I have always been a fan of the Total War franchise, but in my opinion none of them have been all that great. Good and fun in most cases, sure.. but great? Eh not really.. All of them have had their share of issues of which Napoleon TW shares some of them.. NTW is by far the most refined version so far and a lot of fun but, I’m not quite sure it peeks the “great” meter just yet.. I will say its pretty darn good and a lot of fun though..
Totally worth the price as it’s clear to me that Creative Assembly (the developers) are getting better at their craft but the game has one staggering short fall that it shares with all it’s siblings; Horrible AI.
This is the 6th iteration of the game core concept and the AI is still just dreadful.. I’m pretty sure we could train a monkey to play the game better.. I know AI is very complex and as a programmer myself I’m not sure how to solve this problem, but dang.. The computer is down right bad. Given enough time you probably could beat any army with just about any force.. It’s actually fun trying to do just that.. heh
In comparison to Empire Total War, it’s immediate predecessor, Napoleon is the clear winner. The game is much more polished and refined than ETW ever was and it makes me feel like ETW was what NTW was supposed to be, but they ran out of time and money.. I will say that the AI in NTW is better than ETW, but when up is the only possible direction….
I will say this, NTW is beautiful.. There is nothing cooler than watching your line of infantry slowly disappear in a hazy cloud of black powder smoke as a line of enemy advance forward.. Or the small skip gashes that are cut into the scenery as a cannon ball goes whizzing by.. Great stuff.. The level of care and detail there is pretty high..
But the AI is so dumb that the enemy unit of 120 line infantry will happily walk into a line of cannon.. Or horse melee units that charge into the barriers (only to die immediately in droves).. Or how the diplomacy system is completely pointless..etc..
The AI is the killer.. It’s just not good..
One way they got around that was to introduce the notion of “drop in battles” in which you can, during your single player campaign, enlist a friend (or complete stranger even) to play the part of the enemy during some of the battles. I will admit.. This was a damn good and innovative idea.. Well done guys.. I love this..
Whats nice about it is that the other player when he’s playing your enemy, or when you’re playing his enemy in his campaign, isn’t really invested in the same way.. So if he loses it’s almost like it’s not a personal loss.. after all its not like you chose the force..etc.. I like it.. this was a good addition to the game..
For the next iteration of the game I hope they go more into the trading, and economy aspects of the game. I want to be able to set individual tax rates for a single province.. or define whats being traded where..etc.. Right now its fairly limited.. you’re either trading or not.. etc.. I know this game is more about the killin and less about things like trade and diplomacy but I still would like a more rounded game experience in these areas..
All in all… Not “great”.. but pretty damn good and a lot of fun against like minded friends..
Additional;
I really think Games Workshop should get with Creative Assembly and make Warhammer Total War.. Dear god.. talk about two franchises that absolutely belong together.. This engine, plus GW’s IP?! WIN!! It would be like chocolate and peanut butter man..
How cool would it be to see a pack of Skaven march into a pack of Witchelves (dead Skaven).. Or see a bunch of Jezzails take out some Coldone Knights.. etc.. Hot..
I think this is such a good idea I’m going to send them a letter…
