Rome: Total War (including Barbarian Invasion and Alexander)

Nice game, deploying elephants and crushing enemy lines very funny. When i played campaign, i chose Scipio, captured Africa and game let me kill whole city ​​population

Amazing ... I'm .... wordless

The best in the series (my personal opinion) this game and its expansion packs have great graphics and physics, and overall a easy to learn and fun play style. There is no blood and no stabbing, unlike many of its sequels, but still I wouldn't say its for small children. However, great game, a personal favourite.

It is a great game for 10 & up. It has the odd sword fighting to the death and arrow but no blood or gore.

It provides a good insight into the structure of the Roman army and how the Romans managed the populations of towns and cities. It also forces the player, of the game, to think logically and rationally in order to become the Dictator of the Roman Empire. Overall a nice educational game

Total War is one of the best series of games, and I was raised on RTS (Real Time Strategy) with Age of Empires III and TBS (Turn Based Strategy) with Civilization IV. This game combines them. In the Imperial Campaign, you build an empire, but you can't stay peaceful for long. Sooner or later some faction (or you) will declare war on someone. You can choose to auto-resolve a battle or fight it out. If you fight it out, and are playing as a Roman faction, you will hear plenty of "Unleash He!!", but that was a real Roman War chant. This game is exellent for teaching history, and contrary to its name, you can play as many of the classical Mediterranian civilizations, not just the Romans.

One reason that I gave it a 10 and up is because of the difficulty in this game. I'm 13 so I'm fine with the strategical/tactical stand points of the game, and gotten to the point of being very good at it too, but the difficulty of commanding an army in a battle can be difficult for little kiddies, (there is a difficulty setting though). But you will get good at it after a while. Another factor is the Imperial Campaign. This can be punishingly hard for newbies, because if you sit there and not do anything at all and not take any actions, (like raise taxes, or conquer cities) you will start to lose money, and when you lose money, you cant sustain your army, and so the Gauls, Greeks and Carthaginians will eat you up like a Turkey Sandwich. Also, one major violence issue is not the violence itself, but what it leaves over. The is no despawning mechanism for the corpses, so be prepared to see HUNDREDS of dead bodies to litter the battlefield. This was only made to make the game more realistic, but this might not be suitable for the little kiddies.

Strategically the game is fantastic. If you play then there will be several positive influences. You could develop an instinct for geography. ("The Dacians were here, Damascus is here. etc.) You gain a sense of organization because of the numerous factors taken into account. (Did you know total war won an award for these games because they were so realistic.) Finally you will definetelly learn some history. It is more historically accurate than any game I have ever encountered. The battle scenes may be huge, they may result in hundred, maybe thousands of deaths, but graphically the game is fine. All in all the gameplay is fun, the values are fine, and the violence is nothing most can't handle.

I bought this game when I was nine. Nine. Need I repeat? Nine! NINE! Honestly... It lost my interest for a while, but, after I began to understand strategy games, I realized that this is probably one of the best of them. Rome Total War combines a brilliant campaign, and excellent 1000 on 1000 soldier battles. The battles are nearly bloodless, the women and men wear totally full body armor, blows on the battle field can barely be seen... And you rate this 13 and up? My, my... Not a very strategic choice *wink wink*. I know! The strategists shall rise in arms! We shall fight for this beautiful game! And on the day of retribution, we shall say, nay, we shall shout, for Jupiter, Zeus, Anubis. Roma Vita. Roma Vita... Roma Vita! ROMA. VITA!!! Thanks for reading, and remember, Ceaser shall find the strategist haters.