This game right here, was the visualisation a 10 year old kid like me dreamed of at night, and never did I ever imagine a game like this could exist, yet Creative Assembly managed it, and in doing so they completely revolutionised strategy gaming whilst simultaneously stopping yours truly from ever finishing a piece of homework ever again.

After first opening a history book in school, and seeing an ancient Briton warrior covered in beautiful ceremonial woad tattoos, charging ferociously at a disciplined Roman soldier in his pristine lorica segmentata, the obvious dichotomy and pure savagery of this alien world was impressed upon me, and young impressionable me... was in love. I'm still in love with this world and that love continues to grow daily, and this game was a major part of that. I have ADHD - I write this, because that means I get bored very fast with certain things, but also become intensely obsessed too. Rome: Total War was my first gaming obsession and coincidentally my first love. This game introduced me to PC gaming, I grew up on ye olde Playstation and only knew of Fighting and First Person Shooter games, so when I was presented with this top-down, bird's eye view of Italia (and the rest of the Europe-centric map) with city management it blew me away, while simultaneously terrifying me. Nevertheless it was fun, surprisingly intuitive and insidiously addictive. It isn't just a game either, I've always been an advocate of learning through gaming, and this little gem right here was one of the best for it's time. I learnt so much from this game, names, terms, dates, even the value of basic battle strategy (concept of flanking, pincer manoeuvres, scorched earth, ranged advantage, terrain advantage, short term income vs long term income, the list goes on... and yes, this stuff does indeed sound basic now, but that's because we take all of this for granted because we learn this subconsciously; don't forget to a 10 year old's mind this is cerebral stimulation on an entirely different level than reading a dusty old book, I'm having fun, I'm playing this game of my own accord in my own free time, and I'm feeding my mind faster than a whole year of school could ever hope to. I had a crazy history teacher, his name was Richard, he was roguishly handsome, looked like he just came straight out of James Bond and had a tiny Japanese wife, his father could walk up the stairs on his hands and Richard once got tricked into handing over an ancient Roman coin he found as a kid to our local museum. Why do I tell you this you might ask, well... he was my absolute favourite teacher of all time, my mentor and although I adore him and his many eccentricities, this game taught me more within a month than he ever did; that's the power of learning through gaming.

Now let's talk about the game, shall we?
S.P.Q.R. Senatus Populusque Romanus, The Senate and the People of Rome or more commonly abbreviated in Italy today, as... Sono Pazzi Questi Romani, quite literally: They're crazy, these Romans! Very fitting, because I feel quite crazy when I get into my roman-centric mood. When I play this, I am not in a dark room, sipping my tea and cursing at the pixels on my screen for the 1000th time for getting stuck in the gates of a city and slowly getting killed by the archer towers, no... no, I'm levitating. I'm growing in stature. I'm not a small Roman getting mocked by the big barbarian Celt, I'm the Imperator, the emperor... the civilised man coming to cleanse these heathens and offer my clemency whether they accept it or not. My hands are no longer on the keyboard, my hoodie falls and a purple toga appears over my shoulders, my tea turns to wine, my beard grows 3 inches and a vestal virgin suddenly appears beneath me and offers me grapes, I stand, brush her aside and extend my arm outwards as I gaze upon my empire, and every other faction in the known world prostrates themselves before my glory. That, my friends, is the power of S.P.Q.R.

When you start the game you will hear a woman moaning, wait - I mean... vocalising, she sounds almost like an angel, and the feeling of impending doom looms over you, you see Carthaginian soldiers marching to war, followed my blue boi Scipio and then some thicc Parthian cataphracts, then silence... suddenly Rome is shown in all it's beautiful architectural majesty, the music picks up with heavy drums, but wait... Rome is under siege! Celts and Carthaginians, the horror! The woman moaning - I mean - vocalising increases her fervour as if she just stepped on a really pointy bit of Lego, big balls of fire rush across the scene and smash into the walls of Rome... now let me stop here. That was just the intro, and what an intro video it was. To this day it's one of the best for it's time, the music perfectly syncing with the action and the camera angles were beautiful. Past the intro you start an Imperial Campaign and are immediately presented with the music and oh my... the music of this game. Jeff Van Dyck. His music speaks for itself, look up the soundtrack. Imagine if Hans Zimmer's Gladiator and Ramin Djawadi's GoT musical score had a baby... this would be it; fits perfectly.

Gameplay wise, the feel of this game is a lot faster than a lot of the later entries, people label it as, 'arcade-y' and that's fair honestly, but I don't see this as a negative; Medieval 2 Total War feels so sluggish in comparison. What's the most imposing figure you think of when you think of Medieval times? A mounted armoured knight, in all his heraldic glory about to charge and bring glory to Christendom. Well in Medieval 2 you feel like a fat midnight snacker charging towards the freezer for his next ice cream. Well don't worry! This game has you covered! You are no longer a fat midnight snacker, but a grizzled Spartan veteran charging the pink Persian pyjama boi out of Greece. There's nothing more beautiful in this game than flanking with cavalry and watching them smash their way through and seeing the kill count climb and climb. Infantry combat is extremely enjoyable. Defending Sparta and watching your Armoured Hoplites fighting on the walls with the music will give you some THIS IS SPARTAAA vibes; speaking of which, instead of going into Anatolia you can instead unite Greece and take the fight to the Romans, it's a game after all. The sandbox nature of this game was way ahead of it's time. We have to remember, this got released in 2004... most games in 2004 were very structured and safe. This game took many risks, and lets you take even more.

What things do I adore most about this game? Well, every single unit and building has a description. There are a lot of units, and a lot of buildings, there are temples for the different gods and goddesses of each faction too. These descriptions can vary from two paragraphs to a couple of sentences. This really adds to the experience and connects you to this wonderful game and to history itself. I'm currently reading the Commentaries on the Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar and he himself mentions using Cretan archers, Balearic slingers and Numidian skirmishes to skirmish with the Belgae tribes of Northern Gaul and Southern Britannia. I read about these particular units within the game itself at the age of 10, I would never have read The Gallic Wars at 10. Again, that's the power of gaming; the capacity to teach a little ADHD kid stuff that no one else could.

Every now and again I find myself drawn back to this masterpiece, and every time I start it up all that nostalgia hits me and it's euphoric, this game has been with me for so long, I've played this game after I've lost loved ones, friends... this game is always there waiting... and those four letters welcome me back every time... S.P.Q.R.

This game is truly timeless, just like history, and speaking of which... my tea is starting to taste a little like wine...

This game right here, was the visualisation a 10 year old kid like me dreamed of at night, and never did I ever imagine a game like this could exist, yet Creative Assembly managed it, and in doing so they completely revolutionised strategy gaming whilst simultaneously stopping yours truly from ever finishing a piece of homework ever again. After first opening a history book in school, and seeing an ancient Briton warrior covered in beautiful ceremonial woad tattoos, charging ferociously at a disciplined Roman soldier in his pristine lorica segmentata, the obvious dichotomy and pure savagery of this alien world was impressed upon me, and young impressionable me... was in love. I'm still in love with this world and that love continues to grow daily, and this game was a major part of that. I have ADHD - I write this, because that means I get bored very fast with certain things, but also become intensely obsessed too. Rome: Total War was my first gaming obsession and coincidentally my first love. This game introduced me to PC gaming, I grew up on ye olde Playstation and only knew of Fighting and First Person Shooter games, so when I was presented with this top-down, bird's eye view of Italia (and the rest of the Europe-centric map) with city management it blew me away, while simultaneously terrifying me. Nevertheless it was fun, surprisingly intuitive and insidiously addictive. It isn't just a game either, I've always been an advocate of learning through gaming, and this little gem right here was one of the best for it's time. I learnt so much from this game, names, terms, dates, even the value of basic battle strategy (concept of flanking, pincer manoeuvres, scorched earth, ranged advantage, terrain advantage, short term income vs long term income, the list goes on... and yes, this stuff does indeed sound basic now, but that's because we take all of this for granted because we learn this subconsciously; don't forget to a 10 year old's mind this is cerebral stimulation on an entirely different level than reading a dusty old book, I'm having fun, I'm playing this game of my own accord in my own free time, and I'm feeding my mind faster than a whole year of school could ever hope to. I had a crazy history teacher, his name was Richard, he was roguishly handsome, looked like he just came straight out of James Bond and had a tiny Japanese wife, his father could walk up the stairs on his hands and Richard once got tricked into handing over an ancient Roman coin he found as a kid to our local museum. Why do I tell you this you might ask, well... he was my absolute favourite teacher of all time, my mentor and although I adore him and his many eccentricities, this game taught me more within a month than he ever did; that's the power of learning through gaming. Now let's talk about the game, shall we? S.P.Q.R. Senatus Populusque Romanus, The Senate and the People of Rome or more commonly abbreviated in Italy today, as... Sono Pazzi Questi Romani, quite literally: They're crazy, these Romans! Very fitting, because I feel quite crazy when I get into my roman-centric mood. When I play this, I am not in a dark room, sipping my tea and cursing at the pixels on my screen for the 1000th time for getting stuck in the gates of a city and slowly getting killed by the archer towers, no... no, I'm levitating. I'm growing in stature. I'm not a small Roman getting mocked by the big barbarian Celt, I'm the Imperator, the emperor... the civilised man coming to cleanse these heathens and offer my clemency whether they accept it or not. My hands are no longer on the keyboard, my hoodie falls and a purple toga appears over my shoulders, my tea turns to wine, my beard grows 3 inches and a vestal virgin suddenly appears beneath me and offers me grapes, I stand, brush her aside and extend my arm outwards as I gaze upon my empire, and every other faction in the known world prostrates themselves before my glory. That, my friends, is the power of S.P.Q.R. When you start the game you will hear a woman moaning, wait - I mean... vocalising, she sounds almost like an angel, and the feeling of impending doom looms over you, you see Carthaginian soldiers marching to war, followed my blue boi Scipio and then some thicc Parthian cataphracts, then silence... suddenly Rome is shown in all it's beautiful architectural majesty, the music picks up with heavy drums, but wait... Rome is under siege! Celts and Carthaginians, the horror! The woman moaning - I mean - vocalising increases her fervour as if she just stepped on a really pointy bit of Lego, big balls of fire rush across the scene and smash into the walls of Rome... now let me stop here. That was just the intro, and what an intro video it was. To this day it's one of the best for it's time, the music perfectly syncing with the action and the camera angles were beautiful. Past the intro you start an Imperial Campaign and are immediately presented with the music and oh my... the music of this game. Jeff Van Dyck. His music speaks for itself, look up the soundtrack. Imagine if Hans Zimmer's Gladiator and Ramin Djawadi's GoT musical score had a baby... this would be it; fits perfectly. Gameplay wise, the feel of this game is a lot faster than a lot of the later entries, people label it as, 'arcade-y' and that's fair honestly, but I don't see this as a negative; Medieval 2 Total War feels so sluggish in comparison. What's the most imposing figure you think of when you think of Medieval times? A mounted armoured knight, in all his heraldic glory about to charge and bring glory to Christendom. Well in Medieval 2 you feel like a fat midnight snacker charging towards the freezer for his next ice cream. Well don't worry! This game has you covered! You are no longer a fat midnight snacker, but a grizzled Spartan veteran charging the pink Persian pyjama boi out of Greece. There's nothing more beautiful in this game than flanking with cavalry and watching them smash their way through and seeing the kill count climb and climb. Infantry combat is extremely enjoyable. Defending Sparta and watching your Armoured Hoplites fighting on the walls with the music will give you some THIS IS SPARTAAA vibes; speaking of which, instead of going into Anatolia you can instead unite Greece and take the fight to the Romans, it's a game after all. The sandbox nature of this game was way ahead of it's time. We have to remember, this got released in 2004... most games in 2004 were very structured and safe. This game took many risks, and lets you take even more. What things do I adore most about this game? Well, every single unit and building has a description. There are a lot of units, and a lot of buildings, there are temples for the different gods and goddesses of each faction too. These descriptions can vary from two paragraphs to a couple of sentences. This really adds to the experience and connects you to this wonderful game and to history itself. I'm currently reading the Commentaries on the Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar and he himself mentions using Cretan archers, Balearic slingers and Numidian skirmishes to skirmish with the Belgae tribes of Northern Gaul and Southern Britannia. I read about these particular units within the game itself at the age of 10, I would never have read The Gallic Wars at 10. Again, that's the power of gaming; the capacity to teach a little ADHD kid stuff that no one else could. Every now and again I find myself drawn back to this masterpiece, and every time I start it up all that nostalgia hits me and it's euphoric, this game has been with me for so long, I've played this game after I've lost loved ones, friends... this game is always there waiting... and those four letters welcome me back every time... S.P.Q.R. This game is truly timeless, just like history, and speaking of which... my tea is starting to taste a little like wine...