In Praise of The Creative Assembly

As The Creative Assembly release an extensive patch for their latest game we should pay homage to this excellent game developer.

The "Total War" series is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) strategy game series ever conceived. The games combine large scale, turn-based campaign strategy with fast paced real time battles - and do so perfectly. From the earliest iteration, "Shogun:Total War", it was clear that The Creative Assembly had hit on a wonderful formula for breathing new life into the stale strategy genre. From the humble beginnings of "Shogun", The Creative Assembly have gone from strength to strength with two medieval games, the highly popular Rome-based effort and countless expansions. Besides the obvious engine similarities between these games a common thread of excellent attention to detail and innovative growth is evident.

With the release of "Empire: Total War", The Creative Assembly have taken another ambitious step. The sheer scope of this effort is phenomenal, with huge tracts of the globe now theatres of war. With this fresh approach comes a fresh attitude to the fan base. The "Total War" community has been pampered with daily updates from developers on the official forums, a huge dedication to bug fixes and tangible displays of progress regarding game updates. This is especially laudable considering the fickle nature of many (but certainly not all) community members that berate The Creative Assembly for game problems.

Of course, these problems do exist. The Creative Assembly was forced to release "Empire: Total War" long before they had wished to. When Sega denied the application for an extension, a flawed game was inevitably released. Very serious problems are also evident with "Stormrise", a new game from the developer outside the "Total War" series. While the pressure of publishers and the quality of "Stormrise" are reasons to worry, I cannot question the skill and dedication of The Creative Assembly.

If they can maintain their honest and real connection to the gamer I have no doubt that The Creative Assembly will continue to make a fantastic contribution to the gaming community.

-The English Student