Empire: Total War

The Good
The graphics are excellent, the game style good and historical accuracy very good. Epic in scale a time trap but excellent. Naval Battles adds an extra spark to the series, and the technology levels also add further character to each individual units as you progress through the game. eg. volley fire, better baynets, cannon shot etc... Diplomacy is easier and is done at a click of the button.

The Bad
All the bugs in the initial release!! Ahhhh!!. from lockups in quick saves throwing your entire campaign away, to slow downs, chucks out, terrible audio sound issues etc... The later patches released have helped out to make the game more playable.

Some of the balancing of unit skills is not very good and weapon effectiveness poor. In the early versions in siege battles your soldiers tend to face the opposite direction from where the enemy is coming from, so you have to quickly move them into better positions.

I enjoy the fact with gun powder, you all get to stand opposite each other and take pot shots until the opposite unit is obliterated or runs away or fixes bayonets and charges at you.

I did not like the "Steam" setup with this game, it took ages to get everything to actually work, with compulsory downloads that are painful if you have no broadband.

The Bottom Line
If you enjoy the Total War series then this is a must game. I have and am really enjoying it. I have weathered the storm, waiting for patch fixes and it has paid off. Looking forward to an expansion sometime.

This game should be played with a high end computer, with decent CPU and Graphics card. Without this the game will probably be irritating as there are thousands of things happening at the same time.