Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion Expansion Pack

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $9.44

Features:

• Defend Roman Empire from invading barbarians; set in 363 A.D.
• Expansion pack to the award-winning Rome: Total War game
• Experience brand-new generals, maps, battle conditions, and more
• 10 new playable factions, each with strategic options and exclusive army units
• For 1 player

Accessories:
Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion (Prima Official Game Guide)	PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Not much has changed... not worth too much money, but definitely worth it [Posted on 2006-10-25]
This expansion pack is much more historically accurate than the original game, but really, not much has changed since then.

The original game covers the Roman Republic, from 270 BC (when Rome totally dominated the Italian peninsula) to 14 AD (when Augustus dies, Rome's empire greatly expanded)

In this expansion pack, it takes you WAY ahead in the future, to the waning years of the Empire, where Rome is split in two, the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, with Christianity the moving force in the east, and barbarian invasion in the north a constant threat to all factions

New features in the game include totally new factions, with the only remaining factions from the original being the Romans (with their army looking and playing completely differently). Totally new army and fighting styles, whether it be with the primarily horse-faring Huns, the mixed-bag of legionaries and mercenaries of the Western Roman Empire, or the vast variety of the Sassanid Empire with their cataphracts, camels, archers, and spearmen.

Some other new features include:

- Night fighting: You can now fight in the night-time (but only if your general has the ability). This is very VERY useful if you are attacking an army that has reinforcements. Attacking them by night cuts off their reinforcements, as they are not expecting it at that time.

- General's loyalty: This is apparently only a Roman feature, in which a new trait is available just beneath Management, and above Influence, in which the number of rings indicate the general's loyalty. Disloyal generals can revolt against you!

- New faction-spawn triggers: When a certain year rolls around, a sect of a faction can break away to form a completely new faction (ie, the Romano-British in Britannia, the Ostrogoths or Visigoths from the Goths, etc) as well as rebellion triggers for the Romans and other factions

- Sacking settlements, becoming nomadic: Many of the barbarian factions start out without any settlements, instead with fully stacked armies (mostly just peasants given weapons) making them essentially nomadic. In this way, as the Huns, for example, you can rage through the lands simply sacking settlements and taking their gold rather than settling down. However, if you lose any of your family members, you're dead


and many other minor changes, including vastly improved AI. Some of these features have been added into original Rome Total War as well (such as night fighting)


All in all, it's an impressive expansion pack, but not quite worth the amount of money it was labeled as. Considering that more than half of the factions are all barbarians (which in my eyes, look pretty much all alike) and the new features aren't as ground-breaking or totally new as say, Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. Still, it is a worthy addition, and also the target of totally new mods!

Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion [Posted on 2006-11-10]
Great Game. Slightly different rules than the original. Unlike the original, your group plays differently. Good for all levels of play.

Not so Hot [Posted on 2007-01-03]
Barbarian Invasion installation corrupted Rome Total War, requiring a complete reinstall. I did not include BI in the reinstall.

Not good, not great, just...different. [Posted on 2007-03-20]
While I extensively enjoyed the gameplay in the original Rome: Total war, I think that Barbarian Invasion lacks something. The game is much shinier, giving a better visual appeal and obviously some bugs have disappeared, making it better quality. However, the campaign is too short, leaving the player to "expand, expand, expand or die." Okay, so you won't die, you just won't meet your goals.

If you thought that the original Rome: Total War was slow, this might be the game for you. The new aspect of religion in each settlement will make you wonder why it wasn't there before, and the fact that each faction has different - though similar - victory conditions is very nice, too. But because the game ends so quick, it seems like there isn't enough time to stomp your enemy into the ground and laugh at the idea of them defeating you.

Good expansion pack to a good game. [Posted on 2007-06-02]
Much has changed since the original rome:total war, this game is set in the downfall of rome era. Instead of rome being in charge now its the barbarians. Unfortunatlly there are some factions you can play as like the Vandals,Western Rome, Eastern Rome, Saxons, Huns, Goths, Alemmini, Franks,Sassaids and a few more. But there are factions you can't play as such as the Berbers, Slavs, Romona Britans, Lombardii, Ostrogoths, Western Rome(rebels), Eastern Roman(rebels), ad a few more. I just wish they let you play as all the factions.

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