The first gameplay footage for Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War came out today, showing naval combat. The video looks really promising -- there has not been many games featuring naval combat from this era ( Pirates! comes to mind) in this much detail. Your A.I crew will board enemy vessels, get blasted out of crows' nests, and fire many the barrage of grape shot at enemy ships.
Besides naval warfare, this fifth game in the turned based and real-time combat themed historical strategy series Total War gains a number of new features, including a series-first 'tech-tree' and gains made in the regular departments, like graphics and AI. The diplomacy model for the game is also seeing an enhancement. Creative Assembly promises that your enemies will be a bit craftier this time around.
Empire: Total War takes place in the 18th century. Back then, revolution, international trade and colonizing foreign countries was all the rage in Europe, while the rebellious Founding Fathers were just getting the ball rolling on the whole United States of America thing here in North America. Like all centuries, there was a bunch of wars going on -- definitely enough to base a strategy game on.
Previous entries in the Total War series include Shogun: Total War, Medieval: Total War, Rome: Total War, and Medieval II: Total War.
Empire: Total War is coming in the first week of February.
