

Just like Shogun and Medieval before it, Rome is split into two distinct sections. Rome: Total War has finally arrived and it's ready to conquer all.ĭespite its multitude of advancements though, Rome's core remains unquestioningly loyal to its predecessors. It isn't just an improvement over its prequel Medieval, it's a quantum leap, another giant's stride up the road of RTS domination trod by developer The Creative Assembly since it released the groundbreaking Shogun: Total War in 2000.Ī mere four short years later and Shogun's concept has evolved into an all-encompassing strategy game of warfare and intrigue, political machinations and personal advancement, subtle tactics and merciless brutality, melded expertly together to create perhaps the single most comprehensive, visually impressive and immersing war game ever imagined. In fact it's no exaggeration to say that rarely, if ever, has there been an RTS that has so redefined its genre, so comprehensively swept aside the opposition, so utterly shifted the benchmark of quality, intensity and entertainment as Rome. After all I couldn't do that to you after all we've been through now could I? Course not.īut I am going to continue along similar lines, as despite a few foibles, faults and Al glitches, Rome is almost beyond reproach. In fact, I'm almost tempted to leave it at that and simply send you skipping off to the shops to pick up a copy, safe in the knowledge that in a few days your eyes will be weeping blood from monitor glare, bladder haemorrhaging as you succumb to that all-consuming urge to play for just half an hour more. What's more, because the only information being sent from one machine to the next is the occasional order, online games are set to run every bit as smoothly as the seamless LAN games. Smoothly than malt whiskey at a Scotsman's birthday party. The cavalry charges were staggenng, with horses flattening scores of enemies with their awesome impact and the game flowing more We agreed that he'd hold a solid wall of spearmen backed up by archers on a ndge in order to suck the enemy in, while we would wheel round the back of our opponents with the cavalry and decimate their unsuspecting forces. Once hostilities commenced, we liaised over a voice communication system with our comrades, meaning we could converse without the eavesdropping scumbag enemy - who sat opposite - overhearing our plans. We tried out a two-on-two play test, first selecting our factions from a choice of 12, picking our troops -which we decided upon with our team mates to make sure we had a balanced force - and then arranging our armies on the battlefield.


However, you can have up to eight generals and four teams battling each other on a single map. Activision was proudly showing off Rome's multiplayer aspects at the show, even though, currently, there's only one type of mode - kill everything and everyone that's not on your side, just like in single-player.
