Review by: Robert Zacny

Total War games attempt many things, succeed at a few, and fail at several. Napoleon: Total War is not the exception to this rule and players looking for great strategic depth or tactical challenge will be disappointed once again. On the other hand, Napoleon is an example of the Total War series at its absolute best—this is a dramatic and often riveting experience.

Napoleon covers its namesake's career, from his campaign in Italy through his final defeat at Waterloo. The biographical campaigns provide a pleasant alternative to the familiar geography of the European battlefield. The Italian campaign is a sprint through Alpine passes and Austrian armies, while the Egyptian campaign is a struggle against grueling heat, vast distances, and limited resources. Since these campaigns have a low turn-limit, you need to approach them like the man himself: aggressively, with a good plan and little regard for superior numbers.

The grand campaign reveals that Napoleon has made a strategic retreat from the sprawling ambition of Empire. Creative Assembly has given the tech tree a thorough pruning and confined the action to Europe. The campaigns are more structured, which makes them slightly predictable but far more coherent.

Napoleon includes a few significant improvements to the campaign. Turns now represent a half-month, and the map features "attrition areas" where armies will suffer heavy losses if they are left there at the end of a turn. During the winter, for instance, most of the Polish and Russian countryside turns into frost-bitten death trap for traveling armies. This invites some high-risk strategies, like a late-autumn offensive to snatch a province from an opponent who has already put his armies into winter quarters. It's also worth mentioning this all takes place on the most gracefully beautiful campaign map of any Total War game since Shogun.

Supply and logistics have finally made a welcome appearance on the campaign map, with major effects on how wars are fought. Depleted armies now receive replacements at a variable rate (dependent on supply structures and tech research) when they are in friendly territory, and cannot replace any losses when campaigning in enemy territory. Making certain that armies are ready for combat requires some foresight.

Sadly, some things seem like they will never change with the Total War campaign system. While the AI will occasionally launch a seaborne invasion, I saw it only once in the 40 hours I spent with the game. The campaign AI remains infuriatingly passive. Britain never stirred during my Prussian campaign, which would have been a problem if France had exhibited the slightest interested in attacking Prussia or Austria. Fortunately for Europe, Napoleon was about as active as a lizard sunning itself on a warm rock. His endless stacks of French troops rarely attacked, and never in force.