to the previous title in the franchise Total War: Shogun 2, calling it a "step backwards", in that "where Shogun 2 accelerated into the massive endgame war just as administrating your empire started to become tedious, Rome II slows down far in advance of a campaign’s finale", concluding by calling it a "disappointment coming off of the brilliance of Shogun 2". Mike Suskle of GamesRadar however called it "a worthy continuation of the franchise and an overdue update to one of the greatest strategy games of all time".

The "Emperor Edition" update release of the game was better received, regarding improvements and fixes to some of the significant problems Rome II reported to have suffered from. Softpedia for example gave Emperor Edition a 90, claiming how it "shows how much the title from The Creative Assembly has evolved since it was originally delivered and the way the entire experience has been updated based on the needs of the community and the cool ideas of the development team."

Technical problems and controversy

Upon release many users reported technical faults such as being unable to load the game following installation, crashes, texture optimization problems and broken artificial intelligence; poor game performance was also constantly reported. In a negative review by Rich Stanton for The Guardian, he reports having to re-download the full game following problems with his own review copy, noting that his "PC runs Shogun II at ultra settings without any issues but Rome II on medium makes it choke like a dog, and judging by the developer's own forum many others are having the same issues." On the official forums, an "anonymous developer" from another studio posted his own complaints, including numerous bugs and poorly implemented features such as "capture the flag" style battles, feeling that the game had "comprehensively failed" to be tested, blaming the publisher Sega for its state on release. In a review by critic and comedian Joe Vargas (AKA Angry Joe), he also complained about AI problems and unit balancing with in game video examples while also noting differences with the preview builds, while William Usher of Cinema Blend supported Vargas's review while questioning other reviews due to the number of reported problems on release prior to patching. Following its release, developer The Creative Assembly announced regular patching in order to fix the reported issues, with the first update coming the Friday the same week of release. On the Total War official forums, admins on behalf of Creative Director Mike Simpson issued an apology along with a statement, promising to further patch the game, encouraging players to report all problems given the variety and difference of issues between players. Simpson would later go on to state, in a second public announcement about new and upcoming fixes, about asking for further player input while also "hoping we can fundamentally treat our releases differently in the future."

Sales

On 23 August 2013 Total War: Rome II had achieved more than six times the number of pre-orders of that of Total War: Shogun 2, making it the most pre-ordered game in Total War history.

The game surpassed commercially all other games in Total War in both sales and number of concurrent players on its release day.

As of 31 March 2014, the game had sold 1.13 million copies in Europe and North America.