found this link at gamespy... an nice short preview of rome tw.. read some things i hadnt heard before so i figure id post it here see what you guys think.. flaming pigs anyone???
Thursday 23rd January 2003
UNLEASHING HELL IN ROME: TOTAL WAR
The latest news on Creative Assembly's Total War threequel is enough to make your jaw drop
17:56 Elephants. Any game that sees fit to include elephants is all right in our book. Rome: Total War, the third in Creative Assembly's impressive strategy series, has more elephants than you can fit in a Mini Cooper. Even with an expanded boot.
It's also got horses, chariots, gladiators, barbarian hordes at the gate, massive cities and thousands upon thousands of legionaries willing to die for the greater glory of Rome. And all of them, every man Julius of them, has been completely motion captured and rendered in awe-inspiring detail.
It's the graphical splendour of Rome: Total War that is easily the most impressive aspect of the game. Preview videos have been doing the industry rounds for a while now that have had people flat refusing to believe were shot using an in-game engine. Thousands of highly detailed warriors hacking and chopping and slashing and dicing and ducking and screaming and, of course, dying. All in such amazing levels of detail that you can't help but disbelieve what you're seeing.
But from what we've seen it's the real deal. The cornerstone of the previous Total War games was always the scale of the battles. Now, with Rome, Creative Assembly has given the skirmishes the graphic quality to match.
These battles can range from individual squads fighting for a small patch of land to full-on city sieges, with everything including towers, ladders, battering rams, boiling oil, explosives, street fighting and fire. Realistic fire. That spreads and burns and practically melts your monitor.
Gloriously, the graphical detail often plays an important role in the game's battles. A good example is the game's day/night cycles. Should sieges or battles stretch into the wee hours, you'll start seeing individual soldiers carrying flaming torches in order to see what they're doing. Which, naturally, makes them easier targets for archers or swordsmen.
It's a game filled with little touches and nods towards the odder aspects of historical reality. Flaming pigs, for instance. Aside from being a good source of bacon, setting a pig on fire is apparently one of the best ways to upset a charging war elephant (mice only really working in Tom & Jerry cartoons).
It's not just the battle sections that have had the old overhaul treatment though. The bigger picture is now greatly expanded, with the 'Risk'-style tactical interface being replaced with a totally 3D real-time map encompassing Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Budding Caesars can theoretically zoom in on any point they like, conducting battles in just about any location they desire. The map also updates as your cities grow, showing your empire expanding or contracting depending on how Dame Fortune decides to treat your endeavours.
The campaigns are pretty impressive affairs as well, with the Roman senate acting as a sort of narrative structure to everything, issuing mission orders and opening the doors to the diplomatic and trade options of the game. Crucially, it's not just Gaul, Visigoths, Carthaginians and other assorted races to deal with, but also rival Roman factions, all looking to control the Senate and declare themselves Caesar. Which is your job, of course.
But it all comes back to scale. Rome: Total War is easily one of the most impressive looking strategy games we've ever seen. Thankfully the game content easily looks like matching the visual quality which basically means that when Creative Assembly get round to pushing it out the door this Christmas, armchair generals across the world are going to be satisfied beyond their wildest dreams. Hopefully.
