This isn’t the fault of the developer, nor the game itself it was brilliant then and with the nostalgia glasses firmly on it is brilliant now. But just as I’ve gone back to old Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga’s Ambition and Civilization games and found that the AI is the one big thing that makes the newer titles stand out as an improvement (indeed, I often prefer the older aesthetics of these titles), so too does Rome Remastered struggle in this critical area. It’s still a highly playable game and can be very challenging if you want it to be. As (un)intelligent and lacking in creativity as every effort of AI was back in those days. Three Kingdoms had some beautiful AI that made the tactics and strategy feel very organic and challenging. AI is so complex and involved that you may as well make a new game. The problem is that strategy game experience relies heavily on AI, and you can’t really “remaster” that. There’s also a solid effort at updating the visuals so that the experience looks the part of a proper remaster. The development team at Feral Interactive has done a great job in updating the UI so that it’s much more accessible and approachable, and there’s even one new unit to play around with, which does add some new texture to the experience. Compare this directly to the most recent full Total War title ( Three Kingdoms), and Rome looks and feels raw, if not archaic. ![]() ![]() I will say upfront that Rome Remastered works better as nostalgia than a “new” Total War game. I’ve loved having the opportunity to play Total War: Rome. Despite playing it on a platform that is less-than-preferred for me, I love this series with a fiery passion, and I never miss one. The combination of tense real-time (if pausable) combat and grand strategy machinations between battles simply demands that classic mouse and keyboard input. The Total War series is one such example. I prefer the console experience, and always have, but there are some games that just wouldn’t work anywhere on console. It also adds about 20 GB to the install and impacted my performance on the Extreme unit size to the point that I was no longer able to cruise at 60+fps on my GeForce RTX 2060 Super with no major dips, like I was without the pack installed.I’m not much of a PC gamer. Faces don't look nearly as flat and dead, though the overall quality level is still below Rome 2 or Shogun 2. Weapons and armor, especially, look much shinier and more realistic. Optional UpgradeThough it wasn't made available for this review, Total War: Rome Remastered offers a free, Enhanced Graphics Pack that includes greatly enhanced textures – and it does go a long way toward bringing the look of the units up to a level of quality more like what you'd expect in a modern Total War game. The whole soundtrack is energetic, distinct, and evocative. Barbarian Victory is still one of my favorite tracks from any strategy game. Oh, and the music? It still totally slaps. You can also play as any faction right from the jump, whereas the original required you to beat each one while playing as Rome to unlock them – unless you want to do it the old-fashioned way. This made the trade-off for lower resolution fighty guys seem more acceptable, as I was able to orchestrate some truly titanic, ancient clashes. ![]() For one, there's a new "experimental" unit size that allows for even larger battles, in terms of the total number of troops, than even modern Total War games have without mods. ![]() There are a couple places where Rome: Remastered has added totally new features, and they're kinda neat. And it seems like Feral Interactive has gone out of their way to keep the look and feel of a 2004 UI when I would have rather they shined and polished it up a bit more. Getting more detail on how a specific building or unit ability works might be a pain or just impossible. But Rome: Remastered still doesn't offer up information as easily as its descendants. That's usually the part of older strategy games that drives me up a wall the fastest, since modern games have gotten so much better at it. “The UI is definitely much improved, especially in terms of readability.
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