24th January 2003, 3:28 PM
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/new...63,00.html
I know that Medieval only came out last fall, and the developers are still working on the Medieval expansion pack, but the next game in the series is announced, and screenshots are out... WOW.
If you don't know, Shogun and Medieval are strategy games with Turn-Based overworld map play and Realtime battles. Like Axis & Allies with Lords of the Realm battles, sorta... but better... :) . Shogun and Medieval had cool battles that allowed thousands of guys, but the men themselves were just sprites. So thousands and thousands of guys would be on the screen, but didn't look as impressive as they could if they had been 3D..
Rome changes all that. :) 10,000 polyagonal soldiers on the screen... and now there are screenshots. They look very impressive... :)
Note where they say that this will run with "very competitive" system reqs... ")
I know that Medieval only came out last fall, and the developers are still working on the Medieval expansion pack, but the next game in the series is announced, and screenshots are out... WOW.
If you don't know, Shogun and Medieval are strategy games with Turn-Based overworld map play and Realtime battles. Like Axis & Allies with Lords of the Realm battles, sorta... but better... :) . Shogun and Medieval had cool battles that allowed thousands of guys, but the men themselves were just sprites. So thousands and thousands of guys would be on the screen, but didn't look as impressive as they could if they had been 3D..
Rome changes all that. :) 10,000 polyagonal soldiers on the screen... and now there are screenshots. They look very impressive... :)
Quote:Activision announces that it's publishing Creative Assembly's next Total War strategy game, which will have massive fully 3D battles set in Roman times.
Although information on the next Total War game hasn't been kept secret these last couple of weeks, Activision has now officially announced that it will be publishing Rome: Total War. The third game in the strategy series known for combining empire-level strategy and massive tactical battles will take place during Roman times and will challenge players to rewrite history and be proclaimed Imperator of Rome. The new game will take a big step forward visually, and it will be based on a brand-new engine that's completely 3D, down to each one of the thousands of units that can meet on the battlefield.
"One of the biggest challenges we've faced so far with Rome: Total War is getting people to believe what they see when we show them the game," said Tim Ansell, managing director of The Creative Assembly. "The cinematic battles are beyond anything ever before seen in a game. So, when people see a screenshot or the game running, they automatically assume that we're showing a cutscene or that it's going to take a supercomputer to run the game. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even before final optimizations the engine performance and the system specs are already very competitive."
In Rome: Total War, players can fight as, or against, legendary generals, including Julius Caesar, Hannibal, and the rebel Spartacus, as they lead their faction to the gates of Rome. There will be hundreds of different troop types available, with frontline troops such as legionaries, hoplites, barbarian hordes, war elephants, gladiators, and scythe chariots, as well as war machines like siege towers, battering rams, and catapults that hurl flaming missiles into enemy cities and strongholds. Battles will take place in more than 10,000 unique battlefields based on the actual topography of Europe and North Africa.
No release date has been announced as of yet. For more details, check out our previous coverage of the game.
Note where they say that this will run with "very competitive" system reqs... ")