Let me start by saying that I have owned every single Total War game since the first shogun and have been playing these games since I was 10 years old. That being said, I think this is the freshest Total War game in a long while.

The Ai is the smartest in the series thus far, it will flank, it will outmaneuver you on the campaign map and it will kick you around if you are not paying attention. The best part is that the AI will no longer sit by as you rain death upon them with ranged units (usually). It is still not perfect however, they will still do stupid things every once and a while, like build an army with 10 war dogs units or put their siege engine in a stupid place. I have also noticed that for the first time ever, I have seen the AI take a lot of Mercenary units to flush out its ranks.

Where this game really shines is in the sieges, they are beautiful. Fires destroy whole villages, smoke effects are top notch, and projectiles look incredible for the first time in series history. The AI also shines here, using choke points and barricades to beat me up and keeping ranged units in just the right places to fire on me.

I have always found myself becoming bored with the battles in other Total War games after about 40-50 turns and using auto-resolve whenever I didn't need to fight a close battle because they all started to blend together and loose the excitement. This has not been the case in Attila. Every fight feels fresh, each encounter I feel challenged, and I often found myself being emerged in the battles in a way I never had before. There is a strange cinematic experience in Attila that has not been there since the first Shogun and Medieval, I am not sure if it is the AI, the graphics, or the sense of desperation in every move that gives it what so many of the recent games have been lacking but I am glad it's back and I hope it is here to stay.

When you win that battle there are now several options for what to do with the newly taken settlement. Most talked about is the ability to destroy settlements, this removes them from the map and leaves a little marker where the settlement was. You will gain some cash from this as well as food. Be warned however, rebuilding settlements is extremely expensive, a small lvl 2 town was going to cost me 13,000 cash and 600 soldiers to rebuild. One of the lesser publicized features is the ability to pillage settlements. This will damage all the buildings, and give you some cash but leave the city in the control of the other faction. This is useful for when you send a small army (or navy!) to attack an unprotected settlement but don't have the army to fend off the attack yet. Then you have the pillage and settle option which is a combo of the settle and pillage actions, meaning you damage all the buildings and get a lot of cash but also settle the town. Last you have the regular settle and subjugate options.

Winter is coming. Winter will kill men if you get caught without protection, the attrition is pretty steep and I love it.

City management is improved here too, all city’s (villages, towns, ect.) can have a governor who will both act as a general if the city is invaded (using the garrison troops) as well as allow you to place edicts on individual towns. This makes owning one piece of a region a lot more bearable, and doesn't force you to invade people just for that extra bonus.

I am trying to keep myself from getting to excited from this game, I really do love it but I also don't want to seem too fanboyish. I am just extremely happy to have a very good Total War game for the first time in a while. As of this moment I don't want to give a score of the game, I will save that for my first update after I have many more hours in game. I will say that if you are a fan of the series and you are worried about another Rome II, don't this is everything Rome II should have been.

I will keep this review up to date for at least the next few weeks incase something crazy comes up and ruins the game.

Let me start by saying that I have owned every single Total War game since the first shogun and have been playing these games since I was 10 years old. That being said, I think this is the freshest Total War game in a long while. The Ai is the smartest in the series thus far, it will flank, it will outmaneuver you on the campaign map and it will kick you around if you are not paying attention. The best part is that the AI will no longer sit by as you rain death upon them with ranged units (usually). It is still not perfect however, they will still do stupid things every once and a while, like build an army with 10 war dogs units or put their siege engine in a stupid place. I have also noticed that for the first time ever, I have seen the AI take a lot of Mercenary units to flush out its ranks. Where this game really shines is in the sieges, they are beautiful. Fires destroy whole villages, smoke effects are top notch, and projectiles look incredible for the first time in series history. The AI also shines here, using choke points and barricades to beat me up and keeping ranged units in just the right places to fire on me. I have always found myself becoming bored with the battles in other Total War games after about 40-50 turns and using auto-resolve whenever I didn't need to fight a close battle because they all started to blend together and loose the excitement. This has not been the case in Attila. Every fight feels fresh, each encounter I feel challenged, and I often found myself being emerged in the battles in a way I never had before. There is a strange cinematic experience in Attila that has not been there since the first Shogun and Medieval, I am not sure if it is the AI, the graphics, or the sense of desperation in every move that gives it what so many of the recent games have been lacking but I am glad it's back and I hope it is here to stay. When you win that battle there are now several options for what to do with the newly taken settlement. Most talked about is the ability to destroy settlements, this removes them from the map and leaves a little marker where the settlement was. You will gain some cash from this as well as food. Be warned however, rebuilding settlements is extremely expensive, a small lvl 2 town was going to cost me 13,000 cash and 600 soldiers to rebuild. One of the lesser publicized features is the ability to pillage settlements. This will damage all the buildings, and give you some cash but leave the city in the control of the other faction. This is useful for when you send a small army (or navy!) to attack an unprotected settlement but don't have the army to fend off the attack yet. Then you have the pillage and settle option which is a combo of the settle and pillage actions, meaning you damage all the buildings and get a lot of cash but also settle the town. Last you have the regular settle and subjugate options. Winter is coming. Winter will kill men if you get caught without protection, the attrition is pretty steep and I love it. City management is improved here too, all city’s (villages, towns, ect.) can have a governor who will both act as a general if the city is invaded (using the garrison troops) as well as allow you to place edicts on individual towns. This makes owning one piece of a region a lot more bearable, and doesn't force you to invade people just for that extra bonus. I am trying to keep myself from getting to excited from this game, I really do love it but I also don't want to seem too fanboyish. I am just extremely happy to have a very good Total War game for the first time in a while. As of this moment I don't want to give a score of the game, I will save that for my first update after I have many more hours in game. I will say that if you are a fan of the series and you are worried about another Rome II, don't this is everything Rome II should have been. I will keep this review up to date for at least the next few weeks incase something crazy comes up and ruins the game.