Hi, I'm Nathan. I'm a student at University. I need a job... I got things in my auction!
Hi, I'm Nathan. I'm a student at University. I need a job... I got things in my auction!
Member since:07.02.2006
Reviews:30
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In the third instalment of the total war series, you are expected to command one of three Roman families at the start which sounds pretty easy, you have three allies too when you start. The three playable Roman families are: The House of Julii The House of Brutii The House of Scipii No matter which one you choose, you will always have each other and of course, the senate and his army known as S.P.Q.R. If you play as the house of Julii you are on frontier of the Gaul faction and in northern Italy, Scipii is in the south and Brutii is in the eastern part of Italy. The Senate now and again gives out orders you can achieve, these can be to take a settlement, blockade a port, get some kind of diplomatic agreement with a named faction. Of course you don't have to complete these however you may, which gets the Senate on your side or the other side you need to persuade is the people.
When you start your game, you start with tow cities/towns, one being you capital and another just being an ordinary town. You have a general, a few troops in each city/town, an army on your lands, and a diplomat; that's the basics at the start. You then need to recruit more soldiers and build up your city but at the same time you need to keep your people happy before they start to revolt. You do this by increasing public order and increasing the happiness of the cities/towns people.
Unlike the previous total war game, Medieval: total war, your armies move depends on what units they are, if an army is just foot, they will march a fair way, if its horse-back they will travel a little further than foot-soldiers, but if it contains any siege equipment such as ballista's, then the armies moves are very limited.
In the town/city you have to build it up from almost scratch and the buildings tend to be very cheap but not very effective and so you have to upgrade your Governor's home to get upgraded buildings available and so taxes must be raised as everything becomes more expensive and also everything takes longer to build but they have more effect on the people, however raising taxes can have a negative in that your people
become less satisfied and may revolt and so you need to counter it by adding more troops to increase public order or build a building to raise public happiness such as an arena or a religious building, they are always effective.
The other part of building up your empire is the army, just like buildings, with new buildings being created, new types of troops become available and they can also be upgraded through building blacksmith's.
Each town/city has a Governor, this must be a family member but the family members are made up of family, defects from other factions (either by bribery or on their own choosing) or if a commander has fought numerous battles successfully he may be made a general and effectively be a Governor. The game also holds some historical backing such as the reforming of the Roman Army, Gaius Maius created such an army that made it easier, cheaper and have a slightly larger troop number to help defend the borders of Rome, there is no set date for this as you have to wait and see, and it is quite exciting.
The other part of the campaign mode is in that of battles, these can be very good fun and highly dramatic depending how you work it, you could fight in the way of Romans firing arrows, then sending in troops then horseback, or like the Gaul, just charge into the enemy but no matter which way, it always seems like your trying to dramatise a war in a film which can be quite good. In battle you need to know what your doing, although it seems hard it is quite easy, but you'll get the jist of it from a Centurion.
The graphics are really good, I was amazed with them, if you ever saw Time Commanders on BBC 2 and thought that was great, well this is just the same and the graphics are the same. However you must have a top notch PC to play the game to its full potential, if not then the game runs slow, closes itself, the films wont run smoothly nor will the battles and this can cause problems as I found out. I went out and bought a new one, may be stupid but I can use it for other things and is my own PC, so before you buy it, make sure your PC can handle it, the min. specs will be mentioned below, if your not sure, find the details of your PC on the net and write to total war or activision with them and they will tell you if it will work or what needs to be upgraded. The sound is quite impressive too and in battle mode the soundtrack fits perfectly into it in that it is war music and it gives you inspiration and maybe an adrenaline rush if you're like me.
This game has quite a long lifespan if you have the time and a dedicated gamer, I'm not so I've grew bored of it and now and again fight in custom battles which is jolly great fun. But if you get on well in the campaign you can unlock another 12 playable factions for within campaign mode but these tend not to be as good as the upgrades lack in potential troops, there's not as many however its quicker to get the best troops earlier than the Romans, which is an advantage but this can be hard to achieve as the people tend not to like taxes as much as the roman people. You can try the historical battles to but I've never favoured them but maybe you will. Also, if you're like me, maybe you'd like to try out different manoeuvres and so on to see how effective they are.
If you a strategist enthusiast this game is must buy!!!!!!!! I really enjoyed it but I got bored with it over a few months, mainly because it too repetitive, but if you can use your imagination, that would be good. It has real potential and the graphics are almost precise as they can be to detail, not just on the graphics though but in attention to detail in the running of cities and in what each building does, each faction has its own unique buildings. If like war films and what part of the action or are an enthusiast in military strategic work and prefer a build of the older wars then get this please. However if you dislike the idea of repetitive objectives and so on then don't.
The minimum specification for your Pc are as follows: English version of Microsoft® Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP · Pentium® III 1.0GHz (1000MHz) or Athlon™ 1.0GHz (1000MHz) processor or higher · 256MB RAM · 8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers · 2.9GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 500MB for Windows® swap file) · 100% DirectX® 9.0b compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers · 100% Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers · DirectX® 9.0b (included) · 1024 x 768 Monitor Resolution · 3D hardware Accelerator Card Required - 100% DirectX® 9.0b compatible 64MB Hardware Accelerated video card and the latest drivers(*).
ATI® Radeon 8500 ATI® Radeon 9000 ATI® Radeon 9500 ATI® Radeon 9600 ATI® Radeon 9700 ATI® Radeon 9800 All Nvidia® GeForce 3 and higher Important Note: (*)Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipsets listed here may not be compatible with the 3D acceleration features utilized by Rome: Total War™. Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX 9.0b compatibility. Please guys before you purchase this please make sure you have seen or it wont work, I don't want you facing the same problems I did!!!!!!!!!
Another option is the multiplayer mode which I have not bin on it so I don't know how it plays but maybe you'd like to see for yourself, here's the Multiplayer Requirements: · Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. · Internet play requires broadband connection and latest drivers. · LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers.
Number codes for display picture: In battle view. 1) map of battlefield, shows your armies and selected armies, your opponent, and allies. 2) pause, play, fast forward x2, fast forward x4. 3) your army units. 4) commands for selected unit/s. 5) user buttons- halt command, group units.
Number codes for display picture: Campaign map overview. 1) help/information that you point over. 2) army tab - click to view army garrisoned. 3) city tab - click to view buildings built within selected city. 4) agent tab - click to view agents recruited - spies, diplomats, assassins etc. 5) build menu - click to open up to select buildings to build within selected city. 6) end turn button - press to end turn. 7) faction information - click to check on senate, income/expenditure etc. 8) army menu - click to recruit units within selected city. 9) buildings built within city/ display units garrisoned if 'army' tab clicked. 10) map - shows how many areas you have conquered, and how much land your enemies/allies own.
As you can see, the interface is pretty simple and you have everything at your fingertips to rule Europe!!!!!!!!!
Pictures of Rome: Total War (PC)
In battle View
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With the glory days of the real-time strategy game now nothing but a distant memory, ... more
ActivisionsTotal Warseries has come to totally dominate the strategy market andRomeis such a huge leap above the already impressiveMedievalandShoguntitles that the ser...
Postage & Packaging: £1.93 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Brilliant gameplay, huge battles, seriously addictive. Disadvantages: Seriously adictive, occasionally dodgy AI, has been superseded by Medieval II
Oodlenoodle9 20.10.2007 (20.10.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Rome: Total War (PC)
Advantages: Brilliant gameplay, huge battles, seriously addictive. Disadvantages: Seriously adictive, occasionally dodgy AI, has been superseded by Medieval II
Oodlenoodle9 20.10.2007 (20.10.2007)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Rome: Total War (PC)
Feb 7th, 2006
(Mar 26th, 2006)
exceptional by (31%):
very helpful by (63%):
somewhat helpful by (6%):
