It's an ancient concept, but names have power. When you mention a certain name, depending on reputation, certain feelings are evoked. Even today, the name of Attila the Hun conjures up images of rampaging marauders and ravaged lands, of burning cities and blood-soaked battlefields where proud and foolish armies dared to challenge the nomadic king known to the dying Roman Empire as “The Scourge of God.” Now, The Creative Assembly brings the last days of Rome and the rise of the barbarians to life with Total War: Attila.
Fans of the Total War series will likely find things they like and things they don't in this latest instalment. There's always been elements which get introduced or cut which provoke strong reactions from the fanbase. For some, the return of the Family Tree mechanic will be welcome, but some might dislike the way that it has been implemented. For others, the loss of traditions from Rome II might be offset by the personal items that a general can carry into battle with him. What hasn't changed, almost literally from the start of the series, is the gut stabbing, throat slashing, skull crushing level of difficulty. Despite the labels you might see, there is no “easy” mode for this game. There's only deceptively named levels of relative pain. It takes a special kind of masochist to play a game in this series, and Attila is no different.
The good and truly thrilling part of Attila is the real-time combat.
As with the more recent entries such as Shogun II and Empire, you have not just highly detailed battlefields, you have highly detailed troops. Units don't look like hordes of faceless stormtroopers to casually throw into the meat grinder, they look like collections of men with various backgrounds united under a common banner. Horses look like they came from several different herds, not just one stock skin; arrow volleys cloud the sky, dust and smoke rise up from skirmishes and burning buildings, bodies litter the ground along with discarded weapons and broken siege engines; even the time of day and the time of year modifies the field of battle, from snow to rain to bright sunny days.
Truly, this particular title is part of the Total War series.
This means that you have beautifully detailed units, which aren't always making their way to the slaughter quite how you want them to go. AI and pathing have always been problems in the series, but this entry isn't quite so bad. It is, however, far from perfect. Micromanagement of units isn't quite a constant activity, but you'll definitely feel like you're doing more shepherding of your units than laying waste to the enemy ranks.
While the tactical element of the game is beautifully rendered, the strategic element seems to have become a bigger kludge than before. Taking control of a faction great or small, you are presented with a great deal of options on how to develop your provinces and their capitol cities, how to manage your family tree, whom to promote, whom to assassinate, whether or not to adopt that little bastard you sired on some camp wench while your wife may or may not have been with you...
And all of it is about as dense and convoluted as the lead pipes of the Roman plumbing system.
You receive objectives which you try desperately to achieve and far too often fail to even come close to meeting. Once you've muddled your way through moving generals around, raising armies, and maybe starting a couple wars of conquest, you then have to sit through every other AI faction taking their turn, and probably doing so in a more coherent fashion than yourself.
So, what to make of Attila? It is definitely a game for grognards, and hardcore grognards at that. This particular entry is strangely a little more enticing for the newcomer, particularly after Shogun II, but it's not the sort of thing that you can drop in and play a quick round, even when you're skipping the strategic elements and going to the recreations of historic battles. It requires a degree of tenacity and discipline that goes beyond the simple Zerg rush. If you can put in the time, and have a particular bent for the sort of grand warfare the series features so prominently, you may find Total War: Attila to be a welcome challenge. Just don't expect any mercy from the Scourge of God, for you will receive none.
- Axel Cushing
The Good:
- Excellent unit detail and variety
- Well designed historical scenarios
The Bad:
- Unit AI sometimes needs close attending
- Poorly displayed strategic information
- Cumbersome and contrarian UI outside of tactical battle
