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. nevrock7
    Oct 17, 2010
    2
    I feel as if I am being nice to give this game a 2. The installation alone took WAY longer than it should have, and I wasn't even able to play the game. The fact that I payed $20 for a game that wouldn't work on my computer, take up memory space, add stress to my already horrible day, and waste hours trying to find an answer. Anyone looking into this game is much better off taking theI feel as if I am being nice to give this game a 2. The installation alone took WAY longer than it should have, and I wasn't even able to play the game. The fact that I payed $20 for a game that wouldn't work on my computer, take up memory space, add stress to my already horrible day, and waste hours trying to find an answer. Anyone looking into this game is much better off taking the simpler installation that comes with Medieval 2: Total War.… Expand
  2. CivforBrains
    Jun 4, 2011
    2
    Incredibly bad, nearly non existent AI ensures this game will get a very low score from me.
    The "professional" reviewers should truly be ashamed of themselves. Likely, they are $miling all the way to the bank though.
  3. BadIdeas
    May 23, 2016
    2
    I am writing this to alert people once again at how bad this game is. Never mind how bad it was at launch, I will tell you my experience as of the last CA patch, when they announced they would no longer be patching this game.

    I played the campaign long enough to play a single battle. I was defending a fort from an enemy assault. Mere seconds after the battle started the opposing AI ran    I am writing this to alert people once again at how bad this game is. Never mind how bad it was at launch, I will tell you my experience as of the last CA patch, when they announced they would no longer be patching this game.

    I played the campaign long enough to play a single battle. I was defending a fort from an enemy assault. Mere seconds after the battle started the opposing AI ran his general out, sweeping across his front lines, and opened fire on my fort with his cannons....directly through his general's unit, thereby killing his own general within about 15 seconds from the battle start. Probably trying to cut around my fort at my reinforcements behind and to the left of the fort.

    That was the start, then about a minute later I had moved my two reinforcing units up to flank the attacking force, when the AI decided it would meet my reinforcements head on with a cavalry charge. I had elephant cavalry and some sort of hybrid ranged/melee unit, so I switched my ranged unit into melee mode, and counter charged, relying on the elephant cavalry to break the enemy charge and my other unit to overwhelm them. Then I switched back to manage the assault on my fort, which was going well for me, only to switch back to the conflict outside my fort to find that while my elephant cavalry had charged, my other unit had not. At first I thought I had misclicked, but come to find out, when I had put the unit in melee mode, it froze in place. I couldn't move it. I had to toggle it back in forth multiple times before it "fixed itself" and I could move it again, but only in ranged mode.

    As my general was part of the now gutted elephant cavalry, I was actually at risk of being routed. I held the fort, but the AI was reforming for another attack, and all I had to stop his cavalry outside the fort was a unit that I couldn't switch from ranged mode or it would stop moving. Meanwhile his cannon had done serious damage to my wall. Reviewing the damage I realized his cannon were no longer firing, why not? Well, that is because the AI decided to abandon his cannons, which still had plenty of ammo, and charge the fort with his cannoneers, while his other units stood and watched. The marched right up to the walls, where I had local number superiority, then broke and ran, as did the rest of the forces. Giving me the victory.

    Realizing battles where not a test of skill, but a test of whether the gameplay crippling bugs the player experiences are worse than the horrible, suicidal. AI, I stopped playing then and there and have not touched the game since. i honestly think anyone who rates this game a 10/10 is either being paid, is not a gamer at all, or is playing on such easy difficulties they don't really notice how terrible things are. keep in mind, my experience, was post the last CA update, after they had "fixed" the game.

    TLDR: As of final patch, game was still broken with massive bugs and a non functional AI. Not worth playing, not to mention paying for.    … Expand
  4. SWiToNeZz
    Oct 23, 2012
    2
    It didn't starts anyway i try to. When it starts then it crashes many times. So i give two points for at least the graphic and those few minutes i could play it .
  5. pig_lickin_bob
    Sep 22, 2013
    2
    I love Total war games, Rome and Medieval 2 have never left my hard drive since i installed them, but I have to say that empire total war is an abomination of Total war games First of it takes way to long to load, the grand campaign is more of a course in micro management then an actual game, and the campaign AI do F-all in the way of attacking me. The sea battles do redeem the game aI love Total war games, Rome and Medieval 2 have never left my hard drive since i installed them, but I have to say that empire total war is an abomination of Total war games First of it takes way to long to load, the grand campaign is more of a course in micro management then an actual game, and the campaign AI do F-all in the way of attacking me. The sea battles do redeem the game a bit, but as the only highlight this is very poor. The Battle AI is more likely to glitch and send a single file of men against you then have tactics, and the hanging point of battle is supposed to be the musketeers, but it takes a couple of volleys from your WHOLE ARMY to destroy one unit. The garrison able buildings and forts are a poor replacement for the cities and castles of earlier games and provide the enemy with an easy target more then give you any defensive value. Cannons would be helpful in battles if they killed more then 3 enemy units a shot. Overall a sad disappointment after the previous games, this game has a boring grand campaign, HORRIBLE AI, ineffective units and repetitive battles. ALSO ALL THE UNITS LOOK THE REALLY SIMILAR! WTFs UP WITH THAT?!… Expand
  6. Elizondo
    May 19, 2018
    2
    This game is broken. Not only because the bugs, but also user interface, game dynamics, artificial intelligence... nothing works properly.
    Total war games have become one of the worst strategy series for the PC. It is unbelievable that after so many years and so many games, total war games are still without a proper AI. It is like a platform game without a working collision detection.    This game is broken. Not only because the bugs, but also user interface, game dynamics, artificial intelligence... nothing works properly.
    Total war games have become one of the worst strategy series for the PC. It is unbelievable that after so many years and so many games, total war games are still without a proper AI. It is like a platform game without a working collision detection.
    Programmers should be ashamed of this game. It is needed just 5 minutes of play to start finding bugs. This means that either Creative Assembly don´t have a QA department or they are aware of the bugs but they don´t give a shxx.
    Regarding the AI, they rely just on giving cheats to the computer. The computer wil know the position of all your armies, all your fleets, it will know what you can see and what you can´t, in battles it will know exactly the range and the arc of fire of your troops to put their troops in the safe edge, it will know things like when you order to your artillery to fire on the enemy general, and it will move the general away in the precise moment you make click on it.
    Diplomacy is not working because of the nonexistent AI. The rest of the nations are not trying to win, they are programmed to just go against you. So diplomacy is totally broken.
    There game does not have difficulty levels. It just have levels of cheat. The AI plays equally bad in very hard as easy.

    Why creative assembly do not program a proper AI for their games? Because they know that they will sell total war games just improving the graphics.    … Expand
  7. chingchangwalla
    Jan 5, 2019
    2
    This game has been out for ten years and Creative Assembly still hasn't fixed the bug that stops you from repairing forts. Pathetic.
  8. shadow2000m
    Aug 14, 2020
    2
    This game is initially an ambitious and innovative game ... On arrival, however, it is a nameless cloth. Bugged as it is not allowed, we play more to suffer and rage than to have fun.
    The premise is good but nothing is right .. Messed up diplomacy, i messed up, messed up morale, town and strong messed up balancing between messed up faction and little that catches up with the title.
  9. JohnW.
    Oct 6, 2009
    1
    This game was released with so many false promises and the dev team more interested on implementing new content rather than fixing existing bugs. still waiting on the co-op campaign that will probably never come out.
  10. johnm
    Jun 5, 2009
    1
    Played campaign through once.Total. Waiting for patches to make this worth playing. (fixes to the ai) This has to be the most crashiest and buggy game i have played since 1997 with an absolutely atrocious opponent AI. Its a disgrace that this gets the ridiculous review scores it gets in magazines. I use an up to date system fully updated with no problems with any new game that come out. Played campaign through once.Total. Waiting for patches to make this worth playing. (fixes to the ai) This has to be the most crashiest and buggy game i have played since 1997 with an absolutely atrocious opponent AI. Its a disgrace that this gets the ridiculous review scores it gets in magazines. I use an up to date system fully updated with no problems with any new game that come out. Gaming is my passion and I make sure that I can play anything. For an idea about the constant fixes that their doing to this game type in "daily update empire" into google to see the daily updated forum on the work their doing to make this game playable. For example making the ai actually invade, its just ridiculous seeing the fixes there making now that should have been done before release. Their obvious campaign to rubbish the public complaints about this game in various forums has also sullied their reputation massively in the eyes of the gaming public. It boggles my mind.… Expand
  11. AnonymousMC
    Aug 30, 2009
    1
    Yeah just another Total War waste of time. Every Total War Game except Shogun has crashed on me, leaving me with no possibility of moving further on in my campaign. Here I have invested who knows how many hours on my campaign and the game refuses to let me attack anyone or anything without crashing. 159 Turns in the game and now it decides to totally shut down. Total War is a Total WasteYeah just another Total War waste of time. Every Total War Game except Shogun has crashed on me, leaving me with no possibility of moving further on in my campaign. Here I have invested who knows how many hours on my campaign and the game refuses to let me attack anyone or anything without crashing. 159 Turns in the game and now it decides to totally shut down. Total War is a Total Waste as usual. I won't hold my breat for Napoleom Total War.… Expand
  12. Alexandr
    Oct 3, 2009
    1
    Absolutely awful state at release. It was almost unplayable gameplay wise. And then with a patch they made the game technically unplayable until the following patch. Absolutely disgusting work from CA.
  13. JamesF.
    Mar 20, 2009
    1
    Dissapointing! Unfinished! Broken! Steam! They (CA) have been making Total War games for ages now, you would expect them to get it right at this point, not worse. Steam is a pain, my problem isnt DRM as it doesnt work anyway. My problem is the whole steam program and its irritating function/ lack of function, its adverts and forced updates (it says it has an option to prevent auto updates Dissapointing! Unfinished! Broken! Steam! They (CA) have been making Total War games for ages now, you would expect them to get it right at this point, not worse. Steam is a pain, my problem isnt DRM as it doesnt work anyway. My problem is the whole steam program and its irritating function/ lack of function, its adverts and forced updates (it says it has an option to prevent auto updates but it doesnt work) although this game needs enough patches to make a whole new game! Won't be buying anymore steam or creative assembly games and the totalwar series is finished for me! If this game is patched it may be playable without headaches but for me wouldnt be overly special, the improvements are minor from previous editions and are only to be expected, professional reviews are clearly hype. I would also like to make clear I am a fan of this era for strategy and strategy games and was very interested in this games progress. I guess I shall return to other more worthy efforts, not least the mod community and rome tw. By the way I have a top spec PC, stable overclocked quadcore, duel GPU and enough ram memory to hold all of history for processing.… Expand
  14. NemY
    Mar 6, 2009
    1
    This game shoud never have been released as is, steam is a load of crap. Games like this should have the option of playing online is the user wishes to do so. It took me forever to get the game loaded up and updated through steam. I have been a strong supporter of the Total War series from the very first Shogun Total War, but if Creative Assembly and SEGA insist on using steam for other This game shoud never have been released as is, steam is a load of crap. Games like this should have the option of playing online is the user wishes to do so. It took me forever to get the game loaded up and updated through steam. I have been a strong supporter of the Total War series from the very first Shogun Total War, but if Creative Assembly and SEGA insist on using steam for other releases, I'm staying away from your prducts, and from what I've read and heard, alot of people will aswell.… Expand
  15. AndreasC
    Mar 6, 2009
    1
    As long it comes along "steam"... steam gonna come out your head. It makes it terrible... ,crushes, "staying in line" waiting long before playin'... awful. Slows down and diminishing every concept to enjoy the game! Otherwise the game is nicer than earlier versions... seabattles, getting into some of the buildings in the rts, better graphics, bigger maps and more interestingAs long it comes along "steam"... steam gonna come out your head. It makes it terrible... ,crushes, "staying in line" waiting long before playin'... awful. Slows down and diminishing every concept to enjoy the game! Otherwise the game is nicer than earlier versions... seabattles, getting into some of the buildings in the rts, better graphics, bigger maps and more interesting possibilites with trade routes on the map. Steam -7 Total War Empire 8 and more...… Expand
  16. LeeM
    Oct 9, 2009
    1
    The multiplayer side of Total War has gone backwards with Empire total war. - No Lobby -Servers are decentralised -Maps are seen as mod and change the version of your game -Every update brakes mods - Always desynchs -Easy modifiying stats to cheat In conclusion dont bother with this game or the new one they are planing to release as its just a clone with new units.
  17. harmbrands
    Mar 5, 2009
    1
    I can't play the game because steam is messing things up . as they most of the time do.
    i bought the original special forces edition. but it is a waste of money next time i will get an cracked version from th internet. quess then i will have a much better chance the works fine.
  18. giorgio
    Mar 8, 2009
    1
    questo gioco sarà pure bello ma è una merda il fatto che bisogna collegarsi ad internet ed aspettare ogni volta l'aggiornamento.....a me ad esempio salta internet e a volte và molto lento...molto spesso ci vogliono anche due ore per fare l'aggiornamento su Steam e mi passa completamente la voglia d giocare......vi ho regalato 60 euro...
  19. ChrisN
    Apr 19, 2009
    1
    I never did this before but I've had such a horrible experience with this game that I could not help myself. All the "critics" must be playing a different game than the one I bought. First and the most infuriating of all is the AI. Out of all the total war games I have played in the past I can never remember it being so bad. The units are often unresponsive to your commands and when I never did this before but I've had such a horrible experience with this game that I could not help myself. All the "critics" must be playing a different game than the one I bought. First and the most infuriating of all is the AI. Out of all the total war games I have played in the past I can never remember it being so bad. The units are often unresponsive to your commands and when you do manage go get them to do what you want they usually have terrible pathing. Try taking a enemy fort without any cannons to see what I mean. Tell your units to grapple the wall and what usually happens is a few of them bounce up and down the rope while the rest of them sit at the base of the wall doing nothing. It's an exercise in frustration. Next is the load times. I don't know if it's just my computer or what but it takes upwards of 2 mins sometimes for a battle to load. Add it to the fact that after your AI does another idiotic thing and costs you a battle that you want to reload it. You spend more time at loading screens than actually playing the game. I don't know if this game was rushed out or something but it feels unfinished and it is almost unplayable in it's current state. And this is even after the patches downloaded from steam. In closing, I just want to give a big F.U. to all the people who had anything to do with this terrible, half-assed, pile of garbage. I used to like this series very much but after wasting 50$ on this embarrassment I will not be buying any more total war games in the future.… Expand
  20. richardmorgan
    Apr 29, 2009
    1
    What can I say about this buggy piece of sh*t! Believe the negativity because its all true and more. Heck, go to the forums and you will notice 75%(being generous) of customers are having MAJOR problems with it. The main reason I give it a 1 is because all the PAID reviews giving it a 90%. You gotta be fukin kiddin me. Stick with the older TW games this one is ass.
  21. andrewL
    May 4, 2009
    1
    Problems Problems Play and wait for the crashes. My personal favourate is when you finish your turn, play though an hour of computer games turn to crash at the end of the last battle. wonderful....not.
  22. MumarO
    May 8, 2009
    1
    This game is potentially incredible, the battles are excellent, but the campaign game is (even after the May 1 upgrades) filled with CTD points that make the game impossible to play. My machine is beyond perfect for this game, state of the art and up to date, its the campaign game and the coding, its just unbelievably bad. How did anyone ever sign this off in the condition it went out on This game is potentially incredible, the battles are excellent, but the campaign game is (even after the May 1 upgrades) filled with CTD points that make the game impossible to play. My machine is beyond perfect for this game, state of the art and up to date, its the campaign game and the coding, its just unbelievably bad. How did anyone ever sign this off in the condition it went out on DVD boxed or download and how can the upgrades have made things worse for CTD's than they already were? Poor testing, poor judgement and poor purchasers! Sega/creative get our money and we are left high and dry with a near useless game that may take months of work to put right. Not Good enough. I'd never buy a CA/Sega game again.… Expand
  23. JezL
    Jun 18, 2009
    1
    Anyone that has rated ETW "great" deserves to be retarded. The AI is dumber than ever; your own men make your own generals cannon fodder while the enemy tends to do dumb things as well; send their own generals to the front line in a suicidal charge or never invade you by sea. The pathfinding is horrible; your ships tangle into each other no matter what formation you give them. The same Anyone that has rated ETW "great" deserves to be retarded. The AI is dumber than ever; your own men make your own generals cannon fodder while the enemy tends to do dumb things as well; send their own generals to the front line in a suicidal charge or never invade you by sea. The pathfinding is horrible; your ships tangle into each other no matter what formation you give them. The same applies with your own land troops; they will just stand there to be shot at if no orders are given instead of defending themselves by turning their attention on the closest enemy. All in all, a game that fails blatantly short like previous titles from the TW series. To do some justice. the only obvious effort given to this latest installment is the graphics and very minor adjustments. CA team is not the original team and it shows. A pity.… Expand
  24. JeremyH
    Jul 3, 2009
    1
    Once again I trust the community and I know RTW enough to understand the glitches people talk about and I absolutely hate the fact that you have to have internet access plus Steam to get it working. It's understandable that the customer is guided away from the glitches because steam automatically gives updates, but why not finish the dang game, give it another freakin year and maybe Once again I trust the community and I know RTW enough to understand the glitches people talk about and I absolutely hate the fact that you have to have internet access plus Steam to get it working. It's understandable that the customer is guided away from the glitches because steam automatically gives updates, but why not finish the dang game, give it another freakin year and maybe Steam wouldn't be necessary. I love how my updates been starting for the past 10 minutes and a most likely 60$ game tricks it's customer due to the internet access being vital. I love how I go out and get ripped off by the once great Creative Assembly. I'm sure many people will agree with me that the next Total War isn't going to be a must. I can't wait until I finally get ETW working and realize it's horrible because of crashes and crappy AI. A lot of the gaming community is most definitely poor or cant afford a bunch of different computers to see whats compatible with the game.… Expand
  25. sweenyt
    Sep 13, 2009
    1
    Dull, a great idea very poorly delivered. the inclusion of Stream is annoying in the extreme. The game crashed frequently. Too many things to list without blood pressure rising. Terrible. Stick to the old versions of total war and enjoy the more addictive and more playable older versions. Nice promotional screen shots though.
  26. chrise
    Jan 4, 2010
    1
    horrible, cant read the words on screen, transparent, very slow, and very long to load, and I have a new computer.
  27. JeremyJ.
    Oct 5, 2009
    1
    Promised multiplayer campaign, but never delivered. Crashes consistently under certain conditions, even with high-end hardware and up-to-date drivers. Forces me to update even when I have the auto-update setting disabled.
  28. TANAKATANAKA
    Mar 13, 2009
    1
    avete clonato imperial glory, il gioco non gira, continua a scattare anche con risoluzioni basse, pur avendo 4 gb di ram e 1 gb di ram video con un t9550 da 2,66 ghz,
    le vostre informazioni risultavano false avete fatto una pessima figura.
    possiedo tutta la serie total war, ma empire mi ha profondamente deluso, mi ritengo raggirato
  29. JohnK
    Mar 16, 2009
    1
    Game isn't finished, too many memory leaks, fatal crashes in an extended campaign games, stupid Campaign AI, anyone know how to delete a saved game yet? odd events-ex- you have to research the steam engine in order to build a 1st rate SOL, which would be ok if you could mod it; but with steam, that is out. If you like beautiful figures and neat looking ships with great special Game isn't finished, too many memory leaks, fatal crashes in an extended campaign games, stupid Campaign AI, anyone know how to delete a saved game yet? odd events-ex- you have to research the steam engine in order to build a 1st rate SOL, which would be ok if you could mod it; but with steam, that is out. If you like beautiful figures and neat looking ships with great special effects , this is the game for you; if you actually want to play a strategy game with tactical battles,find something else to buy.… Expand
  30. BradLittle
    Mar 22, 2009
    1
    Regardless of how good it might be, you can't play it if it won't run. Like many others, the game refuses to load for me from Steam DESPITE following all instructions twice. All latest video drivers and XP updates, Steam re-installed, game re-installed, etc. I advise avoiding this game unless you are an expert with configuring your computer, or if you can afford to waste the Regardless of how good it might be, you can't play it if it won't run. Like many others, the game refuses to load for me from Steam DESPITE following all instructions twice. All latest video drivers and XP updates, Steam re-installed, game re-installed, etc. I advise avoiding this game unless you are an expert with configuring your computer, or if you can afford to waste the purchase price.… 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

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 62 Critic Reviews

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