Empire: Total War Demo Impression

SEGA has released the demo to the much awaited, Empire: Total War on Steam. The games developer, The Creative Assembly has included a naval, and land battle scenario as well as a tutorial land and naval battle. The demo is available on Steam and having downloaded the demo(and having anticipated it with much excitement), here's my impression of it:

Firstly the description for the two battles included:

Battle of Brandywine Creek

After landing from his transport ships on the American coast, Major-General Sir William Howe led the British troops eastwards, with the intention of capturing Philadelphia. In preparation, American General George Washington readied most of his units to defend from this frontal assault around the narrow crossing of Chad's Ford on the Brandywine. The Creek flows through the countryside of Pennsylvania, enveloped by sheer cliffs and heavily wooded hills on both sides. Safe in the knowledge the fast flowing creek could not easily be crossed; Washington was confident of holding his position. However, more detailed surveillance of the terrain would suggest that alternative routes could turn the battle in the favour of the British.

Battle of Lagos

As so often in 18th Century warfare, French plans to invade England during the Seven Years War were reliant on ships from the naval base at Toulouse joining ships from Brest. The British had both ports blockaded, and the French had to wait for one of the blockading fleets to withdraw for re-supply before attempting any rendezvous. The opportunity came when the British fleet under Admiral Boscawen at Toulon withdrew to Gibraltar. The French under Jean-François de la Clue-Sabran left Toulon, and began to make their way towards Brest. Passing the Straits of Gibraltar, the French were spotted by Boscawen's lookout ships. Giving chase, Boscawen's fleet was only slightly larger than the French force, and caught up with them off the coast of Portugal where battle was joined. Take control of the British and defeat the French to end the invasion threat to Britain.

The demo has issues, technical issues that is. It takes forever to load. From the get go, you will have to wait, for the menu, and for the battles to load for a long time. I can't stress this enough, it is very long and has to be optimised in the final retail release. There are sound issues as well with sound effects disappearing when zoomed in and some crackling noise(not very obvious).

Overall, the new engine actually works surprisingly well. If you have a relatively recent graphics card, you would be able to play it(granted it is a decent graphic card) with high details. It looks stunning. Even with medium settings which the demo limits me too(which I think is because of my graphic card only having 256MB of RAM), the game looks stunning.




From the battlefield environment to the details on the units. The water looks amazingly real. The only beef I have is with the medium textures look a bit muddy(not as high res) but it is something I can forgive.

Having the graphics looks amazingly sharp is a great bonus, since Empire: Total War looks to be a great game as well. The amount of strategic depth in the battles is a lot more than the previous games. The battles are a lot slower and the battle maps are a lot bigger.




This leads to a more protracted battle that may happen over different areas of the map. Battles may be fought in one central location or on many different fronts with smaller armies. Instead of simply marching your army to face the enemy, you constantly have to re evaluate the situation and adapt to them, very much like a real war.

Battles with muskets and other gun powder units will require more emphasis on positioning your troops to maximise your arc of fire and minimise the enemies ability to engage you. Use cavalry for their mobility and not as the tanks they were in the medieval era. Battles are a lot more different from the medieval period yet they feel very much like a Total War game.

The naval battles are a new feature in Empire: Total War and is one of the most visually impressive parts of the game. Soldiers milling about on the deck, crew moving around the sails, to even underneath the deck, the cannon crew awaiting the battle ahead. Ships have all sorts of intricate details from their crew to the design of the stern with ornate carvings.




The naval battles are a lot more difficult to control since you need to micro manage your ships movements, and firing. While you can use a fire at will option that will reduce the micromanagement, to truly do well in these battles, you need to take control of your ships cannons for a powerful broadside shot.

There are also different type of cannon shots. Round shots are the regular cannon shots that break hulls, chain shots are to be used to break the mast and rip off sails effectively slowing down ships, and grapeshots clear decks of enemy sailors and soldiers allowing you to board the ships and take over it. The naval battles are a bit more demanding techinically than the land batles and will be slower than the land battles. This is especially true when there are many ships and all the ships are firing their cannons.

The AI was something many Total War fans wanted improved. The previous games had very underwhelming AI that was only a challenge when you were outnumbered. I'm pleased to report that the AI in Empire: Total War is a step in the right direction. The AI is now state based and will shift its strategy depending on the situation.

In the demo, the AI will move its forces when you cross the left river crossing. It will defend its half of the battlefield without actually blindly charging at you. That in itself is great news and will do a lot to add to a more engaging grand campaign.

The demo while featuring two battles, is only a rather small slice of what the full game will have. The grand campaign being a big chunk of a Total War game, promises to be a lot more longer and challenging this time round with an improved diplomacy AI.

Empire: Total War ships 4th March. Pre order information over here. Stay tuned for a review when the game is out.

Note : The loading issues and technical bugs have and are continuously being ironed out by Creative Assembly and reports say that the final version will be better optimised. There will also be a day zero patch that will have further optimisation.