Product Description

Rome Total War Barbarian PC

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6310 in Video Games
• Brand: Sega Of America, Inc.
• Model: 85157
• Released on: 2005-09-27
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Features

• Defend Roman Empire from invading barbarians; set in 363 A.D.
• Expansion pack to the award-winning Rome: Total War game
• Experience brand-new generals, maps, battle conditions, and more
• 10 new playable factions, each with strategic options and exclusive army units
• For 1 player

From the Manufacturer
With this official expansion pack to the award-winning Rome: Total War, the action takes place 350 years later when the Roman Empire is beset by enemies inside and out. The year is 363 A.D., and the Roman Empire has split into two parts ruled from the cities of Rome and Constantinople. Barbarian tribes are massing on the Imperial frontiers and there are many, many challenges for a Roman to face--and some may be almost unbeatable!

Features:

• New factions, generals, maps, battle conditions, and more!
• 10 brand-new playable factions--each with unique strategic options and exclusive units for their armies.
• Featuring both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires.
• Huns--a new breed of warrior who live in the saddle.
• Vandals--their name is still a byword for wanton destruction!
• Saxons--invaders expanding westward to conquer the rich province of Britannia.
• Franks--the "free men".

Customer Reviews

What an expansion should be...
The Total War community has given a lot of feedback to the developers on the improvements they would like to see. I'd say pretty much all of the biggies were addressed and added in Barbarian Invasion. Rome: Total War is hands down one of my all-time favorites and a game I can still pickup and play again and again.

There is a lot of upgraded features you would expect from an expansion...little better graphics, upgraded units and increased functionality. The upgrades to the AI are the most noticeable, in my opinion.

The Total War community waited over a year for this to be released and it is readily apparent the developers spent this time to deliver an outstanding expansion. The price tag is definately worth it as well. The time period for the expansion is set in the declining years of the Roman Empire so basically you are getting a whole new game with this expansion.

The new game element rearranges the map to take into account what has happened historically in the last three hundred years. The Roman Empire is split between west and east and all the old factions from Rome:Total War have been assimilated into the Roman Empire. An interesting historical note when the game begins for the Eastern Roman Empire is the Faction Leader Valens. His defeat against the Goths was considered a milestone in the decline of the Roman Empire (for both halves). Not only was his army defeated, but the Emperor Valens was also killed. Oh and the Goths will come for you...Oh yes, they will come.

The Parthians have been surplanted by the Sassanid Empire in the east, but essentially all the old factions have become roman provinces. Basically, it's the barbarian factions battling it out for the choice pieces of real estate.

The new expansion is noticeably harder depending on which faction you play. The Western Roman Empire is by far the most difficult which took a great deal of time to beat. Why is it so difficult? Barbarian factions with a few exceptions don't die when you take their last city - they become a Horde. This is challenging in that you can't just move through and conquer cities to annihilate the Huns, Vandals, Sarmatians,etc. You need to not only conquer all their cities but kill every single family member in order to wipe the faction from the map or they will just keep spawning as new Hordes. You must fight them out in the open which pits you against their horse archers. As you play you will find different strategies on dealing with them, but needless to say it's very fun and challenging. My personal method is the very liberal use of assassins and fortifying cities while I pick apart their horde until I get their family members eliminated.

Bottomline - 5 out of 5 and highly recommended no matter what game genre you typically lean towards. You won't regret it.

More of the same, but later - excellent
I won't go so far as to say that this is an all new game, it isn't, but it is a welcome expansion to the first game which I had continued to play regularly right up to the release of BI.

Rome players who are unfamiliar with the later historical period of BI may be puzzled by the differences on the map, but rest assured, Creative Assembly have done a bit of homework in designing this game. The cities that have disappeared off the map from the earlier game are indeed gone because those cities had ceased to exist by that point due to wars, plagues and economic upheaval.

A good companion piece to this game would be Edward Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" - A damned good read.

Graphics in this game are similar to the original. THis game is not an expansion in that sense. I have a DEll XPS with a 256mb PCi express card from Nvidia that allows me to set the unit sizes to huge. Still, I have in the past turned down certain graphics options to ward off slowing during particularly epic battles. Slower systems may still be able to handle this game, but only with many graphics options and unit sizes paired down.

An awesome expansion!
I will admit that this game is hard. My first two attempts at playing the Western Roman Empire didn't go so well. I'm on my second attempt at the Saxons, and I have finally caught on.

In fact, my first attempt at playing the Saxons, I got on a ship to take out the Western RE's hold on the British Isles. After taking the two towns in the south, it triggered a horde of Romano-British to come and like the story/movie of King Arthur, they whooped me, lol. This time I have taken the few rebel controlled cities next to me, made some alliances, and have been fighting with the Romans. The Huns have not made it to me yet, but the civilizations they have dispossessed from their lands are starting to come my way... This should get real interesting!

This game is a lot of fun. I love the new units, different technologies, and the better AI. The new campaign map is very well thought out. Frankly, I am enjoying this even more than RTW itself.

It feels like a whole new game rather than an expansion. I highly recommend it, especially if you liked the original. Just remember, that some of the Civilizations are easy, moderate, or hard difficulties. It will let you know when you go to choose your starting civ. You may want to start on easy the first time.... :D