Empire: Total War (Empire: Total War (PC))

Member Name: I-am-Layton

Product:	Empire: Total War (PC)
Date:	26/03/09 (375 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very good graphics and with hours of good gameplay available.

Disadvantages: Needs a very good PC to install

Well I best start by mentioning the Game requirements, so I do not build up your desire for the game and allow you to be let down by your computer not being up to speed with the vast amount of storage space and graphics needed.
-2.4 GHz Processor
-256 MB Video Card
-2 GB of RAM for Vista, or 1 GB of RAM for XP
-15 GB Hard Drive Space. Comparing this to its predecessor, 'Rome: Total War' which required a mere 2.9 GB, 'Age of Empires III' that required 2.0 GB and 'Battlefield 2' where only 2.3 GB Hard Drive space is required. All of which are considered excellent games, with hours of gaming time available. Putting this into consideration, 'Empire: Total War,' which requires 7 times as much Hard Drive Space, should keep gamers happy with hours of epic campaign modes and stunning battles.
The requirements are so unforgiving that a friendly message is left when purchasing the box, 'check that you meet all the requirements before opening, because you can't return it once it's opened.'

So now we've established whether your computer is good enough to take on a game of such epic proportions, let's categorise this game as a turn-based and real-time tactics computer game, making it similar to well known games such as Sid Meier's 'Civilizations,' 'World in Conflict' and 'Cossacks 2.' Those who played 'Risk!' as a child will flourish in the campaign map and those who watched the somewhat popular BBC 2 show 'Time Commanders' can grasp the idea. The menu screen and instructions are easy to grasp, and listening to the tutorials that lead you throughout the campaign can easily combat any complications and battles, so I see no need in dwelling upon the game play too much. It offers enough technology and functions to entertain and offer the Total War experts plenty to rummage through, but still remains levels of simplicity and help so the game does not daunt the new gamers.

The 18th century forms the background of the campaign mode. You can take control of 1 of 12 major factions, including Prussia, Britain, France, Austria, Ottomans and Poland-Lithuania. But Empire: Total War also introduces the concept of minor nations, such as Morocco, Portugal, Cherokee Nations and Savoy. These new major and minor nations allows you to trade with, ally or become protectorate over, and now with the welcome addition of the diplomacy bar makes it much easier and faster. The other main change between the this game and its prequels is the expansion of the map, to cover a world theatre, with the introduction of India, the Americas and various trade routes in Brazil, Madagascar and the East Indies amongst others. However although I think everyone is happy with the new introductions, I found it all to easy to conquer major nations such as France, as their European territories have been reduced to all but 1 major one. So if you take that city you hold their capital, and they therefore tend to crumble. Finally, with the improvement of technology, Creative Assembly was able to introduce Naval Battles. Personally I do not use the Naval Battles, I only spend time fighting these battles when the numbers are vast and when the normal graphics have already pushed my pc to the limits, a naval battle of any decent proportions runs at mind numbingly boring speeds.

Creative Assembly then introduced a whole separate campaign, called 'the Road to Independence,' undoubtedly to appeal to the American audience. Granted the Americans did gain their independence during the 18th century there and it was an important war, I feel for a whole campaign to be based around it and many other events, such as the Seven Years War, Great Northern War and the War of the Spanish Succession, despite consisting of much greater numbers and in some cases lasted a lot longer just went unmentioned.

The music is rather repetitive, and the sound affects nothing amazing. Although they are fitting to the game, which some may argue is more important; I didn't find myself with the sound on for long at all. But the Games Physics that I have experienced are very similar to the ones featured on the trailers, which came as quite a surprise after I reduced the games graphics by so much. However the graphics, as expected did suffer a lot. The units from a distance appear as mere marks that resemble units from a distance. It is only until you zoom in on the units do you see the detail of them, but I suppose this may be different to those who have much better computers, or those who choose quality over the speed of the battles. I also, as many others I know have done, experienced problems with the new installer that the Empire: Total War uses. Steam, brings about solutions to problems that never really existed. Granted it allows you to play the game without using the disc, but I never found that to be such a problem. And for this we have had to sacrifice a painfully complicated installation process. Whereas other games just allow you to put the game in the hard drive, and it automatically runs the installation, Steam has decided to make you sign up to and install a whole new application just to start to install. I was then subject to more waiting when the server was to busy, and then when it was finally ready to install the Steams installers speed is reminiscent of the old Windows 98 computers attempting to install a game far too powerful. So after it reached around 3% in around half an hour I decided to rummage around my computer until I was able to find the installer that should have been instantaneously available, and then we were under way. Because of Steam I also lost the collector's edition's features because it failed to install the files properly. Although it was only £3 lost because of it, it's still annoying having to sit through more installing for nothing.

At the game's release it cost around £30 and the Collector's edition around £35, give or take around £2 depending on where you go. I decided to get the collector's edition because of the 6 exclusive units available. That may not mean a great deal to people new to the whole Total War series, but those who have played on previous games before may know how much the gaming community are striving to create more and better units all the time in 'mods,' then the chance to get 6 straight away seemed appealing at the time, but as I said I never got it to work. But that is the only major advantage I could find, besides a pretty box and map.

Mods, or modifications, for all those who don't know are alterations people make to the game via the available files. Modders can create entire new campaigns, maps, nations and units that keep the game fresh once it starts to go dry. For instance modders were able to create a Napoleonic Campaign out of Rome: Total War. These are all available online and are pretty easy to find.

Overall the game is very well received. The lowest rating I have seen is 8.5/10 given by GameSpot, others are all very good. Whether they have given it 5 Stars, 9.5/10, 96% or and A grade you can see that it is a bloody good game. Any trailer can be seen online with interviews with the staff and also fan-made videos on the gameplay. So if you're a cautious buyer and don't want to part with you money until you know what it's like you best check on the videos because I feel it is hard to get a good impression of the game by text alone.

Summary: An excellent PC Strategy game, but be sure to check the requirements before buying.