Buy it. Amazing game.

However, don't buy it if your computer isn't up to snuff. At it's highest settings, it is easily one of the most visually stimulating and amazing games created yet. Crank up your settings, play a naval battle, and feel your jaw drop. Part of the games appeal is it's massive battles and if you can't experience that to a great extent... you are kinda taking out part of what makes this game great.

It's a great game, I personally don't regret buying the game despite it's bugs. They jsut released a patch recently that fixed a majority of the bugs, and they have free units, graphical upgrades, and patches on the way. Lot's of them. So you'll be fine. The fact that it relies on Steam means there are achievements, a huge community, and fast patching.

And yes the retail version also uses Steam.

If you have a nice PC, and love strategy games, by all means pick it up.

It still amazes me how it got so well received by critics despite all the stupid bugs. That's all I'll say about the unfortunate game I bought.

Yes, you need Steam for updates and first time activation.

As far as the high reviews go, I don't have empire but I felt like something similar happened with MTW2. Total war games have a tremendous amount of content, so when people review them I think they sometimes feel like they have to give a good review because there is so much material being offered. The knowledge that the games will definetely sell well doesn't hurt either.

The problem is that when there are problems with key elements of the game--for me in MTW2 it was the relatively lackluster field AI in a single-player game--you end up with an experience that is less than the sum of its parts.

Well, this link here kind of expresses my initial reaction of playing the game before being heavily patched...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCunixAzHOA&feature=related

Get the game when the price drops. By that time, it will be working at its best.

I personally liked the Rome: Total War (which came free w/ preorder via steam) more than Empire. First off, Empire runs pretty badly, even though I have a decent system (9800GTX+ GPU, Phenom II X4 920 CPU, 4 GB RAM). The loadscreens are so long it makes you never EVER want to play a battle, especially small inconsequential ones. Then there are the bugs... Ew. I have come across around 5 instances of a bug I have nicknamed the 'toxic assets' bug. This bug makes it so an entire naval fleet is unusable. It does this by crashing the game to desktop every time you click on it. This basicly makes the fleet worthless AND a liability (click on it and crash, better hope you saved recently!) The bug persists through save-load as well, so simply restarting the game won't help.

Troop AI really seems to suck. I think they just took the AI from Rome: Total War and gave it guns with a firing arc. And don't even try playing a seige battle with a city with fortress or wall defenses. You are lucky if you can get your troops to fire down on the enemy (or up at the enemy) without them trying to path to them, usually via leaving the walls (and their nice defensable position) and using ropes to climb down off the walls. Unless you are VERY good in the field, it is best to just hit auto resolve EVERY TIME, since you will usually take less casualties, and almost always lose them in equal portions (such as 17% from each group as opposed to losing 17% of your groups which would be normal for player controlled battles) You can pull off some really great defenses, especially if the bugs fall in your favor in the towns with buildings and no walls.

Artillary are fun to use as soon as you get cannister shot, especially in narrow alley ways against horse charges...

I have gotten most of the way through one of the long campaigns (100 years) but got stuck at 81 years, since the toxic assets bug rendered my invasion fleet to take over America all but useless, and I don't want to complete it until the bug is fixed for good.

Overall, I wouldn't suggest buying it yet, especially not for $50. $30 would be a decent price IMO, since there is quite a bit of fun to be had, but also way to many bugs for a supposedly finished game. The general feeling, with all the bugginess seems to be closer to the beta of SoaSE: Entrenchment about 1.5 months before release.

At this point, if you want a Total War game, try some of its predecessors.

For $20 you should probably buy it if your system can handle it and you can spare the cash.

Enemy AI isn't to terrible as far as strategy goes... But you would be better off commanding lines of rocks than your own soldiers. Its more or less a bundle of straws which breaks this camel's back. Lots of little bugs which are numerous, but relatively few game-breakers (aside from the toxic assets bug).

Although Empire Total War has small bugs it is an amazing game that i believe was well worth my $50. My computer is equiped to handle it, but the visuals of the game are truly jaw-dropping. Although some of the AI strategy is poor and they easily be shattered with a smaller army the complexity of the game and the whole set-up truly make up for this. Between turns you definetely have time to go do something else. I usually do homework or something. Load times for battles and loads are epic and can take 3 or more minutes even with a fast computer.

Some of the definite downfalls of the game are the AI's diplomacy tactics. Instead of allying with a powerful nation they will always declare war on you. Currently playing as Prussians and am at war with 10 one territory countries that hated Poland-Lithuania which i fought and conquered, but they were ticked at me because of territorial expansion. AI strategy within battle and on campaign map is also nonsensical. Take one militia unit against your 20 line infantry units. Take one at a time for the next 10 turns. The resources outside the city walls however force both you and the AI to come out of your cities to defend it. Defensive objects and capturing buildings truly make this fell more lifelike too.

You will hear people complain about bugs, but one of the recent patches rectified most of them and make it a very playable game.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A GOOD COMPUTER THOUGH DO NOT BUY THIS.

Me too, sadly it doesn't sound like I should give it a second chance anytime soon...

I just got it, i need a new video card for it because the one that could play was defective, but when i could play it it was astounding

I kinda like the idea, turn based in just game mode and real time in battle, but $50, I am definely not getting it. I am one of those purist, I rather see a total turn based or a total real-time

BUY BUY BUY, YOU HAVENT EVEN GOT IT YET!!!!

BEST GAME EVER...............EVER