Napoleon: Total War

The Good
Napoleon Total War has basically corrected most of the problems which initially plagued Empire Total War, and is a master piece and an enjoyable game if played on a high spec computer.

The Game is set during Napoleons reign from about 1798-1820, instead of each turn representing 6 months like in other games, each turn represents 2 weeks. It is set in a number of campaigns from Italy to Egypt to Europe and Russia. (Further DLC from Steam gives you a Peninsular Campaign and additional units.)

I found artillery very important in this game, with good massed artillery units, you can defeat an army twice the size. In one battle I had two French line infantry unit, my general (Napoleon) and 4 artillery pieces with a army of about 400 or so soldiers against a combined force of about 2000 Austrians who had about 2 Cannon batteries. I was lucky enough to place my forces in such a way that the only means of attack was a frontal assault by the enemy. I maneuvered my general sneakily behind the infantry as they advanced and wiped out the enemies artillery from the rear. The Austrians were pounded by my artillery, the cannon blast sound effects boomed through the house, and the smoke effects covered the screen making a true fog of war, and when the infantry joined in with well aimed volley fire, the enemy had no hope. As the enemy closed in, I switched my cannon to grape shot and shrapnel and that was that, only handfuls of enemies survived running from the battle scene, my single Generals cavalry unit could not run them all down.

The graphics are realistic and beautifully done, obviously with high spec machines in mind. The game play is intense, as with the other games you can auto solve battles if they are small or strategically not important, and if you do not mind losing here and there. The Campaign maps are more detailed and have more areas in the European Theaters compared to Empire Total War.

There are new ship types and the sea battles are similar to Empire Total war, but with certain tweaks and modifications which make controlling them far easier.

The Bad
The game is more linear in nature than Empire Total War where you could travel to the Americas and East Indies. The games main Campaign is in Europe and excludes North Africa (which is in a previous Campaign) you have set goals and objectives roughly following Napoleons true exploits.

You have to do the initial campaigns first which are interesting but annoying as ultimately any Total War fans want to do the GRAND campaign and skip the smaller bits and pieces.

The Bottom Line
An excellent game, which I have so far enjoyed with little to no bugs (with the latest steam patches). I have given an idea of what to expect given that most people understand the Total War game concept where real-time and turn based strategy are mixed.