Rome - Total War
Jan 25, 2010 21:23:37 GMT
Post by SharpEar on Jan 25, 2010 21:23:37 GMT
I've been a fan of the Total War real-time strategy series for a while, and I fear that could generate a level of professional bias. I'll attempt to review this game completely independently from the others, without allowing the series' good track record to influence my opinion.
So why do people play RTS's? Well, the hectic thrill one feels as the enemy closes on their ranks comes to mind. That moment where any plans you've made need to be executed in perfect synchronicity, and any loose ends tied up by the general's watchful eye. Also, there's nothing quite like the feeling after winning a statistically inconceivable victory through cunnivery and cunning.
What about Rome Total War, then? Has it this tactical depth merged with ease of control and smooth interface that makes for a good RTS? Well, among other things, yes it does. However, those "other things" could also be seen as holding it back from greatness. The same individualizing properties that make it unique among RTS's, (and the need to separate oneself from the usual cloud of RTS's is a chief priority of developers) also damage it somewhat.
Take the Age of Empires series, for instance. As RTS's go, they're completely different games from RTW. Micromanagement isn't "micro" at all. Everything happens on the same map, essentially, and nothing is really of any complexity to the core mechanics. While this makes for a fun, adaptable, and easy to jump into gaming atmosphere, it lacks a certain level of depth which players like myself appreciate.
So in comparing one of the more mainstream and recognizable series; i.e. Age of Empires games, to Rome Total War we find some significant weaknesses in both. Rome could be seen as being overly Byzantine (ironically enough) and complicated. Whereas AoE could be seen as shallow and boring having so few gameplay elements. Before I get ahead of myself, I'd better talk about the game itself some more.
Rome Total War takes place in the mid classical period of the ancient world, some time after the death of Alexander and his Hellenistic Empire, for all you history-lovers like myself. This means that there are plenty of splinter factions such as the Seleucids and Thracians hanging about, and that Rome herself is just becoming an international superpower.
The game's campaign mode gives you a choice of three powerful Roman families, and you will become the patriarch of the family you choose. The three most recognizable Roman families; the Julius, Scipio, and Brutus families, populate the roster. Each faction has a family member as acting governer of two Roman cities, essentially meaning that the family effectively "owns" those cities. The families are free to act as they please, but must obey the central government in Rome itself on any matters, if they don't wish to incur the wrath of the powerful senate and find themselves censured.
Okay, now what's wrong with this picture? It's not a bloody RTS, that's what's wrong with it! Now, granted that all of these features integrate very well, and can be quite enjoyable, I've not even scratched the surface of the depth of the campaign mode. There's negotiation with powers, both foreign and domestic, public opinion, building armies, training armies, maintaining armies, stationing and deciding on a general for an army, defending cities, building structures in cities, managing tax rates in cities, carefully gauging citizen happiness in cities, managing your PR department, as it were, with the senators and plebians, performing tasks assigned to you by the senate, managing your relatives, your resources, your trade routes, your navy, keeping track of what treaties you have and haven't got with other nations, keeping track of other nations' opinion of you, sending out spies, diplomats, assassins, OH JESUS CHRIST.
*Sigh* I really do like this game, but there's just so much micromanaging going on. Now, you don't really have to do everything I listed, but if you don't you're liable to miss something and lose the game. That's right, the slightest slip up can ruin your popularity with the plebians and doom your chances of becoming dictator of Rome and overthrowing the senate, which is the ultimate goal of the main campaign. Unless you're playing the "short" campaign, which I somehow get the feeling is short in the same way that the yellow bus for retarded children is short. "Oh it's okay... u dont has 2 taek over romez, just attack thees other gaiz and itll be awight." Seriously, it's so damned easy on the short mode that you might as well not even bother. So you gotta man up, inject yourself with a bottle worth of liquefied aspirin and take on the long campaign. That is, if you haven't got friends, a job, or anything else to do of any importance.
God, this is just unimaginable. Who wants to do all of this? Some sick fuck out there who gets a jolly looking at spreadsheets is losing his jizz right now playing Rome Total War. I used to get angry at people who judged all real time strategy games as sad, pathetic, life-absorbing and pointless endeavors unto futility, but this one's actually changed my mind!
Don't get me wrong, though, the game is awesome. It's just not a game, it's fuckin' practice for tax season with all it's pointless management. At first, I actually loved managing so many gameplay elements, and to this day it's one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had with a game. But they went too far. I'd like to see a redux of this game with a separate mode that doesn't have so much cheese on top of all the gearworks, as it were, but somehow I get the feeling that any simplification of it would just make it dumbed down and mindless, like the short campaign is.
So, that's all, review's over.
...Huh? What's that? OH! There's real time strategy in the game too. I was convinced that it was all turn-based clusterfucking. I'm kidding, of course. The combat is great. The units are very well balanced, and I've done more custom battles than I can count, exploring the different possibilities and intricacies of the game's engine and design. The campaign mode integrates extraordinarily well with the combat system, as well. Auto-resolve is always an option too, if you feel that the action is breaking up all the fun you were having with the tedious spreadsheet of an interface that is the campaign mode. I love choosing a random nation and strategically picking apart a Roman legion in custom battle mode. There is an assortment of historical battles you can play as well, and some of them are quite fun. Quick battle mode launches you into a predesigned battle as a random faction. Very fun until you start to see the same battles again, although I admit it takes a bit of drudgery to get to that point, and you probably won't see that same one twice as long as you don't spend too long playing them.
Anyway, the game kicks arse through a brick wall and then closes in to finish it off, but there's so much tedious micromanagement that any but the most hardcore RTS fans will likely be scared off by it. I loved it, personally, but I certainly cannot guarantee you the same experience. Even I eventually found myself sitting in front of my computer adjusting tax rates, and suddenly stopped dead in my tracks before the blinding light of epiphanic realization. After sitting dead still for a good five minutes I immediately shut off my computer and phoned one of my mates to go have a bite at Phat Burger. And that's the story of how Rome Total War almost consumed my mortal soul.
So why do people play RTS's? Well, the hectic thrill one feels as the enemy closes on their ranks comes to mind. That moment where any plans you've made need to be executed in perfect synchronicity, and any loose ends tied up by the general's watchful eye. Also, there's nothing quite like the feeling after winning a statistically inconceivable victory through cunnivery and cunning.
What about Rome Total War, then? Has it this tactical depth merged with ease of control and smooth interface that makes for a good RTS? Well, among other things, yes it does. However, those "other things" could also be seen as holding it back from greatness. The same individualizing properties that make it unique among RTS's, (and the need to separate oneself from the usual cloud of RTS's is a chief priority of developers) also damage it somewhat.
Take the Age of Empires series, for instance. As RTS's go, they're completely different games from RTW. Micromanagement isn't "micro" at all. Everything happens on the same map, essentially, and nothing is really of any complexity to the core mechanics. While this makes for a fun, adaptable, and easy to jump into gaming atmosphere, it lacks a certain level of depth which players like myself appreciate.
So in comparing one of the more mainstream and recognizable series; i.e. Age of Empires games, to Rome Total War we find some significant weaknesses in both. Rome could be seen as being overly Byzantine (ironically enough) and complicated. Whereas AoE could be seen as shallow and boring having so few gameplay elements. Before I get ahead of myself, I'd better talk about the game itself some more.
Rome Total War takes place in the mid classical period of the ancient world, some time after the death of Alexander and his Hellenistic Empire, for all you history-lovers like myself. This means that there are plenty of splinter factions such as the Seleucids and Thracians hanging about, and that Rome herself is just becoming an international superpower.
The game's campaign mode gives you a choice of three powerful Roman families, and you will become the patriarch of the family you choose. The three most recognizable Roman families; the Julius, Scipio, and Brutus families, populate the roster. Each faction has a family member as acting governer of two Roman cities, essentially meaning that the family effectively "owns" those cities. The families are free to act as they please, but must obey the central government in Rome itself on any matters, if they don't wish to incur the wrath of the powerful senate and find themselves censured.
Okay, now what's wrong with this picture? It's not a bloody RTS, that's what's wrong with it! Now, granted that all of these features integrate very well, and can be quite enjoyable, I've not even scratched the surface of the depth of the campaign mode. There's negotiation with powers, both foreign and domestic, public opinion, building armies, training armies, maintaining armies, stationing and deciding on a general for an army, defending cities, building structures in cities, managing tax rates in cities, carefully gauging citizen happiness in cities, managing your PR department, as it were, with the senators and plebians, performing tasks assigned to you by the senate, managing your relatives, your resources, your trade routes, your navy, keeping track of what treaties you have and haven't got with other nations, keeping track of other nations' opinion of you, sending out spies, diplomats, assassins, OH JESUS CHRIST.
*Sigh* I really do like this game, but there's just so much micromanaging going on. Now, you don't really have to do everything I listed, but if you don't you're liable to miss something and lose the game. That's right, the slightest slip up can ruin your popularity with the plebians and doom your chances of becoming dictator of Rome and overthrowing the senate, which is the ultimate goal of the main campaign. Unless you're playing the "short" campaign, which I somehow get the feeling is short in the same way that the yellow bus for retarded children is short. "Oh it's okay... u dont has 2 taek over romez, just attack thees other gaiz and itll be awight." Seriously, it's so damned easy on the short mode that you might as well not even bother. So you gotta man up, inject yourself with a bottle worth of liquefied aspirin and take on the long campaign. That is, if you haven't got friends, a job, or anything else to do of any importance.
God, this is just unimaginable. Who wants to do all of this? Some sick fuck out there who gets a jolly looking at spreadsheets is losing his jizz right now playing Rome Total War. I used to get angry at people who judged all real time strategy games as sad, pathetic, life-absorbing and pointless endeavors unto futility, but this one's actually changed my mind!
Don't get me wrong, though, the game is awesome. It's just not a game, it's fuckin' practice for tax season with all it's pointless management. At first, I actually loved managing so many gameplay elements, and to this day it's one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had with a game. But they went too far. I'd like to see a redux of this game with a separate mode that doesn't have so much cheese on top of all the gearworks, as it were, but somehow I get the feeling that any simplification of it would just make it dumbed down and mindless, like the short campaign is.
So, that's all, review's over.
...Huh? What's that? OH! There's real time strategy in the game too. I was convinced that it was all turn-based clusterfucking. I'm kidding, of course. The combat is great. The units are very well balanced, and I've done more custom battles than I can count, exploring the different possibilities and intricacies of the game's engine and design. The campaign mode integrates extraordinarily well with the combat system, as well. Auto-resolve is always an option too, if you feel that the action is breaking up all the fun you were having with the tedious spreadsheet of an interface that is the campaign mode. I love choosing a random nation and strategically picking apart a Roman legion in custom battle mode. There is an assortment of historical battles you can play as well, and some of them are quite fun. Quick battle mode launches you into a predesigned battle as a random faction. Very fun until you start to see the same battles again, although I admit it takes a bit of drudgery to get to that point, and you probably won't see that same one twice as long as you don't spend too long playing them.
Anyway, the game kicks arse through a brick wall and then closes in to finish it off, but there's so much tedious micromanagement that any but the most hardcore RTS fans will likely be scared off by it. I loved it, personally, but I certainly cannot guarantee you the same experience. Even I eventually found myself sitting in front of my computer adjusting tax rates, and suddenly stopped dead in my tracks before the blinding light of epiphanic realization. After sitting dead still for a good five minutes I immediately shut off my computer and phoned one of my mates to go have a bite at Phat Burger. And that's the story of how Rome Total War almost consumed my mortal soul.