I find myself shocked, giving this game a negative review, but here we are. Been a fan of total war since the original Medieval, and own all of them except Attila. This game, while pretty with lots of cool Warhammer lore, is a step backwards.
The campaign map is even more simplified than Rome, the AI suffers from several deficiencies, first of which is an inordinate amount of attention on the player (Ork raiders bypassing weak AI settlements, sometimes several, to wreak havoc in your province). And again, an old problem has yet to be corrected, the ability of the AI to have MASSIVE armies with a single territory under their control. On higher difficulties, the AI is blatanly abusive of mechanics (It can outrun you and it knows it). The hero system is not very intuitive, nor is there much help on the matter.
Combat has also suffered from over simplification. Gone are your unit formations (you only have two, misssle front, missle rear). Combat is also incredibly fast. It may be nitpicky, but I really liked zooming in on close combat and watching the models kick the tar out of each other in amusing ways. Now, units are destroyed and flee at such a pace as it makes enjoying the scene practically impossible. Elsewhere it has been mentioned that there is some sort of mechanic that buffs armies that have greater numbers than their foes. In the days of yore, a well thought out defense, making use of terrain, unit strengths, and cover meant you could outwit and defeat a much larger and better equipped force, or at least bloody their noses enough to slow them down. Now, if you are outnumbered, the battles are incredibly lopsided, no matter what you do. This mechanic plays in your favor as well. A small AI force can be routed almost instantly, and you will take minimal casualties. One final mention on battles, ranged weapons and artillery are DEVASTATINGLY accurate. Not only are they accurate, but they are an absolute menace, to you or the AI. Artillery can wipe out entire units long before they ever engage, and fire with accuracy that would make an olympic marksman green at the gills, regardles of cover.
Diplomacy, while always the whipping child of Total War, has been oversimplified again. They were going a good direction with Empire and Shogun II, I was hoping they would refine it, but instead it has essentially returned to Medieval II, without the diplomat units. AI regions do not support each other, or seem to care that you are slaughtering their Bretonnian brethren while you trade with them and grant military access. Your allies bail on you at the first sign of invasion. This is all run of the mill for the Total War Franchise, but the step backward in developement is a disappointment.
This is the first review I have ever written, but the disappointment in this game was quite disheartening. I love Total War, but this feels like a beta at best, and with some major internal mechanical flaws. I hope it gets better, but so far this is the only Total War game to let me down and feel like I wasted money.
just one of the many older total war fans who haven't bought into this game, while i don't agree with everything he writes in his review on the game, for me it sums up a lot of what i've seen in now 2 gaming sessions with my mates on the game with the latest patches installed, £3k+ pc and tbh not great loading times on first boot up of the game, and for older totally war players, far too simplistic in it's approach and design now imo...
