An ok game that gets very difficult even on the easiest setting by the 3rd section. I got so tired of my people running away despite being in greater numbers and better cover.

Trying total war warhammer in a bit, hopefully its much better

4/10

"A Battle Not Worth Fighting For Beginners"

I was intrigued in trying out this game, since I am fairly new to the strategy genre, and this looked like a fairly simple game to pick up. The UI looked clean and the setting was sort of interesting, so I figured I would give it a shot!

That was a mistake! I disliked much of my time with this game, from the strange controls that didn't really explain much to the lack of stats, explanation of formations, and tactics, I was completely turned off from ever wanting to play again. I felt the game did an extremely poor job explaining its nuances, and I found myself getting trounced on the "balanced" difficulty by trying to use whatever knowledge I gained from the in-game videos and the linked rulebook, but after a few hours I felt hopeless.

The game has some cool stuff, like detailed topographic maps and actual battalions from the era, but the game behind it felt confusing and unintuitive. I'm fine with trying to learn the game's systems, if they were really even presented to me clearly to begin with. For a beginner in the genre, this was a really off-putting experience.

I played as the Union, and it felt like the Confederacy was extremely powerful and capable, with large numbers to boot. This sort of went against everything I learned in general U.S. history class, so unless this was a specific nuance to this battle, I'm unsure of the capability and firepower coming from this faction.

I will Not Recommend any beginner strategy gamers out there to try out this game. Unless you feel like researching proper techniques and strategies outside of what the game presents you, while also fumbling over annoying controls that are presented as "simple", avoid this title.

Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)

I opened up Wikipedia and did almost exactly as what Union did in real life history. And I got almost the exact same outcome. Even the casualty numbers.

Just in case if there was any doubt to how authentic this game is.

Ultimate General: Gettysburg is a Total War-esque wargame that focuses on the single most famous battle in American history, divided into several stages. These stages are dynamic, in that how you did in the previous stage directly affects your tactical options in the next (do you want to keep on holding this ridge or retreat further back?), and the strength of your man at disposal (if Doubleday's division suffered heavy casualties, don't expect them to fight well in the next engagement). The game also features a more dynamic and realistic AI than what Creative Assembly offers, which is not surprising since this game is made by the creator of DarthMod, a series of Total War mods known for their AI overhauls.

You can tell the theme of the game is authenticity here. Each division/brigade is named after their real life commanders or their unit name, and the map is a beautifully hand-painted version of the real life location, with details from well-known battlefield like Little Round Top to random farmhouses all named after their real life owner. Morale and conditions of your troops play a huge role here, and understanding how fatigue affects your soldiers in engagement is the most important way to have your men fight at full efficiency.

This also comes as a double-edge sword due to several factors. Even though the tutorial seems easy enough, seeing how the game's mechanics seem deceptively simple at first, but it's not too long until you realize just how important the stats on the top left corner are (Morale, condition, cover and reload). The problem is, even after you realize this, it's very difficult to understand why some of your men are not fighting at full efficiency because the game's UI does not make it clear enough. Maybe your men is in an unfavourable position or has geographical obstacle in the way to fully engage the enemy--but the vision indicator is just not clear enough for it to be really helpful (the map being flat and the topographic map being barely helpful also adds to this problem). Sometimes you don't understand why some units have higher morale than others despite fighting for a prolonged time while another unit you put in as reserve to relieve them lose their morale and condition almost right away. Lastly, the amount of things you have to keep track of mean the game is heavy on the micro-control, constantly pulling back and putting in divisions to make sure they don't break.

As a game, these do make the game less accessible to play. But as an interactive experience, this also means that its focus on authenticity can win over hearts of many even though it may not offer the immediate tactical satisfaction that's often at the heart of many RTS games. Considering that it's a cheap and short game, it is an experience certainly recommendable to any Civil War afficionados looking for some authentic tactical wargaming experience.