It’s increasingly rare to watch a trailer for a game that isn’t just a straight recording of someone playing it and actually feel that it’s at all related to the game you’ll actually be playing. Even the term ‘in engine’ has become all but meaningless now that we can see the pockmarks in the grizzled jaw line of a space marine, or the battered follicles of his buzz cut.
But the latest trailer for Rome II happily cuts from what looks like the grand strategy map to proper top down warrings, all narrated by a bunch of quibbling Roman congressmen arguing about how Hannibal’s going to attack Rome. It’s a smart way to illustrate the theatre of Rome II, from the upper reaches of Africa north to the passes through the Alps; it’s showing you not only where you’re going to be playing, but exactly how the rest of the world is framed in the period where Rome II is set.
The trailer also does a good job of illustrating the different options available to you as a player, from forging alliances to naval sieges, to massive elephantine migrations through mountain passes. Actually that last one might be somewhat unique to Hannibal.
We’ve will have a preview of Rome II coming later today.