Total War (series)
Total War is a series of strategy games developed by The Creative Assembly for personal computers. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles. The first of the series, "" was released in June 2000. The most recent major game released was "" on 3 May 2018. The series has sold over 20 million copies.
Total War: Rome II
Upon release many users reported technical faults such as being unable to load the game following installation, crashes, texture optimization problems and broken artificial intelligence; poor game performance was also constantly reported. In a negative review by Rich Stanton for "The Guardian", he reports having to re-download the full game following problems with his own review copy, noting that his "PC runs Shogun II at ultra settings without any issues but Rome II on medium makes it choke like a dog, and judging by the developer's own forum many others are having the same issues." On the official forums, an "anonymous developer" from another studio posted his own complaints, including numerous bugs and poorly implemented features such as "capture the flag" style battles, feeling that the game had "comprehensively failed" to be tested, blaming the publisher Sega for its state on release. In a review by critic and comedian Joe Vargas (AKA Angry Joe), he also complained about AI problems and unit balancing with in-game video examples while also noting differences with the preview builds, while William Usher of Cinema Blend supported Vargas's review while questioning other reviews due to the number of reported problems on release prior to patching. Following its release, developer The Creative Assembly announced regular patching in order to fix the reported issues, with the first update coming the Friday the same week of release. On the "Total War" official forums, admins on behalf of Creative Director Mike Simpson issued an apology along with a statement, promising to further patch the game, encouraging players to report all problems given the variety and difference of issues between players. Simpson would later go on to state, in a second public announcement about new and upcoming fixes, about asking for further player input while also "hoping we can fundamentally treat our releases differently in the future."