Graphics and Sound
The campaign map is rendered in full glorious 3d, and brings the lifeless chess-like maps of the previous Total War games to life. Water laps at shores, volcanoes erupt, storms rage and trade ships sale across the seas from port to port. Your armies, diplomats and spies are fully animated as they advance across fully realised landscapes. Sound is equally good quality, although it unlikely to take your breath away. A nice ambient choral sound track contrasts with the clamour of battle on the battlefield, and is perfectly suited to the concentrated manner in which you need to plan your advancements. You can hear water lap at the shores, and rain coming down – all this combines to make the campaign part of the game much more absorbing and engaging than in previous titles, while keeping you focused on the tasks at hand. The power of the RTW engine really comes into its own in large scale battles. And believe me, these are HUGE! Battles consisting of 6000 troops or more are easily possible, particularly when you have more than two factions present on the battlefield. Zooming in for a closer look presents a fantastic level of detail. Each piece of chain mail is present on soldier’s armor, their shields painted with the correct faction colors. Horse’s tails flick away flies, grass sways in the wind and smoke billows from burning buildings.
The level of unit detail is astounding.
Obviously we are not talking a level of detail on par with HL2, but considering the number of units on the battlefield and action happening at one time, the level of detail is astounding. Animation is a joy to behold. Zoom in and you will see your infantry hack and slash their way through enemy lines, while the fearsome sight of a cavalry charge approaching a formation of enemy troops is awe inspiring… unless you are on the wrong side of it, in which case its terrifying! The sound compliments the graphics, with the thundering sound of hoofs on the ground, the clanging and crashing of steel against steal, blood curdling cries and screams of soldiers being hacked down. The music is suitably adrenaline pumping, conjuring up scenes of battle in your mind, fitting the atmosphere perfectly.
Chaos of Battle
On the whole, things are flawless; however there are some moments where frustrating graphical glitches and bugs can get in the way. For example, formations of a Cavalry unit can find themselves on either side of a settlement wall, so when you order them further onto the battlefield, half the unit will charge, while the other half will fruitlessly attempt to run ‘through’ the wall! Path finding is generally very good, but on the odd occasion, units don’t respond as you want them to. Also, when commanding multiple units to enter an enemy strong hold, through a gateway or broken wall, confusion can ensue, with units getting in each others way and creating a bottleneck. This is most frustrating when an enemy is continuously hailing arrows upon your forces, or even worse pouring oil and tar upon them, and can even cause them to run off screaming! These glitches are rare however, and generally don’t distract from the gameplay, while the sound and graphics combine to make this one of the most absorbing RTS games I have played.
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