The total war franchise is one of my most favorite and Rome II emperors edition, my most played on Steam. Creative Assembly is one of the most reliable producers in the gaming industry, but Rome II had many problems, problems that made a bad impression in the community and produced a black sheep on their accomplishments.
Rome II had plenty of bugs and glitches ,bad optimization and a very slow performance. All of that, combined with the fact of the pricey dlcs that constantly come out made for a bad start for the game. Thankfully, all of this belongs to the past. Creative Assembly, after many updates, made it work and offered us the emperors edition of the game that includes all the updates and patches and the Imperator Augustus Campaign pack dlc.
As the name precedes, players starts their campaign in the era of Rome. The map is large with 65 unplayable factions, (more than ever), the playable factions (10) are enough to start again and again and the combat system, (as you would hope to),has many options to choose from for your fighting style. There many changes in the political system, the skill trees of the generals, negotiations with other factions and the artificial intelligence considering the navy battles, sieges etc. Plus, the most important, turns are going faster. In the first edition of the game every turn needed at least 1-2 minutes to end ,now it's 20-30 seconds. Multiplayer battles are ok and I say ok because it takes a long time for a game to start and especially when there more players involved for preparation.
The game consists of two major parts . The strategical map, in which you make your management in your conquered cities, prepare your army for battles , make trade agreements, see to your political accession in the senate and of course, make peace treaties and declare wars. You have the ability to fast battle on the strategical map when you are not in the mood to play it yourself, but it will be many times that you will find situations that will not be in favor for you and that is where the second major part comes in. When the battle begins, you have your time to shape your army and place your troops in your likable formation. There are many different units and siege machines with many special abilities for you to choose. You have limited time for preparation and when you are ready or time passes the battle begins. You can zoom in to see the fights or zoom out to have a better view on whats going on. There is also an option for a panoramic view of the troops in the battlefield . You can speed time up if you want to move things faster. The general is a precious unit in your army, as when things are tight he boosts the morale of the army to prevent them from dispersing. The naval battles were ok but didn't catch my attention. I only played them a couple of times.
The game supports ultra-wide screen monitors without a problem. The visuals are more than ok and Rome II is playable on average pcs. Considering the gameplay time, well it's limitless. You play as long as you wish, I have 600+ hours and I keep going. It is one of the best strategy games out there and now patched.
You can find Rome Total War on Steam here
