And played it enough to give me an educated opinion? Is it awesome? Is it better than Medieval II?
Anything would be appreciated, I've got to wait 2 weeks.

However here's the metacritic link so you can see the reviews already up.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/empiretotalwar

I've ordered it on Steam.  It's still downloading, I started downloading at 5PM yesterday, a few minutes after launch.  It's 20 hours later and I've got 10 out of 15 gigs downloaded.  I hate my slow ass connection.

15gb?  What the...

"15gb?  What the..."

"I've ordered it on Steam.  It's still downloading, I started downloading at 5PM yesterday, a few minutes after launch.  It's 20 hours later and I've got 10 out of 15 gigs downloaded.  I hate my slow ass connection."

i bought in a store (i dont trust steam, there ive said it). Anyway, so i install the game which takes forever btw and when i finally get to play it i start the game, go into land battle, pick a nice map (i think it was algerie but who the hell cares) and choose british vs americans. A nice setting. i pick the armies and go for it. But when i start i only get to the deployment stage before all hell break loose. before im ready to play the whole shit freezes and it doesnt respond or anything frustrated i ctrl-alt-del and try again. same shit happens. This happened to me when i tried to play the demo too. So far im the only one ive seen who have that problem. I hope that a freindly soul have a soulution for this or ive just thrown 40 bucks straight out of the window. Any response would be very appreciated :) :) :) :( 

"MB said:

"15gb?  What the..."

Welcome to modern PC gaming. Age of Conan was a rough 32GB install off the disc + the 1GB patches each month lol took a good 2 hours to install it the first time.I doubt I will be getting Empire: Total Wars. After Medieval 2 being a buggy mess I can't bring myself to put up with that possibility again. Plus I'm not totally keen on the Total War series take of RTS. Still I think if you are into RTS hardcore, you might get a kick out of this."

FEAR 2 was inexplicably 13 gigs.

That's the one that makes the least sense to me

I don't know if it should be rated that high but it's definitely fun and satisfying to watch full lines of muskets fire in unison at another (for the first shot at least, still having trouble having them fire in volleys instead of at-will, but maybe I haven't researched that particular tech). I've been playing the Road to Independence campaign and it's all been a good and fun experience so far, although I have noticed a few quirks with the enemy AI just standing next to my units without attacking them. To be fair though, I have seen the enemy attack on my flanks regularly, although it seems my Colonial Infantry are better equipped to fight hand to hand than the indians. I'm by no means a Total War fanatic but I have played Shogun, Medieval 2 + Kingdoms and feel safe to say that it definitely retains that grand scope of battle feel. I haven't touched the naval stuff too much other than the tutorial so I cant comment on that.

"i bought in a store (i dont trust steam, there ive said it). Anyway, so i install the game which takes forever btw and when i finally get to play it i start the game, go into land battle, pick a nice map (i think it was algerie but who the hell cares) and choose british vs americans. A nice setting. i pick the armies and go for it. But when i start i only get to the deployment stage before all hell break loose. before im ready to play the whole shit freezes and it doesnt respond or anything frustrated i ctrl-alt-del and try again. same shit happens. This happened to me when i tried to play the demo too. So far im the only one ive seen who have that problem. I hope that a freindly soul have a soulution for this or ive just thrown 40 bucks straight out of the window. Any response would be very appreciated :) :) :) :( "

bought my retail copy on Wednesday.  Was very happy to find out that even though I bought it retail Steam still says I can download the game from their service in the future.  Works out well in case my disc gets damaged or lost!  So far, I've just been playing through the tutorial "Road to Independence" and have been very entertained.  I've had two PC crashes, but that's PC gaming for you.  I'm really looking forward to the grand campaign.  If you enjoyed Medieval 2 then you should enjoy Empire, but I must admit the gameplay is much different when you factor in muskets instead of archers and swords.  If you're the type of gamer who loved musket lines in Rise of Nations then you'll absolutely love what you'll see in Empire.

My download via Steam took 40 hours at just under 100kb/s.  So far I feel like that was bandwidth well spent.

"My download via Steam took 40 hours at just under 100kb/s.  So far I feel like that was bandwidth well spent.

The first thing I tried was the Road To Independance campaign and 2bh I don't really get it.  It gives you small objectives like take the next town ect but the enemies are mostly Native Americans who are far worse at hand to hand combat than your rank and file troops.  You can literally make a battle line of your line infantry, get some light infantry to cover your flanks and speed up the battles from my experience.

After giving the Grand Campaign a go with the British I feel like I've got a much better idea about how this game is supposed to be played.  Two armies of roughly the same size and composition give far more interesting battles than the Native Americans ever offered.  The new research and constuction methods take a bit of getting used to but make a little more sense in the long run.

The part I love most about Empire though are the new sieges.  Instead of previous Total War games where Castles completely dominated the maps the castle is actually just a smaller defensive fort usually on a hill or is surrounded by a river.  It means that you have far more options on the defence, placing units in ambush or setting up artillery to cover approaches can cause havok and even stop invading forces before they reach your walls.

Finally I'm not certain how much the AI has improved.  As I said before I've mostly been fighting the Native Americans who for the most part haven't provided me with any challenge.  There was one occasion where I think the AI lured my cavalry into a trap using a lone artillery piece as the bait and hidden light infantry as the ambush but it's possible it was a fluke

"

I would like to get it but I know I'd have to set aside a lot of time to get the most out of it, and I just don't have that kind of time. It's just one of those games that you can't play casually.

After the exams in New Zealand finish, this game will rob my life.

"II think the road to independence thing is more of a way to lure in new players who haven't played a total war game before. Is it possible to play as the thirteen colonies in the grand campaign? or is it just restricted to the road to independence. "

"Gunner said:

"II think the road to independence thing is more of a way to lure in new players who haven't played a total war game before. Is it possible to play as the thirteen colonies in the grand campaign? or is it just restricted to the road to independence. "

You can't. The thirteen colonies are a minor faction, and a protectorate of Great Briton. I'm currently working on a mission that should (hopefully) make them join me for good."