Total War: Rome II is fine for the plebeian masses, but for the true Romanophile there is Alea Jacta Est.

Not only does it include some of the more popular conflicts such as Caesar's civil war and the slave revolt of Spartacus (DLC), but also has some of lesser known internal struggles like Marius vs. Sulla, and the year of the four emperors (my personal fav).

For those who have never played an AGEOD game before the learning curve may be a little steep, though not nearly as bad as some of the more complicated grand strategy games out there (I'm looking at you HoI3!)

So, if you're a fan of Roman history like I am, and are looking for something with a little more depth than, 'march army here, capture city,' this is the game for you!

ENG:

Alea Jacta Est(AJE) was my first AGEod game, and which brought me to the world of AGEod strategy games.
Don't check my Steam play time - game just release at Steam Store, while was selling at Matrix Games Store since 2012.

As I have said multiple times: It's incredible - how AGEod engine can simulate Ancient Roman Wars, American Revolution, American Civil War and finally Great War, despite such a large spread in time frame, each game is unique, - I have never had a feeling that I'm buying same game.

AJE is a good start for new AGEod players, since it provides lots of different scenarios differs at scale and time frame - from "Sulla's First Civil War" till "Year of Four Emperors".

Different scenarios and sides provide unique experience in every aspect of Roman life at picked scenario period.
And that gives you tons of enjoyment playing AJE.
Nicely drawn unit pictures, detailed map and nice music provides incredible experience of the Rome.

If you're interested in Roman Civil Wars or Rome itself(Doesn't matter if it's Republic or Empire) and/or you enjoyed other AGEod titles, pick Alea Jacta Est.

Especially with this dirty cheap price tag(60% discount).




RUS:

Alea Jacta Est (AJE) была моя первая игра от AGEod, которая и привела меня в мир стратегий AGEod.
Не смотрите на моё время игры в Стиме - игра только что появилась в Steam, хотя продавалась в магазине Matrix Games с 2012 года.

Как я уже говорил в других ревью AGEod игр: Это невероятно - как движок AGEod может симулировать Римские Войны, Американскую Революцию, Гражданскую Войну в США и, наконец, Первую мировую войну - несмотря на такой большой разброс во времени, каждая игра является уникальной, у меня никогда не возникало ощущения, что мне продают что-то второй раз.

AJE это хорошее начало для новых игроков AGEod, так как она предоставляет много различных сценариев отличающиехся в масштабах и временных рамках - от "Первой гражданской войны Суллы" до "Года Четырех Императоров".

Различные сценарии и стороны конфликта дают уникальный опыт в каждом аспекте жизни Рима.
И это приносит кучу удовольствия, играя AJE.

Красиво нарисованные юниты, подробная карта и музыкальное сопровождение даёт возможность погрузится в эпоху Рима.

Если вы заинтересованы в римских гражданских войнах или в истории самого Рима(Будь то Республика или Империя) или вам нравятся (если нет - вам понравятся :)) и другие игры серии AGEod, - берите Alea Jacta Est.
Особенно за такую цену (60% дисконт).

In case its not obvious - I have played this game for a long time before its Steam release.

This is a brilliant strategic wargame available at a ridiculously low price. I have lost many a glorious hour in the maps and stat screens and menus of this game, now its finally on Steam.

If the strategic aspects of Roman warfare, such as logistics, army movement, stances and numbers appeal to you; if you were disappointed by the lack of strategic depth and authenticity in Total War Rome 2 or the shallow military aspects of EU Rome; you owe it to yourself to give this game a try. Actually at this price... any strategy gamer should give this game a try.

AGEOD veterans will be right at home. Others may need to look at a few Youtube tutorials and playthroughs. You can also look at some AARs for learning all the epic things you can do in this game -

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?549151-AGEOD-AAR-s-Index&p=12638919&viewfull=1#post12638919

http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?316-AJE-Alea-Jacta-Est-AARs&s=212e1b7c016ec2c8ff956162479afd10&sort=replycount&order=desc

Cheers!

I'm a fan of Ageod games, having played most of their previous releases. The learning curve for new players might be a little steep, but if you give this (and other Ageod titles) a few hours to learn how to play you will not be dissapointed - so long as you are into turn based strategy gaming ;)

Alea Jacta Est as an idea for a game is a good one
In execution it needs a lot of work
The game suffers from slow run time and an annoying habit of crashing and at times the game simply doesn't register my commands and i have to click multiple times before it gets the message (although this cold just be the slow runtime)

The gameplay could be interesting if I knew what was going on as the tutorial does a very poor job of explaining how battles work and tells you nothing at all about the units (ie what there stats mean, what different units are good for etc)
from what i can gather it seems that armies have a power score based on their units and health (possibly morale too) and this combined with the general and terran will determine the outcome of a battle it feels like a more complex and interesting version of the battle system in crusader kings or EU (which is good cause both those games need a better system for battles) and I feel that if I could just figure out what to do (and have the game run well enough to have the chance to do it) It would be very deep and challenging and a lot of fun.

As it stands now I wont recommend this game, give it a few months to sort itself out and wait for another steam sale by then hopefully it will be running well enough to be some real fun.

I am a fan of historical wargames and obtuse strategic simulations, so I picked this up on sale. Generally speaking it has all of the necessary components for a historical wargame. The battles themselves are quite hands off, the game focuses on the logistics leading up to a battle and then the calculations are made. It seems reasonably well researched, though it's more of a spreadsheet than an immersive experience as a Roman general/politician/powerbroker.

However, what leads me to caution others about the game is the extremely poor optimization. The load times are bad, things get kind of choppy and unresponsive, and it just makes the whole experience a drag. You know this game is going to be a time investment to learn, and that poor optimization is going to drag the whole experience down as it aggregates. In this day and age, the discerning wargamer doesn't mind playing a game that could have been made in 1994, but it is expected to run fast and stable. As such, I cannot reccomend this game, unless you are an absolute fanatic of either Roman History or historical wargames.

I will happily change my review to a reccommend if they improve the optimization. Until then, stay away, especially at retail price.

Would be a great game if it was more stable. I spend an hour and then it crashes and I've tried all the suggested fixes.

Civil War II is more stable and just as fun.

Sorry guys, I wanted to like this game. If I ever learn it, I may even still. However, the game is not for me. Overly complicated management systems are fine when they are less obfuscated. The tutorial teaches you the very basics, and then you are thrown into a set up limited turn scenario where you cannot waste turns figuring things out. I cannot figure out how the economy works. Some of that may just be that I am currently playing multiple games and don't want to spend the hours trying to learn it. There are only a couple lets plays, and they move pretty quickly and either don't explain, or spend 15 minutes explaining the history of a feature in Roman civilization rather than how it functions in game. I get it, some REALLY love Rome. I enjoy but not on that level. Basically, I learned the paradox games no problem, but this one remains vague.

To top it off, the game engine is a pig. You resolve a turn, and the game basically freezes until you get to a battle screen. Turns take 30 seconds to a minute depending. I hear that the game this engine is from "Pride of Nations" was much worse. I really want to try the Civil War 2 game based on the engine, I am just afraid at that price that I won't be able to learn it. I have limited gaming time these days with kids/wife etc, and don't want to spend a week of gaming time learning a system.

The game looks nice, although I have to play in in a crappy low res because the ffonts are so small I couldn't read it. The game is all about reading text and figures, and I couldn't. Not only size, but the particular font didn't blend well with the backgrounds thru my tv. I play paradox games at 1080 with no problem, so I'm not exactly blind.

I applaud the developers, and I'm sure there is a really nice game here. For me, as a moderate wargame tactical fan, it is just too much when coupled with the bad UI and long turns that you cant even scroll the map during. If I ever find the impetus to learn the game and put some time into it, I may change my vote. Not bad, but not for everyone. Romanophiles and serious warsim people may enjoy a bit more. Or if you have experience with the engine which dont.

First and probably last review for a long time. I only comment on this title
as I think I paid way too much money for it.

As much as I would like to dive into this game and its elaborate back stories,
the engine they use is so bloated and unefficient, that on my office PC it is unplayable.
Turns take minutes, scrolling is a pain, and using the interface is lagged as hell.
Running it from an SSD helps a little, but still unplayable. This on a machine that runs Deus EX HR
and Mass Effect 3 just fine. And I think even Arma 3 ran smoother than AJE.

Waiting for my Teraflop rig to arrive...

I spent very little time with this game. But as a gamer who has spent a ridiculous amount of time with games like Europa Universallis, Victoria 2, and many others like it. I was dissapointed at the steepness of the learning curve and the complexity and difficulty of performing simple tasks. The incredible shoehorning of forcing the player into roughly 5 or 6 scenarios with set turn limits was extremely limiting and dissapointing.