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I could probably be convinced by an argument as to why
Empire is either the best or the worst Total War game yet. It's easily the most epic, the most ambitious and grandiose of The Creative Assembly's efforts thus far, with a vast campaign mode and tonnes of incidental details thrown into the mix. But with the ambition comes a slight lack of polish, and a collection of annoyances and let-downs.
These problems are frequent but minor, mainly amounting to odd bugs, stability issues on certain machines, and a slight lack of logic to certain proceedings. They're small things that seem inconsequential to begin with, but as time goes on they start to grate. The result is a game that was initially heading for a score well into the 90s falling down the ranks a little - still a phenomenally brilliant piece of turn-based/real-time strategy, but one with a tendency to snap you out of its incredible world a little too regularly for comfort.
Often, you don't care. If you do, it's because you’re constantly willing
Empire to go that tiny step further, to polish itself sufficiently to support its monumental scope. The first thing you're likely to take in when attempting the Grand Campaign is how thrillingly, overwhelmingly, ludicrously enormous this game actually is. There's practically the entire globe awaiting you, and your methods of progress are widespread. Playing as Great Britain, I was advised first to take control of The Thirteen Colonies, by helping them eradicate French and Native American threats nearby. But this was only one approach. I also tried focusing my efforts on getting a stronghold in India, then moving back West across the campaign map. On another go, I waited patiently, promoted free trade, built up a staggeringly powerful economy and army, and went straight for the throat of mainland Europe.
"A
phenomenally brilliant
piece of strategy" |
These are just three of the wealth of opportunities available when playing as Britain. Play as any other country, and you'll have equally startling scope to manipulate the other regions on the map, making your way slowly towards your nation's exclusive victory conditions. A single completion of the Grand Campaign, assuming you play a full one and not a half-length one, takes a hundred years of game time. That's 200 turns, each lasting anywhere between ten minutes and an hour, depending on how thoughtful you're being, and how frequently you're engaging in battles. There’s also a completely separate campaign centred around Europe's move into North
America, and the nation's eventual independence.
Empire: Total War is huge.
This smaller campaign in America masquerades as an introduction to the
Total War schemata for less experienced players. Embarking on the Grand Campaign without first tackling Road to Independence is something of a death wish, particularly for those who aren't too canny with their
Total Warring. Far from being a mere tutorial, though, Road to Independence could succeed as a full game in itself. It's tighter and more guided than the Grand Campaign, but at times that's more than welcome, and the historical narrative running through it keeps everything captivating and contextual. Though it starts in a particularly straightforward manner, the challenge ramps up to
delicious levels later on. I honestly think, on occasion, I might have found myself enjoying it more than the full campaign.
Once again, the balance between the real-time and turn-based elements is sublime. You'll spend much of your time on the campaign map, playing
Empire like a digital game of Risk, calculating your movements and strategically planning years ahead of execution. In addition to the warfare, there's a fair amount of logistical, economic and diplomatic strategy incorporated, though those wanting to stick purely on the military side will be pleased to discover you can ask the computer to take care of the rest for you. It's quite possible to play the entire thing as a board game, ensuring your armies are strong enough to auto-resolve any combat situations without ever entering the battlefield. Some armchair generals may prefer the game this way, hands-free of the bloody, visceral reality of the actual fighting. To play like this would be a shame, however.
Empire presents the grittiest, most brutal and honest portrayal of war in the whole series.
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"The
AI is very
occasionally suspect" |
At times, it's not quite there. The new naval battles can be breathtaking to behold, but the very nature of them means they're particularly sluggish, the ships difficult to manoeuvre. It's difficult to think of ways The Creative Assembly could have improved these encounters, though
- I don't imagine their real life counterparts to have been high-octane experiences. Perhaps more frustrating is the difficulty of controlling large amounts of troops on the battlefield. When you have a vast number of different units in your command, it can be fiddly to select and manipulate the particular ones you want, particularly in the heat of the action; and the AI is very occasionally suspect, getting tangled up with itself a little too often, or failing to properly engage the opposition.
More frequently, the 3D engine is a joy to behold. It doesn't look particularly cutting-edge, but it realises the gritty nature of this warfare sublimely. Attacking a fort, with an unfeasible mass of troops all charging at the structures, cannonballs flying wildly through the air, men climbing up rope ladders only to be immediately shot back down, is one of the most epically engaging and exhilarating things I've ever seen in any videogame, let alone a strategy one. Witnessing the mass of bodies lying face down in the dirt in the aftermath takes some of the joy away from any victories, and encourages you to think carefully about the lives that were lost during these terrible conflicts.
It's real, visceral and upsetting. It's crushingly addictive and inspiringly enormous. And it's a game that, despite its faults, has quickly become one of my all-time genre favourites.
Empire: Total War entirely lives up to its name. It's a grand, complete and palpable battlefield of careful, tactical carnage.
89%
A
flawed but courageous behemoth of a strategy game.
About
our scores...
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