Rome: Total War Hands-On

Well the die was cast, and I was committed to combat and I had to try to make the best of it. I surveyed the barbarian horde outside my gates.  A huge number of light infantry, two full groups of archers, three groups of pike men and four groups of cavalry, two groups positioned at the back of the group where the Gaul general was commanding his troops. My immediate plan was to lure a large group of the Gaul close enough that my Archers could pepper them with arrows from behind the walls. What makes better bait than a group of fat, juicy peasants that are shoved out of the front gate? If I could have rung a large bell and yelled "Come ‘n git it!" as I ushered my sacrificial lamb out the door to draw more attention to them, I would have.

Knock, knock! It's us Romans!

Romans knew how to make cool Disco nights.

And like the slavering animals they were, the Gaul took the bait. Two groups of light infantry broke ranks and rushed forward, followed closely by one of the cavalry. Soon the cavalry had passed the light infantry and were galloping at full speed, intent on running my poor peasants down. I waited for a few seconds to allow their cavalry to get closer then opened the gates and moved my pike men out through the peasants, followed by a regiment of my own light infantry to defend the pike men from the Gaul’s foot soldiers. The thunder of hooves was joined by the crash of steel and the screams of men as the mounted troops fell from their mounts, impaled on the pikes. As I was mopping up the last few cavalry, the Gaul’s light infantry joined fray. My own light infantry and pike men soon dispatched the bulk of the regiment and sent the rest fleeing for the hills. This spurred the Gaul pike men to rush in toward my troops still outside the gate, who were mopping up the stragglers.

I was hoping this would happen. I maneuvered my archers to a prime spot and let volley after volley fly from behind the city walls. As the pike men continued their mad rush forward, more and more succumbed to my arrows, I opened the gates and ushered my remaining forces outside the gate back inside to safety. I had thinned their troops a bit and more importantly gotten rid of the biggest threat to my cavalry. As my archers dealt with the last of their retreating pike men (none survived), I then moved my archers to the other side of city to see if the last group of pike men had shifted within range while combat was going on outside the gates. Once I had the archers in place, I found that my archers had expended all of their ammunition. I wanted to confirm this is what really happened and I did not do something wrong, but a quick response from one of the developers assured me this was indeed the case. While I was a little miffed that I was not going to be able to exploit the AI into becoming nothing but pin cushions, I was informed that you can set the game to Arcade mode where all missile units have unlimited ammunition. After thinking about the new challenge this posed for me, I decided I liked the idea. It was time to try using my brain and not old exploit tactics I had learned from other games.

Looking at the terrain around my city and behind the Gaul, I had an idea so crazy, it just might work. I moved two of my three remaining light infantry troops out the left and right side gates and positioned them just out of view of the Gaul. As they were getting into place, I rode my general and two cavalry units out the right side, far behind my city and flanked the Gaul. I was able to use the terrain as cover to get behind the missile units and pike men. The only thing that stood between my cavalry and the enemy general and his cavalry was a sharp rise and some trees that obscured me from their view.

The plan I had was this: put my remaining peons and pike men out the front gate and march them slowly towards the Gaul. I figured this would bring their remaining pike men from the left rushing in along with the remaining light infantry. Meanwhile, I hoped the missile units would stay where they were facing my city in front of the general and his cavalry.  When their forward troops were invested in their advance on my peasants and pike men, I would bring in the light infantry from the left and right sides where they were hidden by the city walls and rush the Gaul general from behind with my cavalry. If I could take out their general, this should shake the remaining troops badly enough and create enough confusion to eliminate the rest. 

That was my plan and it was a damn good one considering I pulled it out of thin air. So I put the plan into motion. Out through the gate went the remaining peasants and pike men, marching slowly towards the Gaul’s positions. I was thrilled as the enemy responded exactly as I had hoped! Everything they had but their missile troops and the general’s men rushed in towards my men. When his troops were close to my diversionary group, I brought the infantry in from the left and right at a full run while I launched my general and his troops at the back of the enemy commander. As my mounted troops struck them from behind, chaos erupted. The Gaul’s missile troops scattered while some tried to get to safety and others tried to get to firing range. The pike men and light infantry who had sprung my trap broke in confusion and terror and they realized that they had enemy troops in front and to both sides of them. The ones who were not trapped and cut down, fled as fast as they could.

The Gaul general had lost more than half of his cavalry almost as soon as my men hit his. It took time for them to regroup but by then it was too late. Suddenly a message popped up telling me that the enemy general had been slain! The word spread quickly through the remaining enemy ranks and their war cries were replaced with screams of terror as Gaul troops took off in every direction. I was feeling cocky so I ordered my troops to follow them and cut them down. That’s when it happened. In my hasty pursuit, some of the archers had regained their composure and began firing into my cavalry from optimum range. A great shout of anguish went up from my men when my general and his troops were cut to shreds. The remainders of my troops rallied and chased the final Gaul troops out of my land. I had won against nearly impossible odds, but my arrogance had turned my excitement into grim satisfaction. I retained my city, but lost the only viable commander I had at my command. Oh well, time to take one of the drooling relatives and carefully mold and guide him into the next Caesar.

I spent the rest of the time letting the computer resolve the battle for me and instead I went exploring the intricacies of managing my empire, sending spies to gather information and cause trouble in enemy cities and trying to complete tasks assigned to me by the Senate for reward and the improvement of my family’s standing in the Empire. I could have easily stayed and played the game late into the next morning but my four hours with the game literally flew by. The game also includes the support for multiplayer in the 3D combat mode only, but I did not get a chance to try that out as I was so wrapped up in the single player game.

The thought that kept coming to mind through the play test was 'quality'. From everything that I saw, Rome: Total War is going to gobble up huge amounts of my free time. The music, the voice talent, the in game cut scenes, the animations, the strategic combat mode, everything seems to be in place for a Rome: Total War to become a new classic. While they do have a bit more stability tweaking before the game’s Fall release date (I was dumped to the desktop several times but thanks to the games’ auto save feature at the end of each turn, I was able to continue my campaign) I am hoping they release the game soon because the desire to play more of the single-player game is strong. There is much more that will convince the doubters that Rome: Total War is more than a Civilization ‘me too’ title, but we will save that for the full review once the game ships. For now, I am going to go hone my tactical skills with the demo that was released on Monday. Time is short and I am going to ensure when one family is left to rule all of the Roman Empire, my ragged band of inbred slack jawed yokels is at the helm.