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Empire: Total War takes players from ancient ages to the 1700 with multiple theater
By Paul Squire
Posted: 4/1/09, 1:13 AM EST Section: Joystick
Empire: Total War
Console: PC
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
The 18th century was no picnic: it was a time of gunpowder battles and broadsides fired on the open sea. It was brutal, dangerous, exciting and it's damn fun to play.
Empire: Total War is the latest entry in the historical Total War strategy series. This installment takes the player from ancient and medieval history, when the previous games took place, to the 1700s.
In Empire, the player's resources are scattered in towns across the regions he owns. Towns are upgraded outside the safety of city limits. This lets players use more clever tactics, such as raiding an enemy's farms or trading posts to draw his main army out from behind city walls.
Empire also offers a huge map in which to play. There are three separate historically accurate theaters - Europe, the Americas and India - as well as four smaller trade theaters for naval battles alone. The campaign map may be enormous, but Empire truly shines when two opposing fleets or armies meet. When that happens, the player can fight the battle in real time, moving units around on a much smaller map to try to flank and defeat the opponent.
Empire changes the focus from close combat to ranged battles, but the change is for the best. It pulls these huge battles off without a hitch. The camera is easy to use and understand and the computer's artificial intelligence has been greatly improved from past installments in the series.
Not only are the controls top-notch, but each unit is amazingly detailed. When two armies clash in melee combat, each soldier fights individually, making each battle look like it came straight out of a movie. At times, it can be mesmerizing to forget about the bigger picture and just watch the battle up close.
Empire also adds naval battles into the mix for the first time in the series' history. While the battles are no less impressive, they don't flow as well as land battles. Thankfully, an auto-resolve function is still available, so players can skip these battles.
Console: PC
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
The 18th century was no picnic: it was a time of gunpowder battles and broadsides fired on the open sea. It was brutal, dangerous, exciting and it's damn fun to play.
Empire: Total War is the latest entry in the historical Total War strategy series. This installment takes the player from ancient and medieval history, when the previous games took place, to the 1700s.
In Empire, the player's resources are scattered in towns across the regions he owns. Towns are upgraded outside the safety of city limits. This lets players use more clever tactics, such as raiding an enemy's farms or trading posts to draw his main army out from behind city walls.
Empire also offers a huge map in which to play. There are three separate historically accurate theaters - Europe, the Americas and India - as well as four smaller trade theaters for naval battles alone. The campaign map may be enormous, but Empire truly shines when two opposing fleets or armies meet. When that happens, the player can fight the battle in real time, moving units around on a much smaller map to try to flank and defeat the opponent.
Empire changes the focus from close combat to ranged battles, but the change is for the best. It pulls these huge battles off without a hitch. The camera is easy to use and understand and the computer's artificial intelligence has been greatly improved from past installments in the series.
Not only are the controls top-notch, but each unit is amazingly detailed. When two armies clash in melee combat, each soldier fights individually, making each battle look like it came straight out of a movie. At times, it can be mesmerizing to forget about the bigger picture and just watch the battle up close.
Empire also adds naval battles into the mix for the first time in the series' history. While the battles are no less impressive, they don't flow as well as land battles. Thankfully, an auto-resolve function is still available, so players can skip these battles.
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