Empire: Total War - Special Forces Edition

Having greatly anticipated this game (I have played all the Total War games to date and have greatly enjoyed all of them), it is a disappointment to find it overdone with useless details on the campaign map which slow down even the fastest computers, a terrible and slow installation procedure via Steam, outdated graphics of the soldiers on the tacticle battle map which are equal to the quality found in Shogun Total War (a game of almost 10 years old!) etc etc.

However all these bad traits would be nullified if the gameplay is outstanding. Then comes the biggest disappointment of all: I can hardly get into the game when it crashes!! This game is bug ridden and unstable. Just look on al the forums on the internet to find many other gamers complaining about these bugs. A patch which does take away all those bugs is in great need. Up until this patch comes around I cannot test the gameplay at all.

SEGA can do much better than this.

this is less of a review, more of a warning, don't buy this second hand, unless its never been installed, as it will be tied to the sellers Steam account. and therefore will be useless to you

Im a massive total war fan, each game they have brought out has been better then the last, but with this game i fell like they have droped the ball.

Too many bugs and crashes, you have to depend on steam system, the clone like armys are more or less back, the ai feels clunkly and akward witch makes land battles to easy to win.

Graphics are a bit better but not a great change from med2.

On the plus side sea battle are not only beautifull to watch but are challangeing and will probly be what makes up most of your hours of game play.

Insted of the 94% that the mags give i would give this game 70% untill all the bugs are fixed and the ai is upgraded.

I just got the full game and found out you got to go on something called steam enter your keycode, then it sends you to another download screen. To download i dont know what yet, had this game 4 hours and its still on 2% download. Still not played the game yet. Im not happy with this way of setting up.
Anyone else got any ideas?

This game is a serious milestone in gaming history. The detail is amazing, as my title says, its deep, very deep. Graphics are amazing, although to play on high settings you will need a good pc. The attention to detail is very impressive, from musket and cannon loading, to heat haze and destrucatble buildings on the battlefield.

The battles are easy to control and beautiful to watch. Seeing 50, 60, 70 men just drop to the floor when you order a volley really does get the heart pumping. The introduction of naval battles is also another source of unending fun. Lining up that perfect cannon barrage is a real thrill.

With a huge selection of different factions and winning conditions, replayability is almost infinite!