so what is the game like ?

[timelord]

HI all
I gather the game is out and down loading as we speak? what i would like to know is how dos it paly now ?,is it all working ok?,
the reason i am asking is that a few of use want to buy the game ,but we would like a gamers Review so we can go ahead and order or copy...waited so long for this game .
All the best
Darren

[CountArach]

In a word: Incredible.

It truly is just about everything I had dreamed of. The immersion is fantastic, the AI is very smart, the combat engine seems to work nicely, and best of all - if you deserve to lose, you will. What specifically do you want to know about? You will not regret buying this game.

There are a few bugs but they are being worked through and none of them are truly major ones. A patch should also be coming soon - this is (finally) a developer who truly cares about his creation and will seemingly go to any length to fix it.

[nix]

Try the demo,...i think demo 2 will be released generally soon and that fixed some bugs particularly if you are Vista or windows 7. user. If you are Windows XP user you get a good idea of how the battles play from the demo1: good and bad points...but you cannot save them ( though you can pause them while you do essential tasks, and the program is stable enough to do this- i left it paused for a few hours without problem) and you can play them back as a video and study them from multiple viewpoints...Demo 1 only has one big battle while demo 2 has 3 and the tutorial info is improved in demo 2 and you get the doctrine editor to play with. The forum discussions cover many of the issues that have come up so far. Nobody (except the beta testers) yet has played multiplayer so the comments are mainly on solo play from the demos. The full program which i just downloaded looks good - 12 large battles on maps ranging over 3 sizes: 10 Km x 7 Km, 15 x 11Km and one 30 x 22 Km  (the latter involving 183,106 french vs 167,428 coalition forces!). There are 12 preset OoB for french and 12 for coalition (so 144 possible combinations before you start making up your own with the editor).  I havn't yet had time to explore the 3 editors for map making , OoB and doctrine editing.  It is huge and will have a loyal following for a long time and has on going improvements from the developer. The digital download is easy ( full program 323Mb! which tells you something about how well it is written)

[HarryInk]

As it's the first week of school, I have only had a few evening hours to fiddle with the game, just getting my toes wet, but it is incredible and I can't imagine anywhere else that you'll get anything like this value for your money.  As written above, it's not perfect but it is lightyears beyond most other dross and has a loyal following and (VERY importantly) designer (ie. it will not become abandonedware).

I'm finding that, alas, I do have to read the manual a bit.  I think that attests to the game's sincerity, really.  And it's individuality.  It's not just a copy of other things.  It's not Total War in any shape or size.  It's so far beyond HPS games that comparing them provokes a gallic pout to wit 'what's the point!'.

I've been waiting for something like this for 20 years and am thrilled that it's living up to a lot of my fantasies and exceeding them consistently!   Last night I was chuffed to see a russian battery deployed with 6 guns to the fore and 3 refused on either side to repel cavalry.  I've never heard of that before but it seems so sensible given the combat experience of Russians vs the turks, etc.  What depth of research and knowledge!  Moreover, I've witnessed forum discussions involving JMM and see that he listens to experienced constructive criticism.

I am fully utterly satisfied that my Napoleon's Edition is worth every cent!

[Petrus58]

I completely agree with the above posts.  There are some bugs but they are minor and will be fixed. And in addition what we see now is not the end product in terms of development. I played tabletop Napoleonics for over 20 years, including some very large battles, but nothing comes remotely close to this!

[FinnN]

The game is pretty good as it stands. The general approach (attempting to accurately represent high level command rather than representing it by directly controlling lots of lower level structures) is something which hasn't really been seen for a very long time in computer wargaming. Although the opponent AI isn't too hot at the moment it's still ahead of what you'll find in most games and there's genuine skill and thought required in mounting an effective and coordinated attack.

The graphics are fairly basic, both the 2D screens and the 3D but they do the job. You can improve them quite a bit in the 3D view by forcing settings in the graphics drivers (e.g. anti-aliasing). Hopefully we'll see some mods or improvements from JMM eventually.

The only thing I really think is missing right now is some small scenarios. It's great to have a sizable selection of battles like Wagram, Austerlitz and Borodino but they're too big to learn coordinated actions comfortably. A full range of editors is in the game though so maybe we'll see more soon.


If the game continues to be supported and developed as it has been since the first demo came out then it won't take too long before it becomes a real classic. Right now I'd rate it 8/10 with the possibility of it reaching 10/10 within a few months.

Have fun
Finn