Whenever I’m busy bashing the validity of turn-based games in the contemporary gaming age which, believe me, I do far more often than a gentleman should, I always mention one key exception: the Total War series. While the turn-based genre never really managed to fully capture or maintain my attention, the Total War series grabbed it completely with its clever merging of turn-based strategy and real-time awesome sauce.
Now Total War fans can rejoice as the seemingly inevitable but ultimately exciting announcement has come through that The Creative Assembly is currently developing Total War: Rome II. While it’s still at least a year away (it’s slated for release in the second half of 2013), SEGA is claiming that Rome II will “combine the most expansive turn-based campaign and the largest, most cinematic real-time battles yet seen in any game.” Epic is too small a word… when I steal a catchphrase from another series.
The press release promises that Rome II will immerse players in the political happenings of the Roman senate, all the while challenging you to keep your house in order as you combat family dramas and questions of loyalty. It seems that HBO might have influenced this game somehow, which the video at the bottom of this article suggests. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course.
Mike Simpson, creative director for Rome II, was on hand to field generic press-release quotes. “Our games have always encompassed a grand vision. But we’re now pushing that vision at both ends of the spectrum. From the immense reach of the sandbox campaign right down to the human-level drama of a single warrior on the battlefield, we’re aiming for an unprecedented level of detail and scale”.
But why the return to Rome, brand director Rob Bartholomew? “In our 25th year of games development, it feels fitting to return to our most critically acclaimed era. There’s been a multi-generational leap in technology since the original game and we are ready to set another benchmark in gaming.”
And we are ready to receive another Total War game. Are you?
