This game lacks of the more elemental logic and any kind of realism.
User Rating: 6.2 | Imperial Glory PC
This game is developed by a Spanish studio and i'm Spanish, so i was expecting a great game of my favorite age of the History (I think that the next total war game should be about Napoleonic wars), and... disapointing. Let's check what's wrong: -Ambition: Imperial Glory try to join the best of two worlds: the great battle system of Total War and the strategy of managing a country of Europa Universalis saga. This is a hard task, someday any studio willing to make a hard-work of gaming I+D will rewrite the terms of how a game works and should make the definitive strategy game. This is not Pyro, that have focused on nice graphics and good stetic. AS ALWAYS, this is main problem of the games of our time... we do not need better graphics, better 3D effects, and better tech to buy better and expensive hardware... we need better ideas, and this is really simple, like Shogun total war that understood that a real simulation of war can't be made with individual units coming from a factory on the battleground... just drop real battalions, and you'll get a revolution in the genre. Imperial Glory walks on the way that cloning a good idea has more market profits that making a new idea. Well, at least, make a good clone. -Strategy Map: Many factors and many simple: reseaching cost nothing but time and resources came from the land as well money do, i can`t change the taxes? what about the war economy? hum, believe you're a liberal King with open-mind ideas. Ok, all i´ve to do is wait or conquest more territories. I'm going to need help, let's look for an ally. WHAT? MONEY?, let's check this: i'm the powerful England and you're the humble Portugal, loosing an open war with France. I'm offering my armies, my support, and your only choice to save your country and you request money? and just for 5 turns?... so the alliances here are a mere question of money. Maybe on our century where the wars are economical, but in Imperial Glory if you want help, pay a bodyguard-country. I'll do it my way, i'm sending a new captain with 3 cannons to the coast of France, i've got 3 squadrons, and i want to regroup my armies, splitting them with my new cannons in two fronts for the next step. Good idea, but you can't. No free room? no way to change units between your leaders... this and many other factors are frustating, killing any kind of realism. -Ground Battles: HOLD THE LINE! HOLD THE LINEEE! this words are without doubt the favourite order off the squad leaders of the napoleonic era. If you loose the line, no way to mantain a battle order. In Imperial Glory, this single order, stand, or hold the ground, or whatever is not available. If your unit is shooting to a cavalry unit, that allways charge directly to your cannons, and if your unit is in front of your cannons, protecting it, just look how they go away making easier the enemy's work. Talking about lines, is impossible to set a single line with multiple units selected, if you click and drop on the ground the squads they form a strange zig-zag... but that doesn't matter because the bullets are very smart on only kills enemy units. You can fire with your own units in front of your, the bullets will go thru your men, so all you have to do is putting all together in a good position. Also you can trust your brave (hum, stupid) soldiers, without fear, will fight until the end of all ends. Friendly fire?no morale?... no way. -Sea battles: Finally i can fight with my vessels. The systems is easy, but the main problem here is that the ships can't fire by their own, and when you've got more than 3 units you'll be all time trying to locate them and trying to get them back. Meanwhile, the computer doesn't have that problems, he can manage all his boats in real time, and as you cannot give orders in pause, you'll get mad. Is fun to see how these ships of thousands of tons easily turns as a car (in Trafalgar, the turn-movement of the french-spanish army took half an hour) but you cannot set the speed, making them unable to govern. I'm being cruel but i have to. Single factors of logic destroys a good work on graphics, ambientation, detailed landscapes, uniform recreation and many other good things... the good point that i will like to see in many other games is the cruelty of the battles: is not easy to win without many casualties. In other games with one army and a good strategy you can smash the enemy with a realtion of 1 of your per 10 rival men lost (TotalWar). Here, without a good defensive position you'll have to pay the victory with many blood, making the war away from your home hard, and the conquest of countries the long-task it was, not a bliztkrieg. The final score is that's a pity to waste the work and the possibilities of this game for sinlge logic factors, possibily ignored to make the game more accesible to young people and giving it an arcade halo; if you want to do that, good, but please, don't sell it as the ultimate strategy game.
