Recent reviews by Sharpe

If warcraft 3 is mashed up together age of mythology you basically get this game. Combat can be quite hero focused with each hero representing a sub faction for their respective race with their own unique. As an example, one god has no access to healers while the other has no higher mythic units to call upon but can convert others.

Overall, a really solid base to stand on and hopefully they expand with more heroes for more playstyles..

There's a great foundation which also uses (foundation's) territorial system here but some stuff is lacking per say , pacing is tacky and some stuff is just weird.

Pro's - Unique systems and charming laid back art direction its super charming + relaxing. There's lots of potential here (hopefully it delivers)

Con's - pacing is tacky - to put it mildly the concept is there for food and gold etc. which are kinda basic , but the timing and cost of it encourages a super slow play style which might not be for everyone.

Desirability - buildings have upkeep and certain heavier industries give or reduce desirability/beauty of a certain spot. Having high desirability increases happiness of the housing in the area- leading to a faster immigration rate i think at least) but really don't affect anything besides that so far.

Cost- The cost of buildings lends to its slow play style , buildings are pricey at the start and taxes are fixed, ie the initial farm of vegetables cost you 225 gold for the max of 40 fields, a single homestead for 3 peasants (2 workers) costs about 55 gold , with a ratio of 2-3 peasant houses giving enough cash to reach double digits + support the upkeep of one building that needs it.


Food- It aint fully there yet, (fish comes in the future updates it says) + each food type gives its own number of food needs fulfilled . I.e wheat requires 2 processes to become bread - but has about double the food fulfillment compared to vegetables which don't need any processes to be used. The main problem is the ratio of the wheat products - you need 2 or 3 wheat units for one unit of flour, but 4 flour for 1 unit of bread, or just 4 units of wheat for pork (requiring a herd), this means essentially a super high scaling cost of a 1000 or more to get it to a stable supply for the next tier of citizens .

This really should be an optional dlc given for free for most of the titles to be honest. I get the ratings argument for more sales but really its been going on really long.

Its not bad overall though in the campaign executions when a battle is won/lost there's a bit of a variety with executions but still a horrible dlc practice on this one.

Divine powers, monster hunts, monstrous units all add a flare to the game and the campaign, they spice it up quite a bit from the base game giving you more specialist units and more freedom with how you want to play. The units here though besides the gargantuan units generally feel lackluster graphics wise though, but are real fun campaign wise

It is pricey though, either wait for sale or get it while waiting for warhammer 3, its something to bide the time with

I really like the game's setting , aesthetics and music, its really enjoyable but even then i recommend getting this only on sale. There's some major flaws that result in a tiring and grindy mid - end game campaign

The concept and structure is there, with each faction playing completely differently due to mechanics unique to them and rosters specific to them. A campaign as Odysseus will play completely differently than Menelaus due to campaign story/choices and faction mechanics.

Resources are a new thing for this entry too, restricting you somewhat but at least giving you something more to manage besides growth, pop and money, lacking bronze and gold for example means you'll be fielding few if not no armored/mythic units. Influence is also another mechanic, allowing you to reap more resources in high influence zones.

Gods are a nice touch, allowing specialization or generalization, they generally help a specific unit type and provide either a unique unit at the end or an epic agent at the highest tier of favor, combine this with specific buildings and with enough time you can really make a nice doom stack of melee specialists or ranged units with drastically more ammunition.

The AI is a mixed bag, the battle ai does try to overwhelm you, but there's nothing special most of the time. The campaign AI is, horrendous with the current patch overall, it becomes a nasty tug of war with no concern for attrition over the seas, most of the time you'll be bogged down by any faction that isn't a pillar making it a home conquest first - its safer to make a damned land route to Troy or just outright conquering through Crete and making your way from the south.

Combat is to put it mildly, lackluster and by far the weakest in this total war, charges sometime lack impact, no formations for infantry units and most of the time it boils down to a grind fest at one to two points in a siege where the AI usually just tries to overpower you.

Overall - a mediocre remaster- bringing Rome Total War to the modern total war era, with easy to see armies, agents and city list, a tactical top down map option and easy to do ancillary transfers, topped off with new textures, some stat balancing and best of all steam workshop integration.

The cherry on top of this is that buying this comes with the babarian invasion and alexander expansions/campaigns.

Sadly well, the AI issues persist through campaigns and battles , there are bugs at times, the borderless window option is a bit buggy, the textures do clash at some points and the UI can be non intuitive to alot of people.

Buy it on sale, or if you're a nostalgia addict missing the old feel of rome total war

As a total war game , the title is more akin to warhammer in terms of combat as its more gamey and the generals play an extreme role here. Having a commander or strategist basically allow you to use formations once they level up enough.
As a 3 kingdoms title , its...somewhat lacking i guess, some events wont proc at times and you can only go so far with story instances but the generals as mentioned take a center role, some can really make or break a battle ( Zhang Fei in vanilla is beyond nasty)

Campaigns available as of right now are
1) Aftermath of the coalition against Dong Zhuo (the default campaign)
2) Mandate of Heaven - basically the prologue - leading up to the yellow turban rebellion
3) A world betrayed - where the big DONG and Sun Jian is dead
4) Eight princes - another civil war , but with less characters overall , post three kingdoms

Major DLC's to note are - the yellow turban rebellion, and the furious wild (adding nanman tribes - meng huo's people as playable)

Con/Gripes - there's not much mentions of updates and there's still some major story campaigns lacking like the battle of chibi, Liu Be getting Shu- Han , or even a Three Kingdoms Campaign yet.

* a custom campaign mode would be nice , like dynasty warriors i guess - that can enhance the longevity maybe.

Got to the New game +
So the game is a colony sim, with a few twist of its own

Pros
Offspring (people grow old, but the colony can get new migrants or have children. There's ghosts? but well there's a whole questline there)
Construction - probably the strongest part of the game, the choices you have are amazing and you can build multistory buildings.
Combat - a mixed bag, it boils down to who has the better gear, there are fortifications but...well its a mixed bag there.
Masterpieces - RNG heavy, and the whole thing is based off a colonists whims/inspiration, quite powerful but very situational and the aoe is..SMALL
NEW GAME + - get a ship , pick your colonist to set off to a new island , each time you do this you carry over all the tech you've researched
Issues
Resource limitations, especially food. Colonist will demand campfire food and baked/kitchen food later on. The only issue is that by the time you reach to that stage you'll prolly never run out of food, if it's harvested it doesnt spoil.

Pathfinding - the AI gets stuck at times and can even get stuck in their own buildings through construction

**** Goblins are goblins - they multiply quickly. In event of war. purge the tribe and then burn the whole town down.

Troops
Classes
Replayability
Freedom

All in a giant cluster♥♥♥♥ of a top down RPG, some mechanics may take awhile to learn but there; a great game here and heck , there's even mod support.

Think of it...like a 2d RUST, but the land grab is much more important as certain resources spawn in certain locations.

Combat though can be a mixed bag.. it's heavily item dependent and weapon tier will factor a lot + aiming is point + click like an isometric loot/shoot

It is possible solo but you'll take forever.
** Drugs + items really play a more pivotal roll here. There's vehicles too but unless you put a huge time sink like rust (at least there you can outplay and do more) it'll be hard to progress..