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Napoleon Total War PC Game: An Armchair General PreviewPhillip Culliton | February 05, 2010 | Single Page | 6 comments | Print | E-mail  Volley fire flashes in Napoleon Total War from Creative Assembly and SEGA. Napoleon Total War, an exclusive Armchair General preview. Developer: Creative Assembly. Publisher: SEGA. Scheduled release date: February 23, 2010. I can distinctly recall my initiation to the first title in the Total War series, Shogun. On first entering the 3D battlefield I said aloud, "Napoleonics in this engine would be unstoppable." I can only imagine that wargamers the world over shared my excitement at the possibilities. It was with great anticipation that I played each title in the series, watching as the ideas grew, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a game featuring the saber, flying column, and bayonet. When it finally came, in the guise of Creative Assembly’s Empire Total War, I was so incredibly disappointed by the AI and presentation in my initial forays that I foreswore playing it and returned, somewhat chagrined, to Medieval Total War II and Britannia, where my Vikings waited to comfort me. Therefore, when I was invited to San Francisco on behalf of ArmchairGeneral.com to see the latest build of Napoleon Total War last week, I felt both excitement and trepidation. I had seen enough of Empire to know that if the code had not improved I was going to be very put out. I had, on the other hand, seen a slew of recent Napoleonic games that had failed to meet my expectations and the idea of a new attempt from the experienced hands at CA seemed like a bet that I just couldn’t pass up. So I went down to the offices of Total War’s publisher, SEGA, to join with a select handful of attendants from various fan forums, meet up with a pair of gentlemen from SEGA and Creative Assembly, and launch into a five-player, multiplayer game on alien-head-festooned monster machines from Alienware. What followed was nothing short of inspiring. The graphics of the Total War series have always served well to convey their intended meaning: You knew who was who and, in general, what was happening. Napoleon Total War takes this standard and runs miles beyond it. The Egyptian desert that rose to meet me in a haze of dust and waving palms was stunning, immersive, even breathtaking. My Austrians were varied and looked already exhausted in the implacable African heat. When the first high-explosive shells burst amongst my allies’ ranks I stopped playing for several long moments to watch. I was there. I was leading Austrian troops in a battle that they’d never fought, in a country in which they’d never set foot, and I was entirely immersed. Just as important, of course, are the controls and mechanics of gameplay, and these were even more intuitive and logical than in previous games in the series. Significant work has gone into the feel of the UI. For instance, the old unit markers have been replaced with 3D flags that are affected by lighting, smoke, explosions, and the environment. Watching the new 3D battle standards disappear in the smoke and trees of a beleaguered oasis, trying to make sense of the swirling action, was fantastic. My troops drove quickly into the flank of the main enemy force and headed toward a small hillock that dominated the flat terrain of the lush battlefield, as my allies and enemies all raced for the same key ground. I was initially disappointed to find, in moving my infantry into place, that formations are still represented only at the player’s behest. With the exception of the square formation, standard formations like column and line are all left up to the player. In a way this makes sense: in a game about one of the most innovative generals of our time, why not give the players freedom? After all, if Napoleon’s generals had never toyed with standard formations the terrorizing flying column would never have entered the lexicon of Napoleonic battle. Especially given the complexities of changing national infantry doctrine at the time, I feel in retrospect that CA made the right choice. Pages: 1 2 3
Tags: Napoleonic Wars, preview, wargame
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6 Comments to “Napoleon Total War PC Game: An Armchair General Preview”
Excellent preview!
Are those screenshots of the battles multiplayer or singleplayer?
By Greve on Feb 7, 2010 at 3:06 pm
The screenshots were provided by SEGA/Creative Arts, Greve, to give gamers an idea of what they can expect in terms of graphics. ACG will also review the published game later and post additional screenshots sent by that reviewer.
By Gerald D. Swick on Feb 9, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I wonder how much they paid him to write this article? CA & SEGA can’t be on good terms with most consumers after the ETW fiasco and rubbish game delivery. Now they want us to shell out money again to them for more rubbish? lmao Only fools fall for the same trick more than once.
By honestabe on Feb 16, 2010 at 12:08 pm
For the record, ArmchairGeneral.com does not permit companies to “buy” the opinion of our writers. Gamers who have actually seen and played advance copies of Napoleon Total War seem to have been universally impressed while reserving final judgement for the game’s release.
http://www.gamingheaven.net/gamingreviews.php?reviewid=864
one game a strategy fan should not miss, it is shaping up to be one of the best games in 2010.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/napoleontotalwar/news.html?sid=6240618&mode=previews&page=2
Napoleon seems like it’ll have plenty to offer both new and veteran Total War fans in the form of improved AI, a totally new campaign style, and a highly unusual multiplayer feature.
http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/159664/previews/134364.Napoleon-Total-War/
As a pre-Beta build, the game we played has its share of curiosities, missing assets and known issues – but that’s to be expected. What’s important is the superior gameplay and polish that Napoleon is exhibiting. Already, Napoleon looks set to be the game that Empire could have been.
By Gerald D. Swick on Feb 17, 2010 at 10:51 am
Unfortunately, most gamers who have shelved out their money for ETW can’t forget that debacle. And I’m not to proud to admit I’m the same here. Our distrust(as perhaps the intention to state by honestabe) comes from the fact that ETW was hailed by your collegues at large as a great game while in fact it was…. much less then that to be honest. And let’s be honest, it works mostly that way in the reviewindustry.. I wash your back, you wash mine.
Back to the actual game:
Fortunately, NTW seems to be stable on my system. It looks a bit nicer to the eye. Put in the long awaited MP. On that note I must say the possibility to get a live opponent in your campaign sounds good, haven’t checked that out, experience anyone??? And streamlined some diplomatic options.
Indeed, NTW looks like what ETW should have been but on the same note also a lot less.
To me it seems they cut out the parts they couldn’t fix(wich is still significant i’m afraid) from ETW, spit-shined the graphics, put in a new storyline(as the title suggests, napoleon’s story) and re-released it. It certainly doesn’t add much new things to the genre. Campaing AI wise it looks like its running a bit smoother but still a lot of small stacks and till now, I’ve not been invaded(playing GC as GB. So far BAI wise it isn’t smarter but I must say a bit smoother… can’t put my finger to that, it just feels like it. And with not smarter I mean… it still doesn’t surprise me. I haven’t tried out the fort battles so can’t comment on that either(developed the habbit of avoiding those in ETW ;) )
Technologywise it is cramped too, less to invent, some too much in the future(ships screws and ironclads, my god) while on the other hand others aren’t included(platoon fire, various ammo’s etc etc). Still no direct way to influence home politics.
This is certainly not all but just a tip of the iceberg. Am I overly harsh? Perhaps I am but on the other hand, CA also promissed a lot with ETW. Even in the sequel(wich didn’t take them longer than 1 year to develop while abandoning ETW) doesn’t make good to those promisses. Can one actually judge a game without taking its predecessor in account?
All in all, I would give this game a 7 based on where it came from. If ETW didn’t happen, I would give it a 8.5. But it did and that’s why I can’t judge it a step forward. But at least on my machine, it’s stable and thus playable.
By Ferry on Feb 27, 2010 at 3:15 pm