Rock, Paper, Shotgun

UPDATE: Trailer posted south of here.
Sega send word that they will be releasing a new mini-expansion for Empire: Total War, which should allow you to forge an entertaining alternative history for the US, to be delivered on Steam. It’s a North American campaign that will feature some new native North American playable factions. Sega tell us that a new “Campaign Map expands the Empire: Total War experience, with 5 brand new American Indian factions, new units and technologies.” And that means Shaman and Scout agents to fill out the NPC ranks, and support for multiplayer with these armies. Warpath will cost £5.99/ €6.99 and be out some time in October. There’s also a new patch for the game tomorrow, 1.4, which “fixes some minor issues” and delivers two new historical battles: the Battle of Rossbach and the Battle of Fontenoy.
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Sadly, there’s no room for a “Aren’t You A Little Short For A Dictator?” gag in the subject line. C’est la vie, as Napoleon might have said with a Gallic flourish. News breaks from the European Land-Mass Videogameisual Show that – as perhaps expected – Creative Assembly are adding using the tiny tyrant as their next step on from Empire: Total War. CA’s interview with IGN is about the only information in the public sphere which isn’t in the press release, their site gubbins or the trailer. You’ll find all of them, for your convenience, beneath the cut.
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Tom “Tom Bramwell” Bramwell of Eurogamer messages me to ask if I can mention the Creative Assembly Live Interview they’re doing at 4pm GMT today (i.e. 11am EST). I say yes, because I like the money Tom gives me. My loyalty is only bought by cold hard cash. That’s right – you heard. It’s a free for all. Whoever sends the largest wedge gets a 10/10 no question asked.

Anyway, while we wait for my SHIELD-strike-squad-esque retirement fund to arrive, you should consider trundling along to EG to quiz Creative Assembly’s Kieran Brigden on all things Total War. Be mean. It’s for their own good. Or alternatively, ask him about terrain.

My review of Empire: Total War has just gone live over at Eurogamer. I have to run to catch a train, so a quick link is all you’re getting for now. Expect RPS’ Wot I Think from Mr Stone early next week

Pawing through the dusty tomes of the RPS archive, it seems our selective history-making does not encompass a real-time strategy game going under the name of Stormrise. This is odd for two reasons. Firstly, because apocalypse-fiction RTSes tend to make us go ‘ooh’ and tremble slightly, like a baby deer in love. Secondly, because it’s made by the Creative Assembly – as in the Total War folks. How did we miss this one? It’s the hose again for us.
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More and more Empire news is turning up. Earlier in the week we heard that the multiplayer would feature a campaign mode for the first time, but there’s also a trailer for a secondary, introductory single player game mode called Road To Independence. It’s something like the the Alexander campaign, a limited scope campaign allowing players to play through the War Of Independence in the US, and fight off the dastardly British. Aiming for the US market, eh chaps? The trailer for said mode is after the jump.
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A post over on the Sega UK site reveals that the multiplayer for Empire: Total War will be released after the main game, free to purchasers of the main game. There will be a testing period and “an opportunity to participate in the 1 versus 1 multiplayer campaign mode beta will be made available to all Empire Total War buyers post release.”

A multiplayer campaign mode. Interesting. This might well be related to the one month delay of the game: it will now appear in March.

This latest trailer for Creative Assembly’s 18th-century strategise ‘em up shows off the fancy new campaign map, where your turn-based exploits are now even more intricate that ever. The footage shows off the increased depth of empire-building, with trade-routes, politicking, resource-controls, and your murderous agent fellows. If intrigued, why not read our interview with the lead designer chap?
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Not all empires are built in intergalactic space, you know. Some are built in history, and that’s the subject of this latest interview: matters pertaining to the latest strategic behemoth from the British studio, Creative Assembly. We chart some of the major differences between this and previous games, with particular attention paid to the turn-based campaign map and the radical changes brought about by the new game’s battle engine. Crucially, Empire: Total War drags the Total War series a couple of centuries closer to the modern age. The 18th century setting is one of ranked, musket-heavy land armies, rip-roaring sea battles, complex revolutionary politics, and colonial ambition. It’s these two elements, as well as a desire to reflect some of the social changes (hiring generals rather than relying on hereditary feudal heirs, for example) of the 18th century, that motivate the designs implemented by Creative Assembly’s lead on the project, James Russell. We were lucky enough to be able to put some questions to Russell. You can read his rather detailed responses below.
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Oh boy, this is the big one for strategy types. The land battles trailer for Empire: Total War shows those 18th century musketeers in action, with the ultra-detailed new battle maps that allow proper use of terrain, and of buildings. The game is coming up in February 2009 and I’m already writing off most of the month’s potential productivity… We should have more detailed info on the game for you soon.

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