Should Creative Assembly come back in a month or two with updates (which they claim to be on top of) that can whip this thing back into shape, then this game’s cinematic flair, scale and streamlined management will be worth a second look. Until then, though, and as much as it pains me to say this, Rome II’s a game you’re going to want to wait on.

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10/15 Update: After the fourth patch in five weeks was released over the weekend, I decided it was about time to revisit the game, see if any improvements had been made in terms of performance.

The good news is that Creative Assembly certainly had been hard at work. Sluggish campaign performance had greatly improved, AI turns were much quicker and even battle speed, which had run fine at review anyway, was now lightning quick at the same settings.

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That makes a big difference. I’d abandoned my second campaign in the game due to slow turn speeds and campaign map freezes/crashes, so to simply be able to navigate Rome II’s world and endure load times made a massive difference to my experience.

It also gave me more time to actually play the game. For better and worse.

Worse first. Upon further reflection, this game is just too damn big. The map’s too big, the campaign systems are too big. It’s as though CA wanted to just go big with the game without thought as to why they were bothering, or what the additions would actually bring to the table.

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Politics is almost pointless. Managing slaves and food and money isn’t immersive, it’s distracting and tiresome. And what’s the point of adding so many minor regions and factions if they’re not actually going to do anything?

Rome II falls into the same trap Napoleon did, in that it quickly becomes a slave to its narrative. You either play as Rome, or you try and stop Rome. Or at least hold out. Lacking in the variety and surprise of other games in the series - where Poland can conquer India, for example - the replay value of the game is greatly diminished after only a few campaigns.

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On the “better” side of things, though, is the AI. At least in campaigns. In battles it’s still terrible, but on the main map I noticed a much smarter ability to do necessary things like carry out naval battles, form alliances in war and even respond to your troop deployments and movements.

What we’re left with after all this, then, is a game that’s the weakest Total War since the equally-misguided Napoleon. Yet that’s a relative term. I’ve still played this game for over 60 hours after I filed my review, because at its heart, and despite CA’s best attempts to mess with it in this game, the underlying Total War formula still works, and through bright spots like superbly cinematic battles I still find myself playing - and enjoying - the game despite all its flaws.

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It’s my hope that for their next game, Creative Assembly abandon hopes of making the series’ entries bigger, and just focus on fixing the stuff that’s already there. Because a Rome II with less fluff, but smarter AI, would have been a fantastic game, instead of merely a good one.