Total War Arena
by Aethyna
Apr 9, 2018 |
1
Votes |
1
Played |
0
Reviews
10
rate
Genres:
Strategy , MMOGraphics:
3DLabels:
War , Co-op , Team-based , Capture Points , Medieval Age , Player vs Player (PvP)Platforms:
Publishers:
Wargaming Experience medieval warfare the only way that the Total War game franchise will be able to provide in this epic free-to-play real-time strategy game, Total War Arena! Take command of your own battalions and work with your team to dominate the battlefield. Will your team be the victors? Play Now Similar Games Played
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Summary
Total War Arena is a unique arena-based real-time strategy game that lets you enjoy the thrill of medieval warfare in a multiplayer setting. The game pits teams of players, each controlling 3 battalions of troops that they have customized themselves, against each other on beautifully-designed maps in hopes of capturing the other side’s base. There are plenty of upgrades that you can purchase to improve your units or your commander, as well as many varieties of play styles that you can experiment with. If RTS games are your thing, you might want to drop by and check it out!
Gameplay
The game begins with a pretty comprehensive tutorial where you’ll be taught the basics of the game. This includes how to move your units in formation and without, how to attack the enemy, and how to win a match. Once you’re done, you’ll be given 3 starting commanders to choose from – Germanicus from Rome, Cynane from Greece and Arminius from the Barbarian horde.
Different commanders have different specialties and hence, will provide a certain bonus to troops that align best with their specialties. In some way, choosing a different commander will guarantee a different game experience since the play style required is markedly different.
Thankfully, your decision here isn’t cast in iron – you can switch between these 3 commanders whenever you like. So, let’s say that you’ve lost all your troops in a match but the match is not yet over… in that case, you can simply exit the match and play your other, unoccupied commander instead. There’ll be little downtime in between matches then!
Of course, the 3 commanders that you have aren’t all that Total War Arena has to offer. There are several other commanders that you can unlock later on. There’s even a different faction, the Carthage, that you can play as once you have access to it. Each commander in this game will have command over 3 squads of units. Every squad will contain, by default, 100 troops. You can choose to command them separately or you can round them up and issue a command for all 3 squads.
Your squads can be customized as well. You can switch the units you bring into battle via the Squad menu. On the same menu, you can also upgrade your troops. You can purchase better equipment for your soldiers to improve their damage and armor. You can even increase the number of soldiers per squad via upgrades or equip cosmetics that you’ve purchased.
Not to mention, the troops in this game are also tiered. There are 10 tiers in total but you can only access tiers correspond to your commander’s tier (a.k.a. level). However, even if you have a tier unlocked, you will still need to unlock the units you want through the Tech Tree. Depending on the type of the units, they will also have their own special abilities which will allow them to either charge into the enemy ranks or pull a fast retreat.
Now, in terms of combat, Total War Arena retains all the nuances of an actual medieval warfare. This means that formation, especially the direction you face your enemies, matter quite a lot in this game. You don’t want to be flanked by all sides and have your forces whittled down to nothing.
Being a team-based game, you mustn’t stray too far from your allies either. This is particularly important in the event of an ambush or an unexpected flanking maneuver pulled off by the enemy. You’ll want to be able to retreat and have your teammate cover for you as you do.
The terrain you battle your enemies on can also play a crucial role in determining the victor. Certain terrains provide your units with advantages, such as positioning your archers on higher ground; while others will penalize your units. For instance, forests may be great places to hide your units in preparation for an ambush but fighting enemies from the forest will cost your units a lot in terms of reduced damage and resistance to attacks. The same goes for water-logged areas – these areas are bad for melee attackers.
There are several maps available in Total War Arena and they are all small enough to ensure conflict between both sides within minutes of the game starting. The game also employs the fog of war, which allows players to utilize the element of surprise in their strategic plans. That being said, despite having a couple of maps, I kept getting the same map somehow during my review. Perhaps the more “advanced maps” are reserved for higher level players, who knows?
Anyway, unit morale is also another vital aspect of the game. Shown as a white bar right above your squad’s health bar, morale will determine whether your troops will stay and fight or will turn tail and run from the enemy. Commanders generally are able to bolster your troops morale as long as they are alive (this effect can be upgraded at the Tech Tree), but if your troops are getting flanked or largely outnumbered, it won’t be too farfetched to say that your troops’ morale will take a serious hit.
In addition, you should take note that there is such a thing as “friendly fire” in this game. Thus, if you do plan on playing an archer-oriented commander, you should quickly learn how to position your troops just so you can avoid hitting your own teammates.
Total War Arena isn’t just a “kill-all”-style battlefield. Instead, there are several objectives that your team can achieve to gain a victory. Aside from completely decimating the enemy forces, you can also capture the enemy base or survive with more troops until the match time ends, which is about 10 minutes or so. To capture a base, you’ll need to do so uncontested, meaning your units doing the capturing aren’t taking any damage.
At the end of a match, you’ll get a very detailed breakdown of the game, including how much you’ve helped your team, your percentage of defending and supporting, etc. These are the sort of stats that you can use to improve on your performance in the next match.
Currently, Total War Arena has two game modes – vs AI and vs Human players. Personally, I’d recommend starting with the vs AI mode at last until you have several tier 2 units unlocked. Be warned though! The AIs are pretty challenging opponents, and if your team doesn’t coordinate well, you may find yourself losing the match. Don’t feel like playing a match? Well, you can watch others play live or you can watch replays of other people’s or your own matches.
Since the game is published by Wargaming, it’s not at all surprising to see that this game has an excellent and fair matchmaking system. The game, in overall, is fair to the free-to-play gamer too. Every unit and commander, and their associated upgrades can be unlocked using either normal game currency or premium cash. Naturally, it’ll take you a while to accumulate enough game currency, but that’s the only price you have to pay for the game – your time!
Community
Although the game doesn’t exactly have a lot of marketing, the game is very well alive and kicking. The community is pretty huge and you will never have to wait too long to find a match.
Graphics/ Sound
Total War Arena has some really nice music that can get you hyped up for a match. The sound effects are great as well, especially the occasional sonorous bellows of the war horns. It does make you feel like you’re personally on the battlefield issuing commands to your troops.
The high-quality graphics in this game are astoundingly detailed. This is pretty typical of the Total War game franchise and I wouldn’t expect anything less!
Conclusion
In short, Total War Arena is like a dream come true for players who have always enjoyed playing war-based strategy games but don’t feel like spending money on games. The game is not only free to play (in a fair manner); the game retains much of the magic and depth that made the Total War franchise so popular among strategy game enthusiasts. The publisher, Wargaming, has also done a great job at infusing the lessons they have learned from their own hugely popular games into this title.
So, if you are an avid fan of real-time strategy games, you’ll want to give Total War Arena a go. Every match you play will make the download worthwhile!
Total War Arena Blog
New Game Added: Total War Arena
by Aethyna
Apr 9, 2018
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