By Joe Stafford

American-Statesman Staff

October 15, 2004

War was once glorious.

Rome: Total War Platform(s): PC Company: Activision Type/Genre: Strategy ESRB Rating: T (Teen -- Violence) • Official Site • Arcade360 Index

'Rome: Total War,' the long-awaited third PC game in the series, captures "Ran"-inspired pageantry and awful beauty. It's a powerful game that transcends its real-time strategy genre, a hybrid packed with historically authentic details and a sense of context that will provide endless fun, but is also likely to spark the curiosity of many players, perhaps inspiring the study of the currently pertinent history of the rise and fall of Rome.

How beautiful is the game? How accurate? It is used as the basis for the "Decisive Battles" series on the History Channel. The show uses scenes directly from the game to re-create the clash of thousands at famous battles such as Cannae, in which the Carthaginian general Hannibal perfected the double-envelopment maneuver, or the slave revolt of the gladiator Spartacus that left 6,000 men crucified along the Appian Way, or the menaces of Attila the Hun. The latest episode depicts Ramses II's battles with the Hittites in ancient Egypt. It premieres tonight at 8.

Ranging across vividly depicted landscapes from the frozen northern forests of Germany to the sandblown dunes of Egypt, the battle scenes are the beating heart of 'Rome: Total War.' But as with the earlier 'Shogun' and 'Medieval' titles in the series from England's Creative Assembly, one must manage a growing empire, using spies, diplomats, assassins, marriage alliances and a host of other tools to develop towns, put down rebellions and tame the frontiers. It's a delight to witness the arc of a family member's life as he is born, gains fame in battle as a young man and influence in the Senate at middle age, grants governorships to his sons and, as an old man, marches on Rome itself to claim the ultimate prize, the emperor's purple robe.

More than 100 unit types are depicted on the battlefields, including war elephants, siege engines and rudimentary artillery, packs of trained rottweilers, heavy and light cavalry units, mercenary forces, chariots and, of course, the legions of Rome. The fighting itself involves careful marshaling of forces. In a typical engagement, one must maintain a line of infantry, sending the general to hot spots to rally troops. Meanwhile, cavalry units are sent racing around the enemy flanks, charging weak spots (and avoiding enemy spearmen) in the hopes of spreading panic and a collapse of enemy morale. If all goes well, the enemy line collapses and the surviving forces flee, a terrified rabble. Proper use of units and terrain is essential and common-sensical, adding plenty of strategic and tactical depth.

Among the shortcomings of the game -- quibbles in the face of a masterpiece -- are a lack of robustness in the naval battles, which are decided off-screen, and bugs with the multiplayer game on launch that have been, thankfully, addressed in a quickly released patch available online. The game also requires a fairly powerful machine.

The developers have worked out the kinks that made the previous 'Total War' games less popular than they deserved to be. The controls and camera are now more intuitive, plus in-game advisers offer plenty of hints.

For those who lost themselves in the adventures of toy soldiers for hours as a child, this is the grown-up version of that sort of play, a satisfying game that lets both history buffs and strategy fans immerse themselves in a time of long-lost glory.