The Total War series have long been one of my favorite series of games, I'm quite the fanboy. This love has come from a general love of 3 things: the turn-based RTS sub-genre, big fucking battles and empire building. My obsession began with the third game in the Total War series, the much loved Rome: Total War. In my opinion Rome is as near as damnit perfect as a wide-scale empire building, barbarian-murdering, power-trip game. I mean, you get to be Emperor of the god damn Roman world. Spread your chosen faction's colour and religion over the entire known world, from Spain and Morocco in the West, to Mesopotamia and Armenia in the East and as far north as......Yorkshire. The two previous games to Rome, Shogun 1 and Medieval Total War, I have not played for more than 5 minutes at a time. I think I probably would've very much enjoyed them had I found them earlier than the beginnings of my torrid love affair with Rome. However, graphical restraints being what they were back in 2000 and 2002 respectively, when playing them after becoming addicted to Rome, I found them very much lacking any appeal visually.
Anyway, away from the series as a whole and onto the newest offering from Creative Assembly, Shogun 2: Total War.
Nope, sorry, not yet, you've read my praise for the series and now like the stale cone after a delicious summer ice cream, you're going to have to read my gripes and complaints about the only mold on the Total War Loaf of Success. I speak of course of Empire Total War.
After knocking out Medieval 2 and its expansions, a reasonably enjoyable and well made sequel to Medieval 1 which i did indeed play lots and enjoy....somewhat, the next out of the Total War mixing pot was Empire. This game still exhibits the bare bones of a Total War game, in so much that it is a turn based strategy game covering entire continents with various factions and armies, but completely screwed the pooch when it came down to the details, or more importantly, the unique selling points. The setting for Empire ranges from the colonisation of the Americans, the subjugation of the Indian sub-continent and (with the addition of the expansion DLC) the Napoleonic Wars. This presented two distinct changes from previous Total War games, one handled very well and the other a complete flop.
Naval combat on the battle map, the first instance of such a thing in the Total War series, was stunning. Huge fleets of gargantuan ships, bristling with cannon and battle hardened marines ready to die for King and Country clashing with the powdered wig-wearing, fake beauty spot-sporting, poor excuses for fleets of the other European nations was done to perfection. The ability to sail a British fleet from Portsmouth, across the Atlantic to Maryland, dock for repairs and then go hunting Spanish gold galleons in the Caribbean waters was enjoyable to say the least. But adding in the ability to *actually* capture such ships and either ransom them back to the Spanish or keep them for yourself was sheer brilliance. As you might have guessed, I was quite the fan of the high seas.
The flop to which I referred, comes in the form of EVERY LAND BATTLE. With the progression of technology, specifically the invention and mass production of firearms, the Total War style of battle changed completely. Which is indeed in keeping with the change in the actual battle strategy of the time, don't misunderstand me, the battles in Empire are very much accurate for the time. Huge hulking cannons firing over the heads of neatly arranged lines of Red Coats, flanked by masses of Dragoons and Light Cavalry, it all fits with my impression of what warfare would've been like back then. But it's just not Total War. Or at least, the Total War I enjoyed so much in Rome and to a lesser extent in Medieval 2. There are no thunderous cavalry charges to break enemy lines, no screaming hoards of axe-wielding barbarians charging down on a few well trained soldiers who must do their best to defend the realm. Its line firing. And that is boring. The appealing part of Total War games is now boring. And that is my biggest complaint.
Which is why, when I purchased Shogun 2 Total War 2 weeks ago I nearly back-flipped with joy, a move that Jack Donaghy will tell you is 90% mental. It is a thunderous return to Total War form. Something which has to be said is due to the change of theatre. 1500-1600 feudal Japan features the same style and tactics of battle that can be seen in European wars from 500BC to the beginning of the Renaissance. Big armies of samurai, supported by peasant ashigaru units and shock cavalry laying siege to castles, battling across a wide spread of terrain. Oh it gives me shivers, it IS a proper Total War game but with all the good bits (not previously mentioned) from Empire and none of the bad bits (previously mentioned at length). Anyway, less of the nergasms and more of the review.
Shogun features a total of 8 playable factions all vying for total control of Japan by marching into Kyoto and declaring their Daiymo to be the true Shogun of Japan, exactly the same as Rome...just in Japan. These factions all have exactly the same units, buildings, research available to them, the difference between each faction lies on their initial starting locations on the campaign map and their initial reputation among the other clans (diplomacy and honour is pushed quite a lot in Shogun 2). There are also different faction strengths, but they're so negligible that they're not really worth paying attention to. There's a katana clan, a bow clan, a ship clan, a siege weapons clan, basically a clan for every aspect of the game but when it all comes down to it they never really make any difference, so long as you are competent at the game you can either over come and compensate for the clan trait or ignore it all together, such is the case with the Monk Clan..... For example, the Chosokabe clan have superior archers, the Shimazu superior katana infantry. In a clash between the two a skilled general will use their clan advantage to negate the enemy's advantage. With the purchase of one of the DLCs a unique unit for each clan is added. This unit will be the epitome of that clan's unique trait. For example the Chosokabe have an archer unit that has a massively increase range.
I mentioned diplomacy being more important in Shogun 2. Clan honour is paramount if your faction is to survive. In order to fund a vast army income is needed and trade is an invaluable source of income. If your clan is of low honour pretty much no one will trade with you, let alone form alliances, so learning this aspect of gameplay early on is vital. Research is also still knocking around, only this time THANK THE MOUNTAIN MONKEY it's different from Empire. If you've played Empire you'll know what I'm taking about. Violently long periods of time spent researching bugger all just to get to that one important upgrade for your bayonets. Thankfully, in Shogun there are two trees, Bushido (military) and Chi (civilian). Each is a true research tree, with subsequent research building on previous to compound upgrades. Unlike Empire you can start from the first turn, and there are many ways to improve the speed of research from building libraries, to recruiting and upgrading monks or missionaries to dealing with important clan decisions which provide temporary bonuses to research or income etc
Visually the recent Total War games have not failed to provide stunning terrain and unit detail and Shogun 2 keeps up the standard. Water, being a good test of graphical quality in my opinion, is just as good, if not better than Empire. Unit detail and differences from man to man within a unit have been vastly improved since the days of Rome when every barbarian hoard genuinely looked like Genghis Khan had fathered every single one of them. All melee combat that takes place has been programmed using point-point motion capture from professional martial artists familiar and trained in the weaponry of the times, a little touch that probably cost a fair bit, but makes me feel a helluva lot better knowing that since the buy-out by Sega back in 2005 the attention to detail and general care taken over a game hasn't diminished.
Overall, a stunning return to true Total War form. I am addicted to it currently, having played 56 hours since purchasing it less than two weeks ago. If you enjoyed Rome, Shogun 1 or Medieval 1 or 2 then this will be right up your street. It appeals to everything from those games that I enjoyed. Conversely, if you were a fan of Empire (I suggest you contact your local health adviser, or come to me and I'll hit you with a trout) you will also enjoy lots of Shogun 2. If you were a fan of Empire but don't enjoy Shogun 2 then may I suggest you try and do your taxes at the same time as playing, for that warm and familiar feeling of over-complication.
A secondary point to be made connected to Shogun 2: Steam. We all love it, and if you aren't aware of it then I strongly suggest you find out about it. Being fiscally challenged at current, I find it hard to justify ~£40 for a new game, which is why I've only managed to get my hands on Shogun 2 recently due to there being a 50% off Steam sale. Steam appears to be a perfect company not to mention a perfect business idea. Steam buys a digital copy of a mainstream game, lets use Shogun 2 as an example. Now, Steam pays Sega a certain amount of money to be able to sell copies of their game. No actual, physical disc is produced, just money. Lots and lots of money. Considering that a random number generator could be used to make legitimate CD Keys, this appears to be a legal way of printing money. Its not just good news for Steam, because thankfully they appear to have human souls and see fit to pass on their success to us, the lowly customer, in the form of slashed prices. I very much see digital copies being the only form of game distribution in the future, possibly for all media as things like the PlayStation Store and Netflix are doing a similar job in other areas of the Nerd Market.
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