Napoleon Total War is the latest title in the long running Total War series from Creative Assembly. Not straying far from their previous title, Empire Total War, The game is set in the late 1700s and early 1800s, following the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte the legendary French general.




Total War games are known for their large scale battles with thousands of units on the map at one time and Napoleon Total War is no different. Whether it be an infantry square deflecting wave after wave of calvary or infantry charging headlong into a row of british cannons, this game certainly brings the epic feel and scale one would expect. I myself am a huge Napoleon Bonaparte buff and have done large amounts of research on the time period and I have to say I was very impressed by the detail the devlopers put into the game. They created accurate layouts of the battlefields along with including specific units like the famed Old Guard and brief descriptions of Napoleon's Marshalls and other generals.




There are three different game modes you can play
Campaign (French or Coalition)- In this game mode you spend most of your time looking at a map managing economic and unit production while aslo participating in battles. I personally found this game type to be a bit boring and would rather play Civilization.
Napoleon's Battles- I found this to be my favorite out of the three. You play all of Napoleons major battles (land and sea) ranging from the Battle of the Pyramids to Waterloo. The only downside for some players is that you can not pick and choose from them at first. You have to play them in the order they took place but once you do beat them you can choose from them in any oder.
Multiplayer- You choose between land or sea battles and the matches are usaully pretty short, ranging anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes. Each player starts off with a set number of units. From there it does not take long before one player has his infantry charging across the field of battle while his calvary approaches on the flank. The online is fun but does not take long to get old.



Overall I love the game but I am a bit bias from being a Napoleon fanboy. It has good gameplay, nice graphic and can be a lot of fun but over all it just seems slighly lacking . It feels more like an expansion pack then a stand alone game. The price tag also reflects this because the standard edition goes for 39.99 instead of the regualr 49.99 that most PC games go for now days. If you enjoy this time period or any of the other Total War games and are looking for a fun but relitively short RTS pick this up.