Rome: Total War

Rome: Total War
Developer(s)	The Creative Assembly Feral Interactive (Mac OS X)
Publisher(s)	Activision - Original Sega - Current Feral Interactive (Mac OS X)
Series	Total War
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release	September 22, 2004
Genre(s)	Real-time tactics, Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer

Battles in Rome: Total War can feature thousands of individual units.

Rome: Total War (often abbreviated to RTW or Rome) is a critically acclaimed strategy game composed of both turn-based strategy and real-time tactics, in which the player fights historical and fictitious battles set during late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire (270 BC – AD 14). The game was developed by The Creative Assembly and released on September 22, 2004. It is the third game of The Creative Assembly's Total War series.

Gameplay

The player takes a role equivalent to the head of one the three great Roman houses at the time; the Julii, Brutii, and Scipii. Each of these factions has a different set of attributes and initial objectives. Gameplay consists of a combination of turn-based strategy and 3D real-time tactical battles. The 3D real-time action is unique to other RTS games in that tactical maneuvering is critical to success, whereas, at the time, most RTS games took no account to the direction units are facing in combat, flanking movements, breaking of lines, and other combat manoeuvres. The tactical module addresses the criticism of unrealistic mutual blood baths in other RTS games (units will "rout" in Rome: Total War). The high-quality 3D graphics engine is able to render over thirty thousand men on a single battlefield. The strategic and tactical modes integrate such that the landscape for the battles is the same as seen on that particular spot on the strategic map where the armies meet. If the strategic map is hilly, and covered in snow, the battle map will attempt to reflect that.

The game is similar to its predecessors, Shogun: Total War and Medieval: Total War, although there are some changes to the mechanics of sieges, and city fights have been added. Most notable is that players now move their units with movement points; in previous games units were moved by territory. Each unit has a certain distance it can travel on the campaign map, with cavalry able to travel the farthest, and lumbersome artillery pieces having the most limited movement distance. Movement is increased depending on the type of terrain being traversed, and the type of roads present.

Armies can be built to conquer nearby provinces; to conquer a province, you must capture its settlement. This involves besieging until you have the necessary equipment to break through the walls/gates. Like many RTS games, players can construct buildings within their settlements to move up through the tech tree, allowing more advanced units to be trained, better equipment to be issued to armed forces, to keep the population happy or to manage trade between settlements. The ultimate goal is to conquer 50 provinces, gaining support from the people, before capturing Rome, thereby becoming Emperor.

Family

Each faction starts with a set of family members composed of that faction's leader, his spouse, their children, including a faction heir, any of their spouses and any grandchildren. Only the male members of the family are controllable, once they reach the age of maturity, 16 years old. They govern settlements when stationed in a city and when fielded upon the world map, command armies. Male family members are added to the family by births between married family members, as well as adoption and marriage. Family members eventually die, either naturally through old age or by death in battle, assassination or due to natural disasters.

In the absence of generals commanding field armies, captains are the commanders by default. Admirals fulfill a similar function for fleets. Neither are family members, but appear in the list of forces when displayed. However, if a captain is victorious in a battle in which the odds are against him, the player may have the option of adopting the captain.

Julii family member with several traits and his retinue

Family members can acquire traits depending on their actions in battle or when governing a city. These can have both positive and negative effects on their command, management, and influence, which in turn affect their battlefield performance and how well a province they govern operates. Some of these traits are hereditary, and can be inherited by the children of a family member. Family members can also acquire ancillaries by the same actions. These are members of a general's retinue, but can only number up to eight. These ancillary characters can be traded between two family members if they are in the same army or city.

Agents

There are three types of agents that can be used by factions: spies, diplomats, and assassins. Like family members, agents can acquire traits and specific ancillaries, which can be traded, but only with other agents of the same type. They can independently cross into other territories (allied, neutral or hostile) without counting as trespassing on private land. They can be attached to an army to protect against assassination attempts or enemy spies. Spies can be used to gather intelligence on field armies, infiltrate foreign cities and serve in a counter-espionage role in the players own cities. In any mission a spy can be discovered and killed. Diplomats can negotiate with other factions, offering deals such as alliances and trade rights. They may also attempt to bribe enemy armies and agents. Assassins are used to assassinate enemy characters, as well as sabotaging buildings in enemy settlements. These missions carry a risk of death towards the agent, as is the case with spies.

Mercenaries

On the campaign map, generals can hire mercenaries for an amount of Denarii (the game's form of currency) when there are mercenaries available in a territory, which are already trained and can be put to immediate use. Mercenaries vary depending on where they are recruited from, often being accustomed to the local terrain and tactics.

Factions

The game's campaign begins with only 3 playable factions, all Roman: Julii, Brutii, Scipii. Upon completion of a campaign, 8 additional factions are unlocked. The unlockable factions are: The Greek Cities, Egypt, the Seleucid Empire, Carthage, Gaul, Germania, Britannia, and Parthia. The nonplayable factions are: Macedon, Pontus, Armenia, Numidia, Scythia, Dacia, Thrace, Spain, the Roman Senate, and the rebel faction.

Modifications

Rome: Total War allows for the manipulation of some game resources, including its text files and textures, which has led to the creation of many modifications. This includes the ability to control previously unplayable factions, and total conversion mods such as Rome: Total Realism and Europa Barbarorum.

Historical battles

Rome: Total War allows players to attempt historical battle scenarios. The player generally takes control of the outnumbered or losing army, and must fight hard for victory. Here is a list of those available:

• Battle of Lake Trasimene
• Battle of Raphia
• Battle of Telamon
• The Siege of Gergovia
• Battle of the River Trebia
• Battle of Asculum
• Battle of Carrhae
• Battle of Cynoscephalae
• Battle of Teutoburg Forest
• Siege of Sparta

Expansions

Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion

Main article: Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion

Barbarian Invasion allows the player to take control of the barbarian nations of Europe and the Middle East. Also adds a new gameplay mechanic, Religion, a major part of gameplay.

Rome: Total War: Alexander

Main article: Rome: Total War: Alexander

The Alexander expansion puts the player in the role of Alexander the Great and replays his conquests and battles.

The Mac version of the game was released on February 5, 2010 by Feral Interactive.

History

A demo of the game was released on August 23, 2004 and is freely available for downloading. It features a playable version of the Battle of River Trebia, with the player taking the role of Hannibal.

Prior to its release, a preliminary but completely workable version of the game engine was used in two series of TV programs: Decisive Battles by the History Channel where it was used to recreate famous historical battles, and Time Commanders by BBC Two, where teams of novice non-gamers commanded ancient armies to replay key battles of antiquity. The game engine was fine-tuned specifically for these television shows by military historians for maximum historical accuracy.

The original music soundtrack for the game was composed by Jeff van Dyck, who received a BAFTA (British Academy) Interactive Awards nomination for his work. His wife Angela van Dyck features in some of the vocals including "Forever", which plays during the game's credits; Angela also wrote the lyrics for the song "Divinitus", written in quasi-Latin.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	91.64%

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	9/10
GameSpot	9.1/10
GameSpy
IGN	9.4/10
MC	92/100

Rome: Total War has been critically acclaimed by many reviewers who regard it as one of the best strategy games of 2004, winning numerous awards and high scores from gaming websites and magazines alike. The review aggregator Game Rankings shows an average of 91.7% from 65 major critic reviews, with 48 reviews at 90% or higher.

• PC Gamer (UK): All time 5th best PC game "95%"
• IGN: Editor's Choice Award, 4th Best PC Game of all Time, 14th Best Game of all Time.
• PC Gamer (US): Editor's Choice, Best Strategy Game of 2004
• GameSpot: Editor's Choice, Strategy Game of 2004
• Adrenaline Vault: Seal of Excellence
• GameSpy: Editor's Choice
• E3 2003 Game Critics Awards: Best Strategy Game
• X-Play: 5 out of 5
• PC Powerplay: 95%

External links

• Feral Interactive : Rome: Total War
• Rome: Total War at Curlie
• Rome Total War Heaven
• Rome: Total War Faction Specific Information
• Rome: Total War Tutorial and Beginner's Guide