Total War: Rome II footage shows orchestral soundtrack and bashing-things-with-hammers sound effects

A dev diary video released by Creative Assembly shows great behind-the-scenes footage of the sound design in the new Total War strategy game, Rome II .

. The Total War series has always had an emphasis on bigger worlds and more units on a battlefield at once, but it's neat to see the lengths they went to get really great sound.

In addition to a full orchestral score and the voice work of actor Mark Strong, the sound designers and foley artists spend hours smashing each other with car doors and bashing suits of armor with hammers. Jump to 4:58 in the video to see the foley sessions.

“I think believability is probably the main reason that we need to have good sound effects,” says Matt McCamley, senior sound designer for Creative Assembly. “You want people to feel like they're a general commanding an army, as opposed to someone playing a game.”

Sound design is one of those elements that can be easily overlooked in favor of cutting-edge graphics and gameplay. But when the sound isn't just right, it can really wreck a game. For a game with such devotion to historically accurate combat and physicality, it's nice to hear sound effects that are equally well-crafted.

Rome II will be released on September 3.