Strategy Informer  

No doubts, the TOTAL WAR series are among the best strategic games ever. I played all of them and this last is not the exception. All units and politic enviroment are historically reconstructed. Naval combat is wonderful! The introducion of a research tree and the regional resources are great ideas! The games simulate combat so well that the player find himself to do the same tactical choices of a 18th century commander! WOW!
BUT..... this last episode has some annoying things:
- little music: one of the strongest point of the TW Series is almost absent here. A note, considering the music in TW, quantity and quality of the musics are inversely proportional to the quantity and quality of graphics. Too bad! :-(
- you can play only in the 18th century! Only 200 turns of play. VERY BAD! Formation combat with muskets and cannons was common even in the 17th and 19th centuries, so why do the game focus on one century only? There is smell of a "Napoleonic Wars" or "US Civil War" or "Italian reunification" expansions in the air.. a pure commercial endeavour. :-(
- units are outrageously expensive to build and mantain! I know that this is somewhat historical, but how can the player conquer 40 territories in 200 turns with such a small number of troops? Even at easy difficulty level, it isn't so...easy.