Ladies and gentlemen, start your emulators! It is time for a special episode of RetrOS, the show where we give you your recommended dose of nostalgia by reviewing games from your childhood. The date of posting marked the 21st anniversary of the day that my past, present, and future changed.
This year, we are returning to remaster territory by revisiting the game I remember playing during the rehabilitation stage of my recovery. Is this game worthy of remembrance? Or is this remaster as painful as the GTA definitive edition trilogy at launch?
Let's find out!
Out of all the strategy game franchises out there, Creative Assembly's Total War series is one of the very few franchises that truly stood the test of time. Its unique blend of 4X mechanics, similar to Sid Mier's Civilisation mixed in with real-time tactical battles, is truly unique. The series began in 2000 with the release of the first game, Shogun: Total War. At the time, it was truly unique as it featured real-time battles in a fully fledged 3-D environment.
The classic has an expansion pack, Mongol Invasion, which allows you to play as the Mongol warlord, Kublai Khan, as you command your armies and take Japan by force! The game's direct sequel, Medieval Total War, was released in 2002. It took what was good about the first game in the series and cranked it tenfold. It went on to become an instant classic in the series as a whole.
Deploying to the front line, Rome: Total War, released in September 2004. This game is centred around the rise of the Roman Empire. In this game, you take command of one of three ruling families in Roman society. It is up to you to manage your settlements, economy, and armies, conduct diplomacy with other factions, and then use these armies to crush your enemies on the battlefield!
The Accessibility scores are as follows:
Visibility 8
Let's get this out of the way, there are no colourblind modes available in this game. To be fair, the game was released in 2004. Colourblindness was not a factor in the gaming industry as a whole.
However, even in a remaster, it should have been addressed! This is not an issue, as the symbol of the faction is present for each unit in battle, army, or settlement on the campaign map. Also, when the cursor is over them, tooltips should show you the controlling faction and that faction's diplomacy toward you.
Also, when it comes to armies on the campaign map, the amount of colour on their banner represents how strong that army is. This is important when planning attacks on enemy factions. After all, as Confucius once said, "the wise man knows where to fight, and when to run".
Therefore, a player with a visual impairment may encounter issues while playing this game; however, workarounds are available within the game's interface.
Audibility 10
When an adviser speaks to you, subtitles appear beside his or her portrait. Also, when a significant event occurs during a battle, for example, when a general of an army gets killed, text appears on the screen. It might not be as effective as full-blown subtitles, but it is better than nothing, I guess.
Mobility 10.5
As par for the course for all strategy games on PC, the game is primarily controlled by the mouse, left click selects armies and settlements, and interface navigation. Right-click issues orders. There are hotkeys which can be redefined to suit your impairments. This is important as the total war series is hotkey-dependent. For example, you can select your entire army by pressing Control + A.
You can also select between a different hotkeys scheme, made specifically for the remaster, or stick with the control scheme that was used in the classic 2004 version.
So, upon a mobility impairment can play this game with very few issues.
Gameplay 10
This remaster contained the base game, the Barbarian Invasion expansion pack, allowing you to command the various Barbarian factions, for example, the Huns, or the Western Roman Empire. In this exciting, you can either save Rome or destroy it.
This remaster also contains the Alexander expansion pack. Which allows you to follow the footsteps of one of history's greatest generals. Alexander The Great
.FUN FACT: did you know that Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Joan of Arc were all epileptic? It's theorised that the visions and which Joan had are attributed to epileptic seizures? See? Disabilities such as epilepsy should never stop you from achieving greatness!
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Even today, Rome: Total War is still seen as a classic from the series as a whole. It laid the foundation for a lot of total war titles going forward. Even the newest addition, Pharoh, the DNA of this title is still present in this game.
With three fully fledged campaigns to play through, this game has plenty of lifespan. You can also play multiplayer battles against other players online. Although the gameplay does get boring from battle to battle, this title is well worth revisiting.
This remaster also has full Steam Workshop support, and the mod manager is built into the game's launcher. This means that there is a broad range of content to enjoy for as long as the modding community of this game remains active.
With the sheer number of factions which are selectable with every campaign, there are plenty of strategic possibilities when you're playing this game.
In terms of system requirements, this game is extremely low-spec friendly. The game requires an Nvidia 600 series graphics card, which came out in the mid-200s. So, almost every PC to play this game with very decent settings at 1080p resolution.
So, if you are an RTS enthusiast, and is looking for a cheap, low-spec friendly game to play, this game is highly recommended.
OVERALL SCORE 96.25%
See you guys in the next review!
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