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

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3194 Ratings

User score distribution:
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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.
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 62 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 62
  2. Negative: 0 out of 62
  1. Astonishing...Immense... A strategy masterwork. [Mar 2009, p.54]
  2. 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.
  3. 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.