As a history buff, with an interest in military history, I was destined to be a fan of the Total War series. Granted, I’ve only played this one and Rome 2, but I am tempted to try some of the others. What I’d really like is a new entry in the colonial era games.
As far as gameplay goes, all of the series shares a similar base foundation. You play as general, moving your troops around the battlefield in real time. Certain troops have certain abilities, like the cavalry can form into a wedge for better charges and trained foot soldiers can fire by rank, so there is a strategy to how you build and deploy your army. Basically the whole point of Total War is strategy, which is what endears me to the series. You have to be thinking on your feet, because if you aren’t paying attention, the enemy can outflank you and turn a victory into a defeat. Empire I feel is a little easier than Rome 2 thanks to the setting. In Rome 2, if you wanted to engage the enemy you had to get up close and lock swords. With Empire, most all the units are musket men. It’s easier to maneuver around or tactically retreat when you aren’t physically wrestling with the enemy. I also found troop stamina to not be as important, because rarely did I need to charge into any mass of enemies. The one exception to that being cavalry units armed with sabers. You do get small bonuses for having your cavalry charge downhill, because again, it’s all about tactics and strategy. In both Total War games I’ve played I’d make a poor cavalry commander though. I never know how to best use them, like knights in a chess game. I try to use them to secure flanks and swing around enemy lines, but when they get separated they spook and retreat. That’s another aspect of Total War, the morale system. You can’t go sending a unit of Marines charging head long into 5 units of enemy horse soldiers and just expect them to fight their way out. If things start going south for a unit, they will turn tail and run. This can be combated by keeping a general close to the action to inspire the troops. Another aspect of the strategy is knowing your enemy. While most nations fight with a mix of units, some favor cavalry. Fighting against the natives requires flexibility in strategy. They do have some muskets and cannons, but most fight hand to hand, a rarity in Empire.
There’s also naval combat, but I’ll be damned if I ever figured out how that worked. I usually avoided it best I could and the only time I would engage is if I basically had a numbers advantage.
As for the unit Al, it works well for the most part. If you set a group of units in formation, they’ll stay in formation. The only time I really saw the AI break down is on the siege maps. This are maps that are usually part field with a stone fort at the other end. If you are defending on the fort walls, the AI is okay, but if you are the besieger, it fumbles a bit. You are able to scale the walls, but once up there the AI gets a little confused if you want them to attack someone. I don’t think I’ve seen them successfully shoot down at an enemy in the fort and attacking enemies on the walls is hit or miss. They just start bumbling around, trying to get down the stairs or climb back down the outside of the wall it.
There is also a “Grand Campaign” mode. This is more like a game of Civilization. You have the world map with all the nations on it in their respective locations. You have towns in every region that you can build up with new barracks, shops, ports, etc that increase your wealth or citizen happiness or allows the training of new units. There’s a research tree that you must put time into to unlock better units or abilities. You have spies, gentlemen, and preachers that act as non-combat units that can convert cities, poison water supplies, or challenge foreign nations’ gentlemen in duels. The little videos that play for the duels are fun to watch. Then you move your army around to invade your neighbors and expand your empire. Unlike Civilization, there isn’t really different types of ways to win, it’s conquest or nothing. That is the base game mode and I assume it would take years to conquer the whole map. I played through the American Revolution scenarios, little bite size parts of map that detail different parts of American history, starting with Jamestown. The final scenario lets you play as America on the Grand Campaign. Next scenario I might attempt is one from the Warpath DLC. It let’s you experience colonial conquest from the American Indians perspective.
The music in this game is all renditions of period pieces. The playlist isn’t super long and you will probably hear a repeat or two in one play session. That isn’t too bad because just fade into the background, but there are a few that have words with them. During actual battles, there isn’t much music, going for more of a realism vibe. To enhance that, I installed a mod that adds fifes and drums to the foot soldier units when they start marching.
The graphics are fine for a game from 2009. The individual soldiers aren’t too detailed, but they don’t need to be, most the time you are looking at them from a bird’s eye view. The landscapes are okay, there’s little spots of trees you can use as cover, but most the battlefields look like grey-green slabs of cement. The forts you assault look good enough and if you pelt a wall with enough heavy shells, they will crumble away.
All in all, if you like the Napoleonic era of line battles and tri corner hats, I would recommend this game. If you are a military strategy buff, I’d recommend any of the Total War games.
