On the hardcore side of things, elite players can raise the difficulty, removing the majority of information from the UI, taking away the ‘cheating’ pause option and vastly upping the cunning and aggression of opponents. For additional education, mini-tutorial movies help to refresh or enlighten on the intricacies of a game that Jamie describes as straightforward to learn, but difficult to master. As the game progresses, the training doesn’t end, though, as persistent guidance is offered every step of the way, while an inbuilt encyclopaedia provides gameplay insights and historical context. The separate prologue campaign we played stands as the first pertinent example of this, as training is offered in a meaningful way with an emphasis on historical authenticity and solid storytelling. This time around, though, Total War is seeking to attract the fickle attention of newcomers and, generally, less-hardcore gamers albeit with the added challenge of not alienating devoted fans and watering down the overall product.
Rome II will attract new fans and impress loyalists… Given the long-running nature of the Total War series and its tendency to attract a more hardcore audience, The Creative Assembly could be easily forgiven for ignoring mainstream gamers and those with only a passing interest in what is essentially a hybrid version of digital chess.
Here are five things you need to know about Rome II, based on our hands-on session and chat with Lead Battle Designer Jamie Ferguson. It's a multi-faceted beast as deep as it is gorgeous, and developer The Creative Assembly has gone to great lengths to ensure it is accessible, scale-able and as true to history as possible. We recently spent a couple of quality hours with the latest entry in the tactical series Rome II.