If video games were Roman defeats, Rome II: Total War would be Manzikert, which was a pretty bad showing for the Romans, one with a high cost. But the long-term effects of that battle are complex and far-reaching, over-analyzed and often over-weighted. Some historians go so far as to describe Manzikert as the event that kneecapped the Roman Empire, which is ironic because the part of it you know about was long gone by 1071 and the other part would totter on for another four hundred years. Me, I don’t buy it. Manzikert was bad, but post-Manzikert misgovernance did more damage than the battle itself. Byzantium could have recovered, it just failed to. Similarly Total War: Rome II has ample opportunity to recover from the scattershot problems of initial release and turn itself into a genuinely remarkable game. If Creative Assembly bungles that opportunity, then Rome II, like Manzikert, will be remembered as the beginning of the end.
Review by Jason Dobry Total War: Shogun 2 Developer Creative Assembly Publisher Sega Released March 15, 2011 Available for PC (Windows XP, Vista, 7) Time Played – 55 hours and counting Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star “CA learned from its mistakes and made a masterpiece of strategy gaming…Everything is better, and most importantly, not so much because it’s ‘bigger,’ but because they refined and streamlined in all of the right places..” My last experience with Total War was the regrettably mediocre …
In joy, that is. As part of my wake-up ritual, I was slogging through the Internet when I bumbled onto a piece of news so exciting it caused me to call my wife into the room. The conversation went something like this: JASON: OHMYGOD! COURTNEY (from the bathroom): What? JASON: Oh my God, Oh my God…come in here! COURTNEY enters the living room with a make up brush in hand: What. JASON: Look at this! …
Review by Jason Dobry Empire: Total War Developer The Creative Assembly Publisher SEGA Released March 1, 2009 Available for Windows XP/Vista Verdict 3/5 Middlin’ “Fans (like myself) of prior TW titles will appreciate the massive improvements to the turn-based campaign, but may be disappointed by the sleepytime AI in both the real-time and turn-based portions of the game, the infuriating pathfinding, and poor unit diversity.”