Game: Napoleon: Total War
Developer: Creative Assembly
Genre: Strategy
Verdict: A worthy recreation of Napoleon’s military career. Conquer Europe as him or try and stop him. It’s all good
Pros: It’s more Total War. What else is there to say?
Cons: Could’ve been done just as well as an expansion pack rather than a full-price game.
Acquired: Developer Provided
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for right since Shogun: Total War showed us a new way to play strategy games 10 years ago. Finally we have the chance to take on Napoleon or see if we could even do better.
Yes, Napoleon: Total War is here at last, capitalizing on the success of Empire: Total War and using its engine to bring the ‘Little General’ to life a way only Creative Assembly can do. So what do we get? Napoleon: Total War, unlike the Alexander expansion for Rome: Total War, is a standalone game and Creative Assembly have put in a fair few man hours to make sure that what you get in Napoleon is a faithful and entertaining recreation of Corsica’s greatest son’s strategic exploits.
The latest Total War gives you the chance to engage in the biggest campaigns of Napoleon’s career. Beginning with his conquering of Northern Italy right through to the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon’s exploits are digitally recreated in immaculate detail.
There are actually 5 campaign modes available: Northern Italy, Egypt, Europe, Waterloo, and the allied factions campaign. The first four modes allow you to take command of Napoleon’s forces to see if you can equal his mastery of the battlefield and the final campaign mode gives you the chance to see if you could’ve stopped him sooner playing as Great Britain, Prussia, Russia or Austria.
There are also individual battles re-created as they happened to give you the chance to see if you can match Napoleon’s victories, including the Battle of Austerliz, the Battle of Trafalgar and, of course, the Battle of Waterloo.
Everything about this game is tailored for the history enthusiast. The details of Napoleon’s illustrious career are meticulously created for anyone who cares to look. The campaigns where you control the French forces are gradually stepped up in difficulty and size so that newer players are not overwhelmed. At the same time, hardcore Total War fanatics will still be challenged to the full extent of their abilities.
The game engine has been tweaked a little bit from Empire, making the interface a touch easier to use and also to make the game run a bit smoother. The drop-in confrontations are there allowing you to flex your strategic muscle in aid of your allies by guiding their armies through key conflicts and the naval battles feel even more realistic than they did in Empire.
Much of the game is actually locked out at the start and you do have to play through a great many of the earlier battles and campaigns before you get to the really good stuff. It does mean that, by the time you have unlocked the Battle of Waterloo for instance, you are more than ready for what the allies have to throw at the French.
Graphically, the game is sumptuous. From the campaign map, right down to the individual soldiers on the battlefield and even the different types of cannon shot used by the battleships have all been carefully designed to feel authentic and handle realistically.
The naval battles are still a love-or-hate kind of affair but they handle so well now that it almost feels intuitive to tackle. The only problem comes when you have to deal manage a larger fleet; all the different factors that come into play can be overwhelming. This actually adds to the realism and the chaos of naval battle of the period and makes it all the more exciting.
There is one problem with the game and, although it is just a niggle at the back of my mind it hangs around like a bad smell and slightly taints the whole experience. Could it not just have been released as an expansion for Empire?
Yes, it is all new content and there are improvements made to the game engine, given the feedback received from Empire’s loyal players. But, and this is a big but, did SEGA really need to make this a standalone game proceed at the same level as Empire was when it came out last year?
Napoleon would actually have been proud to see his exploits so faithfully re-created and probably would relish the chance to do it all over again.
Aside form the minor engine improvements and the context, visually and content-wise there is nothing ‘new’ that Napoleon: Total War does that Empire is not more than capable of. Napoleon has 5 playable factions. Empire has 11. Napoleon has a couple more campaign modes but they use different portions of the European campaign map used by Empire. Empire adds the Indian and American theaters of war as well.
I don’t mean to say that qualitatively, Napoleon is and less of a game but there is less content to justify the game costing full retail price. Napoleon certainly has more content than would be expected from a traditional expansion pack but surely I would’ve made more sense releasing it as a standalone expansion pack rather than as a full game in its own right.
It may be a daft complaint to make but this question keeps coming back to me, is this enough to justify it being a full game or not? Whilst Napoleon: Total War is a great game and a necessary addition to the series I’m just not entirely sure of the execution. Despite following Napoleon’s considerable accomplishments the game’s scope just falls agonizingly short of what could be expected of a game that bears the Total War name.
The margin between what you get with Empire and what you get with Napoleon is so slight though, that it would be a shame to miss out on what is a superbly challenging strategy game.
Napoleon would actually have been proud to see his exploits so faithfully re-created and probably would relish the chance to do it all over again to see if he could come out victorious despite the overwhelming odds that were stacked against him at the end.
Doubts aside, Napoleon: Total War is well worth playing even if it is just for then chance to play through the British campaign doing your best Sean Bean impression.
Popularity: unranked [?]
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