Based on first impressions.

I purchased E:TW yesterday, the Special Forces pack (got the last copy, wohoo!) and throughly installed it today on my computer. Not a very fast computer, but I can run it on low and even on low the campaign map looks good. Installed it, it was already patched to version 1.5, but I got a small surprise from the start...

The special edition now has three extra units to add to the game once you activate it on Steam. The units that are available in the Special Forces pack for those who have the normal version.


Anyways, I loaded it up, and started a Hard/Medium campaign with the English. First impression? Campaign map looks amazing, I love the three different theatres of war plus extra trade opportunities. I was amazed by the depth of the game - buildings, troops, government... My favourite ones are trade and technology though. Since I was playing as the English, trade was pretty important and it's not that hard to make some cash in the beginning, since London gives you so much money in your treasury. Loyalty is quite hard to maintain, and you need to constantly improve your city in order to avoid any revolts and such.

I developed my farms and coal works in the countryside, and some minor additions to my cities, taxation a bit high (I like the separate option) and worked some trade deals.

Played a battle, didn't expect much since it was everything on low (sprites looks horrible on low...) but it had a good flow. It felt kinda sketchy, as a typical Total War battle - two lines, each other attack, no flanking maneouvres, nothing... I was on Medium, so I can't expect much. And it was against the Inuits, in the north of Canada.

You go to war quite often it seems. I'm against almost the whole of Europe, Prussia even attacked my London trading port and made it shambles, but otherwise nobody else attacked me in the first 12 turns that I have played. This enabled me to build up my Empire, strengthen my borders and train some more troops, and hopefully the following 10 turns will be the same while I build up my treasury reserves.

Bugs wise? So far so good. Stability is excellent, loading times are ok, no CTD's yet and I can't wait to discover the extra unit pack that I have included in my edition.

Overall, I haven't explored much but I am definitely liking the game and I am impressed by the effort CA made overall. Score, I would say something along a 9 strongly going towards 9.5 because of the depth and content in the game. Downloadable packs definitely add to the mix, as I think they contribute to the overall gameplay. And they are reasonably priced, at 3, 4 euros. That's like, what, 5 half-litre bottles of water?


I'm not a fanboy, I'm not sucking up to CA. Got nothing to gain from it. But perhaps I was too impressed by some aspects. When I throughly play it, especially after finishing a VH/VH campaign, I will give the final review for the game.