Rome 2 was a dull, sprawling mess of a game, easily the weakest release in the Total War series in the past decade. The Warhammer games that followed have improved on it in almost every way imaginable, so Creative Assembly are going back in time (with some lessons learned) to try and get Rome 2 in fighting shape.
There was a good chunk of time there when the Total War series was one of the best things on the PC. Its combination of real-time battles and turn-based planning made it a lot of people’s—mine included—perfect strategy game. Then along came Total War: Rome II.
Total War: Rome II went from being one of 2013's most promising games to one of its most disappointing. Indeed, it took months of patches and updates to even get it to a presentable state. Not that performance and AI were the last of the game's troubles.
Riley is the exception. For too long, dogs - who are meant to be our best friends - have been portrayed as annoying video game villains, foes able to dodge bullets and who take a crummy QTE or two to see off. In Total War: Rome II, that's not the case.
Ever notice how violent video games are? Wonderful! Terrible! Your call, but hey, it's a thing.
**Updated with final verdict**
The Thracian way to scare enemies off in Total War: Rome II. Say hello to the giant, smiling hypno-shield, the greatest weapon of ancient times.
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs is a great horror sequel filled with tons of NOPE moments. Even its glitches are freakin' scary.
Fiendish stares from hell, death animations that look like dance moves, subterrestrial ships, a Superman army, weird low-res textures... Total War: Rome II has some of the funniest glitches of any strategy game. And since a patch comes out today, all these things will probably be lost in time, like Spartan ships in…
Total War: Rome II is getting a patch this Friday. Which is good, because as it stands, the game is a mess.
Nooo! I didn't know the Samnites in Total War: Rome II were actually zombie cannibals. When the graphics are running on extreme, a minor, probably temporary glitch could render this horrifying—yet hilarious—texture-effect.
Creative Assembly's latest PC strategy game, Total War: Rome II, is out today. Make sure to watch your back while slaughtering armies and conquering all those cities, lest you end up lying in a pool of your own blood. Don't follow the trailer's example, folks.
While no mere video game could ever hope to accurately emulate one of the greatest military commanders of all-time, Total War: Rome II has the power, scale and versatility to give Hannibal a good run.
The latest playthrough demonstration of Total War: Rome II takes a wide view, dipping into the diplomacy and campaign overview bits of the upcoming strategy game.
Rather than let the unwashed masses make "Let's Play" videos of the upcoming Total War: Rome II, Creative Assembly and Sega have cut out the middle man and made one themselves.
The people in charge of hyping the new PC game Total War: Rome II keep exploiting our weakness for absurdly large, detailed screenshots—screenshots that could get their game mistaken for the most violent Where's Waldo ever.
Total War: Rome II will be out everywhere on September 3rd. The collector's edition comes with a replica catapult! The first slice of DLC—which offers up the three additional factions of Epirus, Athens and Sparta—is free if you pre-order. So, render unto Caesar… this is madness, etc.
Here's how a screenshot normally gets from a publisher to a website like this. They're either hosted on a press site or sent via email. Sometimes, if a company is crazy/lazy, they'll only send the versions that print magazines can use, meaning we've got a little resizing to do to get it to a size that won't destroy…
It's not actual gameplay. There's no HUD, no mouse cursor. But at least give Creative Assembly credit for releasing a cutscene for Total War: Rome II that's made up entirely of in-game assets, something they did to good effect in Shogun 2.
By the gods, this first glimpse of the the battles between the ancient empire of Rome and Carthage looks amazing. The video above is purportedly cut from in-game footage and this clip—coupled with the screens we saw during the summer—sure make it seem like Creative Assembly's next strategy opus is going to be a…