Total War: Rome II has mind-boggling, epic combat (hands-on preview)

Few games can capture everything from the raw emotions of the battlefield to a bird’s-eye view of a grand imperial chess game as well as Total War: Rome II, a new PC game coming on Sept. 3 from Sega. I believe that this title takes strategy gaming to a new level of quality.

This latest game in developer The Creative Assembly’s long-running Total War series is going to be the best yet, based on my hands-on preview of the game. This game combines real-time strategy combat with a Civilization-style grand campaign that tracks your progress as you expand the boundaries of Rome. You can view the strategic shifts across the whole of North Africa or view your progress as a general sitting on a horse on a hill overlooking a giant battle.