The tutorial for Rome: Total War is well worth the time as it sets the stage for your playground: ancient Rome. This is Rome before it became the dominating empire mentioned in history books, so the ending to the story isn't exactly a trade secret, but you still have to get there with your laurel leaf intact. Your guide will explain the main campaign screen, which looks a little like Civilization, and the battle system.

The campaign screen gives you an overview of all the areas you've explored, with unknown areas left dark. From this view, you'll see the position of your armies, cities, resources and those of other factions. You'll be given bare information, at first, like your hoard of cash, but you'll also receive missions from the Roman Senate that keep you busy. You'll be expanding by conquering towns, routing barbarians and generally doing whatever dirty work you have to. As your empire grows, things become more complicated. You don't have to take on every mission set forth by the Senate, but doing so results in rewards, both monetary and in status.

Working with the Senate happy also helps your status and makes it easier to grow your family. You'll choose from among three families at the beginning who differ only geographically and in who they'll fight first. After that, you'll need people to become generals, governors, advisors, etc, and your family members fit the bill. They'll each have tradeoffs, like being great commanders but poor politicos, so there's a very complex level of team building that makes you pick and choose your family's posts wisely.

Your family is your only source of generals, and without generals you won't win may battles. That means you have to take care of your family tree, or down the road you'll find yourself with a huge empire and army to manage but no one to do the managing. Your main character can't be everywhere at once, so in order to succeed you'll have to fight the urge to treat your people like cannon fodder.

The battlefields are where some people will want to spend most of their time. They range from wide open spaces, to bridge battles, to cities, castles, etc. The variety is impressive, as is the complexity of your armies. There are several units, like cavalry, spearmen, archers and infantry, and moving them about the field is about as intuitive as it can get, leaving you to concentrate on winning. The tutorial gives you some basic tips on strategy, but the battles quickly become much more complex than they are at the very beginning. You'll be commanding armies of thousands before you know it.

And that's probably where Rome's battle scenes are most impressive. Just looking at battles between thousands of soldiers on huge fields or outside enormous castles is awe-inspiring. But the interface is so well done that you shouldn't feel out of control unless you're not paying attention. And the graphical detail during these moments is simply fantastic. Soldiers standing around waiting for orders will shift feet and fiddle with weapons independently of one another - and you can zoom to and observe almost any spot on the field.

That means that during any skirmish, depending upon how busy you are with other units, you can zoom in and see the fight up close and personal. You'll see the ebbs and flows of battle, which result in fatigue and morale changes for both sides. Some scenes are a bit exaggerated, like watching men fly 20 or 30 feet after being hit by a cavalry charge, but in all the battle scenes in the game are reminiscent of those found in the movies - thousands and thousands of men doing their best to kill each other, presented in amazingly realistic detail.

And in most cases, the computer uses strategy well. They'll protect weaker units and usually try to create match ups that favor them. Battles against barbarian hordes are completely different that those against trained soldiers, though, so there are some routs. One consistent weakness is the computer's tendency to throw their general into the front line of a fight far too often and early. You'll have generals, too, and their presence and actions can greatly inspire your men, but if he goes down, chances are your boys will go running. The only solid complaint of Rome: Total War is that it's sometimes far too easy to take out opposing generals.

As you succeed on the battlefield, your work on the campaign screen will increase exponentially. This kind of macro-management of your empire isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's never been done better than it is here. If you have enough family, you can have a governor in each of your cities and control the details of that city, like building facilities. If you don't have enough people to put a governor in each city, the computer will do it for you. You can also choose to have it done automatically if you aren't interested in the micromanaging of each city. The automanager will follow general policies and make decisions for you. The choice is really up to you when it comes to how to spend your time.

Diplomacy, in all forms, is another aspect of Rome. You can spy, strong arm and sabotage other cities, and even spy on your own to see what unrest may be awaiting you. Again, you don't have to use these tactics, but for those who appreciate more than just the battles, there's more than one way to build an empire. The main campaign mode can take days, and there are so many variables that each time will be different. You aren't guaranteed to see the absolutely biggest battles possible unless you play your cards right.

An historical battle mode is also available, which recreates just a few battles without all the empire-building in between. You can also battle against other players over the Internet, which includes a skirmish mode and siege mode. Skirmish modes are one battle in a field, while siege modes pit a defender against an attacker.

From beginning to end, you're in control of everything from dealing with the Senate and other leaders to assigning troop position and equipment during a siege. You can manage an empire from the top down, literally, if you want to. But if you'd rather just command armies in battle, the computer can take control of most of the empire for you. Many games are excellent world-builders, and many are deep real time strategy war games. Rome: Total War sets out to be both and pulls it off wonderfully.