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. BoK
    Apr 1, 2009
    7
    High potential, limited by the moderate execution. As from start the game is lacking a lot of details to add that little extra that makes a great game. With a couple patches and updates it is destined to be a truly awesome game, but it's definitely not the game the commercial critics make it out to be, yet.
  2. JohnS
    Mar 17, 2009
    7
    Game is buggy. I have run into crash bugs on occasion myself, which can be very frustrating. I have not yet hit the corrupted save game bug, which I'm sure would bring me to tears to lose a 40+ turn game (all of the saves get corrupted). Very long load scenes and somewhat long AI turns. Lots of different places the graphical performance / interactivity is sluggish (e.g. - strategic Game is buggy. I have run into crash bugs on occasion myself, which can be very frustrating. I have not yet hit the corrupted save game bug, which I'm sure would bring me to tears to lose a 40+ turn game (all of the saves get corrupted). Very long load scenes and somewhat long AI turns. Lots of different places the graphical performance / interactivity is sluggish (e.g. - strategic map). There basically is no coherent strategic enemy AI at this point. Almost any decent user will have no problem steamrolling their competition. In land battle there are lots of bugs like not being able to use doors / walls / bridges / cover / etc. properly. As always in most TW games, the offensive battle AI is really, really dumb and can be easily defeated by camping on a good defensive position. In short, no way in heck should this title have been released as it is. The only reason it gets a 7 and not a lower score is that I can see what the game could eventually become after 6 months or more of polishing and/or the mod community gets their hands on it.… Expand
  3. KlausM.
    Mar 20, 2009
    7
    A great game with a bigger potential- when it is finished. Finished it clearly would be 9-10, the best strategy game for the computer. In this sad state, it is a promising beta/demo with which you also can play multiplayer battles. I would advise everyone to buy it- in half a year, when it is finished. Maybe it is even cheaper then!
  4. JohnB
    Mar 27, 2009
    7
    Being deployed allot he need for internet to play the game is horrible. Having towns etc. away from the cities I like there should be a way to destroy them not just damage them. The minor CAV raids by the AI are its only real offensive. AI needs to be supped up. The IA system for diplomacy also needs some work. You can offer outrageously favorable terms and the IA would rather die than Being deployed allot he need for internet to play the game is horrible. Having towns etc. away from the cities I like there should be a way to destroy them not just damage them. The minor CAV raids by the AI are its only real offensive. AI needs to be supped up. The IA system for diplomacy also needs some work. You can offer outrageously favorable terms and the IA would rather die than give you a trade deal. Crashes allot. Save game often and be prepared to disband fleets to prevent crashes. The good thing is there is no transport requirements so 1 sloop can transport a whole army. Good start but needs allot of patching. Should be cleaned up by the time the expansion is released. With any luck Steam will go bye bye.… Expand
  5. RandallS
    Mar 9, 2009
    7
    This is a good game, don't get me wrong, but it was a bit of a letdown from Medieval 2. The Good: The campaign map is huge, and although it's not as great looking as it could be, is the best campaign map yet in the TW series because of breadth and the huge number of 'minor nations' dotting it. The Bad: 1. There is really only one type of non-naval unit in the game, This is a good game, don't get me wrong, but it was a bit of a letdown from Medieval 2. The Good: The campaign map is huge, and although it's not as great looking as it could be, is the best campaign map yet in the TW series because of breadth and the huge number of 'minor nations' dotting it. The Bad: 1. There is really only one type of non-naval unit in the game, Line Infantry. 80% of your army will be made up of either them or militia, which are weaker versions of the same thing. There are some cavalry and some cannons, but really, Line Infantry is just about all there is. 2. They basically removed siege battles. You can besiege a city, but when you attack it, you fight in an open field. No epic wall-climbing (though there's some of that in fortress battles, which end up being just annoying though). 3. You can attack a city without cannons or siege equipment, and armies can move pretty quickly. So you can blitz across 800 miles in one turn and take a city. 4. Battles are boring. The infantry stand and shoot each other. They don't even kneel down to let the second line shoot, the first line just keeps shooting and shooting. 5. Units are still dumb. You can order them to move and often they just won't do anything. This most often happens after they are engaged in a melee battle. 6. Countries are still pretty dumb. In my first campaign, Poland kept declaring war on me, and then accepting a peace offer in the next turn that would have them pay me a bunch of money. So I just used them as a piggy bank for like 8 turns until they quit declaring war. 7. Diplomacy isn't that great. The options and strangely arranged and other countries still ignore great offers alot. On the bright side, other countries make interesting offers sometimes, unlike in Medieval 2. Overall: Good, but disappointing.… Expand
  6. StephenH
    Apr 10, 2009
    7
    Fixing the bugs would have me raise the rating to an 7.5 and then an 8 and 9 respectively if the A.I. attacked across the seas and weren't as stupid as a lemming/dodo cross breed. As things go though it's not too bad but as stated it is the same thing as always. Power through region to region in an attempt to be the biggest country around only now you have the lands across the Fixing the bugs would have me raise the rating to an 7.5 and then an 8 and 9 respectively if the A.I. attacked across the seas and weren't as stupid as a lemming/dodo cross breed. As things go though it's not too bad but as stated it is the same thing as always. Power through region to region in an attempt to be the biggest country around only now you have the lands across the ocean and India too. People will slate the new but you have to find out yourself really.… Expand
  7. MJ
    Jan 5, 2010
    7
    Al in all a good game, unlike most people i had no problems at release. The land battles are fun as always in the Total War series, but the great campaign is so boring and the ai too easy. For a decent campaing i suggest Rome: Total War or the very unappreciated Imperial Glory, which had many features of Empire years before.
  8. ?
    Jan 5, 2010
    7
    I give 7 why? I think, that Medieval: Total War is better. There is more option in quick battle. Graphics is good, but it can be better and threre are to more errors.
  9. DiegoE
    Dec 30, 2009
    7
    Entertaining, but far from historically accurate.
  10. KurtC
    Oct 8, 2009
    7
    Bought this off STEAM, and it's really not worth 50 bucks. They should have priced it for half of what it was worth, because the game itself was incomplete or obsolete. You see, there are so many bugs with the whole game like the AI and the crashes... For example, after I beat the the U.S. Campaign, I started on the Grand Campaign. I picked Great Britain (would've picked the Bought this off STEAM, and it's really not worth 50 bucks. They should have priced it for half of what it was worth, because the game itself was incomplete or obsolete. You see, there are so many bugs with the whole game like the AI and the crashes... For example, after I beat the the U.S. Campaign, I started on the Grand Campaign. I picked Great Britain (would've picked the U.S. but I was disappointed that CA put it in) and I was working my way to conquering the whole world. But one day, on a fateful night, I loaded my game, and did what I always do, and ended my turn. Then, it showed one of my allies sailing to an island, all of a sudden, my game crashed! I launched the game again, and did the same thing, crashed once again. I tried about 20 times but it kept crashing, and finally I reset my computer, hoping that it would fix something but it didn't. So I just stopped playing the game for 2 weeks. I just quit... So one day I decided to get back to it, I launched the game and once I get to the SEGA logo it glitches and keeps repeating "Seeeega, Seega, Seggaaa." Over and over again. So, I re-installed my game, and waited for 2 gruesome hours. I then restarted my computer, and launched the game, and guess what? The problem still existed. I decided to go to the forums, and I looked for a solution that someone might have posted. This person posted a list of instructions to fix the problem similar to mine. So I followed it, I know it could be a trick, but others were saying it work. Desperate, I followed the instructions, and you know what? My game started to work again! I know if all you hardcore gamers picked up this RTS game, you'll hate it and some of you will love it. All I am saying is, never buy a game once it's released... You should read reviews and personal critics from gamers or maybe try the game yourself.… Expand
  11. GordonM
    Mar 12, 2009
    7
    It's a Total War game, and has many of the things that I enjoyed in the previous games. It added sea battles, tech trees, and a map/settlement style that is arguably better than the old one. There are big problems, though. The AI is bad, the game is buggy, the units are too similar (a fault of the era, not the developers), and major factions can be wiped out in the first few turns It's a Total War game, and has many of the things that I enjoyed in the previous games. It added sea battles, tech trees, and a map/settlement style that is arguably better than the old one. There are big problems, though. The AI is bad, the game is buggy, the units are too similar (a fault of the era, not the developers), and major factions can be wiped out in the first few turns with incredible ease. Oh, and you don't need to worry about the AI landing a fleet behind your front lines and taking a settlement. They won't try, ever. No need to keep any troops on an island.… Expand
  12. RuudH
    Mar 12, 2009
    7
    In the broader picture this game reveals a gap between critics and the wider audience of "normal" people who play the game. The scores from the critics seem to be made on a future potential of the game, not the actually released product. And that is what we will be playing with absolute guarantee, not the possible (thus possibly never) version it could be. And about that. It's a very In the broader picture this game reveals a gap between critics and the wider audience of "normal" people who play the game. The scores from the critics seem to be made on a future potential of the game, not the actually released product. And that is what we will be playing with absolute guarantee, not the possible (thus possibly never) version it could be. And about that. It's a very frustrating game! You can taste the potential at every aspect, in every minute you're playing. But it never becomes what you expect it to be! The AI, pathfinding and loading times are the biggest drawbacks. You'll find yourself winning battles by exploitations you don't want to exploit, losing battles because your units take irrational never-ordered paths, the enemy being either overly passive or downright mental by walking straight into your cannon fire. And then i'm not even talking about the impatient frustration because of the time you'll be waiting whilst looking at the loading screen (even on my quadcore, 3GB RAM and Gforce 8800GTX). And those are just the flaws on the battle map. Mind you, the big flaws, followed by many minor ones (i.e. losing a few men because your cannon decides to unpack and shoot at the enemy in the middle of a infantry unit, even though you gave orders to do otherwise). The campaign section of the game isn't bothered by as many bugs as the battle section but there are a few very annoying ones nonetheless. First and foremost; the AI. There is no synergy between land and sea coördination at all, a fatal flaw for the time period portayed in the game. Secondly, the AI will wait for you to come to them most of the time, and shows no actual strategy (mind you, this is a STRATEGY game) when it is on the offense. The other major fault of the campaign is, also, the loading time between turns. A minute at best, several minutes most of the time. It can be truly frustrating to have to wait so long everytime to see your well laid plans come to fruition or you just want to see how a certain war between two AI's develops. It totally takes the pace out of the game. The campaign loading times might be okay if i could fill the turns with statisfying real-time battles but, as mentioned earlier, these are more frustrating. When you put it all together the main pro for this game is that you can taste what it could be, it makes you desire an awesome strategy game. But it just isn't. And that leaves more frustration then pleasure. Barely.… Expand
  13. AnonymousMC
    Mar 15, 2009
    7
    -game is very demanding of sytem resources
    -many graphics glitches
    -painfully slow load times -battles: graphics on zoomed units are great, but realistically you will see most of the battle as blocks of ants with flags over their heads marching around. painfully slow at times -i thought this game would replace civ 4 for me. sadly, i still choose to fire up civ 4 instead. -i can see    -game is very demanding of sytem resources
    -many graphics glitches
    -painfully slow load times
    -battles: graphics on zoomed units are great, but realistically you will see most of the battle as blocks of ants with flags over their heads marching around. painfully slow at times
    -i thought this game would replace civ 4 for me. sadly, i still choose to fire up civ 4 instead.
    -i can see how this game would appeal to some people, but it is not for everyone, in spite of the very high praise it has received    … Expand
  14. Yaz
    Mar 7, 2009
    7
    This is certainly a good game, and the level of little features and detail in are astonishing. Unfortunately for the time being it only deserves a 7 due to the large amount of bugs and problems in the game (crashes, graphic glitches, unit unresponsiveness, stupid ai actions etc...). Once it fixes up these things I would rate it solidely at a 9. However until that time it's just This is certainly a good game, and the level of little features and detail in are astonishing. Unfortunately for the time being it only deserves a 7 due to the large amount of bugs and problems in the game (crashes, graphic glitches, unit unresponsiveness, stupid ai actions etc...). Once it fixes up these things I would rate it solidely at a 9. However until that time it's just another case of what could have been a great game ruined by what was probably a slightly rushed dev time since it's not finished.… Expand
  15. ChristianB
    Apr 17, 2009
    7
    Great game in the tradition of Total War. We can regret the absence of Hot-Seat option that made Miedieval II such a great success.
  16. andyc
    Apr 20, 2009
    7
    It looks great no denying that but the it just doesnt provide the emersion of the previous incarnations. The land based warfare is adequate but awkward and the sea based combat is clunky and slow. The main map screen has a lot more going on which works to some degree, forcing you to take a more proactive approach to playing the game but at the same time somehow the added complexities It looks great no denying that but the it just doesnt provide the emersion of the previous incarnations. The land based warfare is adequate but awkward and the sea based combat is clunky and slow. The main map screen has a lot more going on which works to some degree, forcing you to take a more proactive approach to playing the game but at the same time somehow the added complexities detract from the enjoyment usually garned from the riskesque portions. In all this game is impressive and a technical achievement but also a disappointment.… Expand
  17. RiyadS
    Jun 6, 2009
    7
    This would have been a great game if it werent for all the crashes. I realy can't get into its mood.
  18. ZuherG
    Jan 30, 2010
    7
    Ive been a player of Total war games since Shogun 10 long years ago, and was sooooo excited by the prospect of guns playing a major role, as well as the naval warfare aspect... neither of these were as grand as I envisaged .... maybe even disappointing.... I dearly hope Napoleon will be better.....
  19. AnonymousMC
    Mar 11, 2009
    7
    It looks great but chugs a bit even though I can run FPSs at top spec. The experience is just that... an experience. There's no great pleasure to playing. Large scale troop movements are a headache if they involve anything other than walking straight forward. Also watching lines of men shoot at each other lacks the impact of a bloody melee. Compared to the rest in the series its aIt looks great but chugs a bit even though I can run FPSs at top spec. The experience is just that... an experience. There's no great pleasure to playing. Large scale troop movements are a headache if they involve anything other than walking straight forward. Also watching lines of men shoot at each other lacks the impact of a bloody melee. Compared to the rest in the series its a real disappointment. Shogun 2 would be nice next though.… Expand
  20. AndyTang
    Mar 11, 2009
    7
    Game wise, it is fantastic but CA has chosen a bad way of distributing their game, via STEAM. I have terrible experience with STEAM few years back and it fails me again similarly few years later. I wasted 3 hours (some folks on the net even days) without able to install the game, stuck at "Creating local game cache files" due to the large chunk of data required to be downloaded from theGame wise, it is fantastic but CA has chosen a bad way of distributing their game, via STEAM. I have terrible experience with STEAM few years back and it fails me again similarly few years later. I wasted 3 hours (some folks on the net even days) without able to install the game, stuck at "Creating local game cache files" due to the large chunk of data required to be downloaded from the internet before you can even install it. STEAM is a bad bad choice CA.… Expand
  21. RickLeee
    Mar 10, 2009
    7
    this game would be a 10 if the game would actually play battles but the grand campaign deserves a ten and it is not my computers fault either actually its a little ironic that a pamphlet in the empire box says runs great on alienware m17 because it doesn't most of the time and my m17 is the best you can get it
  22. ManuelR
    Mar 17, 2009
    7
    First of all sorry for my english no0t good. I am a TW fan since thier first release (Shogun), Empire TW is an unpolished game, the most important to fix AI lack of aggressivity. YOU CANT GIVE 10 to a game with so many bugs and fixes. Still i really enjoyed all the new features and enjoyed to play it a lot so thats tells me that if Creative Assembly runs some play testing takes notes on First of all sorry for my english no0t good. I am a TW fan since thier first release (Shogun), Empire TW is an unpolished game, the most important to fix AI lack of aggressivity. YOU CANT GIVE 10 to a game with so many bugs and fixes. Still i really enjoyed all the new features and enjoyed to play it a lot so thats tells me that if Creative Assembly runs some play testing takes notes on their fans reviews and makes some good patches will be the best TW game ever. Only thing i misse that cannot be fixed with any patch is no improvement in graphics. Positive aspects : Better trade Strategy, gunpowder gives a fresh air to the battles, Technology is interesting and refreshing 3 scenarious makes it a huge new game, and a multiplayer 1v1 campaing will be awesome there is no AI today that can replace the challenge of a human contender. So I will give the Game a 7 waiting for patches that will raise that to an 9.8… Expand
  23. KubaD
    Mar 24, 2009
    7
    The least playable of all of the Total Wars, which is a shame, as it had the biggest potential. The AI is pathetic, no matter which level of difficulty. You can conquer the whole of France within 5 turns of the game whichever faction you play and afterwards the whole gameplay is just winning without any effort. Once you conquered London or Paris you have twice the income any other faction The least playable of all of the Total Wars, which is a shame, as it had the biggest potential. The AI is pathetic, no matter which level of difficulty. You can conquer the whole of France within 5 turns of the game whichever faction you play and afterwards the whole gameplay is just winning without any effort. Once you conquered London or Paris you have twice the income any other faction has. And this combined with the laughable 'ideas' of the computer players makes the difficulty curve go downslope from this moment on. That sums up the strategic gameplay, as there is little more to it. Battle itself is great, as there is little to add to the way Total Wars present themselves. It's really a masterpiece, and seeing your lines of infantry mercilesly pounding on the enemy is priceless. The custom battles, however, are awful. No river crossings, too little settings and the worst part: not all units are available. I really, really would like to be able to play againt the angry melee pirate mob. It would let you engenieer all those cool scenarios, in which a regiment of elite, experienced rifleman and a single mortar repells the attack of a thousand of armed swashbucklers. I can't think for everyone, but tell me: what's the ratio of senseless slaughers compared to real, balanced battles when you use custom battles? I for one usually made battles when a elite unit stood to thousands of peasants and died in a glorious battle taking 20 times more enemies with themselves before being cut to pieces by the angry mob or commanded an army of poor village/towns-folk struggling aggainst the army of an oppresive tyrant. Oh, and there's another thing - in campaign battles you get to be entrenched - in custom - you don't. This really is a major drawback, as custom battles often serve as a training tool for real battles. I completed a couple of campaigns now and only twice i got to use the riflemen ability to plant mines. I'd really like to know their [the mine's] power to plan assaults better. But i don't get to. Cause nobody gave a thought to making the custom battles being really custom. Another thing: don't even get me started on the whole Steam thing. I hated Steam whole my life and I have no intent of changing it. It a bugged and messed up platform that really should die off. It has too much control over a game, it slow's it down (all those commmunity messages that crashed the game) and generally sucks. It's really cool that Empire is distributed on-line, but I'd love to buy it as a normal, boxed game without being forced to use the net to play it. And the last thing: i don't understan why the game is so slow. The graphic effects arent THAT better (though they are breathtaking) from the previous games, yet still Empire works several times slower than Medieval. A bigger battle takes 15 minutes to load (whereas the biggest battles in Medieval 2 took 2-4 minutes) and I don't even play on the maximum unit size settings! I can, however, understand the battles - all the smoke, fire and other effects occupy your graphics card and processor. Why the strategy screen is so slow - I have no idea. It differs little even from the Rome series. Overall: the game is really neat, the idea is more than great, but the technicalities... Well, they made me stop playing the game. If a big, big patch comes out (generally fixing the AI issues) I'd be glad to come back. For now - the game's dead.… Expand
  24. THoban
    Mar 5, 2009
    7
    The game looks great and the battlefield really comes alive, but the AI remains as dumb as ever. I haven't lost a battle yet because the AI doesn't protect it's artillery. This means that things are a (very pretty) pushover. Hopefullly the promised multiplayer campaign patch will provide some decent human opponents :)
  25. JohnW
    Mar 6, 2009
    7
    Empire: Total War is an engaging strategy game. It's just not as entertaining as it could be. Attention to detail is astounding and the depth of the grand campaign far exceeds past Total War games. But the scope of the game is so large that the gameplay ultimately suffers from lack of focus. Land battles look good, and the AI works better than past games in the series, but units Empire: Total War is an engaging strategy game. It's just not as entertaining as it could be. Attention to detail is astounding and the depth of the grand campaign far exceeds past Total War games. But the scope of the game is so large that the gameplay ultimately suffers from lack of focus. Land battles look good, and the AI works better than past games in the series, but units still behave erratically at times. Naval battles feel more ill-conceived mini-game than an RTS simulation, and this was the biggest disappointment for me.… Expand
  26. ronaldmcdonald
    Mar 6, 2009
    7
    would like to give it a 10 because it's a fantastic game from what I have seen so far except i can't play it because it crashes ALL the time and i mean that literally all the time.
    I am currently waiting and hoping on patches to fix this before I give it another go, I really is unplayable in it's current state.
  27. AnonymousMC
    May 5, 2009
    7
    I'll be very brief: When it works right, it's good. When it works wrong (which is more often than not, verifiable by posts on the Steam community and even Creative Assembly's own forums), it's terrible.

    The multiplayer support at the launch of the game and at the time of the review is sub-par to what most games had available in the late 1990's. If you are    I'll be very brief: When it works right, it's good. When it works wrong (which is more often than not, verifiable by posts on the Steam community and even Creative Assembly's own forums), it's terrible.

    The multiplayer support at the launch of the game and at the time of the review is sub-par to what most games had available in the late 1990's.
    If you are even considering buying this game, I suggest waiting for a few more months, in hopes that flaws are patched.    … Expand
  28. SerraS
    Jun 18, 2009
    7
    Totally agree with the above. The game is beautiful but older computers will have LESS problems....SLI is not supported by this game, so any modern powerful rigs will have to disable SLI or go back to old nvidia drivers. The strategy part of the game has moved on leaps and bounds and is much better on nearly every level. However..the battle maps, gorgeous they might be, are home to pretty Totally agree with the above. The game is beautiful but older computers will have LESS problems....SLI is not supported by this game, so any modern powerful rigs will have to disable SLI or go back to old nvidia drivers. The strategy part of the game has moved on leaps and bounds and is much better on nearly every level. However..the battle maps, gorgeous they might be, are home to pretty boring battles. Cavalary are the most interesting units now as they at least FIGHT one another. blokes stood shooting at one another just doesnt cut it. Compare this with the joy of unleashing a plethora of arrows at the enemy from a hill and hearing that satisfying noise as they dig in.........Medieval Total War is a much better play....and still looks nearly as good. Empire Total War ? Naa....This is Empire War....nothing total about it.… Expand
  29. PedroR
    Jun 8, 2009
    7
    Pretty awesome game, the improvement in the government feature of the game makes the game more interesting than the previous games. The sea battles are pretty cool too. But I must give an 7 because of bad AI and path-finder. It also takes a lot of graphical memory (which I don't think it needs to): I prefer a game with not-some-much graphics but playable than a fancy "look at the Pretty awesome game, the improvement in the government feature of the game makes the game more interesting than the previous games. The sea battles are pretty cool too. But I must give an 7 because of bad AI and path-finder. It also takes a lot of graphical memory (which I don't think it needs to): I prefer a game with not-some-much graphics but playable than a fancy "look at the shiny things" that you would need a expensive PC to play.… Expand
  30. randallp
    Jan 18, 2010
    7
    love this game. but ive had nothing but bad luck with steam. nothing works as it says after a purchase at steam store. support never accepts my support login or passwords. i am very disappointed with steam.
  31. RyanS
    Mar 11, 2009
    7
    Empire is my very first Total War series purchase, and at the rate things are going it will be my last. While the scope and features of the game are nothing short of breathtaking, the implementation falls way below par in many respects. The most notable issue is the crash to desktop (CTD) that occurs at random points during the grand campaign. I've got a saved game that played as far Empire is my very first Total War series purchase, and at the rate things are going it will be my last. While the scope and features of the game are nothing short of breathtaking, the implementation falls way below par in many respects. The most notable issue is the crash to desktop (CTD) that occurs at random points during the grand campaign. I've got a saved game that played as far as turn 115 that now CTD's on the next turn, while processing the Iroquois Confederacy's AI movements. I'm hesitant to begin another game and run the risk of potentially hours of time being wasted. The first patch released by Creative Assembly (CA), the makers of the game, alleges fixes for several crashes and other bugs, however the official forums tell a different story. For some, the new patch release on Tuesday 10th March actually makes the game worse, with campaign turns taking minutes to process, and the game spending large amounts of time on the loading screens. On the whole the game has oodles of potential, and the graphics and scale of the game are very impressive, but all of that is let down by the release of an unfinished and (for some) unplayable game. Quite when customers will stop blindly accepting products of this quality is a mystery, and how the game managed 90%+ scores in it's current state is equally baffling... I'm wondering if the other reviewers out there who gave 9/10+ scores actually spent any significant amount of time playing the game, or just rushed the review out there after merely scratching the surface of the game. One final word goes to the horrendous decision to require the use of Steam to activate the game, even with boxed copies. It becomes an unacceptable situation when you spend nearly £50 on a physical boxed product, only to have to put up with the inadequacies of Steam in an effort to prove you are not a lowlife pirate. And the "Steam is currently busy and unable to process your request" message when all you are trying to do is launch the game you purchased is frankly disgusting. Treating your loyal paying customers as potential pirates by forcing this DRM rubbish down their throats is not the way to maintain that loyal customer base, especially as the pirates out there don't have to put up with any of it as they have cracked versions of the game without DRM. Fix the bugs and I'll happily update my score to 9 as I believe in the potential of the game, but in it's current state it doesn't deserve any more than 7.5.… Expand
  32. RickG
    May 11, 2009
    7
    Graphics very good... The idea was awesome... But the only thing that sucks is you need internet not only to activate the game, but to download and constantly updating the game to play, the reliance on the internet is the ONLY major problem with the game... So if the Total War series comes up with another like this although I am looking forward to it... I WILL NOT BUY IT!!! Because it Graphics very good... The idea was awesome... But the only thing that sucks is you need internet not only to activate the game, but to download and constantly updating the game to play, the reliance on the internet is the ONLY major problem with the game... So if the Total War series comes up with another like this although I am looking forward to it... I WILL NOT BUY IT!!! Because it will be a waste of money unless you have internet or if you need the internet and steam.… Expand
  33. SteveWolf
    May 29, 2009
    7
    Like most users (not critics), I'd give this about a 7. Its very well made, with wonderful craftsmanship, attention to detail, and a lot of love for the genre.

    But its BORING. Unlike the earlier attempts, Shogun, Rome, and Medieval, Empire is just not that interesting to play. I blame the nature of warfare during this time period. After all, the units are simply all too similar    Like most users (not critics), I'd give this about a 7. Its very well made, with wonderful craftsmanship, attention to detail, and a lot of love for the genre.

    But its BORING. Unlike the earlier attempts, Shogun, Rome, and Medieval, Empire is just not that interesting to play. I blame the nature of warfare during this time period. After all, the units are simply all too similar to one another. They all have guns, they all stand there like total idiots and shoot & get shot. And the difference between a rookie unit and a seasoned infantry division is just negligible in terms of game play. So they all pretty much just stand there and shoot at each other... very little by way of tactics that I can make out.

    Cannons are terribly unsatisfying. They're horribly inaccurate, and they don't do much to intimidate or demoralize the opponent, which was their primary effect as I understand this historic period. Which makes them seem quite pointless, when playing the game.

    Overall, the shift of focus is away from the excellent tactical battles and into what has always been TW's weak suite: the strategic game. And altough there have been considerable advancements in the strategic game, it still comes off as more of the same old same. It doesn't really feel like you're ... well, I'm not sure what you're supossed to be, in game terms, but whatever that is, its vague and ill-defined, and doesn't feel very powerful or interesting. Just mind-numbing and repetetive.

    And this from a guy who LOVEs TW: Shogun, TW: Rome, and TW: Medieval 2.    … Expand
  34. [ANONYMOUS]
    Nov 24, 2009
    7
    I ahve had no problem with game crashes and the game has excellent variety. The siege battles are awful though and pathing issues make the calvary almost useless. This game definitely feels like it was rushed through the later stages of development. Most countries have the exact same units and stats so the only difference is map position.
  35. aadms
    Mar 26, 2015
    7
    This is an updated grade for something that I would have given a zero if I was posting on metacritic back in 2010. I bought the game five years ago and was stunned when I got home and learned what the "online connection requirement" was needed really meant. I had to download it on my 12 kb per second connection! Two Days later....I get to finally play.....just to find out my graphicsThis is an updated grade for something that I would have given a zero if I was posting on metacritic back in 2010. I bought the game five years ago and was stunned when I got home and learned what the "online connection requirement" was needed really meant. I had to download it on my 12 kb per second connection! Two Days later....I get to finally play.....just to find out my graphics card was seriously out of date and that the spec requirements was a, at that time, $500 graphics card. YYYEEAAAARRRRRGH!!! I had whoafull looking characters moving on the screen, not even moving their feet, just floating along with bland backgrounds. I cried that day. And I played and enjoy TW: Medieval so much. That was a zero for this game.

    Now...about a half a year after buying a brand new computer with a top of the line processor and graphics card, I remembered this game and finally played it. It plays like all the other Total War games, so expect the same experience. I liked the ship movements and building fleets to control the seas. I did not like the slow tedious ship battles, so I just clicked the resolve immediately button every time. The A.I. is a little suspect. When I attack someone, even if they are out numbered 10 to 1, they will just march forward to attack me which allowed me in every battle to employ the same strategy. I did not like the "gentlemen" who are suppose to help you town make improvements faster, because, it didn't seem like they did that at all. They could be use for research, but only one research can be down at a time as I found this out thinking I had three smart gentlemen researching only to find out I was just researching the last one I clicked on. Useless. I played Sweden and hurried as fast as I could to the New World to establish colonies, only to discover that in 1718 all the land was colonized. Great. The campaign doesn't even start until 1701. Heck! Sweden did colonize New York in the 1600s but no, I have to play when the British were firmly established there. They should have started the campaign in the early 1600s. Other than that, its Total War: A Game Five Years Ahead of Its Graphic Card and stupid DRM through Steam.    … Expand
  36. sdg
    Dec 26, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Overall Good Game. Positives: Vast map. Naval battles. Huge scale of combat across continents. Negatives: The economy system early on is a pain, especially in higher difficulties. Often, the Enemy AI is not very smart (will rush cannon's loading grape shots). Negotiations and Diplomacy options are limited. AI acts illogically diplomatically if higher difficulties (will declare war even when at highly disadvantageous position). Lastly, no FBR skill for Maratha's.… Expand
  37. Rainbowsix1326
    May 8, 2011
    7
    I was certainly not dissapointed with this Total War title. Although I found the attention to unit detail rather dissapointing that does not hinder the gameplay in any way. The only thing stopping me from giving this game a 10 is the fact that I found the AI a little bit too glitchy and slow.
  38. FFStudios
    Jun 8, 2012
    7
    [First impressions] Steam and I have a complicated relationship: sometimes I see it as a smooth and intuitive way to manage games, whilst other times I curse it for my slow Internet and strange glitches. Anyway, back in 2009, I was causing Steam after I lost my first account and the ability to play Empire Total War. Recently, I managed to find my account and activate ETW; so here's a first[First impressions] Steam and I have a complicated relationship: sometimes I see it as a smooth and intuitive way to manage games, whilst other times I curse it for my slow Internet and strange glitches. Anyway, back in 2009, I was causing Steam after I lost my first account and the ability to play Empire Total War. Recently, I managed to find my account and activate ETW; so here's a first impression review. Empire is certainly quite spectacular with a heavier emphasis on gunpowder weapons and yet the stragegy has been lost somewhat now that your units use guns rather than physical weapons, making them less significant and somehow more dull than Medieval 2. The interface has been redesigned, and by that I mean it's completely incomprehensible thanks to the confusing styling and randomly rearranged functions. One of the most significant additions to the game is naval combat; so now you can actually fight the battle rather than clicking "auto-resolve" with every battle, followed by "clear defeat". The naval combat is spectacular, more so than land battles, but is virtually impossible to control. If you select a ship and right click on an enemy, they flat out don't attack; they just dither in circles while the enemy picks away at your hull. The world map isn't much better thanks to a confusing HUD and apparent lack of the flag colouring from Medieval 2 which made it much easier to tell which cities were weak and which we're overflowing. So, after first impressions; Empire Total War is spectacular and mind bending, but suffers from an unintuative interface and confusing AI.… Expand
  39. JimCorbett
    Sep 3, 2012
    7
    As its own game, Empire is flawed and confusing. Add some Mods to it and you will get the true Total War experience. Empire is a daunting change from previous Total War installments but you will eventually get used to it. It is much more difficult to manage and empire and secure your borders due to settlements being spread out. Siege battles, which used to by my favorite part of a totalAs its own game, Empire is flawed and confusing. Add some Mods to it and you will get the true Total War experience. Empire is a daunting change from previous Total War installments but you will eventually get used to it. It is much more difficult to manage and empire and secure your borders due to settlements being spread out. Siege battles, which used to by my favorite part of a total war game, are boring and repetitive. It's still a fun game, but nowhere near as good as previous installments in the series.… Expand
  40. Wulfburk
    Mar 9, 2012
    7
    At the first months after release the ammount of bugs really ruined the game, but now after 4 years, the game does give justice to the Total War series. The only issue is lack of mod tools, being the reason that i took one point of its score (was going to give it a 8) but even without mod tools DarthMod does a great job at making a total overhaul of the game gameplay, graphics, scale andAt the first months after release the ammount of bugs really ruined the game, but now after 4 years, the game does give justice to the Total War series. The only issue is lack of mod tools, being the reason that i took one point of its score (was going to give it a 8) but even without mod tools DarthMod does a great job at making a total overhaul of the game gameplay, graphics, scale and other elements!… Expand
  41. kane148
    Aug 13, 2012
    7
    By time I played this game, they seemed to have sorted out most of the major bugs, for I didn't have much trouble at all playing Empire. I found it to be a good game overall, with a mix of great improvements and disappointing letdowns. The available world is at least twice as large as that of previous titles, as this game introduces North and Central America and the Indian subcontinent toBy time I played this game, they seemed to have sorted out most of the major bugs, for I didn't have much trouble at all playing Empire. I found it to be a good game overall, with a mix of great improvements and disappointing letdowns. The available world is at least twice as large as that of previous titles, as this game introduces North and Central America and the Indian subcontinent to the playable map (as well as a few more distant trade destinations). This gives much more potential territory to conquer and enemies to face, though it has the downside of requiring you to spread further and quicker than in previous games in order to win the campaign. Diplomacy is further developed from earlier games, and there is now much more incentive to be a faithful ally or honest enemy--although countries tend to have the annoying habit of hating you forever once you go to war with them. The introduction of the research system is nice, since it gives you another way to gain (or lose!) the edge against your rivals, and the ability to buy, sell, trade, or steal research can be handy. The battles are somewhat different in this game, since many units now use guns of various sorts, but Empire follows the same basic style as previous titles. I loved the addition of defensive works for besieging armies (mines, trenches, stakes, etc.), which allow one to prepare for counterattacks, as well as the ability of most infantry to use stone walls as cover. There is a pretty good diversity of unit times in this game (especially if you have the DLC unit packs), and this is keenly seen in the vastly improved array of ship types, which make the naval theater much more exciting. For the first time, players can choose to control their fleets directly during naval battles, allowing for strategy to play into the outcome instead of just numbers. Personally I gave up on figuring out the relatively complex controls for naval battles and just used the auto-decide, but I'm sure next time I play I'll find them easier. There are too many other aspects of this game which I'd like to mention, but I'll leave those to others and just say that this game is definitely worth playing if you are a fan of the Total War franchise, and even if not, I'd recommend giving it a shot.… Expand
  42. OverdueReview
    Aug 15, 2012
    7
    Beta game is what popped to mind when I first installed and played this game when it came out. How the #$@%! did this pass QA? Even to this day, after several patches, I can
  43. not_batman27
    Jan 21, 2013
    7
    at first the game looked terrible to me, there is no proper welcome, if you don't go throught at least the first 2 chapters of the "road to independece" you wont know how to play, but after you play that campaign, the game opens the amazing and large options it has, because of the use of gun powder you have to use completly diffrent tactics. the economy in this game plays a huge role,at first the game looked terrible to me, there is no proper welcome, if you don't go throught at least the first 2 chapters of the "road to independece" you wont know how to play, but after you play that campaign, the game opens the amazing and large options it has, because of the use of gun powder you have to use completly diffrent tactics. the economy in this game plays a huge role, it's very fragile and alliances have diffrent meaning. its very diffrent from the old total war games but it was gonna have a change at some point, all of the people that say they are fans of the total war franchise and say this game is bad, aren't real fans, just because of the change in the game, they were forced to make a diffrent change, in total this is a great and amazing game, shame how people threated it… Expand
  44. Orctownorc
    Aug 24, 2013
    7
    A game with pros and cons. Sure buy for CA fans and strategy nuts. The game is pretty, with a nice range of factions, a huge map to mess around in and fun tactical battles. Beyond that the game is pretty shoddy, and is so incredibly easy, that it really needs the player to handicap themselves. The craziest feature is political control. Once you conquer an area, the player has to wait aboutA game with pros and cons. Sure buy for CA fans and strategy nuts. The game is pretty, with a nice range of factions, a huge map to mess around in and fun tactical battles. Beyond that the game is pretty shoddy, and is so incredibly easy, that it really needs the player to handicap themselves. The craziest feature is political control. Once you conquer an area, the player has to wait about 12 months before it fully assimilates into your country. Thus you can conquer and hold ALL of Europe, the middle east and the Americas without needing to worry about rebellions, or financial costs that might threaten your complete control of the world. This is of course, ridiculous. Compared to Europa Universalis games it is also POOR game design. CA games look prettier, and it is probably more fun to feel tough and kick everyone in the arse. However as a simulation or 'historic game' it's a complete joke. Also, its no small matter that the loading screens in this game run for ages. Over time there is a lot of time lost waiting for the computer to stuff your screen with mindless prettiness.

    THE GROT REVIEW CRITERIA: After a long time writing reviews like an anus, think its time to set a few bad habits straight: Stop insulting designers. Show some respect for the design process and getting games in circulation. Hence (1) No Red scores. (2) Game scores as follows: Bad Game 5/10. Poor Game 6/10. Mediocre Game: 7/10. Good Game 8/10. Great game 9/10. Stella Game 10/10. To get 10/10 it must be a game that can be (theoretically) play-able for 1000+ hours. Not only great but near endless fun. Games may be bad or poor but making them should earn respect. Thus even the worst POS will still be a 5/10. 0/10 no longer exists in my vocabulary. Yellow is the new red. For the sake of accountability: you can reply if needed: Orctowngrot: Tim Rawlins: timtimjp@yahoo.com    … Expand
  45. TheGamer31
    Aug 2, 2015
    7
    This is easily the worst entrance into the series (other than Rome II). The concept for this game was so good and it had so much potential but it all got wasted for some reason. It could have been that they were rushed for release or that they were using a new engine, but whatever the reason, it still doesnt excuse this game for its quality. That being said it is still a good game. ThereThis is easily the worst entrance into the series (other than Rome II). The concept for this game was so good and it had so much potential but it all got wasted for some reason. It could have been that they were rushed for release or that they were using a new engine, but whatever the reason, it still doesnt excuse this game for its quality. That being said it is still a good game. There are a lot of very memorable things about this game like some of the battle. I remember in my first playthrough I played as the United Provinces, it was late game and I was invading Russia. I was on their final settlement, which was Moscow and they had built a star fort for the city. It was a massive battle, my army was made of 3 max chevroned elite unit stacks and their army was made up of 7 garbage militia army that were untrained. I lost all but 4 units but I won and with it I wiped out Russia!… Expand
  46. CaptainThom
    Jun 27, 2013
    7
    Empire total war has received an unjust amount of criticism allot of which was due to bugs and initial issues with steam. Now the game has been patched its a far better gaming experience but doesn't live up to M2:TW and Rome:TW, battles just aren't as fun or engaging and sieges in particular are a mess.No longer do you attack castles/towns with the buildings from the campaign map insteadEmpire total war has received an unjust amount of criticism allot of which was due to bugs and initial issues with steam. Now the game has been patched its a far better gaming experience but doesn't live up to M2:TW and Rome:TW, battles just aren't as fun or engaging and sieges in particular are a mess.No longer do you attack castles/towns with the buildings from the campaign map instead you attack different forts which are pretty much the same every-time and offer little variety of strategy required to capture them. Naval combat which looked brilliant is just a pain and even after 250 hours i have no clue how it works resulting in the imperfect auto resolve option being used the majority of the time.

    That said the campaign map has been extended dramatically with America, India and trade routes added giving the game a much grander feel. The graphics are also fantastic really stepped up from M2:TW, giving battles a realistic and epic feel. Technology trees also allow you to research advance technology which you can see take effect on the battlefield in the form of new moves or new units, you can use technology to improve the economy or the enlightenment of your people. This adds new complexity to the game and allowing different styles of play to be used.    … Expand
  47. lifeofbrian
    Dec 1, 2014
    7
    Its a solid game. However unfortunately they left the game riddled with bugs. I just picked the game up after years of not playing it and lo and behold the game will still continue to freeze on occasion when you say to start a next turn. This was a problem that the game had back in 2009 when it launched. Basically buyer beware.
  48. orctown-troll
    Oct 20, 2013
    7
    A game with pros and cons. Sure buy for CA fans and strategy nuts. The game is pretty, with a nice range of factions, a huge map to mess around in and fun tactical battles. Beyond that the game is pretty shoddy, and is so incredibly easy, that it really needs the player to handicap themselves. The craziest feature is political control. Once you conquer an area, the player has to wait aboutA game with pros and cons. Sure buy for CA fans and strategy nuts. The game is pretty, with a nice range of factions, a huge map to mess around in and fun tactical battles. Beyond that the game is pretty shoddy, and is so incredibly easy, that it really needs the player to handicap themselves. The craziest feature is political control. Once you conquer an area, the player has to wait about 12 months before it fully assimilates into your country. Thus you can conquer and hold ALL of Europe, the middle east and the Americas without needing to worry about rebellions, or financial costs that might threaten your complete control of the world. This is of course, ridiculous. Compared to Europa Universalis games it is also POOR game design. CA games look prettier, and it is probably more fun to feel tough and kick everyone in the arse. However as a simulation or 'historic game' it's a complete joke. Also, its no small matter that the loading screens in this game run for ages. Over time there is a lot of time lost waiting for the computer to stuff your screen with mindless prettiness.

    Orctowngrot    … Expand
  49. Levin
    Aug 9, 2015
    7
    Total war has been around for quite some time, and I have bought and played all of them since the initial Shogun. The expanded campaign map is welcome and the trading ports, Naval warfare likewise. Lots of pluses that is, but there are drawbacks as well. To me, those drawbacks are "blocker bugs". Blocker bugs would be something that would prevent the game from being released. PreviousTotal war has been around for quite some time, and I have bought and played all of them since the initial Shogun. The expanded campaign map is welcome and the trading ports, Naval warfare likewise. Lots of pluses that is, but there are drawbacks as well. To me, those drawbacks are "blocker bugs". Blocker bugs would be something that would prevent the game from being released. Previous Total war games has had a few, but I am amazed that a franchise that's been around for so long still has issues like this. After half an hour of navigating three ships against nine enemy ships, having one left and aaaaalmost winning the battle and the game freezes... The graphics are also quite bad. Room for improvement. Yay!… Expand
  50. VagueShape
    Feb 25, 2016
    7
    Giving it a 7, A decent installment of the Total War franchise that offers some fresh mechanics like gunpowder, the ability to traverse continents, strategic battles that aren't focused solely on the capital city(forts and such) and good naval battles.

    While the game isn't perfect, the new features offer a fresh experience that should be fun for awhile for most people.
  51. hiltong55
    Jul 19, 2018
    7
    With over 100 logged hours I think I am in a position to judge this game. Also, I should note that I am including the Warpath DLC in my opinion. I will also say that I do have a bit of bias in my review since I have a deep love for this time in history and style of combat. But I also know that this is far from a perfect game.

    I first started with the Road To Independence campaign. It    With over 100 logged hours I think I am in a position to judge this game. Also, I should note that I am including the Warpath DLC in my opinion. I will also say that I do have a bit of bias in my review since I have a deep love for this time in history and style of combat. But I also know that this is far from a perfect game.

    I first started with the Road To Independence campaign. It definitely helps you learn how to control and maneuver a little bit but overall I would say the story is okay at best and really does not take that long to finish. Also, it is the only way you really get to play as America so it kind of does fulfill that itch but I still don't know why you can't play with them in the main campaign mode.

    The main campaign mode has a decent amount of countries to chose from along with varying victory conditions based on the size and location of your country. The map is very large covering all of Europe, North Africa, The Middle East, India, North America and the upper half of South America. There are also trading ports in places like Madagascar but that is all you can do there set up a trade route. The way you move around the map has largely gone unchanged from prior TW games and that is just fine with me. Diplomacy saw a change from the family tree system to a more timely government system that allows you to promote Generals instead of raising them which makes sense. You can fire people in places of government but I never found myself looking too much into this aspect of the game as it is self-propelling and does not have much impact on your progress. The technology bracket accelerated my building collages and universities is a much-welcomed improvement to the series as you unlock new abilities through study as well as being able to trade and steal technological discoveries as well. Diplomacy as with many games of the turn based genre could be better but is functional. Still feels like the whole if they like you they will work with you and if they don't they won't style of a system we usually get but at least you can often still trade with unfriendly nations if you make it worth their while. Alliances also do make some sort of sense and do have so impact on your decisions especially on harder levels. I am pleased to say that the AI is no pushover if you crank up the level but are still very much beatable if you have experience with the game.

    Let us talk about combat. Ground combat is very satisfying. Units are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but are competent overall. Creative Assembly did a great job in getting the style of combat of that time down to where it feels like you are commanding troops of that time in a sensical manner. Newly added naval combat is total crap in my opinion and really needed to be worked on more before they added it to the game. I would have been happy with simulation just like in Rome TW and that is what I found myself doing anyway after several frustrating naval encounters where I had the clear upper hand. I thought maybe it was just me but apparently many others share my frustration.

    Lastly, I would like to mention the Warpath DLC where you can play as Native American factions. Basically what was done was the devs took the victory conditions from the European countries in the main game, slapped them on the native factions and called it a day. I played through the short campaign with one of the native factions and I lost not because I was playing on a hard difficulty or I was getting my ass kicked in combat, but because I could not get to my enemy fast enough with a reasonable amount of forces to take over a city. They did not take into account that the native cities are very spaced out and they do not have roads for a fairly long time due to the small size of your beginning cities. So travel is a lot slower without connecting roads and trough rough terrain which is what you are working through with most native factions. Plus the combat with natives is not nearly as fun given the design of the game. Combat was mostly designed around musket troops which the natives naturally have very few of. You really need the numbers advantage to have any chance of winning which is a chore with slow travel.

    For some reason, I wanted to give this game an 8/10 and that is only because as I said I am biased towards this time period. The game has flaws for sure but has kept me playing on and off for years. However my final verdict is a 7/10 GOOD. This is mostly due to the lackluster DLC and naval combat.    … Expand
  52. CountCristo
    Jul 19, 2019
    7
    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  53. erdogfu96
    Feb 9, 2020
    7
    For me it was one of the worst in total war series. Campaign idea of all of the world were good but not well designed. Also diplomacy were unstable and unrealistic. Game was not well paced, it was too slow.
    Graphics:7/10
    Sounds: 7/10
    Gameplay: 8/10
    Fun: 7/10
  54. Bushido95
    Sep 27, 2021
    7
    После невероятной Medieval II продолжение Empire: Total War была не тем чего ждали фанаты.. слишком большой скачок в истории.
    Спустя годы попробовав снова откинув все предрассудки и попытавшись в объективность игра мне понравилось.    После невероятной Medieval II продолжение Empire: Total War была не тем чего ждали фанаты.. слишком большой скачок в истории.
    Спустя годы попробовав снова откинув все предрассудки и попытавшись в объективность игра мне понравилось.
  55. ZID346
    Apr 2, 2023
    7
    It's weird to fight with only ranged units and horses, but it worked. Interesting and campaign, A bit more complicated than in other installments of the series (advantage). Good title.
  56. VictorHugo1482
    Aug 30, 2022
    7
    In New York (ayy, ah-ha) (uh, yeah)
    Concrete jungle (yeah) where dreams are made of
    There's nothin' you can't do (yeah) (okay)
  57. LegateTheAnime
    Jan 31, 2023
    7
    This game's ambition is still inspiring, but it failed to meet that ambition. The trading is the best in the series and the battles become huge, but that's all it has going for it. It's bugs are so numerous I could not even begin to describe all the ones I encountered in 20 hours.
    I still really like this game, but it could be much better.
  58. SungaL
    Oct 14, 2009
    6
    GAme has a huge problem: IT IS POLITICALLY CORRECT !! two big flaws: NO slaves merchants (and thus slavery system), and NO ethnic minorities, like the Jewish (so important they provided most of the loaned money to governments open their imperial companies and establish central banks). Could say also theres a lack of River Plate and South America realismus, but then you would say Im a bit GAme has a huge problem: IT IS POLITICALLY CORRECT !! two big flaws: NO slaves merchants (and thus slavery system), and NO ethnic minorities, like the Jewish (so important they provided most of the loaned money to governments open their imperial companies and establish central banks). Could say also theres a lack of River Plate and South America realismus, but then you would say Im a bit regionalist.… Expand
  59. DollaBill
    Mar 27, 2009
    6
    The game has excellent gameplay and is quite enjoyable, but every campaign I've tried has eventually hit some fatal glitch and effectively ceased to exist. It's really annoying and makes the entire grand campaign into an exercise in futility. Don't get it until there are patches.
  60. MarcM
    Apr 7, 2009
    6
    Empire has numerous bugs and glitches in the retail release. Two glaring examples are splitting trade fleets while on a trade point causing the trading fleet to be useless and sailors committing suicide by jumping during boarding actions. There are also issues with the design of the game itself. In diplomacy, for instance, you could present a gift and sign a trade agreement to a neutral Empire has numerous bugs and glitches in the retail release. Two glaring examples are splitting trade fleets while on a trade point causing the trading fleet to be useless and sailors committing suicide by jumping during boarding actions. There are also issues with the design of the game itself. In diplomacy, for instance, you could present a gift and sign a trade agreement to a neutral minor faction resulting in a large reputation boost only to have that same nation declare war on you the very next turn. Unfortunately, this is business as usual for the designers at Creative Assembly and Total War franchise. I would advise dissappointed owners to shelve the title and prospective buyers to wait for a year. CA will likely release patches and hopefully user created mods will take care of the rest. On a side note, I feel the online reviewers largely dropped the ball on this title. I would have trouble assigning such high scores to Empire given the aformentioned problems.… Expand
  61. OliverDay
    Mar 30, 2009
    6
    A good total war title..
    some how doesnt do it all for me though, in comparrison to say Medival total war the game play is just far better on that, If it wasnt for the sea battles this rating would be a flat 5. I feel that with the release of the patch in may that alot of the lag and jerkyness can be remidied.
  62. RobM
    Mar 30, 2009
    6
    Empire: Total War follows The Creative Assembly's MO as seen in previous Total War titles as far back as Rome of being a promising game full of good ideas and features obscured by a ridiculous amount of bugs and glitches. The positive aspects of this game include the new, deeper campaign map interface that allows more thorough control of your faction than in previous titles. Empire: Total War follows The Creative Assembly's MO as seen in previous Total War titles as far back as Rome of being a promising game full of good ideas and features obscured by a ridiculous amount of bugs and glitches. The positive aspects of this game include the new, deeper campaign map interface that allows more thorough control of your faction than in previous titles. Diplomacy, a longtime failure of the Total War series, is at least brought up to the basic standard of today's strategy games, though it can still be obtuse and useless at times. The different campaign theaters (Europe, America and India) are represented in a way that allows for great detail in all of them. Battles are at least as well-done as in previous titles and the battle maps themselves are far larger than before, which allows for more tactical maneuvering. The bad is, as usual, mostly bug related. Total War games since at least as early as Rome have been almost more trouble than they're worth until a series of patches is released due to obstructive bugs and crashes littering the game at release. Most of these are fixed after two or three patches, but there are always some that are never fixed. Pathfinding is absolutely pathetic and I am unable to trust units to find their way around anything bigger than a hay bale. The failure of pathfinding makes sieges more or less unplayable. The inclusion of Steam has itself led to a slew of problems visible on The Creative Assembly's official tech support forums and I don't see one convincing redeeming quality in it's involvement. I am generally very impressed with this game in theory, but the bugs strain my patience when attempting to play it. It should be made clear that in the past the bugs have always eventually been fixed, bringing the game to a reasonable level of playability which then allows it to shine. However, Steam may throw off the balance after all and make this game more trouble than it's worth. I certainly don't recommend this game yet; I suggest waiting several months for the patches to be released, and only then if Steam doesn't bother you.… Expand
  63. RandalO.
    Apr 10, 2009
    6
    I used to develop software. We'd have been horsewhipped if we'd tried to release software this loaded with bugs and poorly designed. Memory leaks everywhere! I don't mind alpha testing but fix the bugs!!! The game itself looks to be fun, and good, if we can ever spend more time playing than waiting for it to load, move, respond, etc. I thought that whole unpacking idea was I used to develop software. We'd have been horsewhipped if we'd tried to release software this loaded with bugs and poorly designed. Memory leaks everywhere! I don't mind alpha testing but fix the bugs!!! The game itself looks to be fun, and good, if we can ever spend more time playing than waiting for it to load, move, respond, etc. I thought that whole unpacking idea was rejected back in the '90s. Please fix the damn thing!… Expand
  64. FlorianB
    Apr 1, 2009
    6
    The game proved to be not as great as everyone had announced... eventually, it is a real TW-game, but with much more need for further tweaking and patching than previous TW-titles. CA did implement interesting new features, but in the end they turned out to be callow... The two most important points which weaken the game-experience drastically, are first of all the bad performance The game proved to be not as great as everyone had announced... eventually, it is a real TW-game, but with much more need for further tweaking and patching than previous TW-titles. CA did implement interesting new features, but in the end they turned out to be callow... The two most important points which weaken the game-experience drastically, are first of all the bad performance (numerous bugs, long loading times, CTDs etc due to whatever, bad programming, insufficient testing, dont know) and the really dumb AI which was promised to be improved heavily but in fact still does the same stupid manoevers like in Medieval 2 or Rome (e.g. peace-negotiations, province-trading, protectorates etc) All in all E:TW is worth improving but worth waiting for some problem-fixing, too. Therefore, i rate it with a 6, wich results from 9 points for the concept, 8 points for the graphics and interface but just 5 points for improvements of existing features and adding new ones and 3 for the engine / technical aspects… Expand
  65. PaulB
    Aug 27, 2009
    6
    Playable and fun, but essentialy a beta version. Some of the standard features of other TW games are ommitted, leaving me feel a little cheated. Luckily the modders are improving this game all the time and patches are available, with more promised.
  66. JoshN
    Jan 20, 2010
    6
    Game is a little Buggy which still don't seem to have been fixed. It requires vastly more power than the result really needs. Its laggy on my new "Gamer" laptop. And the graphics are not that much more impressive than Rome: Total War. However, the gigantic world map is fantastic, the units are well balanced. Also the sea battles are great as i have been wanting them for some time. Game is a little Buggy which still don't seem to have been fixed. It requires vastly more power than the result really needs. Its laggy on my new "Gamer" laptop. And the graphics are not that much more impressive than Rome: Total War. However, the gigantic world map is fantastic, the units are well balanced. Also the sea battles are great as i have been wanting them for some time. But have to turn of the water affects despite my 512mb ATI Radeon card -_- and 4|GB RAM. A good game but just seems rushed and the power requirements are ridiculous when you see what u actually get in return!… Expand
  67. DeadGuy
    Mar 2, 2010
    6
    The much talked about battle AI does not cut it at all in ETW, and is certainly no match at all for veterans of the series. The graphics are shiny, there are many innovative features in the campaign, sadly many are left half-done, and patches have not adressed the problem over the many months ETW has been out. Despite it's flaws, I can't say I don't enjoy playing ETW, even The much talked about battle AI does not cut it at all in ETW, and is certainly no match at all for veterans of the series. The graphics are shiny, there are many innovative features in the campaign, sadly many are left half-done, and patches have not adressed the problem over the many months ETW has been out. Despite it's flaws, I can't say I don't enjoy playing ETW, even quite frequently. There are many nations to play, but very little variety between them. Line Infantry are the same across the board, even if they're called something else in some armies. Artillery is extremely powerful and can rip approaching armies to shreds due to the AI being unable to avoid it or close with your lines quick enough, but at the same time it needs to be micromanaged always, because the fire at will function will kill more of your own men than the enemy's.… Expand
  68. alk
    Oct 24, 2009
    6
    A fan since Shogun: TW, I have been following the series since the beginning. But this latest entry was overhyped and was clearly rushed out the door before they finished it (e.g. naval invasions left out on release? Are you kidding me?!). Buggy as hell, even many months after release. Also all factions except for England and France had clearly been left unfinished in terms of unique A fan since Shogun: TW, I have been following the series since the beginning. But this latest entry was overhyped and was clearly rushed out the door before they finished it (e.g. naval invasions left out on release? Are you kidding me?!). Buggy as hell, even many months after release. Also all factions except for England and France had clearly been left unfinished in terms of unique units; note how they have finally released some downloadable units to make up for the poor roster when it first came out: clearly released in an unfinished state. A big minus is that this series is notoriously demanding on the CPU, much more than any modern FPS for example. And yet CA still has not enabled dual-core optimisation! We've seen games use two cores for years now, some even are utilizing quad core tech. Most of these games don't even require that much power, unlike Empire: TW.… Expand
  69. BillWolf
    Mar 11, 2009
    6
    Although the Graphics are spectacular and the Time period is very turbulant,I feel the creators left out some of the best aspects of the series.For example....where are the movies? Spys and Gentelmen are quite boring,and maybe I missed something but I really enjoyed marriage,heir choosing...like in ROME.Also going to a city in battle mode during peacetime was fun,I liked watching the Although the Graphics are spectacular and the Time period is very turbulant,I feel the creators left out some of the best aspects of the series.For example....where are the movies? Spys and Gentelmen are quite boring,and maybe I missed something but I really enjoyed marriage,heir choosing...like in ROME.Also going to a city in battle mode during peacetime was fun,I liked watching the citys grow.It gave a more realistic sence to the gam.I also had to spen a grand on a new PC that could run this LOOONG anticipated game,and its still choppy.I own every copy of the Total War series along with about 500 other games.I will say for now this is my favorite,but for how long....ps it would be nice to see a American Civil War add on for this.… Expand
  70. FredF
    Mar 13, 2009
    6
    It boggles the mind how anyone gives this game a 10 unless they are completely new to PC gaming. Lets ignore steam and the CTD style bugs. Lets just talk about gameplay. ETW seems awsome for the first few turns, and very pretty. Then you figure out the AI is NOT improved, Forts are amazingly bugged, the battlefield pathfinding is the worst in ANY TW game to date (and I've played them It boggles the mind how anyone gives this game a 10 unless they are completely new to PC gaming. Lets ignore steam and the CTD style bugs. Lets just talk about gameplay. ETW seems awsome for the first few turns, and very pretty. Then you figure out the AI is NOT improved, Forts are amazingly bugged, the battlefield pathfinding is the worst in ANY TW game to date (and I've played them all). There are just SO many bugs in the GC its really not worth my time to mention each one, the biggest one is that the AI doesn't move troops by ships, yet the game includes india and the americas, I hope you see the problem with that. If you want to play a TW game do yourself a favor. Get Rome or M2, download the patches, download the good mods like Rome Total Realism, for the Stainless Steel mod for M2TW, and enjoy the game. Wait a year at least for this one.… Expand
  71. AnonymousMC
    Mar 17, 2009
    6
    Just got crashed 10th time in a row during loading a save game. Such a pain in the Uss. Its pretty common problem. saves from 20 turns ago seem to work but 4 CH's sake i dont fell like spending another few precious hours replaying that turns, watching every sic! every fckin ship moving across trade routes (tried to hide ai movements in options but it gave me nasty shocks few times soJust got crashed 10th time in a row during loading a save game. Such a pain in the Uss. Its pretty common problem. saves from 20 turns ago seem to work but 4 CH's sake i dont fell like spending another few precious hours replaying that turns, watching every sic! every fckin ship moving across trade routes (tried to hide ai movements in options but it gave me nasty shocks few times so leaving it on is quite a must. they should add option of hiding unimportant ai moves).
    Steam? needles to say... Gr8 BS. I thought relic online sucks but since i bought ETW steam simply is my #1.
    If some1 happened to find a solution for that annoying crashes let me know. id be most grateful.    … Expand
  72. Tom
    Mar 20, 2009
    6
    Buggy console games are sometimes expected, as they often have to be converted to work across multiple consoles with different coding. PC games however should be flawless upon release as their generally made for the one OS. Despite the 1 month delay in release Empire total war had and still has a number of bugs upon release and after the lacking patch. It is not to much to expect a Buggy console games are sometimes expected, as they often have to be converted to work across multiple consoles with different coding. PC games however should be flawless upon release as their generally made for the one OS. Despite the 1 month delay in release Empire total war had and still has a number of bugs upon release and after the lacking patch. It is not to much to expect a product you spent $140.00 on to be flawless, or at the very least to prevent it from crashing multiple times in one sitting, if console gaming can do it then why can't PC gaming?… Expand
  73. BillB
    Mar 27, 2009
    6
    Unstable! Very happy with gameplay. I just wish i didn't have to abandon a campaign or replay a single battle four-five times before the game will allow me to save progress without crashing. Right now I am stuck in a loop where all the hours i have put into the current campaign will be lost because the game always crashes after this particular battle.
  74. J.Morgan
    Mar 8, 2009
    6
    Very...very very buggy.

    Under all those bugs, and honestly there are too many to list (check out the official forums and TW forums) is a great game.

    I don't know if CA will be able to claw threw them all or not, its worse than any TW game on release to date I think.
  75. ryans
    Apr 1, 2009
    6
    The epic scale of the land battles and the immersive campaign should have made this game one of the best, but problems like stupid AI and bugs bring it down a notch. I have had problems when selecting a fleet or dock and then having the game crash and having terrible lag during battles, but when the game does work it is very enjoyable and a good installment to the series. I only have to The epic scale of the land battles and the immersive campaign should have made this game one of the best, but problems like stupid AI and bugs bring it down a notch. I have had problems when selecting a fleet or dock and then having the game crash and having terrible lag during battles, but when the game does work it is very enjoyable and a good installment to the series. I only have to wonder what they were doing with all the time they delayed putting the game out. I waited for a year only to hear about more delays and they didn't fix the problems in it? I'd rather have a smooth-playing game than an extra nation or two. This game is good and worth the money, but until more patches come out it will cease to be great.… Expand
  76. PetriJ
    Apr 1, 2009
    6
    The game would be perfect, if it wouldnt have so many bugs and crashes. Please make the games ready before the beginning of the sale. If the game dosn´t be soon playable its going to be the last Sega game that I buy.
  77. cedrickF
    Apr 21, 2009
    6
    I'm a Totalwar games fan. Let's says an addict as I spent more than 1000 hours on the first games (from shogun to Mtw2). For now I'm very disapointed with Empire . This could be a great game but as the things are for now, we have a "Colonial empire building game" where the AI DON'T NO HOW TO embarq and disembarq troops !!! Let's say the game is less challenging I'm a Totalwar games fan. Let's says an addict as I spent more than 1000 hours on the first games (from shogun to Mtw2). For now I'm very disapointed with Empire . This could be a great game but as the things are for now, we have a "Colonial empire building game" where the AI DON'T NO HOW TO embarq and disembarq troops !!! Let's say the game is less challenging with this bug. And it's really not the only one.… Expand
  78. pietjej
    Jun 30, 2009
    6
    Great game. Too bad it was released in a very buggy and unfinished condition. Hopefully they give something back for free for all the trouble their fans went through although I doubt that. Today you have to pay to be a beta tester it seems. I remember I got a t-shirt for beta testing settlers 3.
  79. JJ
    Jun 4, 2009
    6
    Well, i was going to review after i had finished a grand campaign, but due to the game crashing, well, i guess im finished!. This game is one like no other for both posative and negative reason. The graphics are just amazing, the depth and attention to detail is incredible although different character models would have been nice, 1500 men with the same face was a bit of a joke . Great Well, i was going to review after i had finished a grand campaign, but due to the game crashing, well, i guess im finished!. This game is one like no other for both posative and negative reason. The graphics are just amazing, the depth and attention to detail is incredible although different character models would have been nice, 1500 men with the same face was a bit of a joke . Great sound, especially when a houndred muskets fire across the battle field at the same time, the moans and groans of close combat are just fantastic as are the sounds of bullets slaming in the enemy. Now the gameplay has more potential that a invisible ninja, the campaign is great, the joy and feeling of succes when conqouring* a region and upgrading all your cities and villages is gloryous, as is winning a battle when your outnumber 10-1, but when your bloody skirmishers face the opposite way from an incoming enemy or when your artillary wont shoot at what you tell them to or when your guys wont shoot there muskets!................you get the hint. This game is completly unfinished and buggy, and i was lucky as i got about 3/4 through a campaign before any REAL trouble. The replayabilty may be a bit short as there is very few maps and the armies are basically the same which makes for some very average custom battles. And for some reason i cannot play multiplayer at all. The only reason it gets a 6 is due to what the game could have or should have been. I will gladely give it 10 when the developers grow a back bone, refund our money and fix this mess.… Expand
  80. ab
    Jul 19, 2009
    6
    Very good campaign and graphics. very enjoyable other than every 5 or so mutes your computer crashes, then it takes 30 minutes to load and crashes again.
  81. KenN
    Jul 7, 2009
    6
    Too buggy to get max score. All games need updates to iron out minor bugs and correct balance; this game needed major rework under the hood to get it right. Did they test it at all or did they release a half-finished game because their eyes were full of dollar signs?
  82. BobH
    Aug 5, 2009
    6
    AMAZING!!!!! perfect game i'm so lucky it works on my computer.although 2 things 1.Stream WTF it is just loads of crud I HATE STREAM!!!!2.AI is so stupid i mean it never attacks u:(! and it just sits there and gets killed!!!!Its a great game though very historical and a nice map oh, and about the map the AI is like broken or something cause it just sits there and dose nothing!!! I AMAZING!!!!! perfect game i'm so lucky it works on my computer.although 2 things 1.Stream WTF it is just loads of crud I HATE STREAM!!!!2.AI is so stupid i mean it never attacks u:(! and it just sits there and gets killed!!!!Its a great game though very historical and a nice map oh, and about the map the AI is like broken or something cause it just sits there and dose nothing!!! I would also like to play as nations such as idians pirates ext. i rate this game a 6.… Expand
  83. DanielBarnett
    Mar 11, 2009
    6
    A bit of a disapointment, lots of features mentioned seem to have been cut in the final release, and above all it looks terrible in the battles when zoomed out - I mean really bad, like a 10 year old game with 6 pixel soldiers with waggly legs. Granted it looks great close up, but the AI is poor and the features are alot more limited than we were led to belive.
  84. JonFusco
    Mar 15, 2009
    6
    With out the Modders to fix this game I will have to rate it a 6. I dont see this game having much of a future and in time I bet players will unistall this game and focus back on playing Rome and M2. To bad the nice graphics and naval battle option was fun.
  85. DominickM
    Mar 17, 2009
    6
    The Steam requirement is a no-brainer in terms of DRM and beats the alternatives. Those complaining might as well give up, not going to change. The game itself is disappointingly unfinished. The combat AI is better than previous TW games, but the campaign AI is as broken and boring as ever. The AI is incapable of transporting troops via ships. And plays far too passively. Every campaign The Steam requirement is a no-brainer in terms of DRM and beats the alternatives. Those complaining might as well give up, not going to change. The game itself is disappointingly unfinished. The combat AI is better than previous TW games, but the campaign AI is as broken and boring as ever. The AI is incapable of transporting troops via ships. And plays far too passively. Every campaign played (on very hard difficulty) is an inevitable march to victory. This makes it extremely boring. The lack of single player historical battles and multiplayer maps further emphasizes the fact that they released this game a good 6 months before they really should have. On the bright side, the foundation isn't terrible, and they seem more committed to patching than previous TW games (thanks to Steam making patch delivery simple). I'd bet after 5-6 patches and a few mods this becomes the best of the TW series. But for now, I can't play it.… Expand
  86. SteveW.
    Mar 21, 2009
    6
    The game is really awesome. There a significant improvements over MTW2. However, the game is super buggy, and it has crashed on me several times during game play which is really annoying. I'm not sure if this has to do with steam or medieval total war, but it sucks.
  87. PatS
    Mar 23, 2009
    6
    Yes i agree with others - laggy, buggy, crash prone, released too early. This is my sixth Total War game and yes i can t delete a saved game either. I Love the game but it is a little dissapointing that it is a pain to use( i currently can t get it to run unless i m on the net and yes it is updated/my kid drives me nuts wanting to play) especially when you pay a premium price for it at Yes i agree with others - laggy, buggy, crash prone, released too early. This is my sixth Total War game and yes i can t delete a saved game either. I Love the game but it is a little dissapointing that it is a pain to use( i currently can t get it to run unless i m on the net and yes it is updated/my kid drives me nuts wanting to play) especially when you pay a premium price for it at release in the collectors edition---- shame on the designers-- yes seriously.… Expand
  88. OdinA
    Mar 29, 2009
    6
    Still after 3 patches on a computer that has the latest windows updates with nothing that is not needed to play this game. Graphics and gameplay makes this a unique beautiful game. The bugs and this atrocity of a gaming client called Steam tears it down into decease ridden pool of decomposing dreams. Over half the battles I play in campaign crash the game in battle summary. Steam refuses Still after 3 patches on a computer that has the latest windows updates with nothing that is not needed to play this game. Graphics and gameplay makes this a unique beautiful game. The bugs and this atrocity of a gaming client called Steam tears it down into decease ridden pool of decomposing dreams. Over half the battles I play in campaign crash the game in battle summary. Steam refuses to launch the game 1/4th of the time saying it's "unavailable". The AI is clueless at veryhard/veryhard both campaign and in battle. The fences in battles make me cry when units hit a corner. The sound clipping makes battles kind of confusing. Several shadow graphic bugs. Still I love the game and hope they manage to make it playable.… Expand
  89. dwillo1982w
    Mar 31, 2009
    6
    Despite heaps of bugs, hopeless AI and laggy at times gameplay I have been playing this now for 20+ hours. Ive enjoyed it, it has so much potential however it needs major work... agents in general need work with the most attention given to rakes (they are no way near as much fun as in previous versions of TW and rakes never seem to level even on successful missions). Tactical battles are Despite heaps of bugs, hopeless AI and laggy at times gameplay I have been playing this now for 20+ hours. Ive enjoyed it, it has so much potential however it needs major work... agents in general need work with the most attention given to rakes (they are no way near as much fun as in previous versions of TW and rakes never seem to level even on successful missions). Tactical battles are awesome however work needs to be done on attacking ai, defensive sieges are too easy and too frustrating with regards to pathfinding to bother with. Unfortunently the strategic game (ie campaign) is broken and is the reason why I will not play this game again until patches are released. Winning on the campaign is a guarantee dependent only on how long you are willing to slog things out for- the AI really does not do anything well enough to stop a dedicated player from doing whatever he wants. In my opinion naval battles are kinda slow, fun at first however no real tactics required to win despite looking great.… Expand
  90. WilliamA
    Apr 12, 2009
    6
    To begin with I have always been a huge fan of the Total War series and have been playing Rome and Medieval 2 and now Empire. When i started the game I thought it looked good, but after playing a while in campaign mode as Sweden and Great Britain I was deeply dissapointed. My first issue has got to be the campaign map. I just don't understand why how anyone can call this the biggest To begin with I have always been a huge fan of the Total War series and have been playing Rome and Medieval 2 and now Empire. When i started the game I thought it looked good, but after playing a while in campaign mode as Sweden and Great Britain I was deeply dissapointed. My first issue has got to be the campaign map. I just don't understand why how anyone can call this the biggest campaign map ever in a total war game. Even though the map spans two continents and a subcontinent it still seems smaller since CA have decided to merge all the provinces of France into one big province for example. This directly destroys the feelig of the game since if you invade Paris then all of France falls with it after ONE battle... CA seems to have modeled the game on the borders of that time and not taken border changes inte consideration. Moving on the AI is awful and acts in the weirdest possible ways and never ever invade overseas territory like Britain. In battles the AI is often undertaking weird tactics like trying to flank you with their entire army which for the record never works if you're not completely braindead. also you're own units never maintain the formation they were deployed in if you want to advance or intercept the enemy. Now i think I have been negative enough and as my rating shows I still appreciate the game and the implemention of naval battles are a real plus to the game although it sometimes feels like the Naval battles are not affecting the enemy at all as they do not accept peace offers even if all of their trade routes are raided and all their ports are blockaded. I have myself not experienced the same problems with bugs and crashes as previous comments indicate, it might have crashed about ten times or so but it has not interfered with the game too much. So overall this game has huge potential but does not live up to my (and many others) high expectations on a game in the Total War series! And yeah Steam does'nt exactly improve the rating.… Expand
  91. MashnaT
    Apr 17, 2009
    6
    total war means total war: Total war with your system for example (100 systemfailures in one games gives you a lot of hours extra playtime..) I really loved the whoe series but I think this game was not ready at all to be launched. Mystical indian powers cause one of my armies to stay on the same location for about 50 turns now. This army is probably bewitched by some evil force because total war means total war: Total war with your system for example (100 systemfailures in one games gives you a lot of hours extra playtime..) I really loved the whoe series but I think this game was not ready at all to be launched. Mystical indian powers cause one of my armies to stay on the same location for about 50 turns now. This army is probably bewitched by some evil force because whenever I dare to even point my cursor in the near direction the games will crash... I have fleets everywhere but I cant fight battles whit them because whenever I am winning the sea battle the game will crash.. I just cant wait for Total War - WWI. People will probably beat me up in the streets , or strange virusses will efect my computer... Why couldnt you just wait guys... A little bit more time for development would have serioiusly increased the quality of this - now very annoying - game.… Expand
  92. JonathanC
    May 14, 2009
    6
    Behind the issues with Steam, CTD's, gliches there is a serious question mark over the playability of the game at the strategic level due to the complexity of what the game is trying to re-create. There are fantastic graphics and the naval battles are especially dramatic but the game is not for thefainthearted and irrational AI dilpomacy and behaviour on the battlefield marrs the Behind the issues with Steam, CTD's, gliches there is a serious question mark over the playability of the game at the strategic level due to the complexity of what the game is trying to re-create. There are fantastic graphics and the naval battles are especially dramatic but the game is not for thefainthearted and irrational AI dilpomacy and behaviour on the battlefield marrs the experience. If you can pick up a cheap copy as I did then the game is worth playing for the battles alone, but be prepared for some throughtly annoying bugs and an unchallenging AI.… Expand
  93. FreddyTwoToes
    Jun 1, 2009
    6
    I am not a Beta-tester. I payed for a finished product and this is a mess. I have been playing PC games for over 30 years. Started on the Trash 80 for you old geeks out there. This is the buggyyyyest game I have ever bought..crash city. Those that gave a 9 or 10 are lucky SOB's (I have the latest alienware system btw) or just liars. Ok that said and affirming the pain and suffering I am not a Beta-tester. I payed for a finished product and this is a mess. I have been playing PC games for over 30 years. Started on the Trash 80 for you old geeks out there. This is the buggyyyyest game I have ever bought..crash city. Those that gave a 9 or 10 are lucky SOB's (I have the latest alienware system btw) or just liars. Ok that said and affirming the pain and suffering of my fellow gamers, now for the rest. The design and potential for this game to blossom with Modders is insane. If someone were to take the time to debug and detail this game it would be incredible. If it worked like it should it would earn those 9's and 10's you lunkheads are handing out. As for AI well not sure what you expecting there, if any you are programmers then you would know that the best way to handle that is a player vs player game direct IP or steam setup for Head to Head play. Even the most inept player can provide a better challenge than the best AI period. Sorry but just the facts of life for a long time to come until computers get much more powerful or you can settle for chess.… Expand
  94. NickL
    Jun 25, 2009
    6
    Got the newest patch, and still sadly disappointed. I have not bothered to play this much, and will not probably for months when the game gets up to a decent standard. The first battle I got in after the 1.3 patch I won easy, because my AI opponent killed its own general and about 30-40 other guys with its own cannon fire. Still I had a shot at losing since only one of my units wanted to Got the newest patch, and still sadly disappointed. I have not bothered to play this much, and will not probably for months when the game gets up to a decent standard. The first battle I got in after the 1.3 patch I won easy, because my AI opponent killed its own general and about 30-40 other guys with its own cannon fire. Still I had a shot at losing since only one of my units wanted to man the cannon on the fort walls. Also, my single reinforcement unit decided that once it went in melee mode it no longer had firearms and froze after I tried to switch melee mode off. Some "bugs" are just funny though. Like why are my elephants climbing over wooden fences? Wouldn't an animal that ways a few tons be a little much for a flimsy wooden fence to support? Or, hey all the other units in the AI's army are fleeing other then the cannoneers. What are they doing? Charging the fort, without their cannons. Anyone who gave this game an 8 or above needs to go out and buy a couple of good video games.… Expand
  95. RichardB
    Jun 9, 2009
    6
    Crash, play for 20 mins, crash, play for 20 mins and then another crash. Another game that was rushed out the door before it was ready. Would really love to play a game that was stable on release, any game! Apart from all that the game is great - well you can imagine it being great when they getting it stable!
  96. JacobC.
    Jul 28, 2009
    6
    It came from a great legacy but it fails to meet its mark in this new version. What I'm most upset about is the thing called STEAM. Its slow, crashy, and overall just plain stupid. It has no point in being here. I played Dawn Of War 2 on STEAM and it installed the game in 10mins or less. This game took over 5hrs to download. It really made me angry. So in conclusion: Game = Alright It came from a great legacy but it fails to meet its mark in this new version. What I'm most upset about is the thing called STEAM. Its slow, crashy, and overall just plain stupid. It has no point in being here. I played Dawn Of War 2 on STEAM and it installed the game in 10mins or less. This game took over 5hrs to download. It really made me angry. So in conclusion: Game = Alright but a little boring, STEAM = F*#$ You Dude!… Expand
  97. joe
    Aug 31, 2009
    6
    i love all the total war series... i've played them all... but the whole steam thing??? i've been loading this crap all day just to play my game... i mean usually the total war series just gets better and better but steam is a bad idea.... but still.... i cant wait to play it
  98. CooperM
    Dec 14, 2009
    6
    Fan since Rome:TW, loved M2:TW and this is just a disgrace. Creative Assembly was my favorite developer but this may have ruined my faith in them. Far too many glitches to count, bought it the day it came out and I have purcheased all of the expansions and gotten all the updates and still crashes on my brand new gaming computer. The support for this game is terrible, period!
  99. ISocratatus
    Mar 14, 2009
    6
    A potentially great game, but misses because it`s UNFINISHED. The units, the fighting, even the AI is better, but once you`ve played for a few turns you realise that the CampaignAI NEVER attacks you. Ok, I`ll be more specific. Indians of the Americas may actually attack you (I had one case), but Europeans NEVER do. I play as Britain. I declare war on them, they declare war on me then.. A potentially great game, but misses because it`s UNFINISHED. The units, the fighting, even the AI is better, but once you`ve played for a few turns you realise that the CampaignAI NEVER attacks you. Ok, I`ll be more specific. Indians of the Americas may actually attack you (I had one case), but Europeans NEVER do. I play as Britain. I declare war on them, they declare war on me then.. nothing. I`ve even left my towns with a skeleton army while France builds hundreds of troops, yet in 20-30 turns they simply do not take the intiative. Now if you take their lands they`ll fight to take it back. If they get their land, they stop. They won`t go further and attack your original territory. I don`t get why they have made the AI like this, surely, testing should have revealed this. Interestingly this happened in RTW and MTW2 until patched about 3 months later. Their are two possible reasons: 1.CA are stupid and just can`t get it right first time or.. 2. they make the Campaign AI Passive on purpose to make new players feel like their getting somewhere. I think the latter, so when they Patch it in 3 months so the European AI actually attacks it will be worth 810. Of course, graphics are nice battles are nice and there`s quite a bit of depth, but it`s useless if the enemy AI NEVER takes the INITIATIVE. It`s no strategy at all. Why only 8? Well because of Steam. Without Steam and the need to Activate online it would`ve gotten 9.5 And that`s a fact.… Expand
  100. Felixilef
    Mar 23, 2009
    6
    This is the best of the Total War Series, easily the most fun to play. But it does require some extensive patching. Certain behind the scene aspects of the game seem primitive or unfinished. The AI is very rudimentary, no advance on previous total war AIs. It is quite obvious that the AI is Dumb and unresponsive. Path finding of the units also needs a lot of work, especially during sieges This is the best of the Total War Series, easily the most fun to play. But it does require some extensive patching. Certain behind the scene aspects of the game seem primitive or unfinished. The AI is very rudimentary, no advance on previous total war AIs. It is quite obvious that the AI is Dumb and unresponsive. Path finding of the units also needs a lot of work, especially during sieges and around rocks and things. So although the units look really good, they're doing a lot of stupid things. I'm looking forward to some game play patches, this game really really needs them. If you got the money, get this game and wait for the patches, there's excellent re-playability here. If you're strapped for cash, probably wait til the patches are released, it'll probably be cheaper then too.… Expand
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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

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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.
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  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.
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