14 DAY TRIAL // 
Any good battle opens with a cannonade. The key decision is whether to aim the fire at the artillery pieces of the enemy or whether to try and share their infantry units, destroying their cohesion and sapping their morale. Next, the two battle lines close, looking for geography features that can offer a local advantage and stretching to make sure that the enemy cannot envelop the flanks. Then, there's the cavalry, moving around, feigning assaults and flank moves.
As the lines close, lighter infantry might filter through, capturing strategic buildings to provide a strong point on which to anchor the line or going to the woods to cover their movement.
As the lines clash hard, generals boost the morale of those closer to them and make their decisive troop commitments. It's likely at this moment that battles are decided. I launch my main thrust on the fight, neglect my left and see my line being rolled up. I launch my attack on the center, back it up with cannon fire and a general's support, break through and then take out the two wings of the enemy separately.
I try to envelop on both flanks, while weakening my center, I destroy a counterattack with close range grape shot and see the enemy flee the field. These are the kinds of experiences that Napoleon: Total War can offer and this only talking about the tactical combat. There's also a strategic layer to the game experience, which involves management of limited resources and a bit of research into making armies more effective.
Of course, all is not rose-colored in Napoleon. It inherits much of the underlying framework of Empire: Total War, including a certain coldness of the interface and interaction, which makes the game seem somehow removed from the actual historical period it tries to depict. The move to the Napoleonic theme helps a little in this regard, with the tighter focus and more recognizable names for some generals and gentlemen bringing in some of the atmosphere of the Republican and then Imperial France.
Gameplay
Not much has changed from Empire: Total War. The impression is that the Artificial Intelligence is more capable on the battlefield. It maintains a cohesive line as it goes forward and moves cavalry to the flanks for fast blows. It can also quickly concentrate artillery fire on exposed units to shatter their morale and I've never seen a general doing anything remotely suicidal yet. A human player with a good understanding of the way Napoleonic warfare works can make short work of it, of course, but it's hard to see how such a complex tactical combat system could ever be completely understood and exploited by the computer.
The great news is that players can now enjoy the feeling of going up against another human even in the single player campaign. A simple tick box in the Options allows for other players, though Steam, to take control of the enemy side. It's a bit tricky because the different skill of the players might lead to some interesting results and some might end up turning off the feature for good but it actually injects Napoleon: Total War with some unpredictability, which is quite welcomed.
The game offers quite a bit of content. There are two smaller campaigns, one modeled on the North Italian campaign where the French diminutive general initially proved his mettle and another centered on his ultimately overambitious Egyptian expedition. They have clearly delimited goals, tough enemies, especially as they near their end and cover a limited time frame. Interestingly, the player needs to mimic some of the moves Napoleon himself made in order to triumph.
Taking part in them unlocks a full campaign, where the goal is to control Europe as the French troops, fighting the Austrians, the British and the Russians trying to destroy the Republic and allowing for more complex interactions with a host of smaller powers. There's also access to the individual Battle of Waterloo, which I found to be a little too easy. The overall campaign A.I. is a bit disappointing, with the enemy often keeping huge stacks near its capital when it's not threatened in any way and with the British not engaging in any significant naval assault on the poorly defended beaches of France.
There are also historical battles to sample, in single player or in multiplayer, and a chance to take charge of one of the powers that opposed Napoleon and see how quickly you can get to Paris, take it and then imprison the entire Bonaparte family to some distant island somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
Graphics and audio
As soldiers march down the battlefield getting shredded by cannon and musket fire, one of the most important things is to keep up that uplifting music playing in the background. It's actually a nice commentary on the way warfare works, with ideas like patriotism and glory leading people to walk to their deaths.
The game looks very good even with the graphics options set nowhere close to maximum. One of the most impressive additions is the dirt, which kicks up where cannon balls land, obscuring the view, adding to the smoke of infantry fire. I've often slowed down the flow of time to half in order to see my cavalry’s impacts and enemy line.
Multiplayer
Napoleon: Total War now has full campaign multiplayer for two players, a feature initially promised for the Empire launch. It allows for cooperative and competitive play but the highly structured nature of the campaigns offered in the game is not too well suited for the feature. The concept is solid, with one player moving around while the other can only do general management of his empire in the meantime. The Drop In battle system I talked about above has much more interesting effects on the game.
There are also classic battles that can be played in multiplayer. As long as both players engaged have similar skill levels, they are extremely enjoyable, and they don't degenerate into long range artillery duels between two over cautious gamers who are always afraid to commit their full force.
Conclusion
This is not Empire, the most disappointing game The Creative Assembly has put out in the Total War series, but it's also not the first Medieval, the title they launched in the best shape. The focus on Napoleon's exploits makes it interesting, allowing the player both to game so that they rewrite history and to actually follow into the footsteps of the general and see exactly the challenges he faced.
A big part of the fan base The Creative Assembly has been building ever since it launched Shogun: Total War was so thoroughly disappointed with Empire that it's hard to see them picking up Napoleon and giving it a chance to convince them that it's good. The new Total War title is probably best suited to those who abandoned the series after the 3D strategic map move of Rome or Medieval 2 and would like to see what the fresh engine is capable of and how the Total War series can deal with the battle-packed Napoleonic period.
