'Total War: Rome' Sequel Announced

Sega has just announced the sequel, Total War: Rome II, which has been in development at The Creative Assembly. It is only available for the PC and is currently set to be launched at the end of 2013.

I am a MASSIVE fan of Rome: Total War which came out about 8 years ago. Even though the first game got me hooked to the series, none of its successors had been successful in surpassing the original in my opinion. I don't know what I loved about that game but, I have finished the campaign with pretty much every faction.

The sequel will be keeping the signature top view perspective for RTS combat. Like always you can zoom all the way down to one soldier or backup to see your whole army. Amongst the changes made to the game, three are most prominent.

First is the graphics which look superb! The level of detail on each unit is just amazing. Second are the large scale battles that we know so well. But this time around, the numbers are MUCH higher. Finally, the last bit is new to the series - naval combat! Using ships we will be able to drop troops directly on to beaches and launch attacks from there.

Mike Simmons, Creative Director, said that they are pushing the game to its limits. They are trying to reach a level of unprecedented detail and scale. They plan on not only making the battles epic but also so detailed that the players can even sense the drama all the way down to a single soldier. This attention to detail seems to have added a cinematic flair to the whole experience.

Rob Bartholemew, Brand Director, also stated that they plan on setting another benchmark in gaming. Now that is promising! Amongst the other new features revealed at the moment is the fact that individual armies will also gain individual traits based on their battle experience. This would provide another layer of personality to the armies themselves which were only applicable to the generals in the original. Also they seem to have developed a better AI that would challenge even the most adept of players.

It is obvious that these guys understand it won't be easy surpassing Rome: Total War which got excellent reviews from gamers and critics alike. I hope they are using this as motivation to wow us once more. Considering that the 25^th anniversary for The Creative Assembly is coming up, I remained quite hopeful that all of us are in for quite a treat! For now check out the live action trailer for Total War: Rome II. Is it just me or does this trailer kind of suggest the three main ways of winning the game?

Cinematic Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKglskMfyWA

Check out the developer interviews for more details:

General Details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tycIeIDUbw

Battle Details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBq_04CF0qc

Blog Written by Shahriar Azad