Product Page : Total War Rome 2

Price: £29.99 : amazon

Usually , grand strategy games can only improve by getting grander, particularly when it comes to Creative Assembly’s Total War games, with Shogun 2 and Medieval 2 featuring much larger campaigns than their predecessors.

This pattern seems to hold true in Rome 2, which significantly expands the campaign’s size and the scope of available tactics. Once again casting you as one of three classical Roman families – the Junii, Julii and Cornelii – Rome 2 will offer the chance to expand much further east than the first game, while offering a host of new units.

It’s the granular detail that’s really exciting though. Creative Assembly is ploughing inordinate effort into the slightest nuances, animating looks of horror and shock onto the faces of your tiny men. It’s part of a concentrated effort to portray the human side of war; units can panic in more emotional ways than just having icons floating over their heads, and officers can offer speeches to their men.

Creative Assembly has made changes to the tactics and gameplay consistent with its other overhauls too, such as a greater emphasis on the role of naval combat. Ship crews can take control of weak towns without assistance while navies can be established far quicker than previously.

Land-based combat hasn’t been ignored either. Legions can be customised down to their weapon load-out, and you can tailor them further by bestowing special training in the form of traits as they level up. Each legion becomes as customisable as individual generals in the original game, while opposing forces have become similarly diversified through tweaks to the AI system. Each type of Rebel force, from British Barbarians to individual Greek tribes, will have unique units or tactical inclinations.

Creative Assembly says it’s improved the AI when it comes to diplomacy too, although so far , we’ve only played the combat side of the game. Supposedly, new moral and political decisions will lead to all sorts of effects, including an AI’ character’s trustworthiness.

However, multiplayer remains the biggest mystery about Total War: Rome 2 at the moment. In comments made late last year, Creative Assembly indicated it had some really big plans for the multiplayer portion of the game, but has since refused to comment on details of these features, or mod support. There’s been a lot of speculation from the community, but no new details have crept out, and we remain as much in the dark as you. Is Rome 2 set to unveil a new large-scale multiplayer mode? We hope so, but only time will tell.

For now, all we can do is sit back and marvel at what Creative Assembly has released – screenshots and videos that dispel any rumours that the Total War series has slipped in the last few titles, and a strategy game that currently looks just grand.