Game Review: Empire, Total War

Like most users (not critics), I'd give this about a 7. Its very well made, with wonderful craftsmanship, attention to detail, and a love for the genre from the developers shines through.

But it has one major flaw: Its BORING. Unlike the earlier masterpieces in this series: Shogun, Rome, and Medieval; Empire is just not that interesting to play. I blame the nature of warfare during this time period. After all, the units are simply all too similar to one another. They all have guns, they all stand there like total idiots and shoot & get shot. And the difference between a rookie unit and a seasoned infantry division is just too meager in terms of game play. So they all pretty much just stand there and shoot at each other... very little by way of tactics that I can make out.

Cannons are terribly unsatisfying. They're horribly inaccurate, and they don't do much to intimidate or demoralize the opponent, which was their primary effect as I understand this historic period. Which makes them seem quite pointless, when playing the game.

Overall, the shift of focus is away from the excellent tactical battles and into what has always been TW's weak suit: the strategic game. And although there have been considerable advancements in the strategic game, it still comes off as more of the same old same. It doesn't really feel like you're ... well, I'm not sure what you're supposed to be, in game terms, but whatever that is, its vague and ill-defined, and doesn't feel very powerful or interesting. Just mind-numbing and repetitive.

I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention the new naval real-time combat. Its certainly interesting, and absolutely gorgeous! Just watching your men man the top'sails is a sight to behold! The light reflecting off of the best ocean water rendered / simulated in a game to date in my personal experience of playing 3D games on a computer. Truly scrumptious.

And of the 3 main aspects of Empire:TW, the naval combat is probably the most interesting. Its challenging, and so gains some fun aspects. However, ultimately naval battles are relatively small part of the game overall, and they don't rescue you from the other two aspects: strategic play and land battles, and they're just too tedious for my tastes.

And this from a guy who LOVEs TW: Shogun, TW: Rome, and TW: Medieval 2.

What was your experience of the game, and had you played any of the earlier games in the series?

ADDENDUM: One thing I should have mentioned is how disappointed I was to find that having schlepped over to a brick & mortar store (Games Stop) in order to buy a real, independent, fully available and owned copy of the game; I returned home only to find out that the thing I spent money on was only really a bunch of wasted empty plastic with a software authorization code for Steam! I not only didn't get my own copy of the game, but I had to spend 4 hours waiting for the stupid thing to download from Steam!!!

Sometime, I'll dedicate an entire bog to how much Steam sucks. Yes, it works for many folks, but No, it doesn't work for me, nor for a lot of other folks. To each his own, but in this context, as is becoming all too common, I don't get to have my own, or any say in the manner - even going so far as to trick me into buying one thing only to really be another, that I didn't want! That's W-R-O-N-G. And between this latest edition being a lack luster effort by The Creative Assembly, and the (to me anyway) onerousness of exclusively shackling themselves to Steam, it will likely be a long, long time before I throw any money their way again.