Total War: Shogun 2

[JonasSalk]

Demo's been out for a bit and the game honestly looks quite good.  I like the tech trees and the more simplified units are awesome.  My army of worthless peasant spearmen and archers will conquer all of Japan.  Also, there's a multiplayer campaign mode.  Maybe it'll actually work.

[The Brain]

Does anyone know of a good fat book about the history of that period? None of that Turnbull copy/paste shit, real history.

[Josquius]

Demo:
The menus and stuff are really cool. Love them.
The game itself: Bleh. Crappy to control. Runs like a dog too.

[Caliga]

Does the map suck?

[Faeelin]

I tried the demo. It's not bad, and the AI is surprisingly good for a total war game. But since it's a historical battle, it may be prescripted...

[DGuller]

I tried the demo. It's not bad, and the AI is surprisingly good for a total war game. But since it's a historical battle, it may be prescripted...

I bet it was.  Remember the Agincourt battle in the demo M2TW?  The full game didn't quite turn out like that, it was better at modeling mass executions than it was at modeling battles.

[JonasSalk]

The TWS2 demo includes the ability to play a few non-scripted battles.

[Caliga]

it was better at modeling mass executions than it was at modeling battles.

That's because mass executions are more fun.

My favorite TW campaign: M:TW2, Americas.  As New Spain.

[Drakken]

There is a mod on TWCenter that allows to freely play the demo without scripting.

[JonasSalk]

Multiplayer campaign vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjhCtFvEjl8

[Seen]

Multiplayer campaign vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjhCtFvEjl8

That was not at all what I was hoping for

[JonasSalk]

Same.  I was hoping for a legitimate multiplayer campaign map with all the details and such just like the SP game.  I think I'll wait until this game is patched and cheaper.

[Kleves]

A positive quasi-review from ign:

After a campaign of Shogun 2: Total War I'm convinced this is the best Total War game since Rome. The scope isn't as broad as Empire, the unit relationships are more familiar, and it's clear Creative Assembly consciously dialed back its ambition for this game, but the result is an immensely satisfying strategy experience that delivers in all of the areas it should. The artificial intelligence works well, the interface is beautifully presented and easily comprehensible, and the play mechanics of the empire- building on the turn-based overworld map and real-time tactical combat are expertly tuned. It's beautiful in and out of battle, and as might be expected at this point, features a memorable set of musical arrangements played with period-specific instruments. Shogun 2 is an incredible strategy game, and should be played by anyone with even the slightest degree of interest.

The return to 16th Century Japan isn't just a change in setting and style for Creative Assembly. It's also a shift in gameplay. Instead of the emphasis on ranged combat and cover in Empire and Napoleon, Shogun 2 has a back-to-basics approach with a focus on sending massive columns of samurai to battle in brutal melee. The unit relationships are clear: spear beats cavalry, sword beats spear, archers can thin ranks before the bulk of your forces meet in the middle of the battlefield, and pretty much anything beats archers at close range.

Though resource exchanges can occur with foreign powers throughout a campaign, the entirety of Shogun 2 is set within Japan. At the campaign's outset in 1545 you'll be able to select one of nine clans, each with a different starting position and associated bonuses. The Shimazu clan is situated in the southwest in a province that touches the water, whereas the Takeda clan is land-locked at the start and must make a few aggressive moves to acquire a harbor and get a few boats into the ocean. The naval combat is a step back from the complexity of Empire. Because most boasts are rowed and use archers instead of cannon with multiple types of shot, there's less to consider when lining up ships for a fight. The sea battles tend to be more about brute force than finesse with sail management and hull orientation, though you still get to play around with boarding, setting enemy vessels on fire and can even set up mines. That being said, naval combat is still important for establishing and maintaining trade routes. You'll need ships capable of protecting trade fleets and, more importantly, navigating safely around Japan's coastlines as alliances and warring factions clog up your quest for dominance across the mainland.

Battles on land are much more involved than those at sea, but they still follow the standard Total War formula. There's always the option to auto-resolve in case you don't want to waste time mopping up if the unit numbers are wildly lopsided, but should you decide to go in and fight in real time, you'll have some important decisions to make. If on the offensive in an open field, you'll need to make the first move and initiate an attack. Usually it's best to move in archers (or, later on, columns of matchlock riflemen) and try to pick off some of the enemy's front line units. I did this to see if I could catch the AI sleeping, which occurred in a few instances.

As I fired arrows the hostiles on the receiving end stood there oblivious, and immediately I was concerned I'd be seeing more issues of this nature throughout. But as it turned out, those glitches were minor and isolated. As battles progressed the AI would move cavalry around behind my front lines to try to flatten archers and kill my general. It would reposition its front lines as I maneuvered around the terrain, taking the high ground and forcing me to attack uphill. I only had the difficulty on the normal setting and was able to overcome the odds, but it was great to see an AI that seemed aware of the battlefield and reacted appropriately to my actions.

The presentation of the battlefield is gorgeous, from the artfully designed interface to the absurd level of detail packed into individual units. The tightly packed columns of infantry spread and react in plausible ways, whether they're being trampled by horses or climbing over the walls of enemy castles. When two groups of warring samurai clash, it feels like collections of individuals instead of giant rigid rectangles slamming into each other. This makes it all the more rewarding to blitz cavalry through the center of a battlefield crowded with thousands of units, finally shattering enemy morale and sending them fleeing for their lives to every corner of the map. The results can be awe-inspiring, effectively fueling the fantasy that you're a masterful military commander like few other games can.

Outside of battle, you've got the turn-based game to worry about. To attain victory, you must become Shogun by capturing and holding specific provinces. In the Short Campaign, which ends in 1580, you'll need 25 provinces, and in the Long and Domination campaigns, both of which end in 1600, you'll need 40 and 60 respectively. That means sitting around being nice to everyone isn't going to cut it. Alliances may serve you well in the beginning, but eventually most of your ties will need to be slashed to extend your empire to as much of Japan as possible, including Kyoto.

Shogun 2 also has Ninjas. When sent to assassinate targets in the field, animated movies pop up over the campaign map showing the Ninja infiltrating a field camp. The sequence of cut-scenes is repeated each time, but at certain points the events in the video can deviate depending on the Ninja's skill and luck . He may silently step past the outer guards, crouch in the trees and drip poison along a string into the target's dinner, or he may be seen long before he gets to that point. Seeing the drama unfold onscreen adds a welcome touch of character to what's otherwise just a dice roll. With consistent success the ninja levels up, freeing up skill points. These can be added to a skill tree to determine boosts to the Ninja's effectiveness at assassinating enemies, establishing spy networks or increasing his chance of escape following an unsuccessful action. Such persistence of progression is consistent across the other two agent types, the Metsuke and Monk, who add their own variables to the flow of the turn-based game, such as detecting enemy agents or sowing dissent in enemy provinces.

Generals have skill trees that can be customized with success in battle as well, giving you plenty of options to tailor the statistical benefits of key figures in your clan for better use in combat or in city management. With roughly a half-century of time covered in the campaign, it also means you won't see a lot of turnover with daimyos, generals and agents. Eventually some will keel over due to old age, but that's not until much later on in the campaign when you should already have an empire established.

Across the campaign map the AI of the other factions appears to behave intelligently. If you marry off one of your daughters to a clan to strengthen relations, that clan won't randomly break your alliance and start gobbling up your territory. On the other hand, other clans may arrange alliances amongst themselves to push you off trade routes and, if weakened, will desperately try to negotiate a peace, which of course you can exploit for one-time or recurring payments or trade agreements. Early on it helps to have powerful allies around your borders so you're insulated from attack on multiple fronts and can call on others to join wars you instigate in other areas of the country.

Along with managing tax rates and ensuring that there's enough food and adequate trade and transport infrastructure to support your growing collection of provinces, there's also the issue of religion. Christianity spreads across the land as the seasons tick by, and by deploying Monks or Missionaries it is possible to convert provincial beliefs and disrupt the public order. In some cases, this could lead to rebellion. While managing all of this, it's also important to keep track of your clan's fame. If you conquer too swiftly, for instance, the sitting shogun may consider you a threat, which will cause other clans to turn around and attack you. Nobody ever said trying to become shogun was easy, right?

Shogun 2: Total War is a high point for the Total War series; a sublime blend of strategic depth with thrilling real-time tactical play. I'd recommend it to anyone, so why aren't I assigning a score yet?

There just so happens to be an immense multiplayer component in Shogun 2. Much more than in previous games, Shogun 2 encourages you to go online. There's a multiplayer campaign that can be played co-operatively or competitively, and then there's the Avatar mode. In this mode you name and create an avatar, an armored warrior that serves as the physical representation of your online persona. After creating the avatar and customizing your clan's emblem, you're presented with a map of Japan divided into provinces. By moving your avatar icon across the map, you effectively invade other territories, which opens up real-time battles against human opponents. There are a huge amount of unlocks and options for customization here related to your skills, army loadout, and different pieces of armor that can be slotted on your avatar. It's even possible to opt into another's campaign mode, which means you basically invade someone's single-player campaign, taking the spot of the AI in one of their battles (this option can be disabled when creating a single-player campaign if you'd rather not potentially face off against human opponents).

While this sounds great, I haven't had a chance to play online yet, and don't feel comfortable with scoring anything until I have. As a result, I'll be holding off on delivering a final review until some time next week. But even if the code supporting the multiplayer features breaks a leg on Shogun 2's launch day of March 15th, it's still a great single-player strategy game.

[DGuller]

That's a very glowing review.  Whatever Creative Arts paid for it, it wasn't enough.

[Kleves]

That's a very glowing review.  Whatever Creative Arts paid for it, it wasn't enough.

I don't think I've ever seen a TW game get less than stellar reviews, now that you mention it...