GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/10/2005
- Released on: 09/27/2005
- Originally published on GameSpot: Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion (PC) Review
If you managed to create a mighty ancient empire in Rome: Total War and you're looking for the next big challenge, then Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion should fit the bill. The expansion to last year's hit strategy game, Barbarian Invasion ups the challenge considerably from the original game. And you'll discover that the decline and fall of Rome is much tougher than its rise ever was.
It's supposed to be the decline and fall of Rome, but rewrite history your own way.
Barbarian Invasion introduces a ton of new content to the core game, as well as countless improvements. The expansion begins several hundred years after the campaign in Rome: Total War. The Roman Empire has become so large and unwieldy that it has split apart into eastern and western halves. Meanwhile, barbarian tribes and migrations of powerful newcomers introduce challengers to Rome's supremacy. You can play as either Roman faction, and you also can play as the barbarians themselves. The good news here is that you don't have to "unlock" them first by winning as a Roman faction, like you had to in the first game; these barbarians are playable from the get-go.
Pretty much any faction you choose will immediately highlight the main difference between Barbarian and the original game, though. Barbarian Invasion is a much more challenging game, partly because every faction starts out at some kind of disadvantage, and partly due to the improvements in the artificial intelligence. For example, if you select any of the barbarian tribes, such as the Saxons or the Franks, you'll quickly discover that you start with a very small amount of territory, and you're surrounded by lots of potentially hostile neighbors. Meanwhile, things aren't much easier for the two Roman factions, as Western Rome has a huge, vulnerable empire that's in decline, which makes it hard to defend. Eastern Rome, on the other hand, starts off on a much stronger position, but it'll need every resource at its disposal to fend off challenges from mighty rivals, such as the Sassanids and the dreaded Huns.
In order to carve out an empire in Barbarian Invasion, you're going to need to balance diplomacy and war to a greater extent than you did in the first game. That's because strategic-level artificial intelligence has improved considerably from the first game. Neighbors won't hesitate to stab you in the back if they see an opening, even if you're supposedly "friends." And when war happens, the AI no longer sends armies at you piecemeal. Instead, it amasses huge armies and sends them at you like some gigantic horde. Even on the "easy" difficulty level, the AI is relentless. For example, it will keep the pressure on a besieged city constantly, forcing you to send a relief force to lift the siege.
Battles are still full of carnage as thousands of men fight it out.
Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion (PC):
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