Accessories

great game
MY 15 YEAR OLD SON LOVES THIS GAME AND I FEEL LIKE HE IS LEARNING A BIT OF HISTORY TOO

It was okay. Watch the hype
This review speaks to both Rome and Barbarian Invasion. There are some differences, but the gameplay is essentially the same.

I'm a long time fan of strategy war games going all the way back to the first Strategic Conquest game by Delta Tao. I love every flavor of Civilization, from Sid Meier's to Stardock, and games like Stronghold. So, I was looking forward to playing Rome because I thought it had elements of all of those classics. And it does. You have to build and maintain cities, raise armies and duke it out on the battlefield.

But it just didn't grab me. Not in the way those other games did. For one thing, I never could figure out what made one city a happy cash cow and another city a money pit full of pissed off plebes. It seemed to have more to do with population than with infrastructure or tax rates (certain buildings give moral bonuses; higher tax rates make people unhappy). It just seemed kind of random. The only way to conquer a city and not have a riot on your hands for ten terms seemed to be to enslave the population or exterminate them. Me, I don't even like to step on a Sim Ant when I can avoid it.

I played Rome: Total War through one time as the Romans and Barbarian Invasion through three times; once as the Saxons, once as the Romans and once as the Horde...actually I never finished the Horde game. I was just over it by that point.

So, as with most games, it's going depend on what the player enjoys and the sort of game they like to play as to whether or not Rome is for you. By this point, the game is old enough where you can find it fairly cheap on E-bay or Amazon, so it's worth checking out. I think part of my problem was reading all these rave reviews, I had big expectations that weren't quite satisfied. Hope you get more out of it.

A brilliant, epic strategy game with a few bugs
Rome: Total War is one of the most immersing and enjoyable strategy games I have played. There are numerous troop types, realistic tactical strategies, and generals that earn experience and traits as they win. Though the focus is on warfare, there is also an extensive diplomacy system that includes such things as trade rights, alliances, military access, and more.
However, despite these things, Rome: Total War suffers from several bugs. For example, you will not be able to play the original Rome: Total War if you install Barbarian Invasion. If you wish to play the original once the expansion was been installed, you must uninstall both and reinstall Rome. There are also numerous little bugs that have popped up during game play - though non so serious that they truly hinder the play or enjoyment of the game. Actually, some of the bugs have a comical effect, such as having a building displayed called "The Awesome Horse Temple" (needless to say Horse was not one of the ancient gods).
All in all, Rome is a game that is very enjoyable and offers realistic strategies and tactics while also educating you in the culture and advances made from around 300 B.C. to the first century.

Excellent game with modest system requirements
I bought Medieval II: Total War, which is a great game but won't run on my laptop. I then tried Medieval: Total War, but it was a little too outdated and somewhat simplistic. Rome: Total war has almost all of the great features of version II, but will run on older machines. It's quite fun, with a lot of historical information as well.

Fast delivery. A must have for the game strategist.
This is a turn based game were the player captures cities on a map of ancient Europe. Player must manage the economics of each city that is owned, by building structures and taxing the citizens. Military units must be created on the genre of ancient Roman times for the defense of cities and expansion of the players empire. The highlight of this game is the management of unit formations on the battlefield. Players can choose to manage units on the battlefield or let the computer automatically calculate the results. Player management is best when the odds are equal to high against success.