Empire: Total War

 PC
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Mar 3, 2009
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3194 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,895 out of 3194
  2. Mixed: 545 out of 3194
  3. Negative: 754 out of 3194
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  1. ChrisS
    Apr 28, 2009
    1
    I bought this game and was genuinely excited as a seasoned TW player and multiplayer online enthusiast. How I was dissapointed. The support for online players on MTWII was frankly dreadfull and basically led to me putting the game back on the shelf once the campaigns and 6 months of online playing was up. I played RTW BI online for years! Now this, I havent had much trouble with the bugs I bought this game and was genuinely excited as a seasoned TW player and multiplayer online enthusiast. How I was dissapointed. The support for online players on MTWII was frankly dreadfull and basically led to me putting the game back on the shelf once the campaigns and 6 months of online playing was up. I played RTW BI online for years! Now this, I havent had much trouble with the bugs or steam I just find the game play boring. Running musket men into range and then doing the slow reload and fire routine before the bayonet charge is fun for the 1st half dozen battles and then you start auto resolving. The battles are what TW games are about IMO you can get similar campaign experiences but nobody else has ever acheived the unit balance and the real time battle engine that prevoius TW games had. This is woefull. I have played it for around 6 hours and have no appetite for more it bores me senseless and to cap it all I'm stuck with it, no trade in's or returns for me thanks to the registering. The last time I'll ever buy a game on release day, although i've had no problemms technically other than long load times I would have never gone near this having read the comments lamenting the now sadly horrific support provided for this series. They would do well to rehire the guys that were involved with RTW and BI for the next in the series, they've got our money now for this shocker so should be able to afford it!… Expand
  2. MortenB
    Apr 29, 2009
    4
    I haven't had any chrashes after updatin Display driver. The look and feel of the game is really good. The tactical part, both land and sea look just great, and here the AI plays OK, not really smart, but OK. But on the strategic level the AI is a disaster! It makes the most stupid decissions, and when you add the fact that i NEVER moves troops by sea, not even to defend, and it I haven't had any chrashes after updatin Display driver. The look and feel of the game is really good. The tactical part, both land and sea look just great, and here the AI plays OK, not really smart, but OK. But on the strategic level the AI is a disaster! It makes the most stupid decissions, and when you add the fact that i NEVER moves troops by sea, not even to defend, and it NEVER makes peace with enemies, it really ruins the challenge. It feels like they have used the AI from 15 years old 2. rate game. I have played 2 campains and I'm really too bored to start a new. What a shame.… Expand
  3. AndrewS
    May 12, 2009
    4
    Of all the Total War games released, Empire: Total War ranks the worst. More than simply being unfinished (we've discovered incomplete features, inactive, but left in the game code) ETW is plagued with bugs, CTDs, and general poor optimization that results in long turn times on the strategic map. A.I. is nonsensical and poorly implemented. Graphics look worse than the previous Total Of all the Total War games released, Empire: Total War ranks the worst. More than simply being unfinished (we've discovered incomplete features, inactive, but left in the game code) ETW is plagued with bugs, CTDs, and general poor optimization that results in long turn times on the strategic map. A.I. is nonsensical and poorly implemented. Graphics look worse than the previous Total War titles yet demand far more out of your video card. No blood in tactical battles. A poor game through and through. Everyone involved in the development of this game should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such a blatantly terrible game. The professional reviewers giving this game ridiculously high scores have lost their integrity and should resign from their positions. Clearly they did not actually play this game for more than a few minutes and have cost people quite a bit of money. For Shame.… Expand
  4. DudeSicko
    May 22, 2009
    0
    Here it is, months since the release and I still cannot run ETW on my 64 bit system. I have recorded umpteen program failures in regards to memory management and just plain bad code, recorded them on the CA forums, and still nothing is being done except to make the horses look nicer in battle and the sound sweeter. Even though fixed in various patches, the AI is still the dumbest on the Here it is, months since the release and I still cannot run ETW on my 64 bit system. I have recorded umpteen program failures in regards to memory management and just plain bad code, recorded them on the CA forums, and still nothing is being done except to make the horses look nicer in battle and the sound sweeter. Even though fixed in various patches, the AI is still the dumbest on the planet even when playing at greater difficulties. And in the sea battles it is impossible to set a user AI to harass the enemy with Brigs and Sloops while manuevering you capital ships. Really a ridiculous piece or work for all the talking up it got in the beginning. NEVER AGAIN will I buy a title from Creative Assembly (some assembly required).… Expand
  5. BillF
    May 22, 2009
    1
    Games constantly crashes - unable to play complete campaign - totally disappointed with this total war game (previous games were excellant) and it seems that updates just make it worse.
  6. DaveP
    May 22, 2009
    0
    This game is unplayable. It was pushed out for monetary gain and they had to know full and well they were destroying a series. I am willing to bet they not only knew it would go over like a lead brick but intentionally did so to boost sales of other titles. Even the most inept developer and the greediest publishers couldn't be this dumb. They saw no future potential and given the This game is unplayable. It was pushed out for monetary gain and they had to know full and well they were destroying a series. I am willing to bet they not only knew it would go over like a lead brick but intentionally did so to boost sales of other titles. Even the most inept developer and the greediest publishers couldn't be this dumb. They saw no future potential and given the current state of the failed monetary system they took what they could get and brought the series to a close .Just a few of the major game stoppers; AI inept, Sea battles boring/buggy, Crashes with 4th rate fleets or better on campaign map,Armies dissapear, Diplomacy buggy/irrelevent,No Naval AI invasions, 3 major nations get their colonial territories for free and earlier than you can,Reinforcement armies single in(sometimes right next to the enemy), to few battle maps, A minister replacement system designed to destroy your economy... among countless other bugs( not hardware issues). I don't feel there is much potential given the amount of bugs and the time past. I feel this will flutter away like our money. Avoid this game and it's publishers/developers and tell/post to others. Stop buying games period. Boycott all games for a year unless their support forum is virtually bug post free. If they don't allow you to see the support forum till after purchase then don't buy it.… Expand
  7. SamH
    May 25, 2009
    0
    Game is a POS. As a customer I shouldn't have to wait several months after the game for it to be patched enough to be stable enough to play. Developers need to be taught a lesson. They can't get away with this. Other than that, the game is fairly boring. Not enough flavor to the game.
  8. ArunJ
    Jun 21, 2009
    4
    This incarnation of Total War has well and truly lost its soul. Previous titles captured the importance of characters in the making of history and allowed you to cultivate their personalities from very young age until death. Empire has abstracted the player from any sense of political intrigue and focuses purely on the battle - but lest we forget, the other half of the game is turn-based. This incarnation of Total War has well and truly lost its soul. Previous titles captured the importance of characters in the making of history and allowed you to cultivate their personalities from very young age until death. Empire has abstracted the player from any sense of political intrigue and focuses purely on the battle - but lest we forget, the other half of the game is turn-based. This means it is not as well rounded a game as the other titles. I praise the team for including ships this time but too many little touches that made the other games so enjoyable are missing from this game. The general's speech before the battle, the incidental music is less impactful, the zooming into the battle from the campaign map, governors, creating spies and diplomats (for god's sake I wait interminably for gentlemen to spawn when I have full blown modern universities and then they are greats like Daniel Defoe and Adam Smith and are given 3-star ratings). In sum, the ability of the player to have a hand in developing different aspects of the game is missing. Re-equipping soldiers with the latest armour/sword upgrades meant you had to care a little more about your soldiers before they went into battle. Having very experienced soldiers meant they were more effective in battle and you could take them from battle to battle with pride knowing they were your soldiers and could win despite being outnumbered. The idea that you can regenerate soldiers without affecting the population or the experience level of the soldiers just contributes to the sense that soldiers are 'cannon fodder'. An accurate reflection of the times? Perhaps - but it takes away from the romance of the idea of war, and I say this as a staunch pacifist! Creative Assembly - you have truly taken away the soul of the game by abstracting the player from the development of characters and political intrigue. You have also abstracted the fan from truly enjoying the game by releasing it on Steam which lends itself to shoddy/sloppy work as you can always release bitty patches at will to hold the game together and bribe fans with new units when you get an earfull. It was ambitious but I hope you will reflect and realise that you must bring the game back to the fans so that the fans can interact with the game, can empathise with the nations/characters they play as and most importantly so the fans can get just satisfaction from having spent so much money to play your games.… Expand
  9. jeffp
    Jun 21, 2009
    0
    Wow....this is a sad sad attempt at making a cheap buck. I'd rather play pong nonstop for a week than play the campaign of this game...its so repetitive...or it at least feels that way cause im playing the same mission over and over cause it wont stop freaking crashing! I mean WTF?
  10. daver
    Jul 14, 2009
    2
    The game is cool, i think, as i have not been able to play for more than 1 min before crash,crash,crash..... never buy a game requiring a steam account, it's brutal. will they ever release a version that does not require it?
  11. GregH
    Sep 17, 2009
    0
    This gane is Bugged!!!, I have every Total War game from Shogun, and this one just does NOT work, it crashes to desktop constantly, and dont give me that system stuff, I have a i7,12g ram, 1g card... it played fine until you get to a point in the game and it just will not let you take an enemy city, I can do everything except capture a city, once I send troops in *crash* and it This gane is Bugged!!!, I have every Total War game from Shogun, and this one just does NOT work, it crashes to desktop constantly, and dont give me that system stuff, I have a i7,12g ram, 1g card... it played fine until you get to a point in the game and it just will not let you take an enemy city, I can do everything except capture a city, once I send troops in *crash* and it doesn't matter what city, I was seiging 3 cities, and each city attempt resulted into a *crash*.. Also it crashes to desktop when u move generals out of Cities... And I am not very fond of playing a strategy Turn base game, and be required to havea steam account to play a game that doesn't require internet: that is just to much control demands for me... This will prolly be the last Total War series I purchase, do to the inablitlty of the game to not stop crashing and having be required to have a steam account. Sad… Expand
  12. FunS
    Sep 17, 2009
    0
    A solid 0 for a terrible game. Without bugs this game would get an easy 10. Unfortunately, it was released with bugs all over, and so much so that after almost a year diplomacy among several other features that were promised to the latest in the TW series leave us all completely in frustration. CA has definitely given themselves a serious bad reputation with this one for rushing this guy A solid 0 for a terrible game. Without bugs this game would get an easy 10. Unfortunately, it was released with bugs all over, and so much so that after almost a year diplomacy among several other features that were promised to the latest in the TW series leave us all completely in frustration. CA has definitely given themselves a serious bad reputation with this one for rushing this guy out to the gamers like you. The user rating is currently at 6.7 for a good reason. Always trust the user rating I say, NEVER with the official rating as it is promoted by greed and corruption as it is usually used for dirty marketing tricks for pretty much anything nowadays.… Expand
  13. Michael
    Sep 19, 2009
    0
    It is a Fine game. I don't really care for some small problems . I have Only one question: How it is possible such a team with so many years in that serie to make wrong the borders of GREECE and set them as F.Y.R.O.M (Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Makedonia) because Makedonia is not inside GREEKS borders but out of them. I loved that game till the moment I saw these bullshits .It is a Fine game. I don't really care for some small problems . I have Only one question: How it is possible such a team with so many years in that serie to make wrong the borders of GREECE and set them as F.Y.R.O.M (Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Makedonia) because Makedonia is not inside GREEKS borders but out of them. I loved that game till the moment I saw these bullshits . MAKEDONIA IS GREEKS. OH I RATED 0 BECAUSE THEY HAVE CREATED AN NON-HISTORY GAME.THEY ARE ASHOLDS… Expand
  14. crage
    Nov 8, 2011
    1
    Two years after release and it's still buggy. Constant crashes and I get maybe 20-30 turns before saved games become corrupt. If it wasn't so frustrating to play because of the glitches it might be a good game.
  15. safjac
    Dec 1, 2011
    0
    This game looks like a 10. I read the cover when I bought the bloody thing at Walmart. It seems that I will never know because the game is not on the disks that I bought. Steam is. After painfully complying with all the hoops and faithfully sitting, rolling over, and playing dead I finally get a Steam account created. Great! Now I get to play, right? Not so fast, Rover. Steam is currentlyThis game looks like a 10. I read the cover when I bought the bloody thing at Walmart. It seems that I will never know because the game is not on the disks that I bought. Steam is. After painfully complying with all the hoops and faithfully sitting, rolling over, and playing dead I finally get a Steam account created. Great! Now I get to play, right? Not so fast, Rover. Steam is currently unable to process your request. Bad dog! Please try again later. So I sat, rolled over, played dead, chewed my shoes and tried again. Eventually I catch Steam at a moment when it is not on break (that daily 15 minute window). Wow! I actually get to play! Not so fast, Amigo! First you have to say hello to my little friend. 5 hours and 58 minutes to download something that I bought in a store. I must commend Creative Assembly for their laudable effort at making masturbation with ground glass and barbed wire seem like an attractive alternative. Jolly good show. I have to rate this game a 0 only because all the schlep involved makes it worth a -8. I buy games in stores, on disk because I do not want to deal with the interweb. I pay, I play... or so I thought.… Expand
  16. Kearon
    Dec 18, 2012
    4
    While the game offers a level of complexity that I normally find entertaining, I find the world screen the most interesting. Battles turn into the two sides lining up and shooting at each other which while perhaps historically accurate leads to boring repetitive battles with strategy breaking down to putting guys with the longest range in back and shortest in front. This was my firstWhile the game offers a level of complexity that I normally find entertaining, I find the world screen the most interesting. Battles turn into the two sides lining up and shooting at each other which while perhaps historically accurate leads to boring repetitive battles with strategy breaking down to putting guys with the longest range in back and shortest in front. This was my first introduction to the Total War series but this particular game felt like a waste of $, I had high expectations and was very disappointed.… Expand
  17. pig_lickin_bob
    Sep 22, 2013
    2
    I love Total war games, Rome and Medieval 2 have never left my hard drive since i installed them, but I have to say that empire total war is an abomination of Total war games First of it takes way to long to load, the grand campaign is more of a course in micro management then an actual game, and the campaign AI do F-all in the way of attacking me. The sea battles do redeem the game aI love Total war games, Rome and Medieval 2 have never left my hard drive since i installed them, but I have to say that empire total war is an abomination of Total war games First of it takes way to long to load, the grand campaign is more of a course in micro management then an actual game, and the campaign AI do F-all in the way of attacking me. The sea battles do redeem the game a bit, but as the only highlight this is very poor. The Battle AI is more likely to glitch and send a single file of men against you then have tactics, and the hanging point of battle is supposed to be the musketeers, but it takes a couple of volleys from your WHOLE ARMY to destroy one unit. The garrison able buildings and forts are a poor replacement for the cities and castles of earlier games and provide the enemy with an easy target more then give you any defensive value. Cannons would be helpful in battles if they killed more then 3 enemy units a shot. Overall a sad disappointment after the previous games, this game has a boring grand campaign, HORRIBLE AI, ineffective units and repetitive battles. ALSO ALL THE UNITS LOOK THE REALLY SIMILAR! WTFs UP WITH THAT?!… Expand
  18. Jurgens
    Sep 2, 2019
    0
    A buggy mess of a game. The AI is brain-dead at best and the campaign often freezes in the middle of a session. I deeply regret purchasing this title.
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Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best PC Game of 2009
3
#3 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
6
#6 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 62 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 62
  3. Negative: 0 out of 62
  1. PC Gamer UK
    94
    Astonishing...Immense... A strategy masterwork. [Mar 2009, p.54]
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  2. Eurogamer
    90
    In some ways, it's the closest we've come to the enormous social novel from the period after that which Empire chronicles: it's a Tolstoy-esque War and Peace of a game. Its problems may be the inevitable problems of trying something with such sheer scope. As such, if you want the breathtaking vision of the game, you have to accept the flaws in the details - for now, at least.
    Read full review
  3. InsideGamer.nl
    93
    This is the best Total War game thanks to all the little tweaks. Sometimes little differences make a good game great. The battles ask of you that you think more about your actions and managing your empire never was easier. The sea battles are fun to watch, but are a little hard to control. Nevertheless, Empire: Total War is a game that can make you forget about the time.
    Read full review
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