Teutonic Knight
05-04-2004, 14:14
try to find it on the Gamespy website too, because there are some cool new screenshots with the story...
Let's pretend for a moment that you're the Emperor of Rome... that's nice, isn't it? Basking in the adoration of the people, wrapping the senate around your finger, building roads to all corners of the known world, leading armored legions in epic battles of conquest against the uncivilized barbarians, being fed grapes by hot women in flimsy togas... It's a good life.
Here's the deal: everything above and more is in Rome: Total War. Well, except for the part about the grapes. Maybe in an expansion.
The Total War series of games started turning heads back in 2000 with the original Shogun: Total War, really found its legs with the stellar Medieval: Total War in 2002, and now ups the ante with a game of Roman conquest slated for release by the end of this year. With simpler gameplay but deeper strategy and a graphics engine capable of cranking out Lord of the Rings-style epic battle sequences, history is about to be made all over again.
Grand Strategy and Field Tactics
A hallmark of the Total War series is how the game combines thoughtful turn-based strategic decisions on a grand scale with on-the-field real-time combat. It's like two sides of a very tasty coin. The big-picture decisions you make on the campaign map directly impact the battles you fight, and those battles are given extra importance because their outcome alters the course of the main game. The rise of the Roman empire is a perfect backdrop for such a game of political posturing, strategic deployment, and brutal combat.
However, previously in the series the strategic mode and the tactical mode felt like two separate games. The big 2D board-game style map gave way -- through a long loading screen -- to a 3D game that bore only a passing resemblance. Not so in Rome: Total War. The strategic map is now done in 3D, and it really comes to life with rolling terrain, animated roads (you can see caravans chugging along your trade routes, or soldiers are blocking their way), and flowing rivers. Troops can be moved around the map and positioned exactly where you need them. Station them to block a mountain pass, obstruct a trade route, or hold the high ground. When it comes time to do battle, you zoom right into the action -- the terrain layout for the tactical map will be the same, with the armies positioned accordingly. The developers have even worked to shorten the loading screen between the two parts of the game.
The two game modes are unified more than just graphically. When you choose which buildings to build in your city, they'll actually appear on the tactical map as part of the gameplay. If the barbarians burn your barracks during a battle, you'll lose that building in the strategic game. A whole new level of strategy is in place.
The Total War games have also been known for massive, epic battles featuring thousands of individual soldiers fighting in real-time. Previously the developers "faked it," using 2D sprites of soldiers on the 3D battlefield. But that wasn't good enough for Rome: Total War: now, every single individual soldier is rendered in 3D. From a distance it looks much more convincing, but the real joy is being able to zoom in on the action and seeing actual combat instead of blocky little men. The level of detail on soldiers -- such as the historically accurate armor worn by the Roman legions -- is astonishing given that there are still thousands of soldiers on the screen at any given time.
From a gameplay perspective, the graphics give you a much better idea of how a battle is going. You'll see guys stumble and fall or try to run away. Cavalry charges are way more impressive: you can now see men getting knocked aside by horses or thrown in the air. You can even see horses refuse a charge (such as into a prepared wall of spears), sometimes throwing the rider into a crowd of enraged foes. Then you can watch them turn to beat the horseless rider into the dirt. Fun.
A game about the rise of Rome also means some good old fashioned Punic Wars, which means war elephants. Graphically spectacular, there's nothing like seeing a tight formation of elephants rampage into enemy lines. But, in the words of Mike Simpson, the game's Technology Development Director, "Elephants are dangerous... but they're dangerous to everybody." In our brief time with the game we had some of our elephants run amok and start squashing our own troops. They're like a wrecking ball that swings both ways. Developers are still tweaking the awesome damage of cavalry charges. "We want spectacular impacts without throwing off the balance of the game," Simpson explained.
Equally spectacular are the city battles, which are much more dynamic than in Rome: Total War. You can now set up troops along the tops of city walls, where archers can rain death amongst the troops below. (Defensively, you can now shelter your men up under their shields in what was called the "testudo" (Turtle) formation. Soldiers in the game group together just as their historical counterparts did.) Siege weapons can be used to knock down individual sections of walls, or troops carrying ladders can clamber up the sides. Siege towers are also available, populated by men who can run up and across onto the walls. It's strategically cool and graphically stunning.
Battles with Tactical Depth
Terrain plays as important a role as ever, so holding the high ground or hiding in forests are still valid tactics. There are some new twists for Rome, however. Roads now appear on the maps, which speed the movement of some troops. And certain lightly-armored soldiers can now camouflage themselves in tall grass for vicious surprise attacks.
There are 102 types of units in the game, including dogs, flaming pigs (useful for scaring elephants), and even screeching women or naked barbarians. ("There's plenty of barking mad people in the world," Simpson told us, explaining that these unusual units were actually a historical part of real battles.) Unit formations can also be linked up, so if you want several units of spearmen to maintain an unbroken battle line as they move, you don't have to tediously point and click each one.
Units can also disengage from combat easier, so (unlike previous games in the series) battles don't dissolve into a blob of combatants with a foregone conclusion. Troops are now much more maneuverable, so that careful strategy can turn a battle in your favor. In general, combat moves much quicker.
Cities in particular are far more tactically diverse than in the previous games. Each is designed to have interesting features -- bottlenecks and dead-ends. When you want to conquer a city, you'll have to move your troops in and then hold the town square against a counterattack for a certain period of time. Cities also come into play if there's a revolt among your citizens: most can be put down easily with the right troops. But if your gladiators revolt, look out They'll pour out of the coliseum... and those teeny-tiny Russell Crowes don't go down easy.
Deep Strategy for Mediterranean Domination
Medieval: Total War was an incredible title, but at times there were so many pieces on the big map that it got insane. The developers at Creative Assembly have streamlined the map some, so that only essential units are depicted. It's a lot easier to see the whole situation now: which roads are free, where the troops are stationed, what the terrain is like, and where the spies are. Although the map is simpler, there are more strategic options now because of the ability to place units anywhere on the terrain. The Naval game is now more interesting -- although there are no real-time battles at sea, you now have to physically move your land units by boat to get them from place to place instead of "teleporting" them through sea lines as in Medieval.
Rome: Total War begins shortly after Rome has unified the Italian peninsula. From there, you take control of one of the three main Roman groups vying for power. Turns are done on a bi-yearly basis, meaning that seasons affect gameplay (don't try to cross the Alps in the winter.) Early on the Roman Senate will start giving you "missions" that will increase your prestige and power -- these little goals, such as conquering a city or building a particular trade route -- help give the early game some focus.
The problem with most strategy games is that the end game is a foregone conclusion once you conquer your last major opponent -- usually the climactic battle happens in the middle of the game and to get to a satisfying conclusion you have to mop up the rest of the map. Not so with Rome: Total War, which gives a historical precedent for much cooler gameplay. Once you've conquered most of the known world, the Senate itself gets wary of your power, and a civil war is triggered. How do you win? By turning your armies inward, crossing the Rubicon, and attacking Rome itself Your greatest challenge and biggest battle is saved for the climax of the game, after which -- if you follow in Caesar's footsteps -- you will be crowned the Emperor of all of Rome.
We've established that that's a good thing. Especially the part with the grapes.
A Strong Franchise Just Gets Stronger
Simpson also tells us that Rome: Total War is "more moddable than any other game we made before." That means that, on top of the half-dozen historical campaigns in the game, and on top of the different playable cultures you can unlock by beating it (the Britons, the Egyptians, the Gauls, etc.), the Internet community will be able to create their own units and their own scenarios. The result is a deep, visually incredible strategy game that'll provide months, even years of delicious gameplay online or off.
We can't wait for this one. The toga party will start sometime near the end of this year.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif
Let's pretend for a moment that you're the Emperor of Rome... that's nice, isn't it? Basking in the adoration of the people, wrapping the senate around your finger, building roads to all corners of the known world, leading armored legions in epic battles of conquest against the uncivilized barbarians, being fed grapes by hot women in flimsy togas... It's a good life.
Here's the deal: everything above and more is in Rome: Total War. Well, except for the part about the grapes. Maybe in an expansion.
The Total War series of games started turning heads back in 2000 with the original Shogun: Total War, really found its legs with the stellar Medieval: Total War in 2002, and now ups the ante with a game of Roman conquest slated for release by the end of this year. With simpler gameplay but deeper strategy and a graphics engine capable of cranking out Lord of the Rings-style epic battle sequences, history is about to be made all over again.
Grand Strategy and Field Tactics
A hallmark of the Total War series is how the game combines thoughtful turn-based strategic decisions on a grand scale with on-the-field real-time combat. It's like two sides of a very tasty coin. The big-picture decisions you make on the campaign map directly impact the battles you fight, and those battles are given extra importance because their outcome alters the course of the main game. The rise of the Roman empire is a perfect backdrop for such a game of political posturing, strategic deployment, and brutal combat.
However, previously in the series the strategic mode and the tactical mode felt like two separate games. The big 2D board-game style map gave way -- through a long loading screen -- to a 3D game that bore only a passing resemblance. Not so in Rome: Total War. The strategic map is now done in 3D, and it really comes to life with rolling terrain, animated roads (you can see caravans chugging along your trade routes, or soldiers are blocking their way), and flowing rivers. Troops can be moved around the map and positioned exactly where you need them. Station them to block a mountain pass, obstruct a trade route, or hold the high ground. When it comes time to do battle, you zoom right into the action -- the terrain layout for the tactical map will be the same, with the armies positioned accordingly. The developers have even worked to shorten the loading screen between the two parts of the game.
The two game modes are unified more than just graphically. When you choose which buildings to build in your city, they'll actually appear on the tactical map as part of the gameplay. If the barbarians burn your barracks during a battle, you'll lose that building in the strategic game. A whole new level of strategy is in place.
The Total War games have also been known for massive, epic battles featuring thousands of individual soldiers fighting in real-time. Previously the developers "faked it," using 2D sprites of soldiers on the 3D battlefield. But that wasn't good enough for Rome: Total War: now, every single individual soldier is rendered in 3D. From a distance it looks much more convincing, but the real joy is being able to zoom in on the action and seeing actual combat instead of blocky little men. The level of detail on soldiers -- such as the historically accurate armor worn by the Roman legions -- is astonishing given that there are still thousands of soldiers on the screen at any given time.
From a gameplay perspective, the graphics give you a much better idea of how a battle is going. You'll see guys stumble and fall or try to run away. Cavalry charges are way more impressive: you can now see men getting knocked aside by horses or thrown in the air. You can even see horses refuse a charge (such as into a prepared wall of spears), sometimes throwing the rider into a crowd of enraged foes. Then you can watch them turn to beat the horseless rider into the dirt. Fun.
A game about the rise of Rome also means some good old fashioned Punic Wars, which means war elephants. Graphically spectacular, there's nothing like seeing a tight formation of elephants rampage into enemy lines. But, in the words of Mike Simpson, the game's Technology Development Director, "Elephants are dangerous... but they're dangerous to everybody." In our brief time with the game we had some of our elephants run amok and start squashing our own troops. They're like a wrecking ball that swings both ways. Developers are still tweaking the awesome damage of cavalry charges. "We want spectacular impacts without throwing off the balance of the game," Simpson explained.
Equally spectacular are the city battles, which are much more dynamic than in Rome: Total War. You can now set up troops along the tops of city walls, where archers can rain death amongst the troops below. (Defensively, you can now shelter your men up under their shields in what was called the "testudo" (Turtle) formation. Soldiers in the game group together just as their historical counterparts did.) Siege weapons can be used to knock down individual sections of walls, or troops carrying ladders can clamber up the sides. Siege towers are also available, populated by men who can run up and across onto the walls. It's strategically cool and graphically stunning.
Battles with Tactical Depth
Terrain plays as important a role as ever, so holding the high ground or hiding in forests are still valid tactics. There are some new twists for Rome, however. Roads now appear on the maps, which speed the movement of some troops. And certain lightly-armored soldiers can now camouflage themselves in tall grass for vicious surprise attacks.
There are 102 types of units in the game, including dogs, flaming pigs (useful for scaring elephants), and even screeching women or naked barbarians. ("There's plenty of barking mad people in the world," Simpson told us, explaining that these unusual units were actually a historical part of real battles.) Unit formations can also be linked up, so if you want several units of spearmen to maintain an unbroken battle line as they move, you don't have to tediously point and click each one.
Units can also disengage from combat easier, so (unlike previous games in the series) battles don't dissolve into a blob of combatants with a foregone conclusion. Troops are now much more maneuverable, so that careful strategy can turn a battle in your favor. In general, combat moves much quicker.
Cities in particular are far more tactically diverse than in the previous games. Each is designed to have interesting features -- bottlenecks and dead-ends. When you want to conquer a city, you'll have to move your troops in and then hold the town square against a counterattack for a certain period of time. Cities also come into play if there's a revolt among your citizens: most can be put down easily with the right troops. But if your gladiators revolt, look out They'll pour out of the coliseum... and those teeny-tiny Russell Crowes don't go down easy.
Deep Strategy for Mediterranean Domination
Medieval: Total War was an incredible title, but at times there were so many pieces on the big map that it got insane. The developers at Creative Assembly have streamlined the map some, so that only essential units are depicted. It's a lot easier to see the whole situation now: which roads are free, where the troops are stationed, what the terrain is like, and where the spies are. Although the map is simpler, there are more strategic options now because of the ability to place units anywhere on the terrain. The Naval game is now more interesting -- although there are no real-time battles at sea, you now have to physically move your land units by boat to get them from place to place instead of "teleporting" them through sea lines as in Medieval.
Rome: Total War begins shortly after Rome has unified the Italian peninsula. From there, you take control of one of the three main Roman groups vying for power. Turns are done on a bi-yearly basis, meaning that seasons affect gameplay (don't try to cross the Alps in the winter.) Early on the Roman Senate will start giving you "missions" that will increase your prestige and power -- these little goals, such as conquering a city or building a particular trade route -- help give the early game some focus.
The problem with most strategy games is that the end game is a foregone conclusion once you conquer your last major opponent -- usually the climactic battle happens in the middle of the game and to get to a satisfying conclusion you have to mop up the rest of the map. Not so with Rome: Total War, which gives a historical precedent for much cooler gameplay. Once you've conquered most of the known world, the Senate itself gets wary of your power, and a civil war is triggered. How do you win? By turning your armies inward, crossing the Rubicon, and attacking Rome itself Your greatest challenge and biggest battle is saved for the climax of the game, after which -- if you follow in Caesar's footsteps -- you will be crowned the Emperor of all of Rome.
We've established that that's a good thing. Especially the part with the grapes.
A Strong Franchise Just Gets Stronger
Simpson also tells us that Rome: Total War is "more moddable than any other game we made before." That means that, on top of the half-dozen historical campaigns in the game, and on top of the different playable cultures you can unlock by beating it (the Britons, the Egyptians, the Gauls, etc.), the Internet community will be able to create their own units and their own scenarios. The result is a deep, visually incredible strategy game that'll provide months, even years of delicious gameplay online or off.
We can't wait for this one. The toga party will start sometime near the end of this year.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif