Good description of the best strategygame ever.
Gameplay: The gameplay in Rome: Total War requires more than just huge armies, it requires strategy. You cant just use the classic "tank rush" (or horse rush) in this game. There are so many ways of countering this. There are ways to counter everything, so to win, you need an army of lots of different units and you need to be really quick to switch between em. For example, this is the best tactic to counter horse rushes. Place spearmen in front, and archers behind them. The archers will hopefully pinn down a big part of the horses before they reach your very destination and when they finally get to you, there will be no trouble to take them down with your spearmen. There are counters for everything, you just need to learn how to use everything in an effective way. There is a great campaign map too. You start out with one of three roman families, Julii (red), Scipii (blue) and
Brutii (green). After completing the campaigns with these you will unlock new factions, like egypt, gauls, selucid empire, macedonia and so on.
The campaign can be played in two different ways. Short and long. In the short mode youn will have to gain 15 regions and destroy a certain faction depending on wich faction you choose. In long mode, you will need to take over Rome and then take over 50 regions. The long campaign is very entertaining and you need to keep a fine balance between war, finance and diplomacy. The game is very fun and enjoyable.
Graphics: The graphics aint amazing, but they aint bad either. Take in mind that this game is about 2 years old, so the graphics are a little out of date.
If you run it on high it looks quiet good anyways. There can be up to 10k soldiers on the same battlefield, and that makes even good computers a bit choppy. The graphics aint great but acceptable and you have to keep the games age in mind.
Sound: The sound is great. When you hear the horses galop and the soldiers marchin, the barbarians battleshouts and the dyings screams it makes this game feel almost alive. The sound is belivable from almost everthing in the game, and its really not dissapointing. At least, I like it.
Summary:This game is worth its low price, and with its exspansion Barbarian invasion its a great game. There is no other strategy game that is this much strategic to date.