There’s a point about 5 hours, 28 minutes and 40 seconds into Gamespot’s Tuesday E3 stream where, if you listen very, very carefully, you can hear the clackity clack of thousands of screencaps going off all at once.
It’s there, you see, that Rome 2’s humongous campaign map crossed public eyes for the first time. Would you like to see it?
When somebody tells Creative Assembly’s Al Bickham that Total War: Rome 2’s campaign map is big, he corrects them: “It’s colossal." Its reach reportedly stretches from the westernmost point of Spain to ancient Afghanistan, Bactria, and from the British Isles right down to north Africa and the Nile. And what are Creative Assembly doing with all this new space they’ve afforded themselves? Something new.
Total War: Rome 2 is finally set for worldwide release on September 3. You can pre-order it today and, if you’re the sort of person who might enjoy having three extra factions to play with at launch, you’ll be pleased to hear you can get the newly announced Greek States Culture pack thrown in for the same price.
If you’re the sort of person who likes firing ball bearings from miniature siege catapults - I kid ye not - you might even be interested in the Collector’s Edition.
Rome 2 may be halfway out the door and on its way to market, but that hasn’t stopped the Creative Assembly from chasing after it with their art-brushes and code-saws. Once it’s released, I imagine lead designer James Russell will be hiding out in your Steam Library like that Japanese lady in the cupboard, sneaking out at night for more playtesting. Anyway - the result of this mania is a whole new faction, bringing the total to nine for the game’s launch.
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Representatives from the Total War community were invited to join Creative Assembly at a San Francisco event this week and ask them searching questions. They readily obliged, and emerged hours later clutching some big numbers and an idea of what sort of PC you’ll need to run Rome 2 (clue: yours will probably do).
A Creative Assembly fan became the first studio outsider to play Total War: Rome 2 last summer, shortly before his death from liver cancer. While 24-year-old James didn’t live to see the game’s release, his digital likeness will play a part in the Siege of Carthage.
Creative Assembly have introduced another of Total War: Rome 2’s playable factions: this time they’ve thrust Parthia into the spotlight. Parthia is an Middle Eastern faction formed from a collection of tribes. Their distinguishing feature: their horse archers and bronze-armoured heavy cavalry. Combined, they likely make for dangerous mobile armies.
Two colons in one title. That can only mean one thing. No, two things. Either we’ve all fallen asleep on the couch watching John Wayne and woken up to the Human Centipede, or the Total War series is getting its first literary adaptation.
Creative Assembly’s Total War: Rome 2 is ticking along nicely. I recently had the chance to sit with the some of the game's lead developers about the campaign and watch one of the game’s historical battles: Teutoburg Forest. We’ll have more on the game shortly, but here’s an overview of what we learned.
The gauntlet the Roman soldiers ran through Tuetoburg forest lasted for three days. As they raced to their winter encampments, Rome’s best soldiers were harassed and ambushed from every side. By the end, not a single legion remained. Teutoburg was a disaster for the empire.
The gauntlet Al Bickham, Creative Assembly's Studio Communications Manager runs through Tuetoburg forest lasts for about twenty minutes. As he races to the objective marker, Rome’s best soldiers are harassed and ambushed from every side. By the end, a few scant units, aided by the noble sacrifice of legionaries who block the final wave of screaming Berserkers, make it safely out of the woods.
According to the description posted on the Total War wiki, Macedon is a pretty organised place, "an administration, with the king holding power and governing in the name of the people." The Macedonians make their money through trade and agriculture and field strong armies of horses and cavalry. They don't get along so great with other Greek states, though, because their neighbours view their "hegemonic tendencies" with suspicion.
Wouldn’t it be funny if we all booted up Total War: Rome 2 on release and it turned out to be nothing but a Battle of Carthage sim? Not funny ha-ha; more funny internet-rains-doom-on-developers’-heads. I ask because we’ve seen an awful lot of Carthage already, and yet we’re returned to the North African coast again for two new dev diaries from Creative Assembly.
The Carthaginians, as you may well know, hail from north Africa and Carthage itself is cited in modern-day Tunisia. Nowadays it might be a popular tourist destination, but in Rome 2 it's a practical land of traders and mercenaries. If you wish, it's also yours to command.
Just a hint of elephants; Creative Assembly sure know how to tease us. Even with 10 minutes of gameplay footage, showing off the invasion of Carthage by a large Roman force, formed of both land and sea units, we don't see the ancient world's tank-equivalent. We know they must be there, somewhere, chewing grass, waiting for their moment to strike, like a two tonne cruise missile with a payload of ivory death.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Total War: Rome 2 is all about the siege of Carthage, because right now that’s all Creative Assembly will show us. Actually though, Rome 2 is about everywhere and everything, all at once.
How do you like your Total War? I take mine with a black tea and salt. I hear others enjoy it with the complete opposite - black pudding and cocaine - but I don't associate with them. If you're of neither party, and you'd like to take yours in the form of the written word then till now you must have been feeling a little left out. Be left out no more, Pan Macmillan have bought the rights to publish four stories based on the series.
“One of the things that was challenging about playing Empire: Total War, which was 2009, was that the starting situation for the player was quite complicated because it was set in 1700," Total War: Rome 2 lead designer James Russell told BeefJack.
There’s a point about, ooo, 33 seconds into this Total War: Rome 2 trailer where the camera cuts from the walls of Carthage, overlooking hundreds of miniature Romans and their siege toys, straight to the eyes of a soldier tucked inside one of those same toys, shouting his little head off.
Be sure to turn off your data Roman (roaming) because these centurions are charging. You can have that one for free, Creative Assembly, perhaps as a snappy tagline to these exciting new Total War: Rome 2 screenshots from Gamescom.
It’s going to be hard to wait for Rome 2: it’s looking very, very special indeed. But settle in; there’s a long road ahead of us. Speaking at the Develop conference in Brighton, UK yesterday, Creative Assembly designer James Russell explained that the game is a long way off, and CA have a lot of work ahead of them.
In lieu of actual game footage (it’s only been in development for eight months, give Creative Assembly a break), there’s a live-action Total War: Rome 2 trailer that attempts to evoke the kind of experience we’re going to have playing the game. Only there’ll be less sex when you’re an omnipotent but body-less commander with an aerial view of everything. Probably about as many dogs, though. 
