Empire: Total War
Another installment in the Total War series sees the boys at The Creative Assembly tackle an era previously untouched and one that utilises black powder weaponry. The brutal and war rampant Eighteenth Century. While Medieval 2: Total War did touch upon the use of black powder weapons with the appearance of artillery and some early musket armed soldiers, the setting of Empire: Total War sees each faction make heavy use of lines of musket armed infantry.
This will lead to battles in which positioning is of the utmost importance and new tactics will have to be conjured up to succeed. In previous Total War titles it was all about getting up close and personal and fighting hand to hand. Now it is about overpowering your foe with massed gunfire. For those that may be skeptical I can tell you that it has been pulled off very well and melee combat is still a vital part of the game.
It is not only the battles that have changed, the campaign map has not only been enlarged greatly, (there are now three “arenas”of warfare including: Europe, The Americas and India) it has also seen a change in the way cities and towns and “Provinces”are organised. Instead of having several towns and cities each with their own building, unit and tax options, each Province is now controlled by a single Capital city. From there you can erect buildings all over your province and raise armies. It makes great sense to do things this way as you now have more immediate control over your lands and you wont forget about any small towns or cities you captured.
This game is graphically better than its predecessors, has been simplified in certain areas, is more in depth, more organised and includes naval battles for the first time. Suffice to say, seeing my troops spread out like a vast collection of tiny, armoured lladro figurines was quite truly a thing of beauty. It is certainly the best of the series and well worth a look.
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