Video Game Review: The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome

The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome
Platform: Playstation 2 (others available).
Price: $25.00 (Original Price $50.00 - Half price)
Made By:
The History Channel
Atomic planet
Black Bean
Slitherine

Rating: one and a half out of ten.

Description: I am not one to be critical, I try not to be critical of anything. I try to at least write the good points. Failing that I write a bit about the story. Frankly, this game deserves neither. I bought this game as it looked similar to Rome: Total War(PC), already in my collection, and approximately the same price. I am glad now that it was on special, as it would have been a lot worse at the normal price. The Gameplay and graphics are substandard and tacky; for example, you can't move the camera at the same time as the units, making for tricky hand to hand combat (which makes up approximately 90% of all gameplay). And the graphics would be below average for even a playstation 1 game, I mean, come on, this is 2007 we're talking about (at the moment at least). And I'm sure that the pictures on the back look better than in the real game. A toddler on his potty (blindfolded) could do a better- {but messier} game.

They same that one mans rubbish is another's treasure, but in this case, one man's rubbish is another man's stinking rubbish. Unless you like bad games, this one is to be avoided like the plague.

It has been released on several other formats (including PC) and I don't want to say anything bad about them, as I haven't played them. But hopefully the people will be better off than me.

It's the little things that make up life (and death) but sometimes the little things are just as bad as the big things in life. Instead of a screen saying "Game Loading", a little disc item appears, usually right in the middle of what you want to see, which is, rather surprisingly a lot more annoying than loading. And thats saying something.

On the Good side (yes I have to write this) and what saves it from a big fat 0 is that it's done by the history channel and you'll receive a video after you beat every few scenarios. There are two campaigns, the Roman and The Celts, but you have to finish the Roman one to unlock the Celtic one.