Haloface

Oh. My. God.

So, this is a game I've been waiting for ever since I saw the first screenshots released in PC Gamer.
I've been a fan since the expansion of Shogun: Total War. It was a game with such depth and longevity, not to mention replayability, that I would be playing it as obsessively 6 months later as I was the first day. That's not something that happens in such a cheap, superficial market as one we're presented with these days.
When Medieval: Total War hit the shelves, I had fallen in love. Sprites the soldiers may have again been, barely recognizable over their 2d counterparts in the 90's, but yegods did it matter? Not at all. The game was beyond expectations. But my love had turned from the battlefield to the campaign mode. I would play game after game merely using the "auto-resolve" function and let computer logisitcs take care of battlefield success. I loved the campaign map, of sitting in the fortress of Constantinople, nestled on the best trading route in Europe, repelling the Turks and the Mongolians, expanding the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire, where once they were shrinking. Or using the Welsh Longbow to even more devastating effect against the French in the Hundred Years War, cutting them off from Brittany and re-gaining the lands of Aquitaine, a country with more wealth than England and Wales put together.

Then BBC2 aired a programme that used the Rome: Total War engine, to re-enact famous battles of the Roman world. Hooked for 6 episodes (yeah.. that's how long programme seasons last over here. Short and sweet), it only beefed up my mass obsession for Rome: Total War. Half Life 2 was a thing of the past, Doom 3 could wait, even Everquest II had taken a back seat. It was all about Rome, even compelling me to re-read my Tacitus and Rubicon just to familiarize myself with the exact nature of the days in which I would soon be revelling in.

And so I was more excited than a slut at a cum-fiesta when the week before last, Creative Assembly (the ingenius makers of the game who work all day long on it a mere 15 minutes from my University) announced a demo on the 20th. A demo on the 20th? Holy mother fucking shit! The days were counted like a slut waiting for a cum-fiesta (am I over-doing this phrase?).
And then RL things came in to play. Having to go back to the depressing halls of education for yet another year. Needing to find money, a house...computer-like anticipations melted away and the sobering reality of RL took its place.

Thus I awoke this morning, unaware of the date. I yawn, stretch, rub my boxer-shorts a bit to sort out my man-hood (too much info?), and slump in to the computer chair (sound familiar? :P). I look at the clock. Bugger-me. Work in 20mins. I look in to the bin, there's some cans of Carling. I remember parts of the previous night. Was she *really* 16? I'm sure she was.
I'M SURE SHE WAS DAMNIT!
When do I move in to my new house at Uni? I look at the calendar. Wow, it's the 24th today. Days go fast lately.
Wait.
The 24th?

THE TWENY-FORTH?!?!?! THIS MOTHER PUNKING DEMO HAS BEEN OUT FOR HALF A WEEK!!! WHERE HAD MY PRIORITIES BEEN?!
It was a crime of Hitler-proportion.

And so, I await the download. I'm at 37%. Life has come to a screeching halt. Will the random-shut-down-virus that has gripped my computer lately, hit at 99%? Will I be fired later when they realise I actually haven't turned up at work? Do I actually give a shit? Is that Sanchek's real hair-colour? Does Kivorn actually know much about martial arts? Is Zehn *really* gay?!

Universal truth will be available to us after...59%'s time.

The verdict's coming up kids. Homosexual download-timer belives 30mins. I predict 28. We will see.

__________________
"A horse, a hose, my kingdom for a horse!"
- William Shakespear, Richard III, Bosworth Field, 1485.

Binuven

If you mean that Zehn being gay is actually Zehn being lesbian, then yes Zehn is gay.

One question down and.....uh....many more unanswered

__________________

Malse

Are you on dialup? Only took me about 20 minutes to download the whole thing off an unofficial mirror. The non-tutorial battle appears to have elephants :>

Also, why is this in sandbox? (other than being a Halo post)

Haloface

Well.
It was great. It's hard to sum it up any better. Outstanding works too. Breath-taking? Definately. A masterpiece? No doubt about it.
Revolutionary or genre-defining? Well, not so much. But then, I got to play one battle, the Battle of Trebia. Being a bit of a Punic War geek, I'll set the background, as well as what the game offers and has to show us.

Straight off the bat, you're shown your army and the enemies. In this case, it's set during the Second Punic War, 218, with Hannibal Barca leading the Carthaginians, famous for their elephants and mountain climbing. Opposing is a Roman army, led by Sempronius Longus (who, funnily enough, was in Sicily when Hannibal emerged from the Alps, preparing to invade Carthage..). Rushing up the coast of Italy with speed almost matching Hannibal, Longus (one of two Consuls at the time, the other being Publius Scipio - Africanus, the guy who eventually beat Hannibal on his home turf, and kicked the Carthaginians out of Spain, and grandfather of the general who burnt Carthage to the ground). In this demo, you can only play the Carthaginians, but with Elephants in the line-up, I certainly wasn't complaining. Dusting off my copy of The Fall of Carthage, I glazed again over the Battle of Trebia, to double-check my Hannibal line-up. The game gets it pretty much bang-on, even down to Hannibal's unique Gallic allies he managed to secure through the Alps and the Po Valley, an area notoriously rebellious to Roman rule in the early days, and only too happy to join Hannibal on his invasion. Accompanying Elephants and Gallic allies were the superior Numidian Cavalary from North Africa, also present in Creative Assembly's line up. These guys know their shit, there's no denying that. A quick peak at the Roman troops shows the typical - and accurate - Roman legions that would later define Roman warfare. What made me smile was the really great detail represented in the army configuration. Hannibal always maintained superior cavalary numbers in the Second Punic War, and this is clearly shown, with the Romans only possessing two small contiginents of heavy cavalary, while the Carthaginians in this demo had five seperate squads at their command.
A quick line to let us know where we are, what the date is, and what the terrain is like, and we're in.
Unfortunately, we're introduced to a rather crap cut-scene to explain the context of the battle. Now, this *is* necessary, as it's trying to be historically accurate, and ancient warfare was notoriously anti-climatic and drab at times, but the cut-scene was kinda boring, and a little slow. Still, it was, again, deadly accurate, and leads up to your army formations, which are pretty much exactly like they were. The terrain is also idential to the plains of Trebia, with the frozen river being crossed by Numidian cavalary, a ploy to bring the Roman legions over and thus past Hannibal's hidden cavalary in the flanks. It worked like a charm, and here is when the cut-scene stops, and I'm in the driving seat. Crappy scene graphics melt away and long-camera pans cease to exist.
This is total war.

The sceneario is fantastic. Snow drifts brilliantly, the distance runs off, and almost everything you see is reachable. These maps are almost five times the size of Medieval maps. Those mountains and forests in the background? They just aren't for show. The first thing I notice, though, is the rather awkward camera movement and angles. Well, they're not *bad*, they are just rather different from Medieval's. To look left or right, you have to use your mouse. To pan out or down, or to zoom, you have to use the keyboard. And I couldn't, for the life of me, find out how you employ the notorious zoom-camera, that lets you *follow* arrows or a cavalary charge. I started to get used to get, but I still feel that the previous camera work from Medieval was far more efficient. But not for me the furrow-brow.
The Battle of Trebia in real life was quite long and tedius. Neither armies, though both eager, were ready to deploy and face-up for a few days. Hannibal, sending out his Numidian cavalary to ravage and loot the plains, lured the Romans across the river en-force. Though Hannibal's cavalary got a-whoopin', the plan had worked. Both armies drew up and advanced, with Hannibal emerging victorious with the use of his cavalary and ambushing contiginents hidden in the wings. And, of course, the elephant charges that spread mass-panic throughout Longus' legions.
This, I attempted to mirrage.

And goddamn did it work.
The graphics are incredible, sweeping in on a charge is fabulous, and watching fire-arrows rain down on the enemy will make you tingle like a slut at a cum-fiesta.
Army deployment is easy, and everything is much faster than previous Total War games. Sending in my elephants first - yes, they are the coolest thing you've ever seen - I slammed in to the enemy from either flank. The elphants are WILD! Their charge sends men by the dozen flying in to the air and running in panic. In a cool way, you then loose control over them for a period of time while they run around plundering anyone in their way. EVEN YOU!
I laughed like a biatch as they eventually did a 180 through the Roman army and came running back up the hill, plunging in to my archers who were subsequently sent running for their lives - much like what happened throughout the Punic Wars.
With my elephants on the loose, causing Roman formation to break up, I let loose my archers. These guys no longer suck. They are lethal. And well deployed, can be a battle-winning element. Slowly the ranks of the front-legions begun to dwindle, through coming ever closer to my army half way on a shallow hill facing the river. It was time. I fanned my Gallic barbarians and Spanish light infantry out and sent them down the hill - at a scary pace. The charges are brilliant, zoomed in or out, though in for best effect. At the same time, I let loose my hiding cavalary, who out-flanked the Legions on both sides, while saving two squads to deal with the minor Roman cavalary threat. Zooming out with a smile on my face, I watched an almost artistic performance unfold.
At no time was the performance slugging or too hard on my comp. Neither the graphics or gameplay ever suffered on my Athalon 2gz, 512mb, Radeon 9200 machine. Troops swept across the plain and collided, slogging it out to the death.
But plans, of course, never go as well as they should. The two squads of cavalary I had kept behind to deal with the Roman heavy cavalary were being beaten, and my elephants had collided in to the back of my army, scattering my javelin throwers and a group of archers. Without that kind of support, my light infantry begun to suffer against the massive Roman legions. The only squad holding up was my heavy infantry, keeping the Roman's with shot swords at bay - literally, it was hillarious to watch them unable to reach my troops becaue of their 10 feet long spears.
And slowly, it went down hill. My four main infantry squads were being enveloped and slowly surrounded. Sending in Hannibal and his personal guard relieved the pressure on my right flank - and a general's charge kicks butt (the zoom-in feature for the General is superb. He kicks serious arse), but the left begun to crumble. And then, I regained control of my elephants at the same time my Cavalary had over-come the enemies and charged the rear of the now roman-mass. Two elephant charges later and it was all over. The corpse-strewn battle-field had become an opera theatre.

This game is simply brilliant. The depth, the tactics. Troops suffer from weather, morale (on an unprecidented scale), expectation, terrain, all of it. Plans can really be put in to motion, and what troops you use, where, and when, really do matter. The graphics are brilliant, the AI incredible, and the guy is everything I expected.
However, it is nothing more than that from the demo. It was, in effect, the same old forumla, just done better. But that's something I'm content with, and combined with the campaign mode, I've no doubt this is gonna be the best game of its genre, for years to come.

__________________
"A horse, a hose, my kingdom for a horse!"
- William Shakespear, Richard III, Bosworth Field, 1485.

Malse

Demo was great. Loved the delicious sound of elephants trampling legionaires. Attention to detail is great, with each javelin or arrow independently plotted and rendered, thunking individually off a phalanx' shields.

Only complaints I have were the annoying battle announcer voice (guy in M:TW was really annoying too, we about cracked up when we realized he was the guy that played Televised Father in Equilibrium. They need to get the Shogun guy back. The shame in his voice when he said "Your taisho is running away like a coward!" was palpable) and that it crashed when I tried to screenshot my 1364 to 75 kills against the Roman army at Trebia. They don't fight too well when Captain Sempronius gets it in the back of the head from some cavalry right at the start :>

trimlock

>Only complaints I have was the annoying battle announcer voice

sounds like some retard on some shitty speaker system

this game doth rocketh, plays well, looks good, great sound effects and isn't complicated to get the jist of it down ... all the makings of a great game

Haloface

After playing it a few more times, I must say, the game being faster isn't necessarily that much of a plus.
Watching the battles close-up is one of the best parts, and yet a group usually routes within a minute or so. And with everything sped up, it means less time to watch something happen, before missing another, or having to do too much at once.
Where-as Medieval allowed me to put ambushing or flanking cavalary in to position while I charged the enemy with my infantry, it seems to all happen too quickly, which means FAR more pausing than usual.

But the game is still cracking. And I'm only just getting used to it. A spot-on cavalary charge (they are so goddamn overpowered..much like RL I guess) is beautiful to watch.

I just cannot wait for the full game. It's going to be a life-drainer.

__________________
"A horse, a hose, my kingdom for a horse!"
- William Shakespear, Richard III, Bosworth Field, 1485.

Malse

Routs usually happened in the first minute or two of Shogun and Medeival combat too. The Trebia battle went fast because you started out set up in a perfect position with the enemy already rushing into skirmish range. I'm assuming campaign battles will follow the old TW model of 3-10 minutes of maneuvering followed by 2-5 minutes of fighting once the commit happens, and then 5-15 of mopping up depending on the situation. Maybe that's just how I play, but it was usually decisively over very shortly after the killing started.

Although I did have a few Shogun battles go on for over an hour. One great one was the rescue of Musashi, in which I killed off an entire enemy faction in a nearly two hour mauling bridge assault. A couple of the historical campaign battles were fairly extended too. Those were the exception, not the rule, though.

Which reminds me of how I liked the Shogun display better. The Rome tool-tip unit information is a lot harder to read than the old Shogun HUD, but I guess I'll get used to it.


Ha, was just reading a demo comments thread, someone was talking about the relative power of Generals versus their MTW or STW counterparts. On guy had a humorous anecdote about how he managed to lose Trebia because his elephants were routed ... and ran over Hannibal.

Haloface

LOL.

Well... they do like to route. Infact, it seems they almost purposely route with a path set to collide with my bloody missle troops every time, who don't have the balls to stand and take it like my heavy infantry do.

Still, the game seems faster some how. I modded the demo and played as the Gauls on the Training scenario, which included deployment and all. Everything moves faster, the cavalary at bulletspeed. I chased down some light Roman skirmishers, and for a while they were out-running the lightning cavalary.
Perhaps the entire lack of game-speed changing means that the entire thing runs at a constant pace, where-as previously I could slow it down to enjoy the head-on-fighting, or speed it up during deployment.

It's not much of a complaint, just an observation. It's almost like arcade speed.

And damn, those cavalary sure are over-powered.

__________________
"A horse, a hose, my kingdom for a horse!"
- William Shakespear, Richard III, Bosworth Field, 1485.

trimlock

anyone know if there's going to be a "playback" option in this?