| Empire: Total War (PC DVD) | 
| From: Sega
Category: Video Games
List Price: £39.99
Buy New: £12.84
as of 10/3/2010 03:15 GMT details
You Save: £27.15 (68%)
New (15) Used (2) from £12.84
Seller: findprice
Rating:  435 reviews
Sales Rank: 188
Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
Genre: historical-strategy-games
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Normal
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: EMPTWWII
EAN: 5060138440012
Release Date: March 4, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Empire: Total War introduces a host of revolutionary new features, including true 3D naval combat. For the first time in the Total War series, you will be able to intuitively command single ships or vast fleets upon seascapes rich with extraordinary water and weather effects that play a huge role in your eventual glorious success or ignominious defeat. After pummeling your enemy with cannon fire, close in to grapple their ship and prepare to board, taking control of your men as they fight hand-to-hand on the decks of these wooden behemoths.
In addition, Empire: Total War will see further enhancements to the Total War series' signature 3D battles and turn-based campaign map. Real-time battles will pose new challenges with the addition of cannon and musket, challenging players to master new formations and tactics as a result of the increasing role of gunpowder within warfare. And the Campaign Map - for many, the heart of Total War - introduces a variety of new and upgraded elements, including new systems for Trade, Diplomacy and Espionage with agents; a refined and streamlined UI; improved Advisors; and a vastly extended scope. - Take command on the high seas. New real-time 3D naval warfare takes Total War's unparalleled battle action to the high seas, with players commanding single ships or vast fleets.
- Become a founding father. Control the fate of the United States of America, from its revolution against the British to overcoming the challenges of a young independent nation.
- Brand new multiplayer component includes player rankings, leagues and ladders, and completely new gameplay modes.
- All-new graphics engine and technology features staggering real-time seascapes, new advanced landscape and flora systems, and dynamic weather.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 435
 it works NOW March 6, 2010
Skywalker
I have to say that if you are getting this today march 2010 then its a very good game. i bought it way back when it first came out and it was the most annouying game ever, it had everything crashes, frame freeze, most annouying when you have spent half hour beating the french in Quebec.
But today i can say that the crashes have stopped after all the updates for this. So yes get it. offically!
 Empire - Total War February 28, 2010
J. Kelley (Northern Ireland, UK)
to be honest with you , i didnt really enjoy this at all. I gave it its stars purely on the merit of its much more developed pre-decessors. this is a poor effort on the game makers part , graphics are terribly unrealistic and lacking for a game of this year.
the idea is sound , the history good but the play is awful.
it makes me hesitate now to purchase anything new in this series without having tried it first.
 Take to the seas and conquer the globe, Admiral! February 27, 2010
Griesmayer (Wien, Österreich)
From the British video game producer Creative Assembly, Empire: Total War is the 2009 installment of the long-standing Total War series, succeding Medieval 2: Total War and prequel to Napoleon: Total War. This giant of a game has been met with mixed reviews, mainly criticized for its initial, bug-ridden release. Now that patch 1.5 is out, most of the issues have been fixed, though some still remain. Apart from in-game bugs such as cross-theatre naval invasions being rare, if not impossible, Empire: Total War still has many technical issues, such as the lack of support for the latest Nvidia and ATI graphic cards, causing many CTDs, low-quality "flickering" shadows, no dual GPU compatibility, and so forth. Also, the game only has dual core support, so the extra cores in Quad and i7 CPUs are unused. You also require an internet connection to install the Steam client and validate the game.
STORY
Empire: Total War is set in the war-torn 18th century, a time period where cannon-laden ships of the line ruled the seas, and where the ever present European infighting was carried over to the colonies in India and on the American continent. To properly represent this turbulent era, Empire features three theatres: Europe, America and India. Additionally, several trade-theatres are featured as well, which only consist of coastlines where ships can be sent to trade with the locals, and must defend themselves against other ships. These trade theatres include the coasts of Brazil, Western Africa, Magadascar and the East Indies. In the Grand Campaign, you can take control of one of twelve nations, and must lead them to total domination through bloody battles on both land and sea, as well as the cunning use of diplomacy and a trade monopoly that can span the globe.
GAMEPLAY
Apart from multiplayer battles, Empire: Total War also features the story-driven campaign "Road To Independence", loosely covering the French and Indian War, as well as the American Revolutionary War, where you take control of the British, and later the American forces, and must fight against Native Americans, French and later the British, Spanish and Dutch to liberate North America from foreign oppression. The campaign is divided into four chapters, the last one being a standard Grand Campaign for America, only starting in 1778. Some of the changes from the previous Total War games are the following:
- The introduction of real-time naval battles. In previous total war games, these were resolved automatically, but now you get to command impressive 18th century warships. Without doubt, Empire: Total War (and its sequel Nalopeon) have the most beautiful naval battles ever made in video gaming history. You can now also privateer by blockading trade routes with your ships.
- While a game turn lasted for two years in Medieval 2, it lasts for only six months in Empire. Given the shorter time span (about 100 years, compared to Medieval 2's 460), this makes sense.
- You can no longer march your armies into provinces belonging to other factions without declaring war, unless you have agreed to a military access via diplomacy.
- Provinces are no longer goverened by a single capital, where all buildings are constructed. Instead, towns are strewn throughout a province, and only one building type from a list can be built in each town, and then upgraded.
- Taxes are no longer set differently in each province. Instead, they are set on a theater basis, meaning it is important to garrison troops in those provinces, where rioting might ensue due to high taxes. The rich and the poor can be taxed differently.
- Religion plays a minor role now. The pope, crusades and jihads are gone, but a monarchy/republic governmental system has been introduced.
- Cities now have a town watch, whose strength depends on the city's population, only avaliable for defence during a siege. The inexperienced armed citizenry shouldn't be relied on too much due to their low stats and morale.
- Gone are the sieges where you used to attack a huge city with siege equipment such as ladders and towers. Instead, the fighting takes place at a star fort outside the city (the cityscape can be seen from the horizon). Your cannons can pound the walls to dust and your infantry can use grappling hooks to scale them.
- Diplomats have been removed from the game. Instead, you can directly engage in diplomacy with all nations (divided into major and minor nations) through the simple click of a button. I think this is good, because Diplomats were my least favored agents in Medieval 2, and having them spend dozens of turns travelling to distant nations was a tiring business.
- The chivalry/dread system has been removed. You can also no longer sack or exterminate cities, so occupying another region capital won't grant you immediate cash anymore. Also, no prisoners are taken, so here also you cannot hope to fill your coffers through ransom. However, enemy ships can be captured in naval battles (provided you board them and defeat the crew, or if the ship surrenders and cannot flee the battle) and then ransomed or added to your own fleet. If you choose the latter option, those ships still have to be repaired at a friendly port to be brought back to proper fighting condition.
Empire: Total War features a series of downloadable content (through Steam), including a series of "Elite Unit" packs, which add dozens of new, unique units to the game, as well as the "Warpath" Campaign, in which you take control of one of the Native American tribes and must drive off the European invaders. The DLC bundle (including all 50 unique units and the Warpath campaign) costs around 13 Euros in the steam store, and is worth the money.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Empire can be described as the Vista of the Total War games: daring and brilliant in the presentation, yet unoptimized and still bugged simply due to the sheer size of the project. Still, the presentation is breath taking, overshadowing the cons: a five, out of five stars.
 Leaves me feeling cheated and hoodwinked February 27, 2010
Bobbo (Europe)
Time for a grumble about ETW.
Following all the hype, PR and spin by CA and Sega, we were presented with a bug riddled, unstable mess of a game that utterly failed to deliver on its promises.
I don't mind steam, and I'm not going to rant about that, just the game itself.
What happened to the revolutionary AI, the best ever produced by CA. I could start up a custom battle, auto deploy my troops, go out for 10 minutes and come back and I've won the battle. Moronic AI doth not make a fun or challenging game and it feels even stupider than RTW.
So, apart from feeling cheated by the lies and spin vomited at press releases by the developers, and the buggy state of game at release, and the nonexistent AI, this cannot deserve a good rating.
1/5
ETW = EMPIRE TOTAL FAIL
Incredible waste of money and a huge disappointment. February 25, 2010
A. Kelley
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Do you want to join a social networking site, or do you want to play Total War? Well, guess what? You can't play Total War unless you join the social networking site, which, by the way, screws up the computer's wireless network.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 435
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