One would think that the history of warfare is filled with an endless array of spectacular and interesting military blunders.

As an eager young general waiting patiently for 'Empire: Total War' to install (it takes really long), I set about studying these military mishaps, certain that I would learn much from the experience.

Unfortunately, it seems that all of the military disasters of the past five hundred years boil down to only two lessons, both of which seem to be pretty obvious even without studying said battles: don't invade Russia in winter and don't be French.

Certain that I could add greatly to the oeuvre of military knowledge, or at the very least create more interesting stuff-ups than what I had read about, I embarked on my first Grand Campaign.

A ludicrously short amount of time later I had indeed learned two extra lessons that I could add to my growing understanding of all matters military: it's difficult to make interesting mistakes and the Very Hard setting is actually... rather hard. So, scaling back my ambition to Normal, I tried again.

Apart from the fact that your troops are now firing guns instead of wielding swords there aren't many obvious changes in 'Empire: Total War'. If you didn't enjoy any of the previous titles in the series, there isn't much here to change your mind. The heart and soul of the game remains its turn-based strategy component, and the core mechanics remain largely unchanged.

The 'Total War' series has never really rivalled the complexity of the 'Civilization' games, and 'Empire' doesn't seem keen to narrow that gap. In fact, it widens it in many respects. Micro-management has been streamlined in many places, and how involved you want to be in the finer aspects of empire-building is up to you.

Sometimes it is actually quite difficult to get involved in the smaller details, because so much gets done automatically that you won't even notice if you forget to do something.

While this will drive many strategy nuts crazy, for most people it's sure to be a relief. If you had to do everything yourself, a Grand Campaign would last longer than the hundred years it simulates, especially since the strategy part makes up only half of the game. The other half comprises of the huge real-time battles. These are as much fun as they have always been and, while you can still automatically resolve any skirmish with the click of a button, you'll find yourself increasingly reluctant to do that, especially now that naval battles have been added.

Land combat has been streamlined somewhat and your troops are now much easier to position and control, but the mechanics of land warfare are much the same as in previous games. It is with the addition of naval warfare — perhaps the biggest new feature of any 'Total War' game to date — that Empire truly shines.

A great deal of effort has been put into making you feel as if you are in total control of all your ships. Unlike with the land battles, where your preparation before engaging the enemy is often more important than any decision made during the fight, naval battles are won and lost with quick-thinking in the heat of battle. Do you use chain shot to try and take down a ship's mast or grape shot to get the widest possible range of fire? These kinds of decisions make all the difference.

The game is also at its most graphically impressive during sea-battles. The water effects are fantastic and the ships are beautifully detailed. That said though, the graphics overall are slightly disappointing considering a whole new engine was built for this game. It also takes a monster of a machine to get the most out of the graphics, such as they are, and I often found myself tweaking settings in order to get a decent frame rate.

Perhaps the biggest issue that plagues 'Empire: Total War' is its lacklustre AI. A patch at the time of writing does address some of these issues, but many still remain. Your troops often seem uncertain whether they feel like fighting at all, happily milling about with the enemy without actually harming them, and then just wandering off. At other times they simply refuse to obey any orders at all, and will stand idly by while their opponents shoot them in the gob at point-blank range.

Despite these irritations, it's hard not to love 'Empire: Total War'. It is by far the most impressive game the series has yet produced, and with its endless replayability it is great value for money. Just remember not to play as France.

8.3/10

Buy this game: PC

How to: Surf safe We show you how to protect your family from all sorts of unsavoury things while surfing the web.

Review: Madworld This Wii attempt to please hardcore gamers allows you to kill your enemy as violently as possible.

Cats vs. Dogs 2 Watch what happens when Rocky Pugboa steps into the ring in this video rumble in the jungle!