Well, I personally thought the the premise was obviously over-ambitious.

I feel that their decision to use their own graphics engine could only have made this worse.

Taranaich:
It should be pointed out that the Total War games are not RTSes.

RTS - Real-Time Strategy, where everything from recruiting, building and fighting is done in real time. Total War is Turn-Based Strategy, with Real-Time Tactics, and more effectively captures actual war: the strategy is often meticulously planned over a long period and one can generally take their time over decisions, while actual battles require lightning reactions and calculations without the luxury of a base pumping out any units that die.

I also have to laugh a bit at Yahtzee considering the Total War games "not fun": ordering thousands of soldiers to beat thousands more to a bloody pulp while you furiously click away feinting, attacking and counter-attacking while listening to the screams of the dying is pretty fun to me. And I hate maths so much I doubt I'd be able to even read spreadsheets.

Yahtzee probably won't review TW since that would require him to give his reasons, and the only reasons I can think of to actively hate TW as opposed to being indifferent are impatience and hangups on pointless graphical problems. Oooh, every unit looks the same - so did practically every unit in RTS games released at the same time! What a weird, petty criticism considering the engine and time it was released.

as a long time fan of the tw series, i say to you good post. other than battles, if you play online you have to do that, against the computer you can pause and take your time to plan out the battle ;P rome total war is my all time fav, but i really enjoy the campaign changes in etw. but battles are still buggy, but getting better. but its just the times we live in, releasing games that should still be in beta, than patching them up latter. i pray for a rtw remake using the better graphics, and intelligent campaign changes. but rome style <3

ODST isn't really an expansion more of a Halo 2.5, and even if it was an expansion it wouldn't have costed $60 it would've costed $40. (i brought this to your attention because i would like him to review it).

You didn't need to write an essay on why RTSes aren't Total War games (or vise-versa) i think he would've made sure he got that one right if he cared.

the ads are getting annoying and seem to me like they are royal "shite," and i'm still trying to figure out what ethnicity he is, he said he lives in australia but he has an english accent. oh and why did it take them this long to realize they couldn't make enough money off of zp swag?

@ lxlsomethingsomething: Try editing your first post to fit those other points in...it'll help you avoid triple posting in the future.

As for the review, I was honestly expecting a more scathing review. I mean, X-Play gave Darkest of Days a one out of five and various other sources have given it very bad reviews...I guess Yahtzee just liked this game a bit more than some of the other reviewers did.

He's english born, currently based in Auz

OT: Didn't really find this review that funny, just same complaints again (invisible walls etc)
Why can't games be good so they're harder to rip appart?!?!

Makes me wonder what Yahtzee would've said about TimeShift.

Hm... No, I think I'd rather not find out.

I'm content to just slow time, dodge the bullets, stop time, steal their gun, reverse time, kill them dead over and over again.

"Peanut Banana Sandwich Crazy" That needs to be on a T-Shirt!

One time period that should be available in the sequel is the 1700s - The times of Piracy and Privateering.

I thought he didn't like cats?

I recently finished darkest of days... there was one thing that bugged me alot about the game. The Germans in ww1 (in this game) had British tanks. There where a few inaccuracies besides that but that was the major one. It didn't make a bit of sense, and it was early in the war that you play in the game 1916 i think... the Germans didn't deploy any tanks till 1918 right near the end of the war and by then it was to late to make a difference. If your going to make a game that involves time travel and historic events at least get them right.

I'm surprised Yahtzee didn't point this out.

Yay for Yahtzee.
Can't wait for your next review.

Oh man, what a steaming pile of crap. I might be too picky, but the selling point of this game is that you travel through time. That sounds fucking awesome to me, and who doesn't want to stab some rebel traitors in Antitem? As soon as the game starts in the Little Big Horn, DoD shits all over the history books:
* Custer doesn't get killed with an arrow. He gets shot in the goddamned head.
* The guns are completely the fuck wrong, except for the pistol. The army didn't have repeaters, and they didn't have unlimited the fuck ammo for the things.
* The Indians are hilarious. Jesus fucking Christ, there are like three of them with a rifle in the entire map(in reality, more of them had rifles than bows and arrows). Also, all they do is go, "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOOP." LOL RACISM
* This map looks NOTHING like the Little Big Horn. There is no way they visited the place. There is no way even they saw a postcard of Greasy Grass. I sure as shit don't remember all of the trees and boulders there providing cover.

How did they research this thing? Did they just read the back of "They died with their boots on"?
"Yeah, we've got guns, custer, and injuns. GUYS, WE ARE READY TO SHIP THIS THING."

Don't buy this game until they release a patch that makes the game finishable. I for one found a place where I'm killed with no explanation, and since there's plenty of those stupid invisible walls around forcing you to go EXACTLY that way, the game is truly fscked by this bug.

I uninstalled the game out of frustration so I can't specify exactly at which point this happens, but I remember I was escorting the same american guy for (I think) the third time...

A pretty fair review- I need to get this game.

Silva:
Yahtzee: kindly don't pretend to know about alternative energy sustainability. The whole point of renewable energy is that it is sustainable, unlike fossil fuels, which are going to run out in about ten minutes.

Otherwise, good review as usual.

If only stupidity could be harnessed as a source of energy, then you could power all of Europe single-handed [sigh]

Sorry, I completely agree with you-Yahtzee is a butt. I just thought of that a while ago and haven't had a chance to use it. XD

mannertime:
Oh man, what a steaming pile of crap. I might be too picky, but the selling point of this game is that you travel through time. That sounds fucking awesome to me, and who doesn't want to stab some rebel traitors in Antitem? As soon as the game starts in the Little Big Horn, DoD shits all over the history books:
* Custer doesn't get killed with an arrow. He gets shot in the goddamned head.
* The guns are completely the fuck wrong, except for the pistol. The army didn't have repeaters, and they didn't have unlimited the fuck ammo for the things.
* The Indians are hilarious. Jesus fucking Christ, there are like three of them with a rifle in the entire map(in reality, more of them had rifles than bows and arrows). Also, all they do is go, "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOOP." LOL RACISM
* This map looks NOTHING like the Little Big Horn. There is no way they visited the place. There is no way even they saw a postcard of Greasy Grass. I sure as shit don't remember all of the trees and boulders there providing cover.

How did they research this thing? Did they just read the back of "They died with their boots on"?
"Yeah, we've got guns, custer, and injuns. GUYS, WE ARE READY TO SHIP THIS THING."

Jesus, friend, it's a game. What surprises me is that 1) you didn't mention that Custer's army was actually gunned down while running away, and 2) that you don't want to mention why it is that you can fire dozens of laser guided rockets and the Confederate army without anyone batting an eye. Absolute historical accuracy seems kind of moot when you are running around Pompeii with a chaingun, doesn't it?

What a shame, my brother was looking forward to this game... Oh well.

Peanut-bannana-sandwich-crazy has become my phrase of the week.

I agree, Yahtzee - it would of been great if you get to shoot knights fromhe dark ages.

I know nobody who got this game.

mannertime:
Oh man, what a steaming pile of crap. I might be too picky, but the selling point of this game is that you travel through time. That sounds fucking awesome to me, and who doesn't want to stab some rebel traitors in Antitem? As soon as the game starts in the Little Big Horn, DoD shits all over the history books:
* Custer doesn't get killed with an arrow. He gets shot in the goddamned head.
* The guns are completely the fuck wrong, except for the pistol. The army didn't have repeaters, and they didn't have unlimited the fuck ammo for the things.
* The Indians are hilarious. Jesus fucking Christ, there are like three of them with a rifle in the entire map(in reality, more of them had rifles than bows and arrows). Also, all they do is go, "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOOP." LOL RACISM
* This map looks NOTHING like the Little Big Horn. There is no way they visited the place. There is no way even they saw a postcard of Greasy Grass. I sure as shit don't remember all of the trees and boulders there providing cover.

How did they research this thing? Did they just read the back of "They died with their boots on"?
"Yeah, we've got guns, custer, and injuns. GUYS, WE ARE READY TO SHIP THIS THING."

This game was made by a small game lab in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I think you are being too harsh on it and them. Also, being from Iowa, I am glad that this game, even with it's flaws, was made in Iowa. its good to see some other types of industry here, I am tired of corn...

o thank goodness
i played this game ages ago and forgot the name
now i can go and legaly buy the game(wink,wink,nudge,nudge)

I'm trying to decide if the premise alone is enough to warrant a quick playthrough...lol not surrre but eh