The Artificial Intelligence created by The Creative Assembly can be fussy at times and takes too long to prepare its battle lines, but there are moments when it can offer a solid challenge, especially if it has numerical superiority and some good cavalry to use. The tactical combat has evolved a lot since Total War: Rome II was launched and it’s interesting to see how the eclectic armies of the Carthaginians, complete with reams of mercenaries, face off against the more disciplined Romans, with their own allies in support.īattles sometimes still feel a little short and uneven, but the clashes that involve full armies, with elephants, triarii, equites and hoplites getting into melee, are truly impressive both to play and to simply observe. Of course, players can easily ignore all of that and simply choose how they want to approach the war, which for me meant consolidating power in Africa initially as Carthage, even while abandoning Iberia, and attacking all my initial allies in Italy as the Romans.Īs with the previous Caesar in Gaul campaign, the smaller strategic campaign map creates a more intimate experience and the smaller time frame allows gamers to get to know their generals, create a connection to them and carefully plan how to use them and their unique abilities in order to capture enemy strongholds. The development team at The Creative Assembly has also carefully crafted the secondary objectives and missions in order to guide players to follow the real-world Second Punic War, with Hannibal in a good position to make his move across the Alps and the Romans compelled to take Sicily and invade North Africa. This creates an interesting set of problems early on, mostly because of the way regional allies and smaller factions need to be dealt with before Rome and Carthage can face each other directly. When starting Hannibal at the Gates, most players will be impressed by how developed the two main factions are, with dozens of cities under their control and some solid armies already present on the map. The map focuses on the Italian peninsula, the North of Africa and the Iberian peninsula, alongside the big expanse of water between them, and that means more cities to develop, larger distances for armies to cover and more attention paid to the influence that geography had on the war. The all-new Hannibal at the Gates campaign for Total War: Rome II is designed specifically to simulate this engagement in detail, offering players a chance to control both the two superpowers of the moment and three smaller factions that can play a larger role in the conflict.

The Second Punic War was one of the most important conflicts in the Ancient World because it basically decided whether the Mediterranean would be dominated by Rome or by Carthaginians, with implications for the rest of history as we know it.

Total war rome 2 demo