Empire: Total War
2009
- real time strategy (rts)
- strategy
- turn-based strategy (tbs)
- tactical
- fantasy
- historical
- 4x (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate)
- single player
- multiplayer
- co-operative
The story
Empire: Total War introduces a host of revolutionary new features, including true 3D naval combat. For the first time in the Total War series, you will be able to intuitively command single ships or vast fleets upon seascapes rich with extraordinary water and weather effects that play a huge role in your eventual glorious success or ignominious defeat. After pummelling your enemy with cannon fire, close in to grapple their ship and prepare to board, taking control of your men as they fight hand-to-hand on the decks of these wooden behemoths. In addition, Empire: Total War will see further enhancements to the Total War series’ signature 3D battles and turn-based campaign map. Real-time battles will pose new challenges with the addition of cannon and musket, challenging players to master new formations and tactics as a result of the increasing role of gunpowder within warfare. And the Campaign Map for many, the heart of Total War introduces a variety of new and upgraded elements, including new systems for Trade, Diplomacy and Espionage with agents; a refined and streamlined UI; improved Advisors; and a vastly extended scope, taking in the riches of India, the turbulence of Europe and, for the first time, the untapped potential of the United States of America.
What it’s like
Cool grey and parchment-brown palettes, with the sun-washed greens of European farmland and the dusty ochre of Indian plains, give the campaign map a quiet, ledger-like calm, while battlefields fill with drifting powder smoke that turns the light hazy and bruised. Real-time battles are sweeping and wide, with massed regiments wheeling across open fields, cannon thudding and musketry crackling under a constant, rising din of drums and bugles. Naval fights are the sharpest contrast: rolling grey seas, storm rain, and creaking timber under a score of brass and strings that swells when boarding begins. Pacing is deliberate on the map, where turns tick by at a reflective pace, and then swings into urgency during engagements. The emotional register is measured and strategic, with a steady undertow of ambition and pragmatic tension rather than sentiment. Violence is frequent and bloody but stylised at a distance: lines of men fall, ships splinter, and hand-to-hand fights on decks are brief, abrupt, and unsparing without lingering gore. Suited to long evening sessions, a rainy weekend, or a patient planner's late-night campaign, it's for people who love orchestrating large-scale conflicts and managing empires.
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