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08-10-2008, 04:58 AM
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| eSoft.in Elite Member   Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Balkan
Posts: 209
|  Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion and Alexander invasion  Info: Reformats aside, Rome: Total War hasn't left our hard drives since the day it was released. Neither has the massive Barbarian Invasion expansion pack. When we heard that the gang at Creative Assembly were working on a second expansion for the game, focusing on the career of Alexander the Great, we were understandably excited. We've just spent the entire weekend playing through the new expansion and, while it's always good to get more Total War action, we were left wishing this latest offering had been a little more filled out. Still, for only fifteen bucks, it's hard to go wrong. At first, we weren't even sure this was a Total War expansion. It doesn't have the word "Invasion" anywhere in the title. While Alexander's fierce advance was every bit as impressive as those of the Mongols, Vikings and Germanic barbarians, it's less the story of an inevitable clash between two warring people as it is the story of the ambitions and achievements of Alexander himself. Where previous expansions have allowed players to take charge of one of a number of empires during a crucial moment of conflict, this expansion is strictly limited to Alexander's campaign against the Persians. Given the limited nature of the campaign, there are only four new civilizations here. The two heavy hitters are Alexander's Macedonians and Darius's Persians. Far to the east you'll discover the Indians and a variety of barbarians but they're really marginal powers that don't factor too heavily into the overall scheme of things. Continuing the trend started in Barbarian Invasion, Alexander will have to contend with plenty of unsettled rebel armies as well. The game starts after Philip's death and just as Alexander is poised to move against the Thebans. Once he manages to secure things in Greece, he'll be free to move against the Persians in the east. To win the campaign game, you'll have to capture thirty territories. Though you'll have to hold a few specific territories, capturing thirty territories is basically the same as capturing the whole map so you really won't have to worry too much about getting the right territories. You will however have to worry about achieving your goals within the 100-turn time limit. (Since Alexander's conquests lasted only 13 years, the game dispenses with the year-by-year system and just progresses turn-by-turn.) The campaign game is still dominated by city sieges but there seems to be much more fighting in the fields this time around. As Alexander's forces move east they'll encounter smaller garrisons supplemented by numerous enemy armies moving in between the cities. It's not infrequent to have to take out one or two armies before assaulting the city itself. Just as the real Alexander had to secure freshly conquered areas before moving on, so too will you have to determine what type of empire to leave in your wake. The danger of rebels is severe enough to make it worth considering putting cities to the sword when you take them. The extra cash you get for this definitely helps to boost Alexander's horrible economy. Since the invasion progresses along a single line of attack, you won't need to worry too much about building up the areas you've already conquered. Just leave a token garrison and push on. This approach means there's not a lot of room for strategic maneuvering but it also helps you build up a massive army of seasoned veterans who are capable of beating larger armies. The Alexander focus seems too narrow, in my opinion, as it really only tells the final chapter of the conflict between the Greeks and Persians. Where previous expansions have told the story of massive conflicts between different peoples, this one just tells the story of one single campaign during a much larger war. When you consider that the developers might have included the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian Wars, the single campaign featured here seems a little light. If nothing else, it would be cool to at least play as the Persians as they try to hold back Alexander's advance. In addition to the new campaign, the game includes a series of six historical battles showcasing key moments in Alexander's career, from his command of his father's cavalry at Chaeronea to his confrontation with the Indian king's elephants at Hydaspes. Each of the battles must be beaten in order to unlock the next, so you won't be able to jump straight to Gaugamela until you've beaten Issus. Though slightly limited in terms of scale, each of the battles here is true to the geography and force composition outlined in the history books. One cool new feature is the addition of tournament battles. They allow players to go online to play through these linked battles in order. (Well, all except Chaeronea, which was Philip's battle anyway.) Players can take on the first three, last three or all five battles in a one-on-one or two-on-two format. Whichever player or team wins the majority of battles is declared the winner of the tournament. While it requires a little more commitment in terms of time, these tournaments also provide a lot more context than the simple one-off battles of previous games. There are a few things that are just missing from the game. First off, there's no option for diplomacy. Given the nature of the conflict, it wouldn't make any sense for Alexander and Darius to be making nice with each other, so the option is completely cut out of the game. It also seems like the night battles and swimming options from Barbarian Invasion are gone as well. Though it's not a big loss, it's interesting that the features don't show up anywhere in the new expansion. The new units are pretty cool. The Macedonians specialize in heavy infantry and tons of cavalry but they lack ranged troops. The toughest horsemen in their roster are the powerful Companion Cavalry, seasoned riders who can punch through most enemy lines. Alexander himself leads a huge group of these cavalry into battle. Their infantry lines include numerous types of hoplites and skirmishers built around a core of hardy Phalangists. The Persians have a wide variety of troops, including the most powerful units in the game. The Phrygian mercenaries aren't quite as tough as the Macedonian Phalangists but they're more powerful on the attack than any other type of infantry in the game. The Persians also rely heavily on their Immortals, spearmen who can pull double duty as ranged attackers. The other two civilizations, the Indians and Barbarians, have much a more limited selection of troops. The Indian infantry are almost all exclusively ranged attackers with a few light cavalry units. Of course, they make up for their lack of variety by having units of elephants trampling all over the battlefield. The Barbarian side relies on loads and loads of light infantry. They're not entirely without tough units, however, and their deadly Sicklemen can go toe-to-toe with almost any other heavy infantry unit in the game. Graphics and sound haven't changed much since the last expansion. We've got slightly better graphics cards now, and the game's visuals have scaled up nicely. The new units are very nicely rendered with loads of cool touches. I particularly like the Boeotian helmets and leopard pelts on the Companion Cavalry. It seems like every unit has some nice little detail like that. Don't look for Alexander on store shelves any time soon. It's currently being offered only as a download off of SEGA's site. Closing Comments I'm always glad for an excuse to revisit Creative Assembly's Total War series and the Alexander expansion is definitely a welcome addition. The new units and the new campaign let players fight in one of the most celebrated campaigns in all of military history. As always, the gameplay and graphics really bring the experience to life. Still, the limited nature of the expansion keeps it from being a "must have" addition for those who aren't quite as hungry as I am for new Total War content. Containing none of the breadth of new units and new strategies that the Total War expansions have been known for, Alexander feels more like a mission pack. Thanfully, the fifteen-dollar price tag makes it a little easier to accept but, if you're like me, you'd rather have paid twice as much for content that would last a little longer. __________________________________________________ _________________ Installatie info: - Unpack - Mount w. DaemonTools - Copy Crack from gamefolder - Have Fun __________________________________________________ _________________ Download Links: Code:
Pass:
 Info: 1500 years ago, one of the greatest political and military powers the world had known collapsed under the weight of systemic invasions by a largely disorganized, technologically inferior group of people collectively known as barbarians. The term was originally just a way of saying "foreigner." The Greeks, who give us this term, apparently thought that the language of their neighbors sounded like "bar-bar-bar." Still, for most of us, the word barbarian conjures up images of the shaggy, ax-wielding northmen who came knocking at Rome's door all those centuries ago. With all that in mind, Barbarian Invasion makes a hell of a good title for the expansion that covers the fall of the Roman Empire. Unlike previous Total War expansions, the invasion here isn't speculative (as in the case of the Mongols) or exaggerated (as in the case of the Vikings). In this case, the Barbarians managed to demolish the political reality of a Roman Empire, at least in the West. Attentive readers will remember that I proclaimed Rome: Total War one of the best games I have ever played. More than a year later, I still hold that opinion. Though the campaign is a little oversimplified, it's really only there to provide a sense of context and continuity for the game's brilliant tactical battles. Given Creative Assembly's track record, we were pretty excited to get our hands on the inevitable expansion. So here we are, a year after the release of the original game, and we're holding a copy of Barbarian Invasion in our hot little hands. True to form, the expansion offers a wide range of new units and new factions. The Roman Empire has been split into two separate factions, one for Rome in the West and one for Constantinople in the East. Nearly a dozen playable barbarian factions populate the rest of the map, from the Saxons in the north to the Sassanids in the east. Some barbarian factions don't even have a starting territory at all. Instead they begin with a massive army and must capture a home. The barbarian tribes offer plenty of new units. The Celts can make use of morale-boosting druids or the nearly unbeatable, purple-skinned Hounds of Culann. The Romano-British tribes can field mighty Graal Knights or their own version of the Roman Legionnaire. In the east, players will find Hunnish horse archers, capable of forming the dreaded Cantabrian circle, a formation that has them spinning in circles as they fire on an enemy. The Vandals can make use of a wide variety of mounts as well, including a mounted version of the priest. While there are significant differences among the units for each faction, the barbarian tribes tend to run together after a while. Those in the west have great infantry; those in the east have great cavalry. It may be asking too much for there to be as great a variety among the new factions as there was in the core game, but there's still no escaping the fact that one barbarian faction seems a little bit too much like another. In (mostly) keeping with history, the barbarian tribes are highly mobile. If their last settlement is taken, the barbarians merely take the form of a massive army that ranges across the land looking for a new home. Though this is relatively okay from a historical accuracy standpoint, it can create some problems with the actual play of the game. The Huns are an excellent case in point. Since they begin without any settlement, and with a sizeable army, it's damn hard to check their advance through Europe. The designers have made it so that once they settle down their entire army disbands but it's all too easy to make your way straight to the gates of Rome, knock them down and make with the pillaging. Since none of the rival factions want to contend with an army that large, the landless armies can pretty much have their run of the map. One final note about the campaign: The actual map hasn't changed at all in terms of size or focus. While it might have been nice to see a bit more of the northern edge of things, the gang at Creative Assembly have been content merely to redraw some of the political boundaries to fit the new barbarian campaign. The campaign map is still as beautiful as ever with loads of cool geographic features. Given the way the map is rendered, the majority of your fights will still take place outside the walls of cities. Speaking of city fights, the new expansion makes more use of the issue of revolts for the Romans. Keeping the peace seems much harder this time around and you're bound to face rebellions left and right, particularly if your empire starts to get too big. Leave the rebellions alone for too long, and you may even find that part of your empire splits off and turns against you. The concept of religion also plays a new role in the game. Each city and commander has their own religious preferences and you'll need to make sure to match them up appropriately. Certain retainers and certain buildings can help speed up the process of religious conversion as well. The new night battles are pretty much just a visual treat. Seeing tattooed Germans or Franks come pouring out of a dark forest or watching your onagers fling flaming missiles at an enemy formation is even cooler at night. That the flames light up the area around them is a nice treat as well. I'd love to have seen night carry some sort of tactical consequence with it. When you join a night battle and find that line of sight or command and control aren't affected, it kind of undercuts the game's realism. The one area in which the night battles are strategically significant: Commanders who aren't competent enough to launch night battles themselves will fight at a disadvantage when night battles are forced on them. Admittedly, this is kind of a minor point, but it does come into play. Swimming is another new option and one with a little more tactical application. Most of the lightly armed units (and some of the cavalry) can now cross rivers at any point. The only hitch is that unit are very vulnerable while crossing and tend to be kind of tired once they reach the other side. (You try swimming in a linen cuirass.) While it allows you to get around the flanks of an enemy, it's pretty much suicide against a prepared enemy who knows you're coming. Graphically, the game looks pretty much the same. You'll find that the new night battles are a nice change of pace but beyond the cool lighting effects, the game is largely unchanged. Still, the new lighting is quite amazing. Seeing the torches of your enemy in the distance really helps to get you in the mood for the action to come. Closing Comments For fans of Rome: Total War, Barbarian Invasion is a sure bet. It offers more factions, more units and a couple of cosmetic touches that will be sure to have you falling in love all over again. Purists will lament some of the liberties taken with the history, but this is a game after all, and we're willing to forgive some of the inconsistencies as "artistic license." What is less easy to look past is the relatively homogenous nature of the barbarian factions. While there are some key differences between those in the east and those in the west, it feels like so many variations on a theme. Nevertheless, Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion is a must-have addition for anyone who wants to extend the options of the core game. __________________________________________________ _________________ Installatie Info: - Unpack - Mount w. DaemonTools - Copy Crack from gamefolder - Have Fun __________________________________________________ _________________ Download Links: Code:
Pass: de.lion
__________________  Last edited by Ashu; 10-10-2008 at 04:30 AM. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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