Review : Empire: Total War on PC

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Empire: Total War

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Empire: Total War

By Brian Edey (Falelorn)
Posted on March the 23rd 2009 at 07:03:00 AM

I love to review amazing games like Empire: Total War. This new game is simply above and beyond anything else in the same or possibly any other genre on the Windows PC platform. My first draft of the review was actually around five times the size it is now because there was so much to talk about but luckily I trimmed it down because who would want to read 6,000 words on a game you would rather be playing? Not I.

Empire: Total War is one of the best real time strategy titles (RTS) in a very long time and even with the newly released and incredible Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II taking a new direction and innovating its gameplay away from the standard RTS gameplay, Empire: Total War proves that the classic RTS gameplay can still surprise gamers.

With an incredible campaign based on the battle for independence and creation of the United States of America and my favorite new game of fighting a global war against other nations in the 1800’s on land and on the sea in beautiful 3D graphics against a deep and powerful AI for the most part. There is little not to love in this game and this should be one of the most impressive RTS games on anyone’s computer for the next several years.

Gameplay

Gameplay wise Empire: Total War does not push the boundaries with how you play the game, but it did do a great job with simplifying the process so you can basically just do one click actions for everything from attacking units, moving from A to B, boarding enemy vessels and even simple click and slide your mouse so your units will face a certain direction and change their tactical stance. It is so easy you can quickly move several units to key positions without adjusting the actual time scale and keep your advantage during combat or if you need to, take advantage and turn a losing war into a winning situation.

Like any real time strategy title the best way to play the game is to know where everyone is on the battlefield at all times and while it is too fun to zoom in and see the battle up close if you do this too often, the smart computer player can turn the tide of war and put you in a world of hurt. This is especially noticeable if you do not pay attention when you speed up time to quickly march or sail to a certain position. While it is nice to speed up if you do not know where your army is and where the enemy is at all times you can quickly lose and upper hand you may have had before you can return to real time and adjust your tactics.

There are two campaigns in Empire: Total War as well as a skirmish battle system for those single player gamers out there and a decent but not deep enough multiplayer system. I have always preferred my real time strategy games to be single player as the multiplayer games have always become simple contests of those who use strategy and those who think they know strategy. In fact this is one RTS game where I have seen a huge amount of players fumble their way through any multiplayer combat and it is by far the most disappointing aspect of the game.

For a single player game, Empire: Total War is extremely impressive with literally a quick battle or campaign for everyone. For me my favorite part of the game is the sea battles because they are not quick little arcade battles like a few other sea battle games out there and it takes a different set of skills to manage a sea battle over a ground battle. The ground combat is very deep as your armies can contain everything from men with muskets, mounted troops to artillery and how you use each one is very important. For instant you do not run your cannons near the combat because they would be destroyed quickly without protection.

Graphics

To simply say I was blown away at the graphics of the game would be a massive understatement. For a Real Time Strategy title the graphics are by far the best we have seen in overall graphics, animation and effects. The battles at sea alone are incredible with insane amount of detail with men in the water, damage to the ship as cannon balls hit and more. During battles on the group you can see every man reload weapons, then they aim and fire and if they take damage it is not just a static animation with the front person falling but each person reacts independently. Buildings can be destroyed and the ground becomes scarred by the battles such as dead bodies will stay where they fall and cannons hit and cause noticeable damage to the ground.

The overall map graphics are good but I would have liked a bit better look to the trees as I found them to be almost too fake looking compared to the rest of the map which looks great. Your army, towns, cities, farms and more are all easy to see and react to when needed. The seasons change and it adds a sense of realism missing from other global warfare games.
Each battle area I competed in had a very realistic look to them with hills, valleys, mountains and forests which completely change the pace of battle. Very often fleeing units or those enemy units who are repositioning to counter attack, something they do often, will flee using the terrain and forcing you to funnel your troops through and limiting the overall effectiveness of your army until you are re-situated and prepared to fight again. It is a very nice and welcome feature to have a realistic terrain change the battle in a real time strategy game, rather than some static building or bridge being the only item on the map and it is usually easily to work around.

Audio

Every snippet of audio in the game is excellent from the strong and stirring music, to the realistic sound effects which change depending on where your camera is in location to them and the voice acting is excellent. The tutorial voice acting and even the campaign acting is all done very well and keeps the game lively and entertaining.

Value

You will not just play this game once, you will finish it several times with different countries and then you will play the quick battle modes even more. There is so much value in this game it is almost incredible to think that RTS games have taken such a giant leap forward in graphics, gameplay, audio, presentation and value. Nothing comes close to this game and the previous King of RTS games is dead. The King is dead. Long live the King!

Bottom Line

All Strategy fans must own this game even if the setting is something they do not enjoy. This is the closest thing we have seen to a perfect game in ages on the PC and this is one game I will not take off my PC until another Total War is released… and then only maybe.

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Pros

+ Amazing graphics and audio
+ Huge amount of game to play here
+ Easy to pick up but you will not master the high difficulty without great skill
+ Gameplay controls are rock solid
+ Global campaign and Independence campaign are great
+ Voice acting is very well done
+ Combat at sea is awesome, my favorite part
+ Detail of the game is daunting
+ Detail in combat is incredible

Cons

- nothing

Final Verdict

9.9

Breakdown :

Presentation :

9.9

Graphics :

9.9

Sound :

9.9

Gameplay :

9.9

Replay Value :

9.9

Our review : 9.9
Your verdict [0 vote] : Do your own review
System :
Publisher :
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Category :
ESRB : T - [GameFocus' ESRB Guide]
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Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.

PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)

GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.

AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?

GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.

REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.

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