Total War: Attila Review (AdIerceutz)
This game is without a doubt one of my favorite games in the total war genre and one that I hold in very high regard. It is however not without its flaws.
To start off, it should be mentioned that Total War: Attila is not for the faint hearted. Those familiar with other games genre may find it to be a black sheep, in the way it handles things. The game has a huge amount of anti player bias, which is present in all Total War games but is especially prevalent in this one. Normally the AI simply gets some economic cheats and some buffs in battle, but Total War: Attila takes it to a whole different level. The enemy is able to support 1.5-2 stacks just off of one region, which is absolutely ridiculous. An even more egregious example is with the hunnic invasion, where if you kill off an entire stack. It will immediately respawn the turn after. As if this wasn't enough, you have to kill Attila 3 times to actually kill him.
I do however find that the anti player bias suits the game well. The feeling of an empire on the brink of collapse is encapsulated well by the cheats the AI get, I think it simply works. Is it annoying to have all your settlements sacked by a horde of barbarians? Of course, but in the end I think the pros outweigh the cons here.
Enough about that, let's get into some new and unique mechanics Total War: Attila offers.
The most iconic one is of course the horde system, which essentially allows you to have a city on the move. This city generates income and replenishment, although you will have to encamp for this to take effect. This is a unique version of playing the game that is fun, although can get a bit repetitive. You can of course settle down at any point, by occupying a settlement.
Another mechanic that is new, is the devastation and razing of provinces and an accompanying fertility system. This gives another option when choosing what to do after you've taken a settlement. It really makes you feel like a barbarian horde with the dying roman empire at your mercy, you are in control of the world.
The campaign is of course not the only part of a total war game and thus, let's take a look at the battles. I have to say, they sadly don't quite live up to the standard of the campaign. They are fine but that's about it. The battles are relatively fast paced with low time to kill between units (especially so in the early game), which often leads to panicked decisions as half your line collapses within a minute. This is caused by the unproportionally high melee attack of some units (I'm looking at you gothic warband) which essentially leads to them slaughtering every early game roman unit. Speaking of roman, they are underpowered as hell in the beginning. Your units have good armour but that's as far as it goes, melee attack and melee defense is atrocious and so is morale. This makes a difficult campaign even harder.
I conveniently saved the performance for last, and that is where Total War: Attila really faulters. I'll be honest, it isn't optimised, it truly isn't. There is no hiding it. It runs like shit.
To end things off, I would once again like to stress the fact that this game is different from other titles in the genre, and so it really is a hit or miss with most people. It is the dark souls of total war games.
(10pts) Campaign - 9/10
(10pts) Battles - 6/10
(5pts) Performance - 2/5
(5pts) Flavour - 4/5
(5pts) Visuals - 4/5
(5pts) Music - 5/5 (there are some geniune bangers)
(5pts) DLC Support - 3/5 (Age of charlemagne carries the DLCs)
(5pts) Mod Support - 5/5 (Ancient Empires, 1212Ad)
Total: 38/50
Average: 7.6/10