Rome: Total War - Collection

I have always loved this game. I find it better than Rome II for several reasons. Pros: - One being the AI is superior. - Two being there are seasons and you operate in Winter and Summer - Three being the right amount of politics. Rome II has politics no one understands and there is no right choice while any choice can affect your game world. - Four bring Generals not getting stupid negative traits, like if you stay in a town for too long, your general might turn into a drunk in Rome II. - Five being you don't have to have a general to have an army. If you want to constantly manufacture reinforcements, you can march them right across the map to your main army. - Six being you have atmosphere with General speeches before battle. - Seven being the title menu has a battle going on in the background. I miss that in Rome II. Minor thing of course, but again, lack of atmosphere in Rome II. - Eight being Rome is straightforward and you intuitively know what must be done for the most part. Everything in Rome II seems designed to simply slow you down by comparison. There are a few others, but this list is long enough. Cons: - Graphics aren't as good as Rome II. - Rome II can have more individual units on field due to the newer engine. - Naval units are more fleshed on in Rome II and there are actual battles. In Rome TW, battles are automatically determined. - The old game engine is a little more clunky in some aspects than Rome II. I really don't have a lot more to say about Rome II. While pretty, it is just not as good. So if 'graphics' are your thing, go Rome II. If 'game play' is your thing, go Rome Total War. My only real complaint about this release here is it is not Rome Remastered. I can get over that for now though. I prefer Remastered as the definitive release, but this one is a close 2nd and it is finally on this platform DRM free. I will call that a major win!

This was my first TW game when I got into the series back in 2021, and it's glorious! It was this game that made TW what it is today, and for good reason! The battle are loud and the music is PHENOMENAL (Journey to Rome pt.2, my beloved!). Just don't come here thinking that the game is historicaly accurate, because BOY it isn't. For instance, the Iberians are called "Spain" (which hurts my portuguese heart), and, the must outrageous, Egypt is still in the bronze age... in the middle of the iron age... but you know what? It adds to the charm of this FANTASTIC title, and I wouldn't change a thing! But there is something you should keep in mind... this game runs poorly on modern machines. There are some fixes, but they can only do so much... but now, I hope GOG can do something to make it run smoothly! Since there are some great mods for this game!

Is it dated? Absolutely. Does any of that matter? Not at all.

I know there are versions of Rome Total War remastered to run on 64 bit systems but I suspect this GOG version still needs 32 bits as thats how it is defined by task manager after launch. After a brief look at a company logo page, I just get a black screen when I attempt to start it. Happy to change the rating if someone knows differently and can tell me how to get it going on my WIN 11 64 bit muliticore laptop