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Sega’s latest strategy title Total War: Rome 2 made its way to London’s newest gaming bar, MADD/Loading, ahead of its September 3rd release, and PCR was there to learn all about the art of war.
Developed by Creative Assembly,Total War: Rome 2 is the latest in the series of historic strategy games that began in 2000 with Shogun: Total War. The series has come a long way since then, and the second instalment of Rome has seen Creative Assembly increase its workforce since the original.
2004’s Total War: Rome had around 30 people working on it, whereas the latest instalment’s had more than a hundred. The bigger budget is instantly noticeable as you head into battle.
Sweeping across each battle scene, it’s easy to see the extra details that have been included in the new title. Gamers can zoom right into each individual Roman soldier and clearly see his uniform in fine detail as well as his reaction to the battle around him.
Panning around the map to plan the best form of attack also reveals the game’s authentic looking terrain.
Sega has assured that all this extra detail will not get lost on any machine, the publishers says the game is an ‘extremely scalable experience’. This means the gameplay and graphics performance is optimised to match low and high-end hardware alike.
In terms of gameplay, players are in charge of a Roman army in a mixture of real-time and turn-based strategy. By playing as one of three families, they can choose to fight and save the Republic, rule as Emperor, or control rival civilisations.
The game boasts a full campaign mode, plus additional two-player cooperative and competitive modes. A new addition to the series, and one that we think greatly helps players on the battlefield is a true line of sight system, which calculates line of sight from individual units. This comes in handy when scouting and assessing the surround terrain.
With Creative Assembly introducing naval battles to the series in 2009’s Empire: Total War, Rome 2 has built on this to further integrate land and see battles, with navies having the ability to not only block ports, but to actually attack and conquer them too.
With over two million Total War games sold last year alone, and Rome 2 already becoming the fastest pre-ordered title in the franchise to date, this new instalment is set to give strategy fans exactly what they want.
Released on September 3rd, those who pre-order can download extra content on launch day. There’s also a Rome II Collector’s Edition containing Roman-themed games and items in a leather-effect presentation box.
