Publisher: Activision
Ages: teens & up
Parental
Advisory:
Graphic war scenes
How great can a strategy game be? Well, when you've seen Activision's Rome: Total War, you'll know. With its compelling strategy; cinematic battles of the Roman era and detailed graphics, Rome: Total War is the finest strategy game out there.
From the Punic Wars against Carthage to the death of Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, players are transported to the battlefields of ancient history's greatest conflicts where they control armies of up to 10,000 fully polygonal, highly detailed, motion-captured warriors. Gamers direct vast armies led by history's legendary generals that include Julius Caesar and Hannibal, and must apply their strategic skills to somehow recreate the Roman Empire.
As generals, players command over a hundred different troop types that include legionaries, hoplites, barbarian hordes, war elephants, gladiators and scythe chariots to colossal war machines such as siege towers, battering rams and catapults hurling flaming missiles. And the battles happen on more than 10,000 battlefields based on the topography of Europe and North Africa.
The quest is to create, rule, conquer and manipulate the Roman Empire and become "Imperator." And beyond battles, players also get to use politics and diplomacy to spy on others, carry out assassinations, form alliances, bargain trade agreements and more.
Players command in turn-based campaigns where they conquer cities and provinces and ultimately the empire. Since Rome wasn't conquered in a day, the game provides the right mix of control without asking players to attend to each and every tedious detail. On the other hand, for players who want to micro-manage everything, the game offers the means to do so. Die-hard strategy players will find lots of depth in this game and hours and hours of entertainment.
The graphics are phenomenal and do a great job of depicting the various environments and troops. Be warned, the epic battles depicted in the game through the excellent 3D graphics are visual and violent. This is, after all, war.
Rome: Total War effectively raises the bar for strategy games. It's the best we've seen and played and any strategy gamer will have a blast with this one.
11/8/04 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
