Other flaws have persisted on the battlefield. Fortress assaults are as unspeakably awful as they were in Empire. Artillery remains as much a hazard to friendly troops as it is to the enemy, since gunners don't hesitate to fire straight through friendly formations. The AI follows the same script in most battles. It shakes its troops out into a long line and advances across the battlefield at your position, even when it is supposed to be defending. Generals, whether controlled by the AI or not, have an appalling mortality rate. Within twenty turns of starting my campaign, most of the great generals of France and Prussia were dead.

Napoleon's battles still represent an improvement over Empire. Infantry are more hesitant to engage in melee combat, and will usually elect to shoot it out rather than charge. Cavalry are more effective now that they keep tighter formations, and light units find more of a place in this game than they did in Empire. Light infantry can be devastatingly effective from cover, but get cut to pieces if heavy infantry or cavalry can reach them. Improvements to the interface also make it easier to monitor friendly units and make slight adjustments to formations. From a grognard's point of view, Napoleon provides the horse-and-musket combat that Empire never quite delivered.

Naval combat seems slightly improved, but I must admit that I cannot come to grips with it. Any engagement involving more than handful of ships overwhelms my capacity to micromanage, and the engagement ranges are so short that every battle degenerates into a bar fight. It is possible that there is an exciting and challenging naval wargame here, but I was too busy wrestling with the interface and mechanics to find it. Fortunately, Napoleon's narrowed focus makes most naval battles optional.

Multiplayer Napoleon is problematic. I experienced numerous connection drops, crashes, and freezes whenever I tried playing with another person. It was fun when it worked, but not enough to compensate for the frustration. Ask me how happy I am when I narrowly eke out a win in a 30-minute campaign battle, only to have the game hang after my opponent exits, thus erasing my progress. I also had a battle glitch in the middle of an exciting multiplayer campaign, which forced my opponent to quit. The computer calculated a "decisive defeat" which gutted his army and ruined our game.

Napoleon: Total War is difficult to pin down. It asks me to overlook several significant problems that materially diminish the game, and I cannot recommend Napoleon without attaching a boatload of conditions and caveats. On the other hand, it has kept me absorbed and entertained for 40 hours and I look forward to playing more. Many battles have been gripping nail-biters, with troops breaking and rallying, cavalry making desperate charges, and artillery crews frantically trying to fire one final blast of canister shot before their position is overrun. At its best, Napoleon is a glorious and thrilling game.