Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory Review

"If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman". These are the words of one of the greatest leaders and strategists of the modern era - Napoleon Bonaparte.

Ugly

graphics.

One of the most interesting battles in Napoleon's career took place near Austerlitz (nowadays located in the Czech Republic) on December 2nd 1805, from eight o'clock in the morning to half past four in the afternoon. The French leader used his ingenuity and brilliant mind to defeat the far more powerful enemy (Austrian and Russian joint forces); his prudent tactical retreat to Pratzen heights, made the enemy think that he is reluctant to continue fighting. They relaxed, took hold of the height, and sent their main forces towards his right wing, leaving the middle of their defense line poorly defended... and this was exactly where Napoleon struck and won, in spite of the fact that he had 20,000 men less. Napoleon ended the battle with only 8,000 casualties (27,000 on the enemy side).

Thanks to the popularity of Napoleon's wars among strategy gamers, BreakAway Games decided to develop the war strategy Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory; BreakAway is well-known for its Sid Meier's Antietam, expansion pack for Tropico, etc. The game was published by Shrapnel Games - a company that seems to be focusing on the publishing of these war strategies.

The game takes you to the beginning of the XIX century and allows you to lead over twenty small-scale and large-scale battles. You can fight on the French or the Austro-Russian side. For those of you who are not well-accustomed to the genre, there are six tutorial missions, and you can play the game on four levels of difficulty - from Colonel to Emperor; another option allows you to play either the historical or the variant scenario. The game also includes the random mission generator which is way more useful in multiplayer games. Before you start playing, the game will offer you a historical overview of the battle, which is more than useful to read. This strategy doesn't allow you to gather resources or upgrade, letting you focus on how to destroy your enemy.

When you start your desired mission you will find yourself on the battlefield in a certain formation. As the time passes, the enemy will draw nearer, and the battle becomes imminent. Depending on the current scenario, your army will consist of cavalry, light infantry, infantry, artillery, etc. the soldiers can have several levels of experience. It will be up to you to use their good sides by strategically positioning them in the right places. The cavalry will certainly not charge through vineyards, and you will have to place the artillery on suitable higher grounds. Timing the attack properly can also be crucial for victory; you will get reinforcements during the game, so you better wait with your attack until you are sure you can crush the opposing forces with least possible casualties. Still, on higher levels of difficulty, not even this is a sure way to victory. The reinforcements will tend to arrive too late, but you will sometimes win a battle even without it. Game speed can be set to anything between slow to turbo; slow being way too slow, and turbo, way too fast. I played on the fast speed setting, and everything went swimmingly. You can see the current score at any time, and determine your further strategy accordingly.

The interface is practical, in spite of the fact that it covers most of the screen. It can be turned off, but even then, some information will remain on screen, and the commands can be issued through hotkeys. The interface contains everything you need, from various formation settings and command buttons, to the clock that shows the remaining time. The mini-map is located on the right-hand-side of the screen, but it is not really precise. You can select single units by left clicking on them, and giving them direct orders. For commanding larger formations, it is way more practical to select the unit commander and then issue the order to him.

Ugly

fucking graphics!

The graphics are a story of their own. The game is based on the Sid Meier's Gettysburg engine, hm, 3D... yes, but I do have to say that the graphics look atrocious! First things first, the screen resolution is limited to 800x600 with no possibility to change this; the only thing you can turn on is the fog effect, which does look all right, but it utterly kills the gameplay. The game features day and night changes, and an option to emphasize terrain features in order to ease the gameplay. The camera can be rotated in 45 degree steps using the buttons on the interface, which can be useful in certain situations. You can zoom the camera in, in order to better see the units but I advise you to avoid this because you're in for a major disappointment here... the large number of soldiers on screen makes it hard to distinguish "us" from "them". I know it is hard to draw a large number of objects on screen, but graphics like this kill your desire to play. And this doesn't only go for design... neighboring buildings would have shadows on opposite sides. Scrolling over the map is not continual; the game will jerk and look as if it has an extremely low frame-rate regardless of the number of soldiers on screen. Troop animation is bad (they even tend to slide over the terrain), but firing effects are far better and create an impression of real battle. You can always see whether you are within the range of enemy fire thanks to the range lines. This is a very useful feature, but it looks ugly as hell. In order to find out what your artillery is currently firing at, you have to select it and change its target.

The AI can be pretty good at times - the enemy units will flee the battlefield if they feel outnumbered, they will try to surround you and charge their cavalry at you at the precisely right time. However, there are some illogical situations when units gather after fleeing, when they tend not to attack the enemy even if they are next to him?!?

The sound effects are monotonous and repetitive, and the music comes down to war-drums supported by some trumpets. The sounds of artillery are quite good, but they can also get to be tiresome after some time.

The game features a multiplayer mode supporting up to eight players over LAN or Internet, which gives a special meaning to the random mission generator.

What could I say; this game left me with a lukewarm feeling. And even though graphics are far from being the key element in strategies, it is a real shame that you get to see crappy visuals after the fantastic historical texts you get to read. The topic is more than interesting; it will require you to think strategically and the outcome can frequently be surprising and pleasurable ... if you are willing to disregard the visuals. I still believe that all strategy fans and especially Napoleon fans simply have to play through his greatest victory. I, myself, would rather wait for a victory with somewhat better graphics and greater playability.