The newest entry of the Total War series plunges you head first into the Fall of Rome. Well, maybe a few years before, but the Fall is definitely in the midst of happening. Aptly titled, the Huns are knocking on Rome’s doorstep and the mighty Attila is looking to subjugate Europe under is superior forces. Whether playing as the Huns or one of the European civilizations trying to cling to your land, Attila, while not exactly reinventing the genre, brings a different approach to the RTS and the Total War series that is quite engaging.
In the Campaign mode, you can choose your civilization that ranges from the Huns, two types or Romans a pair of European kingdoms and a handful of marauding hordes that are all trying to whether the beginnings of the Dark Ages and to reap riches from the collapse of the Empire. Unlike in previous iterations of Total War or in similar RTS’, the game isn’t about building and growing your empire as ruler but more of surviving one of the darkest and bloodiest times in human history. Regardless of who you play as, things are dicey and not easy. There are literally dozens of tribes around the map, which slightly bigger than Rome II’s, that will make your life easier as allies or much, much harder as enemies.
With so many extra tribes laying around, the full impact of the loss of control by the Romans and the devastation of the Huns became clear and the desperate drive for survival began to take precedent above all. During one campaign, I had avoided too much of the Hun marauding but had gotten caught up in an inter-tribe war. When I pulled myself from that and began exploring the map further, I began to realize my struggle for survival was just beginning. With the northern lands freezing and the Huns burning everything in sight, it became harder to find fertile land and far too easy to find frozen terrain or scorched farmland. The map began looking more and more like Westeros during ‘A Feast for Crows’ and I had to sack a city of an ally just to be able to keep going.
This is where Attila thrives. While it isn’t too much of a departure from its predecessors, the dire struggle for survival becomes the driving force of the game as opposed to how big you can stretch your empire or how many people you can conquer.
The focus of Total War is still its direct control battle system, easily the strongest part of the game. The strategy, timing and control needed to defeat an enemy is both incredibly fun and incredibly challenging. The biggest lesson Total War taught me was that I need some serious lessons on being a general! While I managed to win a fair chunk of my battles, I always lost a large portion of my forces which severely set me back. Though, there is something thrilling about having your general’s unit drive back four enemy units on their own and win the battle for you.
You could also choose to do quick battles, custom battles or historical battles where you acted out various historically poignant battles from the time period that took place on land or sea. The quick battles turned out to be the most fun as you could test your mettle by generating your own armies and take on a smaller, bigger or better armed foe and see how your generalship matches up. Again, I need some serious lessons in how to lead an army. These other options made for some extended gameplay time when you don’t want to sit down and commit to the campaign but want to do some fighting.
In the Campaign mode, actually commanding your forces across Europe can be a bit arduous. While there are tutorials and a helpful chieftain who gives you hints along the way, some of the game is still frustrating. As the Huns, I had camped one of my armies as I lay siege to a city where I had two other armies ready to fight. The chieftain told me to reinforce my armies, so if one is attacked, they could all engage in battle. He just didn’t tell me how to. Even when I figured out how to do it, they simply just didn’t do what I asked when I repeatedly told one army to reinforce the other. The army that I had set up camp with? There was no direction as to how to get them moving again, so when the city I was laying siege to decided to attack me, they picked me apart while my other generals apparently just watched their counterparts get slaughtered. As far as diplomacy goes, making allies or enemies is a big part of interacting with the various tribes across Europe and can make or break your campaign but I would be lying if I told you how to effectively work the system. At one point, I tried to sack a city and two turns later they offered me a treaty, money and an arranged marriage and we were the closest allies in the game and I have no idea why. I offered them more than that ever turn beforehand and they turned me down but failing to loot and pillage their land was good enough for a treaty I guess.
On a personal note, I ran into some technical issues while playing Attila. I had zero issues outside the Grand Campaign mode but after turn 15 in the each of the campaigns I played, my computer would regularly freeze up forcing me to restart. I don’t know if it was simply the copy I played, a hardware problem I had that was linked to turn 15 or something that will be patched but it did cause me a lot of rage and hindered me as I dove deeper into the campaigns.
Overall, Total War: Attila ends up being a pretty enjoyable game. The struggle for survival makes for a compelling campaign and the battles are fun and challenging. You also have the option to simply do battles where you can hone your skills as a general or simply revel in the destruction of another army. On the downside, some of the inner workings of the game are ambiguous or seemingly random like the Diplomacy or certain actions you can take. However, fans of the Total War series will certainly enjoy this one and there’s enough here to wrangle in some new players even if it may be a little daunting at first.
***A PC code was provided by the Publisher***
