Empire Total War: Almost One Year Later...

So, it's been almost one year since Empire: Total War hit store shelves. For me, this was probably one of the most anticipated games ever. While I obviously dabble with Xbox360, I have always been a PC'er at heart. The Total War series have always been my favorite. They have everything I want, from RTS and 'Civilization'-type, empire building. These games are also epic, particularly the battles. I have yet to see another game - possibly Supreme Commander - rival the battles of the Total War series.

So how does the game fare after nearly a year? Well, Napoleon: Total War is soon to be released, and, if other Total War players are like me, I expect that Empire will be quickly retired to my shelf. Not to say that there is anything particularly wrong with this game, but simply that Napoleon improves upon Empire in practically everyway, while offering new, innovative concepts, hitherto unseen in the series. For example, the 'drop-in' concept is particularly novel, wherein a player can literally drop-into another player's campaign when the latter is about to fight a battle that would otherwise comrpise a computer opponent. Conecpts like these add new flavour to this series.

For the most part, I think I got a lot out of Empire. I played countless hours and, for the first time, played against other people in multiplayer battles. This even inspired me to re-load Rome: Total War, and try my luck at some ancient multiplayer battles (obviously this was partly inspired by the Prince_of_Macedon, and the reinvigoration that I feel he has given this game).

There were a great many things about Empire that improved from previous titles. I won't go through the many amazing features of this game. Briefly, however, I had always wanted to see the Empire series renew their focus on the Napoleonic era of guns and cannons. Granted, all previous Total War games, with the exception of Rome, had guns and cannons. But definitely not to the extent of Empire. This was a welcomed move. I can only imagine how much better this will be in Napoleon.

I'm not sure if anyone will agree, or even has an answer to this, but does it seem strange that, exactly one year later, we are greeted by a new installment to the series in the form of an entirely new game? It's not even as if Napoleon is that much different - at least in terms of the era - than Empire. So why the rapid release date? To me, it almost seems as though Empire constituted that stage of development of Napoleon, last February, and to give people a taste of this new style-Total War, they released Empire. I know that's probably not the case, but if you think about it, that's how it seems.

Anyhow, I am just as eagerly awaiting the release of Napoleon. Thank you Empire. You have been good to me.