Reviews - wangrin

Far more polished than TW:R2, Attila is a good game.
CA heard the most voiced concerns and brought back the familly tree.

On the other hand, I cannot forget that CA focus on graphics and other "shiny" features at the expense of the deepness of the game.

Diplomacy, if better than previous game is still light years from Europa Universalis.
The campaign is quite poor : army ZoC doesn't have strategic effects when they should prevent enemy to pass through without a possibility to be intercepted and fight battle, no supply chain to limit the ability of players as well as AI to create gigantic empire, etc.

A good game, well polished (contratry to ETW or TW:R2) and quite mod-friendly, thanks to CA's Assembly Kit.

As usual with CA, some "silly" features such as "spidermen infantry" that climb on wall...

Still some issue with modding since CA clearly state they will not support TW:S2 Assembly Kit anymore since TW:R2 have been relreased.
Still impossible to add or place guns on ships and buildings.

Fall of the Samurai is even better, adding some great features such as rail-road or naval bombing.
CA even proposed a closed beta before the release of FotS, something they should do with futures titles (after TW:R2 release fiasco).

EDIT 2014-08-02 : 5
After 14 patches, some issues have been fixed or are less annoying.
+ :
CA added 4 seasons mechanic with CiG and then add it to TW:R2
Performance have been optimized, still some issue but far better than after release
CA removed the "capture the flag", should have create a system similar to NTW3 multiplayer
CA rework the transport fleet vs Naval fleet, a bit more balanced now even if not fully satisfying.
CA release the Assembly Kit, but still incomplete
CA find an agreement with Wwise to use its tool to allow music modding

- :
Poor diplomacy, still not enhanced
Still no issue for walls, limited to province capital
Still no campaign nor battle map tool

To conclude, a good game but not a great game.
Most issue come from game design now and I doubt they will be fixed (too much work, too costly for CA).

PREVIOUS REVIEW : 3
+ :
Battle AI having a slightly better level than in S2TW
Line of Sight System for battles
Combined air-sea battles
Graphics

- :
very bad optimization, bad performances (lag, etc.) even with high end computer
1 army = 1 general : problem to reinforce army with new troops
1 army = 1 general : didn't really suppress the "unit spam" problem, only limit it. A bad solution to a real problem.
impossible to exchange region, even during peace negociations
1 turn per year system destroy immersion, it look like if time is "suspended", no seasons in campaign
User interface not always easy to handle, sometime quite confusing
Only provincial capitals having walls, probably to avoid the "siege feast", but now we have "city attack feast", certainly not better.
Army can destroy a fleet... with transport ships
etc.

A good game but absolutely not mod friendly. A shame !

One of the best mods for M2TW and certainly the most creative : new cities, new maps (battle and ccampaign map), etc.

One of the best Total War games.

As usual with Total War games, M2TW is better when used with Mod.
And because M2TW is particularly mod friendly, you can find absolutely awesome mods such as TATW (Third Age Total War), Broken Crescent, Rusichi Total War, etc.

Good Strategy game.
As usual with Total War games, Empire: Total War is better when used with mods.

Empire: Total War isn't particularly mod friendly and Vanilla game was plagued with a particularly stupid IA, this is the reason why I can't give it a better rating