Empire:Total War Review -Crispy Gamer

[Anbar]

Having actually slated a couple of games in real print media, its unusual for an Editor not to add a caveat to such a review.

Or ask the reviewer to put the caveat in themselves.

i.e. 4/10 or 8/10- when major bugs are resolved.

Having said that a lot of pre-release reviews nowadays, in the PC arena, are done based on a demo-day, limited copy and a lot of production and PR pressure for the magazine to "hit the right note".

Independent magazines and webzines (such as this lot) are often the only place you will find extreme views as they generally are not monitored by a specific Editorial oversight (or its a one-man band).

The review is fair, to a degree, but it is easily read as being a lot more negative than it could be. If you go to it itnended to see ETW being castigated then it will press all ther ight buttons.
If you go there with an open mind then it isnt quite as damning as one might imagine.

[sgmullins]

i think you rather made a large assumption there - and it was an incorrect assumption.

I think your totally correct in what you say, i also believe NOW that the majority of reviews in various pc magazines about empire total war being as good as they said it was are a crock of . How long game time did they give empire total war before giving it it's high scores, about 30mins i would guess. Clearly on the "crispy review" , the reviewer has the bottle to tell it as it is.

[Generaal Van Heutsz]

Nice to see that CA won't let this review last more than 10 seconds on the official forum. I'm not sure what the difference is between this review (which as I said, may be a little too harsh) and the plethora of other reviews that absolutely gush about ETW (that are somehow allowed to remain on the board).

I don't understand CA/SEGA, the only thing they would need to do is let us know why the patch was postponed and when we can expect it. I can see people becoming very angry on various forums

[FinkPloyd]

Or ask the reviewer to put the caveat in themselves.

i.e. 4/10 or 8/10- when major bugs are resolved.

Having been a programmer for the past 7 years, i can only say that your terminology is wrong. These are not bugs, these are missing core features.

[mandalore9]

There are quite a few people defending ETW and they make a good point but praising the game and refusing to recognize obvious flaws wont help the game at all. By recognizing these flaws, it helps CA to stop making mistakes over and over and eventually actually pump out polished games.

Dont get me wrong i think ETW is awesome too, but i dont fool myself into thinking the game is flawless. Lets be real.

[helmersen]

Thats the worst review I ever read..

Buy it, try it or fry it? What kind of retarded human made up that gradescale?

[MyOwnSling]

These are not bugs, these are missing core features.

Heh, too true. But, to be fair, you don't really know whether or not the code for these features is in and just inhibited for one reason or another, which would make the issue a bug. To the end user, though, it's all the same; it's not working as it should be.

[kerowhacko]

Thats the worst review I ever read..

Buy it, try it or fry it? What kind of retarded human made up that gradescale?

I honestly was rather charmed by their simple way of doing it. No abstract percentages or anything that really mean nothing, but it's more of a raw look at someone as a consumer and his actual thoughts on it aside from the review itself.

It rocks, it blows and it's decent, might as well give it a shot and much more in line than 65% or 8.5 and whatnot.

Just me though.

[random_samurai]

I honestly was rather charmed by their simple way of doing it. No abstract percentages or anything that really mean nothing, but it's more of a raw look at someone as a consumer and his actual thoughts on it aside from the review itself.

It rocks, it blows and it's decent, might as well give it a shot and much more in line than 65% or 8.5 and whatnot.

Just me though.

I agree, I don't believe that the value of a game can be represented through any complex mathematical formula.

[Anbar]

Having been a programmer for the past 7 years, i can only say that your terminology is wrong. These are not bugs, these are missing core features.

I disagree - that would mean that the code was entirely absent - which it isnt.

It isnt working the way it is supposed to; therefore it is a bug.

(of course this would be a question to put to CA for the definitive answer, but we may all be dead by the time that happens, so we can agree to disagree)

Thats the worst review I ever read..

Buy it, try it or fry it? What kind of retarded human made up that gradescale?

I believe it's called being "humorous" - try it sometime; it's great fun.

[Multiball]

I don't understand CA/SEGA, the only thing they would need to do is let us know why the patch was postponed and when we can expect it. I can see people becoming very angry on various forums

well they dont need to tell you, its pretty obvious why any patch was delayed, because theres alot to fix and alot that can be broken (just look at the last patch) I'd rather they take time on the patch and make it right for as many people as possible, rather than release a patch that doesnt fix many problems because they're on a tight timeline...

[FinkPloyd]

Heh, too true. But, to be fair, you don't really know whether or not the code for these features is in and just inhibited for one reason or another, which would make the issue a bug. To the end user, though, it's all the same; it's not working as it should be.

There may be code to control the space shuttle in there mate, it dont count unless that code actually runs sometime.

[Xerces]

That review was not unbiased at all, its like someone from these forums who's had it in for the game all this time has written it... the best reviews are the ones around the 80mark on metacritic... Giant bomb for instance gave an unbiased review which was both positive about the good stuff, and critical about the bad stuff. Again I haven't had any crash bugs so apart from the naval invasions and the slightly passive AI I'd give it an 8 to an 8.5 in vannilla state. Ive already played it and enjoyed it for about 5-6 times more hours than any other game Ive bought in the last 12 months....

Couldn't agree more, which makes silly issues even more frustrating.

If as a reviewer you put a 4/10 for E:TW, you need some kind of "potential" notation to put it back up around 8/10 next to it. Can't really judge a game like the ones from TW series just based on "out of the box" stuff.

Hmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm. Can I say simply that most of us here WANT this game to ROCK. Why in gods name would we purchase a game with our money only to then slate it for no apparent reason??

First read this quote from the review: "It's easy enough to say "wait for the patch" or "wait for modders," both of which have dramatically improved Creative Assembly's previous games. I can only presume that will be the case here, at which point I look forward to seeing how Empire: Total War turns out. But we review the games we're given, not the games we wish they'll become. And right now, Empire: Total War is blunderingly stupid, relying on a handful of the same tricks, lots of shuffling and scooching, and long bouts of inaction."
And yet again if indeed YOU and many other are not having issues with the game, and LOVE it et al. Then why are you not busy playing it rather than being here critcising us for NOT being happy? Also IF you are indeed enjoying it, then good for you I am genuinely happy for you as you are having more fun than me and many others right now. Please remember that everyone has different opinions of what is good, what is bad and what is great. You are obviously more easily pleased than many of us here, which again is more of a benefit for both you than it is for any of us. I loved this review and it was the first time that I FELT (I said "I" not "you") that a review had got this game spot on. It will be improved like every other TW game has, but the quote from the reviewer (above) summed up what has been on the tip of my tongue for the last couple of weeks.

People will continue to criticise this game, and some will stop at points when they feel the game is good enough for them, but right now having been a MASSIVE fan of all TW games I was anticipating this game far more than others, not becuase of the time period (personally I prefer Medieval period) but becuase this I felt was about to be the masterpeice after 10 years of hard work from CA, but it has been a let down in a big way for ME, and this review basically said what I would have liked to post in these forums for the past week, but havent for fear of either being shot down in flames or being warned for creating another "rant" thread. Rights etc have nothing to do with it, but just as you are entitled to your opinion (and please dont mistake this as a criticism of your posts!) everyone else is entitled to theirs. And as I will say once more I am happy on the verge of being very envious of people like yourselves who are happy with ETW, becuase I like many others are simply not satisfied. But I am confident at some point I might be, which also should have no bearing or effect on your enjoyment either!

[Lord of the Isles]

The Review

I can't remember when, if ever, I read a game review that was this honest (and therefore useful). Sure, he is pretty critical of ETW but he also has many good things to say both about TW as a series and the potential of ETW. I wonder if a lot of the negative comments about the review are because we are all used to reading anodyne PR puff because the gaming press and publishing companies are so cosy together. So when we get a review that tells the truth it seems negative rather than fair.

Aside from honesty, he has clearly spent some time playing the game, unlike many reviewers (or if they have, they rarely seem to mention as many details). The stuff about tooltips, the lack of information about different bayonet types (their game effect, not historical info), the lack of info about whole subsystems in the game, etc.. all speak to me about someone who has spent some time actually playing it.

And in some ways, it is a good review: what if he'd been one of the many people who suffer CTDs or other gamebreaking problems for various reasons?

Other stuff

@ondaderthad - we need a savegame or screenshots where we can observe a naval invasion taking place. That's all. Just one would be really good. And I really do have an open mind; it might occasionally happen. Though I suspect sometimes at least it is the AI exchanging territories via diplomatic deals.

@Kewpur - you here and a few people elsewhere have made the point about earlier TW games having problems and how we seem to have forgotten that every time a new one comes out. It was only when someone posted an old summary of the horrible '2 patch policy' debacle from Activision days that I remembered just how bad things could be in the past. So I do take this point.

There are two things though. The first is personal: this is the first time I find the game unplayable - in the past I've been able to quickly fix, or roleplay my way around, or learn to live with the bugs. This time I get CTDs so I can't finish games, and even while playing a lot of the fun isn't there. The second is to do with a point the reviewer made: some of the ETW problems are perfectly livable with e.g. having to find and then manually delete save games. But they are just so embarrassingly amateur that you'd expect after 10 years of TW that there wouldn't be so many. There will always be some, sure, but so many this time....

[Anbar]

well they dont need to tell you, its pretty obvious why any patch was delayed,

It isnt obvious to me and it's rather worrying.

We are customers, so communication can legitimately be expected over concerns of the quality of product that we ahve purchased and which the company themselves stated they would patch early this week.

Games companies are not immune to simple PR and a couple of lines of information costs CA nothing.

NOT communicating probably will cost them something.

So "they dont need to tell you" is true, they don't, however....

[MyOwnSling]

There may be code to control the space shuttle in there mate, it dont count unless that code actually runs sometime.

Sure it does. It's a whole lot easier to fix if there is a simple issue inhibiting the desired behavior than it is to add a completely new component.

[Yojimbo]

I agree, I don't believe that the value of a game can be represented through any complex mathematical formula.

Agreed. Go to gamefaqs read some player reviews ans see if you like the crap sentance based reviews with sections or the essay style reviews that flow. I know which ones i write and like better. I have read and written many,mnay reviews and if you write well enough words speak louder than numbers.

[0ldboy]

Its a harsh review i think

[juxilor2]

Its a very good review

Seems like the situation is even worse on the official ETW forum.

WIth censur etc

[Whatacad]

The review is spot on. It's been quite amusing to see the thread post war on the official forum against the moderator highlanddave. So far it looks like one might stick around... "Sad but true" is the title. All others with references to this review were deleted within minutes.

Maybe we should all post a thread with this link over there and see what happens.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!