28-Dec-2003 Few strategy games are so good they get mainstream TV shows based on them. In fact, before it's even been released, Rome: Total War, is probably the sole claimant to such a title. But if you thought the engine on BBC2's recent Time Commanders series looked awesome, the news from the Total War camp is that you ain't seen nothing yet. What you'll be watching on your PC later this year will leave the show in the shade.
"Time Commanders uses a version of the game that will be a year old by the time it's released," says Mike Simpson, development director at The Creative Assembly. "That year is being spent on polishing the game. The general gameplay, user interface, AI and visual appearance are improving almost daily. Every time a new feature goes in, we all crowd round whoever's desk and grin."
Fear Factions You'll be able to play as a number of factions, including the Carthaginians (think Hannibal and his elephants), the Egyptians (think Cleopatra and the Pharaohs), and barbarians such as the Gauls (think those guys getting their arses kicked at the beginning of Gladiator). But it seems that commanding the Romans themselves will offer the most variety.
"The eventual aim of the Imperial Campaign is to become emperor," says Mike. "But apart from conquering, you'll be guided by the senate, who'll give you short-term goals and reward you for achieving them."
To help you get to grips with the kind of sprawling campaigns that unfold in Total War games, Creative is implementing an 'advisor' feature that promises to be a whole lot more than a bunch of context-sensitive text balloons.
Mike explains: "The idea is that the advisor uses the game AI to look at what you're doing and provide intelligent suggestions on how to play the game. In some cases, if you want, he'll even do it for you. So between that and the options to hand over responsibility for various things to your minions, people who might not normally be interested in a deep and complex game like Rome can play it easily, and play it well. It'll open up the game to a much wider audience."
Divisions Of The Spoils This delegation principle has also been taken on to the field of battle. "You can control the exact movements of units, or divide your army into divisions, put captains in charge and give the divisions orders like 'take that hill' or 'attack the centre'," explains Mike.
"Your troops have more unit-level intelligence, and you can let them organise themselves locally. They'll automatically turn to face the enemy and change shape and position to link to units on either side to present a solid line. To organise battle lines, simply dump units in vaguely the same area - they'll sort themselves out. But if you want precise control, you still have it."
We also pressed Mike about multiplayer options, hoping for more scope than in previous Total War titles. "There won't be a multiplayer campaign using the full single-player campaign game - the games would take so long it's just not practical. We're looking at the option of a massively multiplayer campaign with a simpler feature-set where players join a faction and play when they like. No promises yet..."
And if all that isn't enough to whip you into paroxysms of excitement, then it's time to hang up your mouse and hot-keys list and go home. Rome: Total War is almost guaranteed to be awesome, so start drooling now.
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