Napoleon: Total War

Empire was awesome – but Napoleon is AWESOMER.

We're pretty much one of the biggest Total War groupies you can find. We've been playing the series since falling in love with the original Shogun, have messed around with modding the game to within an inch of its life, invaded France more times than we can actually count, and we still get thrills thinking of some of the epic battles that we've won and lost. So when Empire finally brought the series up to the blackpowder period of the 18^th century, you might think the game had reached its peak of getting us excited. Well, as good as that game was, you'd be wrong - Empire, for all its scope and complexity, is a mere prologue compared to Napoleon: Total War.

Napoleon is technically very similar to Empire. There's the usual turn-based campaign map to negotiate, with towns to improve, trade routes to secure, and territories to invade. The real-time battles are also cosmetically the same - even the uniforms of each nation don't deviate that much from Empire to Napoleon. But what's happened between the two games is nothing short of a complete AI overhaul, along with tweaks to the graphics engine, and a vastly downshifted timescale to represent the more tumultuous period of the early 19^th century.

In a very real sense, the game requires a complete rethinking of tactics.

Ability is nothing...
Napoleon Bonaparte was the terror of Europe. To put it simply, he pretty much pwned every great power in Europe, from Italy to Austria, and the names of his great battles are by-words for military prowess - Austerlitz, Wagram, Eylau. N:TW presents three campaigns from three very different periods in the great general's life: the early Italian Wars, his campaigns in Egypt, and then the final Campaigns of the Coalition, when pretty much all of Europe, including England and Russia, joined together to try and bring then Emperor Napoleon to heel.

There's also single battles, for those who simply must try their own tactics in some of the classics - think you can do better than Napoleon at Waterloo? Now's your chance.

But, for us at least, any chance to play England, and lay siege to Paris, must simply be taken whenever it's offered, so our first taste of the game is the Coalition Campaign, which covers the years from 1805 to 1812. For any Empire veterans, it sounds like a very short game, but this is just the start of the overhaul the game's received between iterations.

...without opportunity
Most of the Total War games have featured bi-yearly turns, but Napoleon's turn system is bi-monthly. Movement distances, recruitment times, even the effects of seasonal weather and trade, have all been re-jigged with this in mind. It's a real pleasure to watch the campaign map change with each month, from the deepening browns of autumn to the snowfalls of winter.

A lot of players really don't notice the passage of time in Total War games, as the yearly turns are quite abstract, but monthly turns really make you think of the turning seasons. What's more, you'll want to be very careful about getting caught in the open in winter - in any turn where an army is not in a town or city, it loses men to desertion, fatigue and lack of provisions. Winter makes this even worse - so be careful if you try to invade Russia!

All the usual building and technology management is present, though the tech tree has been vastly simplified to fit the tighter timescale. Diplomacy is a lot more detailed and reliable now, and the ability to turn some regions into independent protectorates is a real boon, while the wiliness (or, at least, rat cunning) of your enemies and allies can see you outfoxed diplomatically as you might if you lost an important battle. Gentlemen make a return, though rakes and priests are nowhere to be seen; honestly, they're not missed.

Infantry recruitment is still pretty speedy, however, and it's possible to get a regiment on the go in a turn or two - that's just how militarised a lot of nations were in the period. Shipbuilding, however, especially when you start laying down hulls for stupendously large 122-gun first rates, requires a bit more forward thinking however. You'll want to be taking advantage of any breathing room (financially and militarily) to get your navy in order before you start taking losses, as replacing ships takes time.