It’s more tactical and based on a system of morale. The real-time strategy is not in the vein of Command and Conquer where you throw hundreds of units at one another in a battle of attrition. It is one half real-time strategy and one half turn-based strategy. Napoleon Bonaparte just happens to be the vehicle to do so and luckily for us, Monsieur Bonaparte led an interesting and varied life.For those unfamiliar with Total War, Napoleon is based on the same engine as Empire and so doesn’t veer far from the model. It focuses on the best parts of Total War and showcases those.
In short, Napoleon is a more refined game than Empire was. Instead of dealing with decades of warfare, the turns are now in months, giving you more flexibility. Napoleon’s more structured campaigns and tighter turn limits give more urgency in the gameplay and I left it feeling with more sense of accomplishment. The initial games are always vast and unstructured, almost too ambitious. The concept of a follow up game always seems to happen with Creative Assembly’s releases.
Napoleon takes the global focus of the Empire Total War game and shrinks it down to the size of three campaigns and a dozen battles.
