Napoleon Total War

I've been a fan of the Total War games ever since the original Shogun: Total War. I realise that these are not 'hard-core' wargames like some others I could mention, but they are generally pretty easy to get into and play. I've also been interested in the Napoleonic wars for as long as I can remember, so it was pretty natural that I would have a look at Napoleon Total War, when it came out recently.

What is it like? Well, first impressions are pretty favourable. I've only so far tried land battles (sea battles don't interest me particularly, and I've not had time for a campaign), and they definitely seem to be an improvement over Empire: Total War. They are the best-looking depiction of Napoleonic warfare I've yet seen on a PC. On normal difficulty the AI isn't great, but can be reasonably clever - in one battle I seized the only high ground and felt certain that that would guarantee me victory, only for the AI to attack from my flank and proceed to roll-up my entire army (Napoleon I ain't).

But the main thing is that the battles are a blast to play. I played a battle before writing this post, with the aim of taking some screen shots, but got so caught up in things that I only managed to take one - seen above - when the battle was virtually won (professional games reviewer I ain't either). If I have a criticism, it is that, as with all Total War games, the battles are so frenetic that there is little chance to employ much in the way of strategy or tactics, although there does seem to be less of the 'charge all troops at the same spot and hope for the best' of previous titles.

One other criticism (so far!), and that is connected with buying from Steam, although not necessarily their fault. I love games manuals, and had to wait a full week from purchasing on the day of release before the manual became available. Now, the one time you need a manual is when you buy the game, and I'm sure it's not beyond games developers and Steam to ensure that the manual is available on the day of release, at least to those who purchase the game.

Right, that said, back to battle...