10 War Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

Rome: Total War served as the entry point into the Total War franchise for many players, and while its two predecessors haven't aged terribly well, this epic strategy game benefited enormously from its use of the revamped TW Engine 2.

So great was the engine, in fact, that developers The Creative Assembly loaned out the game's source code to the BBC for their hit tech game show Time Commanders.

At the time a technical landmark for the RTS genre in terms of its visuals and aural design, Rome matches its strong presentation with gameplay that's deep yet totally accessible.

If you're at all interested in the genre, this is an almost dangerously addictive game, and even if you find RTS games intimidating to wade into, Rome's intuitive design makes it a great place to start.

Even over 15 years on, it remains an unflappable high-point for strategy games, persuasively proving just how exciting they truly can be.