Rome: Total War review

Bear witness to the spectacle of 10,000 troops defending their homeland to the death, tearing into invaders' ranks. Giant catapults launch flaming buckets of death into panicked troops and war elephants stampede into columns of routing infantry, angrily tossing them aside and brutally crushing the unlucky underfoot. This is your fight to win or lose. This is Rome: Total War.

Rome: Total War masterfully blends two complete games: a turn-based strategy game steeped in history and a real-time strategy centerpiece that is more tactical battlefield simulator than game. The turn-based half enables you to manage everything in the strategic theater (like the board game Risk on steroids), but the battlefield is where the action happens.

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Dedicated wargamers will delight in the attention to detail; Rome doesn’t disappoint in fanatical attention to historical accuracy. You'll command a vast array of troop types: spear-armed skirmishers, ranks of longbowmen, hardened legionaries, heavy cavalry and scythed chariots, just to name a few. These painstakingly accurate units achieve a tactical depth that is unprecedented in RTS gaming. Each unit has distinct advantages and disadvantages that reflect closely on their actual abilities on the ancient battlefield. However, a shrewd general knows weather, terrain and morale have more affect on victory than just troop numbers and strength. But fear not: excellent tutorials and easy to understand controls will help you master the art of ancient warfare, and lead you on your way to becoming the Imperator of the Roman Empire.