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Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition

Score: 90%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: EA Games
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Media: CD/2
Players: 1 - 8
Genre: Real-Time Strategy/ Turn-Based Strategy

Graphics & Sound:

Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition--a mouthful if I've ever heard one, and heretofore referred to as Shogun--is a gorgeous game. The landscapes and buildings are all rendered with a fantastic 3D engine that really brings the world alive, and when it starts to rain you'll really appreciate the attention to detail that the developers put into the graphics. The various combat units are represented as small sprites, usually in massive groups. While this may at first seem a little cheap, when you see thousands of troops ranged across a hillside preparing for battle, you'll realize just how bad a 3D-model solution would have been. Instead of abstracting the groups of troops into single models like most attempts have done, the sprite solution lets you see every combatant on the field. And the little sprites are well-animated, despite their flatness. They have a number of viewable directions as well, making it feel a little less like rotating wallpaper a la DooM or any old FPS.

The sound in the game is solid, with the appropriate sort of music when the two sides collide and start to do massive damage to each other. You'll hear the clang of metal, the whistle of the arrows, and everything that you'd expect to hear in this sort of game. It's epic, it's fun, and it works. As an added bonus, you can switch the voices to Japanese, which is a very nice touch, especially for a 'domestic' title.


Gameplay:

All right. Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition is a combination of the original Shogun: Total War plus the recently-released expansion pack, The Mongol Invasion. I've never played the original game before this, though, so the review will cover both the first title and the expansion to it.

And let me say this: I really enjoyed my time with Shogun. While the turn-based campaign could definitely use some work--it plays like a poor man's Europa Universalis, or an even more abstract (but realistic) Heroes of Might and Magic--the actual battles are absolutely awe-inspiring, and watching hundreds or thousands of troops clash is truly a sight to behold.

The basic concept of the game is pretty straightforward. In the core campaigns, the object is to put all of Japan under your rule. You can do this in a number of ways, but in the end you need to lay claim to every territory of the land (or, if you prefer, a vast majority of them.) The plotting of this takeover is done on an 'overworld map,' reminding me more of the between-level maps in Dune II or Emperor than anything else.

You can do a number of things on this map. You can build various structures in each province, which is necessary to build the various types of troops. Fortunately, they can be queued up, but it's still somewhat tedious to go through all of your lands and set everything up the way that you want. You can also attempt diplomacy, but chances are good that you won't get the results you like. It's no Masters of Orion, that's for sure. Of course, infrastructure is pretty much thrown out of the window when you play the Kublai Khan campaign, as you sweep your way across Japan; it relies much more on automatic enforcements than anything useful that you can build.

If you challenge an enemy territory, or they encroach on you, you have a number of options. You can retreat from the land, let the computer control the battle, or (definitely my favourite) actually participate in the battle.

And this, folks, is where Shogun really shines. The battles are absolutely enormous. You can command dozens of separate units, each containing sixty or so troops. The various troop types are very similar to what there really was back in feudal Japan, with cavalry and archers and spearmen. It makes something of a rock-paper-scissors challenge, as archers can wipe the floor with spearmen who can slaughter cavalry who can wipe out archers. Once again, though, this is seriously altered by the Mongols, who bring with them a number of unique troop types on top of this. One of the most devestating changes is their cavalry, who can also attack long-ranged. Meep.

The strategic model of the battles has to be seen to be believed. You can command your troops around as you like, putting them in massive formations and having them walk to their deaths or destroy the charging enemy. It's not super-complex, but it works very well, and there's a real sense of scale in the game that makes you feel like you're watching hundreds of people go to their (hopefully honourable) deaths.

The expansion pack adds a number of things besides new units on both sides. There are historical campaigns, which are basically battles strung together; a number of new historic battles have been added as well, fleshing out the single-battle side of the game. And the units are nothing to scoff at; while they may stretch credibility sometimes, groups like the Thunder-Bombers can do some serious damage to the opponents.

Shogun supports multiplayer capabilities as well, although it's not campaign-based. This is understandable, as a full campaign across Japan would take many, many hours. It's quite a bit of fun skirmishing with your buddies, but don't think that means the AI isn't sharp; it is.


Difficulty:

Depending on what you do and how you play, Shogun can be easy or incredibly difficult. You can choose the level of difficulty for the core campaign, but don't think that because you set it to 'Normal' the game will be a walk in the park. The AI is savvy, and it'll walk all over you if given the chance. The single battles and such are set in their difficulty, but they let you know how hard the developers thought they were before you start. And multiplayer, of course, depends on the abilities of your opponents.

Game Mechanics:

You control the game with a combination of mouse and keyboard, like most strategy games; while you can do almost everything with the mouse, it's usually to your advantage to use keyboard shortcuts to facilitate speedy play. Most of the options are pretty standard, although you have to get used to commanding entire groups around instead of single units. Okay, so I'm not a wargamer--so sue me. My major gripe with the game has nothing to do with the menus or the controls, all of which are easy to use; it has to do with the game's propensity to switch resolutions five times between each screen. It makes my monitor sound like it's going to explode, which bothers me.

There's a lot of fun to be had in Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition. The turn-based strategic model leaves something to be desired, and the controls are a little confusing until you get used to them, but Shogun offers a lot of enjoyment if you invest time into it. It's not the greatest strategy game I've ever played, but it's by far the most epic, and it has a gorgeous sense of style to go along with the gameplay. Turn on the Japanese voices (which unfortunately don't change the voices in the cutscenes) and revel in an experience like few other games. If you're a strategy buff, or enjoy a realistic portrayal of feudal Japan, you should check out Shogun. The addition of the Mongol Horde and the requisite units and buildings is only icing on the cake; while not particularly realistic, it sure as hell is fun.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

Minimum System Requirements:



Win9x/2K, P233, 64MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, 650MB HD space, 8MB DirectX-compatible video card, sound card, keyboard, mouse
 

Test System:



Athlon 1.1GHz running Win98 SE, 512MB RAM, GeForce 2 GTS w/ 32MB RAM, SoundBlaster Live!, 8x DVD-ROM

Windows Shattered Galaxy Windows SimCoaster

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated