Of all the game genres to come to touchscreens, real-time strategy has probably been the least well served. There’s too little controllability when you’re dealing with your stubby finger as opposed to the fine maneuverings of a mouse and keyboard. To compensate, many iPad RTS games lower the amount of units available so the game becomes more manageable for your finger. That’s not how Rome: Total War is going to handle things. Out today for iPad, Rome: Total War is a port of the PC title that includes everything the desktop version has, even the thousands of units clashing on screen at any given time.
Rome: Total War puts you in charge of one Roman house with the goal of putting your family in the role of Emperor. Besides the epic battles, which are real-time, the game also features a deep strategic mode in which you’ll build cities, adding new buildings to improve your lot as you move forward in the campaign.
There’s a lot more to the game, in fact this might be one of the biggest titles to ever make its way to iPad. It comes with a price. First of all, the download is nearly 4GB and you’ll need an iPad Air or later to run it. Still, it’s one of the highest reviewed games of all time, so it’s probably worth a look.
The PC version was one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. The iPad controls feel a bit clunky so far, but maybe I’m just clunky. If you somehow missed this game over the last decade or so, it’s definitely worth playing.
I am really nervous about my ability to play an RTS anymore, especially on a tablet. But it’s so tempting! Anyone else have early thoughts?
Excuse me for dragging this zombie post from its grave… But what is this like on iPad?
I’ve a new iPad arriving next month and this will probably be my first purchase… If it works well on touchscreen.