Total War: ARENA

From the same developers that brought you World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and World of Warships comes the latest title that maintains the emphasis on war: Total War: ARENA

Total War: ARENA is a team-based strategy game where players take on the role of ancient heroes from the past and strive to achieve the same legacy that they have, through war.  It takes the pillars of strategy, intense, tactical combat, and dedication to history and distills it into epic, online combat for new and old fans alike. The game pits three historical factions against each other: the Romans, the Barbarians and the Greeks, each having their unique commanders that represent real historical figures of the past.

It doesn't matter if you want to command the Greeks under King Leonidas' banner, the Romans under Julius Caesar's rule, or Vercingetorix the Gaul and his barbarian horde, they are all at your disposal. As you progress and grow in level, you will gain access to using other well-known commanders to your bidding. Each commander is specialized in using different tactics, and so are the units, as they use the traditional "rock-paper-scissors" table when considering strengths and weaknesses against each other.

Unlike traditional RTS games where whoever had the biggest armies won, every encounter pushes each commander to sharpen their wits and strategize with their allies to secure victory. As you fight more and more, you eventually unlock skill points that can be used to improve your civilization's units or the traits of the commander that rules them.  For balancing purposes most stats increase for around 1% per allocated skill point, so veteran players will not have a godly advantage over those with non-upgraded armies.

Total War: ARENA currently gives access to 2 game modes: player versus player and player versus AI. The entire theme of the game revolves around the use of tactics and coordination between commanders, since there is no base building phase or unit replenishment, so you have to make do with what you have at hand. Those of you that love PVP will find the massive and fast-paced 10-vs-10 RTS battles, characters control three units with hundreds of warriors and clash across ancient battlefields mesmerizing.

As you fight more and more battles, you will eventually be attributed a rating that reflects your current skill level. This rating grows with each victory or gets smaller after each loss; therefore you don't have to worry about facing veteran players straight after your last tutorial mission. If you happen to be disconnected from a match, you won't be able to use the commander that is on the battlefield until the match is over. This can also be seen as an anti-AFK or rage-quitting tool.

As expected of the final disk size the game client occupies, it boasts incredibly detailed and beautiful graphics. These can be admired both in the commander's screen and during a match since you can zoom in to see all of the tiniest details on a unit.  However, these incredible graphical settings come at the cost of high system requirements, so anyone that doesn't have a newer PC won't be able to enjoy this game to its full potential.

Historical authenticity and deep attention to detail are what make Total War: ARENA a great RTS title that is sure to leave its mark in the gaming industry.