Empire and Napoleon Total War Collection - Game Of The Year PC DVD

I've been a huge fan of Total war ever since my first go at Medieval way back in 2002. I've also played Rome and Medieval II, both being great, but had an extended break of around 5 years up to this purchase.When I initially decided to plunge back in I presumed I'd have to pay around £20-30 for just one of the games so when I saw both available for just over £8 I was pretty amazed, and that right there is probably the single best point in my opinion as there is almost zero risk involved.Firstly in regards to the Steam 'problems' many people have mentioned. The entire installation from putting in the first CD to being able to start playing probably took around 3 hours and this might have been shorter had I sat poised ready to click every box instantaneously (I wasn't that eager). And the process of setting up the Steam account is also pretty straightforward for anyone who has used the internet. Naturally you need an internet connection to do this but who seriously doesn't have that seen as you've used Amazon to purchase it....In regards to the game it has exceeded all expectations by a long way. The great thing about the game is the tutorial is basically the task of taking the USA towards independence which at least in my opinion is very cool and amazingly interesting and educational (I was inspired to read up on the real events that were represented in the game). On the actual game-play, there is so much to talk about so I'll give a few of my best things:1. There are 3 separate maps for the Americas, Europe and India which opens up the world properly for the first time.2. Most units are ranged (i.e. have guns) so battles take a very different approach which I personally like a lot.3. The naval battles, whilst they are very different to normal battles and take a while to the hang of they are a great addition.Overall though for the price it a terrific game and a must buy for fans of the series or even new players.

Although I have loved the TW series since Shogun, I resisted buying this game due to all the bugs that other reviewers kept on reporting. However, in Agust 2010 I relented when I saw this going cheap, so got a copy. My review will be split into 2 bits - the game itself (and the manual), the bug problem & instalation/steam:THE GAME (Empire)The game itself seemed daunting at first as it had a massive map over 3 screens. The manual was absolutly dire and only gave the most basic of information - other stuff I learnt off various forums because without knowing how the mechanics work, you can't enjoy a game like this. In reality, the manual should have been beefy, espcially as its supplied as PDF on the disks as well, so theres no excuse (IMO) for not explaining everything in reasonable detail.At first I hated the game - too much going on, and knowing to little made it less of an experience. I don't get to play games that often, so was disapointed at it all, but I perservered and after a while got into it a bit more, as I started to understand things. I have now played it on and off for around 4 months and will say the following:1. Battles: Despite the size of the campaign map, the land battles lack the scope of previous TW games - in virtually all my battles, they have been fought on flat ground only. They have buildings which you can use, but don't (but its quite cool looking at your men inside, busting out the windows ready to shoot - but I did this once in 100 years!). Gone are the mountains that were seen in other TW games (as much as a pain as they were), even the bridges, that are on the map, end up like a swamp type battlefield and everyone liked the mass slaughter at the bridges!!!That said, the battles are decent for what you get - most of the units you don't really need (you mostly just use line infantry) and the opponents are pretty weak unless you set to 'very hard' (recommended). There seems to be a bit more AI thinking in the battles, which is an improvement - but its not very strategic - the enemy will still walk into gun fire and get slaughtered etc. Seiges are a thing of the past really as well, as they all take place in 'star forts' which are ALL the same.2. Graphics: I have a 5600 dual core (on XP) and I only get mediocre graphics - they are okay, but its a shame probibly only 1 in 10,000 will see the game in its full glory. Still, it plays fine without lags with the settings right!3.Campaign Map: This vast and pretty decent. The new system of towns takes a bit of getting use to but its okay and the diplomacy is definatly improved.4. Sea Battles - After a bit of practice these seem okay UNTIL you get big fleets fighting it out - 5 to 6 ships and its easy to micromanage it, but after that its gets a lot more difficult - still its okay!5. Loading times - These are loooooooong - and TBH a pain in the backside!INSTALLATIONHaving read many of the previous reviews I knew what I was getting into with steam, the download bit etc and TBH it was pretty painless. I installed from the DVD's, connected to steam, let it do its download thing, then played it. It has only crashed once so far, so I presume the download sorted out certain bugs (It now automatically turns the sound off when you speed things up, which was a COD bug - which is a shame really, as even at fast speed, the battle sounds should be heard as in previous games). I would have prefered not to use steam, or at least have the option, but it did update well (though a patch downloaded could have done the same). Occassionaly I get a message from steam saying I can't play for some reason, but if I restart it plays fine!!! Still, Sega should take note of the users dislike of it in future releases IMO!Overall I gave it a 3/5. This is because I can't get the better graphics and the gameplay doesnt match previous TW games - but all in all, its decent enough for the money, so I can't complain.this review is for Empire only - I havnt played Napolean or the other campaigns yet, so will update review when I do.

If your familiar with the total war series then I sure your familiar with the general mechanics, two armies face each other, gain themselves positions of advantage and smack nine shades from each other until one line breaks. Well that hasn't changed with Empire, but yet it is somewhat very different.Massing troops is no longer the best way to fight but spreading them out in groups and achieving the largest zone of fire wins the day. There is less emphasis on Calvary now and more on artillery and fire-power.So change is good right? Of course it is, keeping a TW series the same makes it stale and boring, however, this does not derive from the fact that I do not hold it as highly as medieval 2 or rome. Why? Well for many reasons1) The form of infantry is pretty much the same now and lacks the vast variety of the two mentioned above (unless your fighting as one of the Indians etc). You get one of three main infantry colonial which can stand very long in battle and are only good for extra firepower for main troops. Skirmishers who are good ambushers and advance screens and the line infantry who are the bread and butter of your army.... well to me its different type of ppl with guns and its like that for most factions...2) Cavarly although still very useful (against artillery mostly) are greatly downgraded and can barely charge line infantry without losing most of its ranks. This greatly reduces tactical angles.3) Your own troop ai can be pretty annoying, troops wont shoot unless the enemy is within the arc, and they wont turn and shoot ppl just behind them even if the enemy was buggering them, obviously many will argue thats the users fault but when commanding 17+ troops in a battlefield at once means you neglect some parts and suffer badly for it.4) Sometimes troops following orders are not as quick as the pace of the game, for instance if im being charged I'd ask infantry to go to mele mode, it takes an age to follow the commands sometimes.Battles are still thrilling and the game is greatly fun and with all the additions including the fantastic Napoleon game, this is well worth the money. But just not on par with Medieval 2 and Rome Anthology for me.

i recently bought this game to add to my total war collection, as i am a big fan of the series, but i was a bit hmmmm, worried i geuss as i had read many reveiws complaining about pretty much every aspect of the game.Firstly INSTALLATION. i have read many reviews saying how they couldn't install it or they had to make a 20GB download. i had no problem with installing it at all it turned out to be giant 20GB game witch makes sense when you see the ridiculous amount of content (this is napoleon btw, i also installed empire which went fine as well). another complaint is that people have had to download the whole 20GB game instead of installing it off the disk. at first I had this problem but there is a simple solution, you need to be connected to the steam servers otherwise it only installs the game compontents not the actuall game, and then gives you the option to play it and when you click on that it starts downloading the actuall game, so just click "reinstall" when you are connected to the steam servers and it installs the game off the disk. SIMPLES!THE GAME! firstly it looks amazing, unfortunately this means you do need a very powerfull pc to run this game on the full settings but you can't blame it for having good graphics. The signature total war RTS battles are back and are better than ever, it's like being in the real battles, and of course commanding you armies to victory is still great fun. i also recommend that you get the darthmod for empire and also napoleon which has fnally come out wich are very easy to install and make this already great game even GREATER.I'd give this game (well these games) 100/10 if that existed, YOU MUST BUY THIS GAME!!!!

Superb value for money, buying directly from Steam would cost £27 just for the Empire package. In contrast to another review I found the installation extremely easy, I use steam for 99% of my PC games anyway as I hate having to mess around swapping out DVD's. As far as I can tell the DVD is initially needed as i'm not sure there's a way to simply enter the registration code without it, I simply opened up Steam first then ran the installation from DVD. After a short while it asks for your code, one entered Steam adds both games with the full DLC extras to your steam library, even DLC that wasn't mentioned here, you basically get the full collection of both games. After its within your steam library you can continue to install via DVD or via download its basically your choice. I finished installing the first game via the DVD's and left the 2nd one to install over night via steam as the DVD's take quite a while to decompress. All worked superb, the games excellent and a lot more in depth than I was expecting from the demo i'd previously tried.

Warning: Unless you are familiar with Steam, don't buy this game. I was was aware of Steam as a concept, but I don't normally do PC gaming. I am sure both games are excellent but I have not started playing them because of the ridiculous number of hoops I've had to jump thru. A horrible experience all round. If ever I get to actually load and start the game I am sure I'll enjoy it, but never, ever will I buy anything that needs Steam activation.Also, why bother sending physical disks at all? It's the activation code that gives acces to the game (hopefully) followed by a time consuming download. The whole process seems pointless and annoying to this, possibly naive, xBox gamer.

Installation process for this game is ridiculously bad, not only does it require internet connection to be present( for the whole duration: ~ 1h) but also downloadable updates are needed to both Steam (before installation) and to the game itself (after installation) in order to run it. Game itself is good but installation process leaves much to be desired, also I feel that info about internet connection required on the back of the box is misleading.

I decided to purchase this bundle despite some bad previous experiences with Steam as their original Rome Total War was a great game.Unfortunately there are more bad things to report than good. Where do I start.....? Here are a few downsides-1. You have to download games and it takes forever. You are at the complete mercy of your Internet connection as well as sudden messages saying 'failed to install' etc.2. Games sometimes fail due to Steam link which insists on trying to sell you something each time you connect.3. Games can bomb out for no apparent reason so make sure you save on a regular basis.4. Loading saved games has gone from a 50 - 50 success rate to suddenly nil.5. There is no apparent way you can sell game to anyone when you tire of it as you are linked in to Steam access.6. Why pay for a game and then find out that you have to pay for simple add-ons.Good points.a. Great game when it works.So.... Expect certain glitches and irritating operational problems if you buy this game.

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戦列歩兵の戦闘にあこがれる人には大変お勧めまた海戦も楽しいです

Aunque viene de inglaterra el juego está completamente en castellano. Se necesita cuenta en steam para instalarlo (es gratuita). Instalacion sencilla y se descargan automaticamente todos los dlc o ampliaciones. Son muy entretenidos y a buen precio. En la caja vienen 4 DVD's. 2 por juego. Y la clave en una pegatina del interior.

Il gioco in se non è male, ma le dimensioni del font, a qualsiasi risoluzione, sono piccole in modo spropositato e fanno passare la voglia di giocarci. Altro aspetto negativo è l'obbligo di installarlo attraverso Steam: mi piacciono le versioni inscatolate dei giochi per PC perchè non ti obbligano a legarti a connessioni internet e a siti di terzi, se avessi saputo che era obbligatorio l'account steam non l'avrei comprato, perchè non amo steam in quanto è troppo invasivo. Ho giocato e apprezzato i titoli Total War fin dal primo Shogun, ma questi due sono stati una vera delusione, e a questo punto sono scoraggiato dal provare i titoli seguenti...

I read some of the other reviews and so far I have had no problems with the games & didn't pay extra for DLCs (as far as I know). I've had it for a month - month & half and my only problems were the 8 hour(Empire) & 24 hour(Napoleon) DLC download times, you don't get all DLCs (could be the rest came out after game) and the fact that I have to use STEAM to play (total BS). Aside from that, I love everything about this game bundle & recommend that all RTS lovers get this game...I have all of the TOTAL WAR games & can't wait to get ROME II