Empire: Total War Review

 

This is TOTAL WAR! Proclaimed the narrator in the intro movie in all previous Total War games. Empire: Total War, the new entry in the series, doesn’t start out with a dramatic tagline such as that. Set in the age of enlightenment, revolution and men in funny hats, Empire brings the series closer to the modern period. Due to the sheer scope of the game, Empire: Total War is an extremely difficult game to write a review on.

 

The 18th century was a period of turbulent political upheaval in Europe and the colonisation of new land in other continents. In Empire, Creative Assembly has put together all these into one single package. This isn’t an easy feat considering the amount of complexity involved in the development of such a game.

 

 Victory belongs to the most persevering

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France

 

Empire: Total War, like previous total war games, incorporates a turn based strategy aspect of empire building and city management with real time battles. Creative Assembly has included a story based Road To Independence campaign that introduces players to the basics of the game and slowly opens up options in each successive episode. The RTI campaigns are very well done and do a good job as a tutorial campaign.

 

 

Each episode(there is a total of four where the final one opens up The United States to the grand campaign) is introduced by well directed cutscenes that combine the use of CGI and in game graphics. The first episode sees the player protecting colonists from raiding native tribes. The second episode opens up to the French Indian wars as American colonists fight the French colony in America as well as native allies of the French.

 

The third episode finally sees the American colonists revolting against the high taxes placed upon them, declaring independence and fighting off the British. The fourth chapters unlocks The United States in the grand campaign. Each episode includes a bigger portion of the campaign map and introduces new gameplay mechanics to the player. This is helpful for newcomers as they are thought the fundamentals of region development to the management of an entire nation.

 

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers

Voltaire, French Philosopher

 

Total War vets however may grow tired of this campaign as it may seem a little slow near the last few episodes. It does have some unique challenges, but unless you have an interest in American history, you will probably grow tired of this campaign.

 

 

Venturing away from the Road To Independence campaign and booting up a grand campaign for the first time, you will be shocked at the scale of the new grand campaign map and changes to the game. You can choose to play any one of 11 factions in the grand campaign, from the dominant Great Britain, to even the quickly fading Marathas Indian empire, each with a different position in the world and different priorities. Covering the Americas, Europe and India, the campaign map has been given an overhaul this time round. Regions no longer only have a single city.

 

Instead, in Empire: Total War, regions consists of a single capital city and many smaller towns. These small towns are the hub for important industries, like shipyards, ironworks to resource production like gold mines and farms.  No longer are industrial improvements such as these part of a single city.

 

These changes allow for a game that puts more emphasis on denying your enemies resources. Burn and pillage outlying farms and industries. Your enemy will be forced to meet you out on the open battlefield rather than hunker down in the city. Enemies that may not have a large army can still damage your economy by raiding these towns. Improving your farms will accelerate the growth of your region and speed up the founding of new towns in the region.

 

Trade is a lot more important in Empire than it ever was in any other total war game. You can now clearly see where your goods are being traded and shipped to. Land routes gain less profit while sea trade often will net you a bigger profit as you ship goods off to a foreign port. Quickly hover your mouse cursor over any trade route and you get a tool tip that show you just how profitable that route is.

 

 

In addition to trading with other factions, you can set up trade routes in trade theatres. Regions such as North Africa, East Indies, Brazil, Ivory Coast have slots that you can send your trade ship to. This will generate a new trade route to your capital that adds more revenue to your coffers. These trade theatres are not colonisable. You need to rush to find trade slots as many western nations will quickly grab any available slot.

 

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him

Sun Tzu, Author of The Art of War

 

All trade routes can be blockaded or raided(even land routes). This makes it important to protect them with your naval fleets. If you find yourself being blockaded or raided and with no defending navy to fight them off, your abilities will be severely stunted. The cost of supporting a land army will require you to utilise trade to its fullest.

 

It may be prudent to ally yourself with another nation that may be able to lend you a helping hand in troubled times. Diplomacy in Empire works very much like in a Civ game. No longer do you have to shuffle diplomats around the map. You just open up the diplomacy tab to make any offers to other nations. The tab has a long list of other nations opinions of you and their allies and enemies.

 

 

Speaking of shuffling diplomats around, Creative Assembly has streamlined the agents in the game and you only have to worry about priest, rakes and gentlemen now.Priest convert the populace of a region to your state religion. This might be necessary to do this to pacify a region before you conquer them(they are a lot more volatile now). Apparently a population that is off a different religion will revolt more.

 

Good order is the foundation of all things.

Edmund Burke, English Political Philosopher

Rakes are your assassins and spies rolled into one and gentlemen are scholars that help your research new technology and can also steal technology from enemy schools. You might be surprised to find out that you no longer train these agents instead they spawn depending on a number of factors such as the number of buildings that generate them and the level they are at. I find the reduced amount of shuffling agent back and forth around the map greatly enhances the game and perhaps is vital considering Empires massive grand campaign map.

 

The user interface has been cleaned up and it is easy to view a list of all your regions and set the tax rate for your entire nation. You no longer set taxes separately for each region. There are two different tax rate sliders, one for the nobility and the other for the peasant class. You will find they are motivated by different things and pacifying these classes may be in your best interest. In case of growing unhappiness, you can exempt any region off all taxes.

 

Empire: Total War features the first technology tree in a total war game. Using gentlemen and schools of you nation, you can research technology that improves your industries, farming, land armies, naval fleets, trade and even research new philosophical ideas. However, arming the populace with knowledge, leads to new ideas that may spark the fervour of revolution among your citizens.

 

You need to manage researching new technology depending on your overall strategy and tread carefully with an increasingly enlightened populace. In the event of a revolution, a rebel faction will emerge to overthrow the current government. You need to pick a side, whether to support the revolution or to silence them.

 

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

Jonathan Swift, Irish Writer

Your government (depending on its type) is represented by ministers that you do not control at all. No longer are generals part of your royal court. Your ministers give various bonuses that may be handy to your strategy and you may choose to replace a minister if you find him to be wanting(this will probably be through an election, again depending on your government type).

 

 

Apart from the changes in the campaign map, the real time battles have a new addition in the shape of naval battles. When you engage ships in the campaign map, you are brought down to a real time battle map with gorgeous rolling waves. You take control of your ships and need to use wind direction, formations and abilities of your ships to your best ability to outwit and defeat the enemy.

 

Use chain shots to cripple your enemies ability to manoeuvre(rip their sails), grapeshot's to clear decks before your board them, or round shots to break the hull of enemy ships till they sink or surrender. Many of the dynamics of land battles are still present in the naval battles such as morale. Losing your admiral might cause the morale of your fleet to waver. Firing into the stern of a ship will do more damage to their morale as well as the hull.

 

Naval battles have been the main focus in most Empire previews by the press in the run up to release. It is a valiant first effort that does a good job representing the often chaotic naval battles of the period. However, it is indeed chaotic and for a human player, controlling more than five ships often gets a little unwieldy and difficult to manage. Personally, I found the naval battles to be fun as long as I had to only manage a few ships. If it involved many ships, I often resorted to auto calculating the battle.

 

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.

Benjamin Franklin, American Scientist & Political Philosopher

The land battles have not been  forgotten and Creative Assembly has done a great job building a new land battle engine that simulates the intricacies of battle in the 18th century. Fans will be pleased to know that it is not Rome Total War or Medieval 2 Total War in Napoleonic skin. Land battles feel a lot different with powerful artillery and units with guns, it is more about your fields of fire.

 

 

Using elevation for extra range and the forests for cover(or jungle depending on where the battle is at),  you can out gun your opponents and get the upper hand in the battles. The trajectory of musket and cannon balls are calculated in real time. Cannons balls bounce off hard, dry grounds and get stuck in moist, muddy terrain.

 

The battlefields are a lot bigger now and may feature buildings that can be occupied. Units that occupy buildings get the protective cover that enable them to withstand a barrage of musket fire. However, under artillery fire, they come tumbling down. The power of artilleries are apparent in this time period and buildings and walls are not that safe as it used to be.

 

Cavalry are no longer the tanks they were in Medieval 2. They can no longer charge head onto any units since musket fire will cut them down. Instead, cavalry should be used for their mobility. Using them to harass artillery positions and charge flanks of engaged enemies. Dragoons are mounted troops with guns that can dismount off their rides making them ideal for quick skirmishes.

 

As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.

Thomas Jefferson, Third President of The United States of America

 

Sieges still exist but are a lot more rare in this game. You no longer build siege equipments prior to siege battles. You either pound their walls with artillery or use your units to scale the walls using ropes. It has to be said that pathfinding is a major issues in sieges. I have found units getting stuck to walls and not respond to orders. It’s not that often that it happens, but when it does, it is a frustrating experience.

 

 

Empire: Total War manages to improve the Total War formula in every way. From the streamlined user interface, reduced micro management on the campaign map level to the slower tactical battles, Empire captures the imagination of every wannabe general. The graphics on showcase is phenomenal. The sea in the naval battles roll around realistically with very highly detailed ships. Land battles look great with units looking a lot more detailed than the previous total wars.

 

I could go on describing about other aspects like the multiplayer, and the promised campaign multiplayer(should be out as a beta middle of this year) but that would bring my review to a shocking 3000 word epic. While that is a perfect representation of the game itself(it is indeed epic), I shall spare everyone from rambling on about the game.

 

The final verdict on Empire: Total War is that, it manages to do what it set out to do. To improve on the Total War formula on every facet of the game. While it may be a little rough around the edges(bugs), it’s epic scope and engaging strategic gameplay will keep you hooked on it for a very long time. Now if you will excuse me, I have a continent to conquer!

 

The good

• Amazing graphics for a strategy game
• Naval battles look awesome
• Major changes to the campaign map makes it superior than previous in the series
• Battles are paced a bit slower but the strategic depth remains
• Huge scope of the game with excellent replayability
• Less micro management in late game
• New tech tree adds a larger dynamic in the game that will shape how you will branch out your research in tandem to your overall strategy

 

The bad

• Pathfinding issues in sieges
• Some bugs in sound and animations

 

Rating : 4.5/5

 

Retail Price : RM179

 

Retail availability : pcgame.com.my

                                        The Software Boutique