Onwards we march!
The legendary French military and political leader who is Napoleon has seen his name attached to a number of games over the years (without his say-so of course), from the dire Napoleon, to Battles of Napoleon, to this middle-of-the-road effort. Most titles follow a fairly similar pattern, taking the obvious route of a military strategy game, real-time or turn-based, which chart old Boney's victories and defeats in interactive form. This one focuses on his campaign from 1813/14 and allows you to play as Napoleon, in which case your goal is to conquer Europe, or as Prussia, Russia, Austria or Sweden. The action unfolds mostly via map screens which allow you to plot your movements and chart your military engagements, while there are also lots of stats to check out to see how well you're doing. The game is very detailed, in that it includes many authentic factors which you need to consider when moving your troops and choosing where they fight, such as their morale and general state of exhaustion. The game plays out in real-time but you can choose to play in turn-based fashion if you like to take things a bit slower. Napoleon 1813 is very much a standard slice of wargaming. There's nothing majorly wrong with it, but there's nothing overly memorable about it either. There are some clever and innovative mechanics to discover, but there's also a sense of a lack of polish and fine-tuning of various elements, which brings the entertainment factor down a notch. The visuals are less than impressive but this could be forgiven if a bit more care had been taken elsewhere, so ultimately this is a case of try at your own risk.
