Rome Total War Barbarian Invasion Crack
Joao Charlesbois
Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion is the first expansion pack for the strategy video game Rome: Total War. The expansion was released in 2005 in North America and Europe and in 2006 in Japan for Microsoft Windows. Feral Interactive released the iPad version on 28 March 2017, and the iPhone version on 9 May 2019.[1][2] The Android version of the game, also by Feral Interactive, was released on 18 June 2019.[3] While the main game deals with the rise of the Roman Empire, Barbarian Invasion covers the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire during the Migration Period.
As Barbarian Invasion takes place several centuries after the end of the original game, the factions and provinces are very different. While the original Rome: Total War focused on the rise of Rome, Barbarian Invasion focuses on the decline of Western Rome during the Migration Period, as numerous Germanic and Asiatic tribes, such as the Huns, the Franks, and the Goths, migrate into Roman lands and the religion of Christianity begins to replace Roman paganism. Meanwhile, Eastern Rome struggles more with the Zoroastrians of Sassanid Persia than they do with the "barbarian" tribes. Several new gameplay features were added to reflect the tumultuousness of the era, while most of the fundamental gameplay mechanics are the same as they were in the original game.
In Barbarian Invasion, most barbarians are able to transform their faction into a "horde". When a barbarian faction loses its last province, rather than being destroyed, it becomes a horde and is forced to settle elsewhere (two factions, the Huns and Vandals, begin with no provinces, while other factions can appear later in the game as hordes). Barbarian factions with only one province may also choose to voluntarily abandon their province and become a horde. Hordes are very large armies that represent an entire faction, but they do not require upkeep. When a horde army successfully seizes a city, it is given the option of sacking the city (which does massive damage to the population and buildings of a city and gives the horde a large amount of money) or of settling in the city, which allows the horde to begin anew, with the new city as its capital; the faction is then able to conquer other provinces normally. When the horde settles, a portion of the horde army is disbanded and the population distributed into the city. Horde factions do not "die out" unless they are totally defeated on the battlefield and/or their major family members are all slain.[4]
Barbarian Invasion also introduces the concept of religion. The three religions represented in the game are paganism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. Characters in the game may adhere to one of the three religions, and the religious composition of each province is also stated. Provinces may gradually convert to a different religion in a variety of ways; for example, constructing temples dedicated to one of the religions will help that religion spread in the province. Religious conflict within a province will usually cause a great deal of unrest, which may force the player to either take steps to make the province happier or try to convert the province in order to avoid a revolt.[1]
The expansion received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[5] Many reviewers expressed disappointment with the small number of new features that the expansion introduced. However, most concluded that they still enjoyed the expansion despite the lack of innovation.[6][11]
Barbarian Invasion received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[13] indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[14]
The expansion to one of 2004s best games, Rome: Total War, has invaded hours upon hours of my time, and unfortunately (for my life) Im still fighting away the Barbarians. The highly anticipated Barbarian Invasion will be met with a good deal of happiness from many, but others will go away a little disappointed.
The fundamental gameplay from Rome: Total War has changed a bit, but overall Barbarian Invasion feels a lot like Rome: Total War did. While the games changes are certainly significant to gameplay some of them feel like theyve been done before, and indeed some of them have have.
One of the games largest changes is the implementation of religion. The religions are divided into Christianity, Zoroastrianism (which according to the game you can convert people to), and Paganism. Basically the religions impact public order among settlements; depending on factors such as the populations faith, their governors faith, and the faith of surrounding provinces theyll be good little citizens, or hell raisers trying to make your civilization fall about at every turn. The systems implemented quite well, and its fun to play with (indeed it feels a bit like a better version of Medieval: Total Wars religion system). There are a couple of things I found fault with, however. The most prominent fault is the fact that Paganism ranges from Mithraism to the Gods of the Huns; if you capture a Roman settlement that just happens to have a temple to Mithras in it, youll encounter no problems as both religions are found under the Pagan header. This is overall a pretty minor annoyance, but it strikes me as something that could have been done a bit better, obviously it was done for simplification purposes, but it would have been a lot more fun if the system had been divided more. Something along the lines of Arabic Paganism, Eastern Paganism, and various other forums of Paganism would have been nice.
Another large change is the addition of the horde feature. Civilizations like the Huns, and Vandals start in a horde (a group of units not attached to a settlement), and are free to move about the map. Additionally most of the barbarian factions can take their final settlement, and turn it into a horde, free to move about the map. The systems fun to play with, but it is a little unbalanced. You can take the Huns all the way from Asia to Spain, capture a city, and settle there (after you decide to settle the units created by hoarding disappear). The rampaging horde civilizations are also near impossible to deal with if youre playing a civilization in its path. The sheer amounts of units give you no chance to fight back, so youre forced to pack up and head out yourself, which, while fun, is a pain in the arse if youre in the middle of setting up a nice little empire.
Along with religion and hordes Creative Assembly also felt it was fitting to add the ability to battle at night; its implemented quite well, although the game generally felt a little more sluggish when playing at night. Only generals with the night fighting skill can fight at night, so the skill can really be a life saver if you only want to fight one of the large army stacks sitting next to your settlement. The enemy also loses some morale if their general doesnt have the night fighting attribute making the generals that do acquire the attribute fairly valuable.
In addition to these changes the campaign map was slightly altered (one or two cities have been removed, and some new resources have been placed). Obviously the factions have undergone a face lift, and there are now two Roman factions, a bunch of Germanic barbarians, some nomadic hordes, and a couple of eastern factions. Oddly Creative chose to not make some factions playable that easily could have been, but theyre easily modded into playability. The factions are all pretty cool, but I felt some of the barbarian factions melded together a bit.
The only place where Barbarian Invasion truly fails, is in its polish. The little things that made Rome great are nearly all gone. The pre-campaign videos, gone, the detailed battle speeches, toned down (and occasionally you here things like a Goth commander mentioning that the Greeks will go down in history), some small untoned graphics (a Britannia flag on a chariot for example). These little things made Rome great, and I feel they detract from Barbarian Invasions overall value.
Overall, however Barbarian Invasion is a good addition to Rome: Total War, its new features and factions make the game enjoyable, and add quite a bit of playing time onto an already great equation. Should you buy it? If it cost any more than it did, Id say no, but at its current price its totally worth it. You may say that some of the game modders will end up with a better product modifying Rome, and thats potentially true, but they wont be able to add religion, night battles, the horde feature, or some of the smaller things Creatives done to improve Rome, all things thatll give game modifiers more material to work with. Creative has expanded on an already fantastic game, and while some things arent as great as they could be, its a worthwhile addition to anybodys game collection.
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