As a child who grew up in the early 2000s, Rome Total War was one of the most exciting and immersive games I had ever played. The game's realistic battles and historical accuracy captivated me, and I spent hours upon hours playing through the game's lengthy campaign mode. The soundtrack, too, was a standout feature, with epic and immersive music that added to the game's overall atmosphere.

At the time of its release, Rome Total War was a groundbreaking game that set a new standard for historical strategy games. The attention to historical accuracy was a highlight, with a variety of authentic units and factions that reflected real-world history. The game's graphics, while not the most impressive for the time, were still impressive enough to immerse players in the game's world. The campaign mode was also a standout feature, offering a lengthy and complex gameplay experience that was a joy to play through.

That being said, there were some flaws with the game that became apparent over time. The AI system, in particular, was not as challenging or strategic as some players would have liked, which led to a lack of difficulty and replayability. The diplomacy system was also overly simplistic, which detracted from the game's strategic depth. However, these flaws did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the game, and it remained one of my favorite childhood games.

In conclusion, Rome Total War was a groundbreaking game for its time that set a new standard for historical strategy games. The attention to historical accuracy, immersive soundtrack, and lengthy campaign mode were standout features that made the game a joy to play. While the game had some flaws, such as its simplistic diplomacy system and lack of strategic depth in the AI, it remained a favorite among players and set the stage for future strategy games to come.

An awesome strategy game that has the player diverting attention equally towards politics and city management, resource management and construction, and warfare, giving them the resources to potentially change the course of history and avert the catastrophes that eroded the Roman empire in the real world. A great game for history buffs that take interest in the subject but also just a great game for people in-general who enjoy managing an army and cultivating a society to conquer the world, for either benevolent or malevolent ends.

Vanilla Rome: TW is benefited by its modability. Honestly, the original game isn't even worth revisiting these days, I think. But install the Europa Barbarorum mod, and you're gonna have a genuinely good time.

Obviously, this being such an old game by now, there are many minor inconveniences here, such as the inability to set build policy across all settlements or the lack of "select all units" button when clicking on a city. I believe strategy is one of the few genres that has been continuously and radically improving, consistently making older games obsolete. And this is one of those cases.

In particular I like how the following entries have expanded the empire-management aspect of the game. Rome: TW feels a little lacking in this regard, giving you little to no option for a tall play, which is why I will always prefer games like Civ 5 or Oriental Empires over it. But that's not necessarily a criticism of the game itself. At the end of the day, this is a wargame, and it does the war aspect justice.

The actual battles are some of the best in the genre. They're dynamic and epic, yet at the same time aren't too complicated to figure out. It's a wonder why it took CA so many years to finally do a Three Kingdoms game, as this type of gameplay precisely conveys the spirit of the RoTK.

I would feel silly describing a Total War game. The odds that someone who takes the time to read Steam reviews doesn't already know that Total War is a 4X game with large scale RTS battles is minuscule.
What sets Rome: Total War apart is that it's the oldest game in the series that most people will generally agree is good, and I'm tempted to agree with that because it's basically a slightly worse version of Total War: Medieval 2 set in the 3rd century BC. Its got that "one more turn" feeling too, there's always someone to crush.
The issues are the same too, like I'm tempted to just auto-resolve every battle after a certain point.
Anyway, I think this is a pretty great game. There's also a remaster, but it looks like a mobile app so don't overlook this version.