Others say...

"Not much has changed... not worth too much money, but definitely worth it"
This expansion pack is much more historically accurate than the original game, but really, not much has changed since then.

The original game covers the Roman Republic, from 270 BC (when Rome totally dominated the Italian peninsula) to 14 AD (when Augustus dies, Rome's empire greatly expanded)

In this expansion pack, it takes you WAY ahead in the future, to the waning years of the Empire, where Rome is split in two, the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, with Christianity the moving force in the east, and barbarian invasion in the north a constant threat to all factions

New features in the game include totally new factions, with the only remaining factions from the original being the Romans (with their army looking and playing completely differently). Totally new army and fighting styles, whether it be with the primarily horse-faring Huns, the mixed-bag of legionaries and mercenaries of the Western Roman Empire, or the vast variety of the Sassanid Empire with their cataphracts, camels, archers, and spearmen.

Some other new features include:

- Night fighting: You can now fight in the night-time (but only if your general has the ability). This is very VERY useful if you are attacking an army that has reinforcements. Attacking them by night cuts off their reinforcements, as they are not expecting it at that time.

- General's loyalty: This is apparently only a Roman feature, in which a new trait is available just beneath Management, and above Influence, in which the number of rings indicate the general's loyalty. Disloyal generals can revolt against you!

- New faction-spawn triggers: When a certain year rolls around, a sect of a faction can break away to form a completely new faction (ie, the Romano-British in Britannia, the Ostrogoths or Visigoths from the Goths, etc) as well as rebellion triggers for the Romans and other factions

- Sacking settlements, becoming nomadic: Many of the barbarian factions start out without any settlements, instead with fully stacked armies (mostly just peasants given weapons) making them essentially nomadic. In this way, as the Huns, for example, you can rage through the lands simply sacking settlements and taking their gold rather than settling down. However, if you lose any of your family members, you're dead


and many other minor changes, including vastly improved AI. Some of these features have been added into original Rome Total War as well (such as night fighting)


All in all, it's an impressive expansion pack, but not quite worth the amount of money it was labeled as. Considering that more than half of the factions are all barbarians (which in my eyes, look pretty much all alike) and the new features aren't as ground-breaking or totally new as say, Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. Still, it is a worthy addition, and also the target of totally new mods!

"Kind of a let-down"
The expansion-pack has some interesting features, like night battles and barbarian hordes but, overall, the playability seemed to be lacking. I did notice, however, that the AI was improved after I installed Barbarian Invasion (the computer-controlled armies don't rush up to walled cities and stand there to be killed anymore). You may want it just for the challange of trying to survive as the Western Roman Empire. To me, however, it's too frustrating to be constantly in debt and having all your cities revolting all of the time. Worth looking at but kind of a let-down compaired to the original.

"Game heaven, for me."
I started playing this series with Shogun and it has been my favorite ever since. The only disappointment was Medieval, with its endless whack-a-mole rebellions in the end phases.

In terms of mechanics, Barbarian Invasions isn't that different from Rome, except for the need to manage religious affiliations and the difficulty of increasing leaders' Command ability through battle successes. It is different in the historical context as we move from an up-and-coming Rome to a dying empire. I think that neither period are what we best "know" Rome for, which would probably be early Empire, circa Caesar or Augustus (50 BC - 100 AD).

The Total War series is almost unique in combining deep turn based strategic and economic management with real time tactical battles. Each aspect complements the other quite well, though the battle engine is the true jewel. The tactics, terrain, units and the rendering are just amazing. I generally find the strategic level more challenging throughout, because tactical battles become easier and easier as you upgrade your troops and they gain experience. Once you know your way around the solo campaign game, you can stretch out your investment by switching factions, playing historical battles (warning: only 2 of those in BI!) or play online.

My only criticism, at the strategic level, is Rome's unrest bias against large urban populations (inherited from Civ?), combined with the attractiveness of systematically exterminating cities to fill your coffers. My favorite strategy in Rome involves pulling troops out of a rioting city, making it easier for the city to revolt, then besiege and exterminate it. Which results in me collecting lots and lots of gold during the sack. Afterwards, depopulated cities are very loyal and have huge cashflows. That's an odd way to manage economies and feels morally repugnant as well. But it works :-)

Rome: BI is quite stable on my recent system which is a mid-power laptop, despite (because?) it not having been patched. Could other reviewers be experiencing instability due to older Windows installs?

"Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion Expansion Pack"
I purchased this game primarily for my 16 year old who has played this game nearly non-stop hours on end since it arrived. I can tell you if the game wasn't enjoyable and challenging my son would have become bored with it and wouldn't have played it anymore than the first few hours or so the first day. I have tried the game myself and have found it very challenging. My son and I recommend this game highly.

"Barbarian invasion"
A logical successor to Total War, that requires the player to deal with barbarian tribes and hordes as enemies. All the rules change as the armies are less orgaized and less predictable.