"A good game overall, but the best RTS game on GBA thus far"

Napoleon is the first, and the best in my opinion (at least at the time of my writing this), Real-Time-Strategy game available for the GameBoy Advance. Basically you get to control Napoleon and wage war all across Europe as you advance into English territory to defeat that old evil Queen of England. Unfortunately, some words just don't translate into French, and ''military victory'' happens to be one of them.

Rather than being some mystical floating cursor like in most RTS games, you are actually Napoleon running around on a horse, and can be attacked and killed (in which case you lose). You have to run around and move your men from one place to another, tell them to guard a position, attack, or group together. As you progress in the game, you get more units to use. You start out with simple infantry units, and get canons, cavalry, bigger canons, armored cavalry, GIANT canons, battle-ships, and builders (who can build things such as bridges or giant canons). Heck, you can even take control of various monsters (such as giant apes or flying bats).

As you go through the game, you get generals, which you can bring along with you on your missions. If they get killed, they'll just regenerate after a little time. You can level them up, and you should try to give your experience evenly to different generals, that way you can try to keep them all happy. They'll eventually level up, gain more HP, and gain new abilities. You can place troops under your general's controls, then tell them to go off and do something (such as attack, invade, and take over a base). Some generals will be better with different units, one general can control monsters, and another general will frequently raise the moral of his troops by cheering them on (basically healing them).

You have two special abilities you can use once you have enough SP. One is to tell you men to charge, and the other raises your troop's moral (healing them). As you capture bases, you'll get more gold, which you can use to produce more troops. Different units will take longer to produce, and require more money. Also, you can only support so many men on the field at once.

Overall, I'd say the game is mildly challenging, and progresses in difficulty and a fair pace. The storyline doesn't really follow the real actions of Napoleon all that much (although you do find the Rosetta stone) as some times you're fighting ''bosses'' such as ENORMOUS monsters which can breath fire, evil teleporting wizards, generals on flaming horses, or warriors which can summon thunder to come from the sky (and eventually the evil queen herself, which produces giant bugs and shoots laser beams). You'll also have to do things such as defend a certain position for so long, or move through a confined area with a very limited amount of troops (forcing you to use strategy over brute force).

The graphics do a decent job of showing you what's going on, as does the sound. The sprites are rendered well, nothing impressive, but it gets the job done.

RTS fans should really enjoy this game, as I can't really think of much that is wrong with this game. Sure, the storyline is far from accurate, but that makes all the more fun when you're up against a 50-foot beast which can crush your capital base in one blow. Nothing too original nor exceptional here, which is probably the game's only weak point. If you really enjoy Real-Time-Strategy games, then this is a game to import for you, otherwise, you probably won't find this game too much fun.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/02, Updated 07/19/02