Managing your cities, technology, and diplomatic relations is as straightforward as past Total War games. In contrast to the disappointing AI, the overarching campaign is more successful.
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Occasionally, a battle would be gripping and tense as I made full use of the diverse units and abilities I had at my disposal - but these were rare. Battles turn into a large, chaotic scrum that are easy to take advantage of as a result because the AI rarely reacted to what I was doing after its units were engaged. Across several difficulties, I found that the AI all too frequently abandons all thought once an enemy unit is near them, launching soldiers in large clumps that are all too easy to break down provided you have a decent army. Long a marker by which Total War games thrive or falter, Troy’s AI is responsive and uses proper strategy until the moment battles begin. Considering that flanking also plays a much larger role in shutting down enemy units if used successfully, the maps create greater tactical variety than would otherwise be possible with the infantry focused armies. That means that large stone formations can be used to create chokepoints, muddy ground can be used to slow down enemy armies, and tall grass can be used to hide a pack of skirmishers. The same can also be said for the maps, which feature a larger amount of natural obstacles than I remember seeing in past games. This is interesting in theory, and I want to see Creative Assembly explore this route in future games if they decide to take lessons from Troy and apply them elsewhere. For example, one unit can switch to javelins to throw at advancing soldiers before switching back to a sword and shield just as the enemy gets within melee distance. More than just a block of people with a certain weapon type, many units have a wide array of abilities that allow them to hide or switch out weapons.
Units range from heavily armored and shielded spearman who excel at holding a position, to lightly swordsman who suspiciously feel as though they are as fast as horses and can flank easily, to a bunch of men wielding nothing more than a club. Infantry are categorized into light, medium, and heavy, with multiple types of units in each that offer a wide variety of strategic possibilities. This would normally upend how one goes about engaging in war, but Troy instead opts to make infantry units more diverse than they’ve ever been before. In other words, no cavalry apart from chariots. And as familiar as this may be, Troy’s status as the earliest time period that a Total War game has been set in makes it more compelling in ways I didn’t anticipate.įor one, Bronze Age civilizations have not yet discovered the art of breeding warhorses that can carry armored soldiers to war. Regardless, Troy features the same mix of strategic management of your kingdom on a map and real-time tactical battles that can be found in any other entry in the franchise. Picking one of eight factions, of which there are four per side, you must conquer the world in either classic Total War style or through following a Homeric journey that sees your chosen leader embark on an epic quest.
Total War Saga: Troy – Review Screenshot Provided by Creative Assembly/Sega
The Aegean Sea is depicted as a Bronze Age cradle of civilization where most buildings are rudimentary huts, where heroes like Achilles are not superhuman but merely powerful warriors, and where the Minotaur is not a half-man, half-bull, but simply a large human wearing a bull’s skull on his head. But whereas Total War: Three Kingdoms can be described as reality viewed through myth, Troy is myth viewed through reality. And while the latest, Total War Saga: Troy, does contain a few interesting turns on the franchise’s formula, it’s Total War’s all too familiar trappings that win out and hold back what is otherwise a fascinating game.Īs the name suggests, Total War Saga: Troyis set in the mythical war between the Greeks and Trojans made famous in Homer’s Iliad. Total War Saga’s are, in theory, meant to be more contained and experimental in comparison to the likes of Creative Assembly’s major historical titles or its take on Warhammer Fantasy. Gameplay improvements are incremental with each new entry, as old problems never quite go away and new ones arise and fall with each cycle.
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Total War has become a series that, despite widely disparate settings, rarely shakes up its formula.