Empire Total War is without a doubt the mecca of strategy gaming. It’s set in the 18th century, a time of colonial expansion, and technological breakthroughs. There are two main gameplay modes that are meshed together. The first is a turn-based campaign map where you can manage territories, make important economic and diplomatic choices, and assemble or move your armed forces. Those choices can have immediate or long lasting consequences. The second is a real-time tactical mode, where when pitted against an enemy, you are plunged onto a map containing hundreds to thousands of units for you to command. While on that topic, this game is the first of its series to give the player the ability to resolve naval battles in the tactical mode.

You may choose to play as one of the twelve main factions: Austria, France, Great Britain, the Marathas, the Ottoman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, or the United States. Beside these, there are nearly forty other minor factions within the actual campaign theaters. Empire Total War is by far the largest game geographically of its series, as there are three main theaters such as the Americas, Europe, and India, along with smaller theaters only accessible by sea.

If you are new to the series, the game is quite challenging to pick up as the tutorial is extremely light on detail, and information throughout the game can be hard to find. You must keep an eye on all your actions as there is not only war, but trade through diplomacy, piracy, and taking care of your own people, which at any moment could revolt against you. Multiplayer can increase difficulty greatly as you play the game as you would in single player, but against another strategically skilled brain. I highly recommend this to any strategy gamer, or gamers who enjoy the necessity to think in order to win, though this is definitely not for gamers that mainly enjoy first person shooters.

Rated T for teen due to alcohol reference, tobacco reference, blood, language, and violence