TOTAL War! (Empire: Total War (PC))

Member Name: Xlixen

Product:	Empire: Total War (PC)
Date:	27/06/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Gameplay, lots of fun

Disadvantages: A few minor glitches

Introduction
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Empire: Total War is a turn based strategy game that was released by the developers Creative Assembly and Sega. It is available to buy on DVD or through the online distributor, Steam. Empire is the fifth game in the series, following titles such as Medieval: Total War and Rome: Total War.
This particular instalment of the series focuses on the 18th century. It is similar in many ways to the other games in terms of interface but many improvements have also been made. The aim of the game is to have the strongest empire - this could be contributed to by having the strongest army, navy, economics and politics.

Gameplay
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[General Gameplay]

The gameplay for the Total War series has always been excellent, but Empire shows several advances and new features in this game make it flow very well and give the player a lot of things to think about in order to best combat the challenges the game presents. Instead of just Europe and parts of Africa, which is usually the extent of the map in the Total War games, America and the Indies are now available to expand into. This presents the user with many different ways to play the game, and no campaign will be the same as the last.
The user can take control of one of 11 different factions: Great Britain, France, United Provinces, Spain, Sweden, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Poland-Lithuania, Ottoman Empire, Maratha Confederacy and Mughal Empire. There are however many more factions within the game that the user cannot control. The user controllable factions are the stronger ones represented in the game.
The game has two main areas of gameplay - The turn-based map and a real-time battle mode. The turn-based map allows the user to manage cities, build and move armies around the globe, interact with other nations to conduct diplomatic matters and command the navy. There are two types of real-time battle mode included in Empire, with the inclusion of real-time naval battles now being included in the game. The naval battles are quite a good addition to the game, however I found that they tend to be quite long winded. I do really enjoy playing the real-time battles between armies though, tactics definitely have to be used in order to win battles and the game does make the player think in order to succeed.
The user can choose to take part in a campaign of varying lengths, or take part in single historical battles from the 18th and early 19th centuries. These include both land and sea based real-time battles.

[Campaign Gameplay]

The campaigns in Empire are similar to the other games in the series, with tweaks to improve the gameplay and better reflect the period of time that the game is based. The campaign is where the turn-based map comes into play, with each turn reflecting 6 months within the game. The longest campaign available to play in Empire lasts 100 years - which is 200 turns. On first playing, I thought the campaign objectives would be fairly straightforward to accomplish in that amount of time - however, I was wrong. My faction didn't really start to advance enough till too late, and I just missed out on the objectives. I am restarting my second campaign soon in order to accomplish the goals though!
Buildings such as schools need to be built in order to better your faction - These recruit "Gentlemen" who are scholars and can make researching upgrades slightly faster. These scientific advances can give your faction the upper hand against their enemies in battles and also give a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations. It is also possible to distribute the factions religion to other nations through building "Church Schools" and sending Emissaries to other cities. Religion isn't as central to the game as it has been in other versions, but it can be used to settle down cities that your faction has just taken control of.
Building armies is also much better in this game than in previous versions. It is now possible to produce several units simultaneously in a single turn from one city. This enables armies to built much faster than in previous games in the series, a huge point of frustration that has finally been resolved by the producers.
There is another campaign that is available to unlock aswell, where you can take control of the United States in a slightly shorter campaign. This can be done by completing several short structured missions called the "Road to Independence".

My Experience
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I only bought this game last week and I have been absolutely blown away, and been completely addicted to it ever since it was installed. I've played most of the other games in the series, but Empire absolutely blows the others out of the water. I have however found that playing Britain in the campaign, you don't get attacked. I was told this was a glitch that was being fixed in an upcoming patch. This for me is a small bad point which is overwhelmed by everything that is good about this game.
Any fan of RTS (Real Time Strategy) or turn based games, or history or anyone who just likes a good 'play' on the computer, buy this game! I honestly believe that the Total War series deserves the success that it has had, because all the games have been an improvement on the last and despite being quite similar, they are all brilliant, and always get the player hooked. I believe the educational element of the game coming from the historical battles is invaluable too.
Overall, this game is excellent and this is reflected with the ratings it received on release (3rd March 2009), getting around 9/10 and sometimes higher ratings from respected reviewers. Personally I would give the game 9.5/10. It's almost there, but there are still a few issues that need to be resolved by patches that edge the game from perfection.

Thanks for reading,
~Xlixen.

Summary: A Brilliant addition to the series.