Rome: Total War review

Keeping happiness and income levels safe is actually fairly straightforward, but drop below 100% on the former and you run the risk of riots and rebels, damaging population levels and structures. Healthy income, naturally, allows you to build new structures, train troops and maintain large armies. Population growth, however, is more artful than it first appears.

At certain population thresholds a settlement can be upgraded to the next level: from large town to small city, and so on. Each level permits new structures to be built, increasing your sense of accomplishment but also materially benefitting your empire. Housing a larger population naturally means more citizens to exploit with taxes, which is always good news. Troops trained in a city are deducted from the population, so growth can be badly hampered if you're constantly mobilising the masses. But there are ways and means to boost population growth: drop taxes, build certain structures - even enslave a faraway city to send some of its people across your empire to other settlements.

If it all sounds a bit over-complicated - well, for some, it will be. Rome is not an easy game. But the depth of the campaign map, in which there always seems to be something to do or tweak, provides ample reward for those prepared to invest the time.

There's a grand dynastic feel to your empire-building. A family tree keeps track of your faction leader's heirs and relations, and male members of this extended family become important figures when they come of age. Depending on their skills (each offspring is ranked on military prowess, management ability and influence) you might send them to lead one of your armies. But placing a family member in charge of a city gives you direct control of tax rates and build queues. Income and efficiency will be improved if the steward's management skill is high, but a city will revert to auto-managed status without direct leadership from your brood. And though you retain some influence, the auto-potentate sets the taxes, which sometimes causes cities to revolt or at least stop growing. An irritant, but not a major one, and it does reflect the lack of control felt by the rulers of the day.

The longer your lieutenants stays in office or at the head of a successful army, the more effective they'll become, gaining attributes and a retinue of followers who affect his abilities along the way. These personalities are particularly important to Roman factions, due to the domineering presence of the Senate. This ineffable institution, present on the campaign map as a non-playable faction, wields power over the three other Roman sides: the Julii, Brutii and Scipii. When you're playing as the Romans, the Senate issues missions and subsequent rewards which give useful direction to your opening few dozen turns. Roman family members can also be awarded positions within the Senate, increasing their influence and hence their grip on power.

As a Roman faction you're unable to attack other Romans and challenge for their territory - at first, at least. You must strike out north, east, west and south to take on barbarians and respected civilisations alike; spreading the influence of the Roman empire and expanding your own power. Eventually, once the better half of Europe is under your heel (well, your sandal), the Senate will become uncomfortable with your strength and popularity, and demand you submit your empire. The subsequent Roman-versus-Roman war, culminating, if you wish, with the besieging of Rome itself, adds a powerful appeal to the latter portion of the first campaign. It's a welcome boost that occurs just as the pressure starts to slacken - and just when Medieval campaigns usually started to lose their appeal.

But even that's just the start of the fun. There are 20 distinct factions in the game, of which 11 are playable in campaign form: Egyptians, Carthaginians, Seleucids, Parthians, Gauls, Germans, Britons and the Greek Cities, plus the three Roman families. Each offers distinct challenges. For the Gauls and Greeks, the proximity and power of Rome is a major headache. The Parthians, tucked away in the extreme East, lack infantry and trade routes, with far-flung cities prone to unrest. The Carthaginians, for all their elephantine martial power, are tempting targets for many factions to attack. And so on, with differing units and tech trees which inform overall and small-scale strategy. Playing as the Parthians, for example, you'll need to quickly work out how to use armies of horse archers - a challenge which at first seems impossible but which can be brutally effective.