Total War: Arena Preview - Brings the best tactical battles

The historic mmo strategy game Total War: Arena has been in development for several years now. The time span that the game covers roughly corresponds to Classical Antiquity: the earliest Greek units you can play originate from about 1500 BC and the most modern soldiers come from the Roman Empire of about 500 AD. At this moment the final points are being put on so that the game can move to the open beta phase in 2018.

Total War: Arena is being developed by a separate team from CA, at the same time as other teams working on the recently announced A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia and the mystery-shrunk, successor to Total War: Warhammer II of which only it is known that it will once again have a historical approach. We are confident that the game will retain a strong emphasis on historical authenticity.

The game is made for lovers of history as well as those who love an accessible and easy to play strategy game. CA calls the genre of TW: Arena itself "real-time tactics", as a result of which the emphasis is on tactical maneuvers on the battlefield and more micromanagement of your units. The game is largely focused on people who have played the previous Total War games, but who are now adults and often do not have the time to play day-long campaigns. Through Arena they can still experience the experience of the Total War games, but then in short game rounds of five to ten minutes. In addition, the game has a slower playing speed than other games such as Starcraft II which is also an advantage for older gamers.

The controls feel very intuitive and the camera is easy to move with both the mouse and the keyboard. It does require some micromanagement to move your units, because if you select them at the same time and let them run with a right mouse click, they all coagulate into a big lump. There is no question of an orderly advance in formation. It is also very important to keep an eye on the movements of your team on the 'mini map' and CA has added a number of skills to communicate with your team. First, you can give signals on the mini map to attract attention. An innovative addition is the fact that during the start-up screen you can freely draw on the map and indicate with circles and dashes what you are planning to do. You can also draw on the ground while playing to indicate your intentions.

During our first few rounds of play, we mainly focused on how we had to move units, after which we went to the attack without much thought. This way of playing very quickly yields an inglorious death for your troops, so you actually automatically look for cooperation with your team. Once the fight starts, the game sometimes goes pretty quickly and the correct and timely use of the captain's skills are then decisive. Before the fight, everyone puts their units in position and this phase of the battle is in fact the most important. You see the more experienced players move forward and backward in order to start the fight only at the most favorable moment, such as when they are on higher ground than the enemy.Total War: Arena well put together. The game is easy to operate but it is difficult to successfully complete your tactical plans because your opponents are constantly responding. Because you play against other people, the battles are a lot more challenging than the battles in your campaign against the AI ​​that we know from the normal Total War games.

Each player has three units available, consisting of between 50 to 100 troops and the choice of cavalry, spear soldiers, pikemen, sword fighters, archers and artillery. Collaboration is all the more important due to the different types of units. For example, if you only have archers in your army, you are very vulnerable to cavalry attacks. It is then wise to stay close to the teammates of a teammate and to support him, increasing the likelihood that he will also help you when you need protection. The different units feel balanced and even if you participate in the fight in a disadvantageous situation (as with bowmen entering the scuffle) then you can still influence the outcome of the fight. The morale of units is very important in the game and an attack on the flanks, even if it is with weaker units, can turn the tide. The units also look good and have a multitude of animations and you can also see the upgrades of your units on the battlefield. However, the graphic quality is not of the same level as the latest Total War games. Although it looks good, the emphasis is clearly on smooth gameplay. In the same line, the variations within units are more modest than in Although it looks good, the emphasis is clearly on smooth gameplay. In the same line, the variations within units are more modest than in Although it looks good, the emphasis is clearly on smooth gameplay. In the same line, the variations within units are more modest than inTotal War: Warhammer II to facilitate performance on older PCs. You can see your commander and units up close and admire in the heat of the battle, but you are usually too busy planning and maneuvering to make use of this.

As in Wargaming games, Total War: Arena has a system that unlocks units and the skills of captains in 'tiers' from I to X. Many experienced players prefer to stay somewhere in the middle of these tiers and often go back to play in lower tiers. That is why in the newest patch some skills of the suppliers have been eliminated and the special forces of the units from tier VI have been worked out again. The 'gravel' that is needed to clear all tier X units and skills from suppliers is much shorter than for example in World of Tanks. You need "about 1000 game rounds" to clear all units and skills and "for one captain that is about 250 rounds" to reach units on tier X.

As far as the units and factions are concerned, more clarity has emerged for the developers last year. The main thing one wants to achieve is diversity and the addition of entirely new tactical play possibilities with every new unit or captain. Many strategy games have different factions but often very similar units. In Total War: Arena this will be different and, for example, the "Roman faction is very different from that of the Barbarians" and the units are also very different. Not every faction has, for example, sword fighters and one of the newest units is light sword fighters with fighting dogs that are only available to the barbarians. In the lower tiers you play with only two types of soldiers and one special skill for your captain and as you play more new types and skills are added to make the fights more difficult.

With regard to the upcoming new factions, it was said that some new factions are almost ready for addition but not yet what they will be (we thought of the Persian Empire ourselves). Now you can only play as the Romans, Greeks and Barbarians, each with their own famous historical heroes as captains. We did get confirmation that a Japanese faction will be added in the distant future so you can expect new factions from all over the world and from previous Total War games. When the open beta is off, the developers want to add new factions every few months (within half a year), but if that also succeeds we will have to wait and see.

In our opinion Total War: Arena is on the right track to become a successful mmog. The fact that many players are active in the closed beta and that the 'Open Weekend' event attracted many new players in early November indicates that there is a lot of interest. The developers emphasized once again that the game will be played on as many PCs as possible (and unfortunately not on consoles) from budget laptop to game desktop. The test room with many different types of PCs witnessed this and we can confirm that even on an Intel HD Graphics 530 integrated video card the game is playable. For those who missed the opportunity to participate in the closed beta, we encourage you to keep your eyes open for future events such as the last Open Weekend.

Thanks for reading.

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