Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion Demo

The Total War series has redefined the meaning of real-time strategy and actually invented a brand new genre, called 'grand strategy', which revolves around being able to control hundreds of units on the battlefield at the same time. Along the years, the franchise evolved in basically every aspect, including gameplay mechanics, graphics and the number of options you are provided with during the matches.

Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion is an expansion pack that aims to provide the players with a whole new campaign, as well as many brand new factions and a lot of gameplay improvements to make the battles more interesting, balanced and entertaining. Thus, while the original title dealt with the glorious years of the Roman Empire, this expansion takes a look at its fall and the factors that contributed to its demise over the course of a few short centuries.

As such, Rome is now split into two nations, namely the Western and the Eastern Empires, which severely reduces their strength as a whole. The barbarian tribes are becoming more and more vicious and bold, not to mention the fact that the Huns have made their appearance in Europe and they are on a schedule to pillage and burn everything that stands in their way. Across the campaign, you get the chance to play either as the Roman Empire, or as one of the barbarian tribes, depending on your preferences.

As far as the new factions that are available, you can play and witness the power of the Huns, Goths, Saxons or the Franks, as well as many others. Naturally, they all have specific strengths and weaknesses, as well as unique units that can be used in battle, like the war elephant for the Sassanids. On the other hand, you can also play as either the Western or the Eastern Roman Empire and try to save their legacy, by fighting off the barbarian hordes.

Graphically, the game features only minor modifications and improvements, although it looks very nice and refined nonetheless. During the campaign, you still have to use the strategic map between battles, where you can observe everything that goes around in Europe and take the desired course of action. Once the battle begins, however, the classic top-view camera is available, which can be freely rotated panned and rotated as you require.

Rome: Total War Barbarian Invasion does exactly what an expansion pack is supposed to do: bring a lot more content to the table, improve on what was already there and continue the story from where the original left off. Hence, the title at hand is definitely a must-have for strategy fans everywhere, as well as for the fans of the Total War series.