Total War: Rome Remastered

This remastered classic manages to meld the best of old and new features to create an enjoyable strategy experience. Total War: Rome Remastered revisits a classic title, but also recognizes how challenging that concept could be. The series has evolved a lot since 2004, which complicates the decision to update the title to today's standards or leave the experience alone for those craving the traditional gameplay. With Rome Remastered, the developers decided to offer both, giving players a checklist of options to choose from, using either the rules and mechanics from the modernized remaster or the standard gameplay from the original. Both have their merits, but for fans that have been playing more recent entries in the Total War franchise, it's difficult not to feel like something is missing when going back to classic gameplay settings.

Time is probably the biggest issue facing Total War: Rome Remastered. When the game was first released, it was the pinnacle of the strategy genre. Now that time has passed and new games have built on its foundation, Rome Remastered feels a bit outdated, even with the addition of the modern gameplay features. While it's easy to appreciate things like the updated user interface, other additions, such as the expanded diplomacy features and the Merchant unit, feel almost tacked on. For the best possible experience, fans will likely need to spend a lot of time in the settings sorting out their own balance between new and classic elements. Thankfully, no matter how they choose to play, the game will look phenomenal. Reworked character and building models look stunning, and the new camera brings players into the battlefield in ways they never could imagine in the original. And thanks to the inclusion of both major DLC (downloadable content) expansions, Alexander and Barbarian Invasion, which have also been remastered, there's no shortage of content to keep the war for Rome raging for some time to come.