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Well, since I’ve been mentioned in the initial post as loving this series I guess it falls to me to make the first post.
As to the game play experience, it largely depends on what you want/expect. Certainly, I wouldn’t say that Rome is any worse in general gameplay than its predecessor, it's just a different beast.
That said, Rome does have certain advantages, and perhaps the most notable is the huge overhaul of the campaign map.
Gone are the simple areas of landmass, where an army either is or is not present, and in are the massively more detailed terrains. Multiple opposing armies can now trek through Gaul and never meet each other, which opens up a massive wealth of strategies as much as it prevents the simple MTW tactic of defending your empire by just placing big armies on your outermost areas.
In Rome, armies now only clash when they actually meet, which is a good point at which to mention another advantage of the game over its predecessor...
...as well as being a gorgeously rendered 3D experience, one of the biggest advantages lies in the map’s actual terrain, which now has a direct impact on battles fought there.
With MTW, there existed a certain set of core map types (coast, with river, mountains, etc.) which were assigned to the areas of the overall map. Sure, the actual topography of the battle map was randomly generated, but they still followed simple formula, and every battle in a certain area had, roughly, the same kind of map. This tended to lead to the same basic battle-strategies being employed.
In Rome however, you must choose your battles carefully, depending not only on the makeup of your and the opponent’s army, but now on where your armies meet. Every piece of scenery you see on the world map is reproduced faithfully on the battle map, which means that I can be sure that if I place my army on a bridge over the river Rhine near to a deeply forested hill, that will be exactly what I get to play on should my army be attacked or attack there. I can then ensure that my army is equipped to get the best strategic advantage from that terrain.
I also greatly like the way in which members of your faction grow and develop, gaining flaws or merits according to their actions. This was done pretty well in MTW, but it really does have a much larger impact in Rome, which adds a lot to the game. On a bit more of a geeky level, I also found myself empathising with certain movers and shakers in my faction far more in Rome than in MTW, rewarding those who performed well and setting those who didn't up as practice targets for my assassins.
I guess the only gripe I had with Rome vanilla (i.e. the unmodded version), was the - at times - hugely disproportionate power levels of the empires. I appreciated the realism of course (that part of the reason for Rome’s utter domination of the then known world was its highly advanced and disciplined army), but such a difference of power levels did not a fun game make. Before I heavily modded the game with the Rome Total Realism patch, I never once felt that my army or empire was threatened, except by other Roman factions, and even in battles where I was hideously outnumbered, my tiny but well disciplined force could win with minimal losses.
Similarly, playing as the barbarian factions could at times seem like a taking on Goliath without remembering to bring your sling.
I loved MTW, for all its poor graphics and many flaws, and loved Rome for its massively improved interface and campaign map. Even if MTW2 introduces no new advantages and simply rebuilds MTW on the Rome engine, it will quickly become my favourite game, and quite possible the greatest PC game of all time.
Share your favourite campaigns, battles and factions here.
I confess that I'm a sucker for the Arab people. I've spent a lot of time in the Middle East, and speak the language (albeit to a very basic level). Consequently, I find myself leaning towards the Arab factions in both MTW and Rome, which are a lot of fun to play (there's also the highly enjoyable tactic of sending legions of Imam out into the world to inhabit infidel cities until they revolt in your favour). |
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