The prologue campaign offers a bit of structure to learn the ins-and-outs. But if the Total War series never clicked for you, there’s little here that will suddenly make you a believer. If you’ve played any Total War game, you’ll probably enjoy the slight wrinkles Attila provides in the new horde mechanic or the change in tone from empire-building to empire-smashing. Creative Assembly has done a decent job translating this era to its well-trod mix of turn-based strategy and real-time battles, but the ruts feel a bit worn.
It is nearly 400 A.D., and the world is ending for the classical European empire.
In Total War: Attila, you can play as the Hunnic hordes, one of the various Germanic tribes, the entrenched Persians, or the Romans if you’re a masochist split between your Eastern and Western halves. Blow those horns, you barbarian bastards! I am sacking the center of European civilization after all. It’s kind of annoying really, these vuvuzela m’fers blowing wind all through my dramatic victory on the fields north of Constantinopolis.
