if ya want vivid battles go back to playin' RTW heheh
there's no heavy units like in Medieval times and most men are half nakid and have a small shield with a short spear or sword. the armor/weapons they have isn't nearly as advanced as well. they just barely invented steel and thus not usin' it as much and it's of far lower quality.

when ya look at the above points it's easy to see why the battles in Rome are rather hectic in most cases. the infantry is super light compared to Medieval times and soldiers fight/die faster as a result.. it's much easier to toss an unarmoured man into the air as opposed to a tincan walkin' one...

basically, to me, RTW battles look very realistic as far as those details go... and I don't have problems with *lesser* graphics either ;)