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Shogun: Total War, Medieval: Total War, and now Rome: Total War have proven just how exciting strategy war games can be. So many other "real time strategy" games have attempted to bring a realistic sense of tactics to the genre and have failed. Unlike Command and Conquer and its clones, Total War games require quick thinking on both a strategic and tactical level. These aren't games where the fastest clicker wins, these are games of planning an attack and executing it. Total War puts the strategy into real time strategy games.

Rome: Total War is very similar to previous Total War games except for one thing: 3D units. In the previous games the units were individual sprites. In the past 3D units were simply not viable in a game with hundreds if not thousands of units. Visually Rome: Total War may still lag behind 3D giants such as Doom 3 or Half Life 2 -- but neither of those game engine could display a battle on such a scale as Rome: Total War so successfully does.

In previews to Rome: Total War we were shown cinematic video clips rendered in the game engine. Unfortunately that tells us very little about the actual game itself. Judging by the demo, you have nothing to worry about. The game looks and plays that good. The demo battle begins with impressive cut scenes in which the situation is laid out in detail by a narrated voice. No confusion here; you know what you need to do.

Once the action starts players of the previous Total War games should feel right at home. The controls are very similar although the interface is a little bit different.

I do have a few complaints about the game. Perhaps with more play time I will overcome them. The units are difficult to distinguish from each other when zoomed out at a certain level. Unlike the previous games which used sprites, these 3D units almost tend to blend together.

One of the best parts of Rome: Total War comes when you realize the battle is yours. You can zoom in right on the action and experience the eye candy just as it is in the cinematic clips. The voices and shouting of the soldiers sound like they really are there. It is amusing to watch enemies get hit by your elephants and then fly, almost unrealistically, high in the air. I don't think I ever want to go to the circus again if they really can do that.

Rome: Total War has great potential. Judging by the demo it definitely looks very, very, very good. Any system with a $100 video card should be able to run this game fine. Fans of previous Total War games may need to upgrade their systems to play this one. If you want to play it with all the detail cranked up and anti-aliasing on then you definitely will (unless you have a killer machine to begin with.) With such great graphics Rome: Total War will appeal to a much broader audience than the past Total War games. Hopefully that will translate into more sales and a fourth Total War game.

These 3 screenshots show the actual game interface

 

 

Graphics.......... Excellent
Sound.............. Excellent
Singleplayer.... Excellent
Multiplayer....... N/A
Overall Rating...... 94%