Picked up the latest issue today at Waldenbooks and found its review to be pretty good.
It looks like the reviewer did take a good play thru the game.
Most of it we already know of course but a few things caught my eye.
Perahps Julii has rebel owned cities to its immediate north?Quote:
The initial campaign begins with you selecting between three available Roman factions - the House of Julii, the House of Brutii, or the House of Scipii. All of the factions are essentially the same, and none of them offers an overt advantage - although Scipii has a city on Sicily, which makes it easier for you to launch an immediate attack on rival factions.
He mentions that one of these is enslaving the population of a city after its conquest. Adding population to other cities you already own. Which of course allows you to recruit more units in them.Quote:
I still wish that you could "force produce" military units for an extra cost (after all, a totalitarian dictator can "enlist" anyone he wants), but there are ways to artificially increase your population.
Good to know that during the endgame the surviving non-Roman factions don't just take a break.Quote:
The great thing about this end-game scenario is that not only must you contend with the warring Roman factions, but you must also deal with any others that might seek to take advantage of the power vacuum by attacking you. It's truly a Herculean task keeping everything running (and I mean that in the best possible way) - managing multiple wars, all while keeping diplomatic channels open.
I thought you had to conquer a non-Roman faction before you could play it?Quote:
If you don't have time to embark upon the challenge of conquering the entire world, you can choose a quick-game option where you're tasked with eliminating a specific faction, like the hated Gauls. Combine that with the option to replay the main campaign from 12 different sides (the other nations become playable as you make contact with them in the main Roman campaign), and to play through 10 capsulated historical battles, and even grand strategists will see that Rome offers a massive amount of replayability.
He does mention some wonky things from the AI but that is his opinion. Hard to say when what we think the AI should be doing is right, wrong, or a hiccup in the code's decision tree.Quote:
As much as I loved the previous Total War games, the one thing that always drove me up a frickin' wall was their weak diplomacy. You had only limited options, and they played themselves out automatically - you had no say in what tou wanted to offer another faction.
In Rome, this scheme has blessedly changed. The diplomacy is now extremely robust, and you can offer alliance and trade agreements, bribe armies and cities, and sue for the right to move your military across someone else's territory, among other options.
I considered it a pretty descriptive review by William Harris.Quote:
To say I loved every minute of Rome: Total War is a tremendous understatement. For my money, it's the ultimate strategy game. Not only does it effortlessly combine turn-based strategy with raucous real-time warmongering, but it delivers them in a package that is accessible and easy to play. Right now, it's definately the leading contender for Strategy Game of the Year.
By the way, they recommend a P4 2.8GHz, 1GB Ram, 256MB 3D Card system.
Required is a PIII 1GHz, 256MB Ram, 3.5GB HD, 64MB 3D Card system.
