Shogun: Total War

Rating:
Summary: Windows ME
Review: Just wanted to point out that even though the description for this game says it works with Win95, 98 and ME, it does not work with ME. At all. It doesnt crash lots or run slow under Millenium, it just does not work at all.

Rating:
Summary: Great Game
Review: this game is one of the best i have ever played. got it for christmas, installed it and played straight until 1 in the morning. i love asian culture, especially japanese. this is historically accurate strait to the names of the daiymos.

Rating:
Summary: Shogun is top-notch
Review: I am not a real fan of fuedal Japan, but I do enjoy RTS games, and Shogun is one of the best RTS games I have played. The graphics are excellent, and the sound is incredible. The Japanese score does the job getting you primed up for a "braveheart" like battle. Some flaws are the manual,or I should say a lack thereof. If you do buy this game,I reccomend the strategy guide, because it is extremely difficult past "easy" mode. Another thing I noticed is the AI in the game is frustrating. Sometimes your troops flee, and you have no control over it. Al-in-all, Shogun:Total War is a true winner, whether you like Feudal Japan or not.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic strategy game
Review: This game reminded me a lot of the ancient Milton Bradley title, "Shogun" (it later was renamed "Samurai Swords" for legal reasons). The map is the same, with the little army and castle icons on the map. But I was pleased to see that the resemblance ended there. The graphics are simply breathtaking. The terrain is modeled perfectly on my system (a 500 MHz PIII), and the troops look good even though they look like little more than ants. The tutorial is wonderful, allowing you to pretty much jump in after installing and not having to refer to the manual. This turns out to be an added benefit, because the manual has as much entertainment value as a Presidential debate. It's all facts, no meat. This is a good thing, I suppose, but I like some added interest to my manuals, such as historical facts and some tips to get you started. It's my understanding that the strategy guide that goes with this game is good in this regard, by filling in many of the holes that the game manual leaves behind. If you buy this game, you better have a lot of time on your hands for the Full Campaign mode. The game eats the clock like a starving man eats a hamburger. The first time I played it, I started at 8:00 pm and didn't look up until the sun shone through the windows. This last sentence is probably the highest praise I can give this game. I would have rated it five stars if not for the dull manual.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as expected.
Review: After reading all the reviews here, I bought this game, expecting to have a great time, but did not have one.

The game is not exciting, hard to control troops in a battle ( much harder then games like Red Alert), and may be a bit too real. If you are a gamer who just wants to fight and fight and fight, I don't think this is a right game, but if you just want to sit there be relaxed and build your own japanese empire, this might be good.

And also beware of possible computer problems, which I faced, and might have seriously effected the fun of playing.

Rating:
Summary: a good game with a few drawbacks
Review: this game is fun i have to admit but it isn't the greatest stratigy game i think they could have done better on the off the battle feild part it got a little repetitive. But there is a good side to it the GRAPHICS!! amazing 3D world land scapes and fight scenes are amazing with 1000 of men fighting to the death. and the different types of people is great that is why i gave it this score.

Rating:
Summary: Simply addictive strategy wargame
Review: Simple, elegant, addictive. This game will put an end to your social life!.

Rating:
Summary: Samurai Dj M.O.D Gives This 20 Thumbs Up! =)
Review: Lets start out with me, a freckled american that likes rock in roll. But I am one of those guys that wishes he was japanese because of being so into Feudal Japan. The idea of samurais, ronin and the actual concept of keeping your family's honor has always infactuated me and will always till the day I die. Once I heard that EA was releasing a game that would feed my unhealthy habits of wishing I was Asian I almost pooped my pants. This game delivers not only Feudal Japan as the base of the story but is based on a very fun board game entitled Shogun (which is now called Samurai Swords)which is like Risk or Axis and Allies. In this game you have the choice from I believe 7 or 8 clans which each have their own advantages and disadvantages so you much choose wisely. In this game you try to keep the population within your provinces happy while trying to earn the currency in the game (Koku)(Koku means:1 year supply of rice)(EX: 3 koku is 3 years worth of rice). This game will keep you at the monitor for hours on end of the battles are beautiful. Buy this game.

Rating:
Summary: Great game
Review: This game is fantastic. I normally never played computer games before until one of my best friends showed me this game. At first I found it boring yet interesting. But later I started getting really into it, to the point that I HAD to buy it. Now I have been playing the game for months, and the game has great grafics and wonderful battle scenes. The multiplayer format is good but it needs a little work. Now, even my brother wants to play it like I do, and we get in fights over who's allowd to play next. It's a fantastic game and if you haven't bought it yet, you really need to.

Rating:
Summary: Great presentation, great idea, good-to-fair gameplay
Review: Shogun: Total War both does and doesn't live up to my expectations as an avid fan of 16th Century Japanese history. It's obvious from the start that this game was more than just a product to the team at Creative Assembly, who designed it for Electronic Arts. The presentation is virtually flawless. From the music and sound effects to the cutscenes and menu screens, this game drips with atmosphere. And the "Way of the Daimyo" website included on the CD is an outstanding informational sidebar to the game itself that obviously took a lot of time to create and did absolutely nothing for sales. So it's clear that this game's release was pushed back for all the right reasons, something for which both developer and publisher are to be commended.

As far as actual gameplay, S:TW is as good as it can be, which is not to say perfect, but I can't realistically imagine it being better. If you've ever played "Nobunaga's Ambition" or "Shingen the Ruler" on the old 8-bit Nintendo system, you have played a scaled-down version of S:TW. Even if you haven't, if you've already read the other reviews on this page, I don't need to tell you the basics of the game, so I'll cut straight to the gist of its strong and weak points.

First, the strategy game is entertaining and addictive enough in its own right, but it has a tendency to settle into the standard "build lots of the best quality troops and move from chokepoint to chokepoint" fare long before you reach the middle of the strategic map. Without getting down and dirty in the tactical screen, all the Sun Tzu-based AI and fascinating tactical decisions about troop types, honor, weather, terrain, etc. happen behind the scenes, giving the whole strategic game the feel of "go for big numbers of troops and roll the dice."

The other problem with the strategic game is the diplomatic model. Treaties will only last more than a turn or so when you have the military strength to back them up, at which point you don't really need to use diplomacy. Granted, this is very realistic for the period in question, but it doesn't add much fun to the game (and, lest we forget, games should be fun, not just history lessons).

Once you drop down to the tactical screen, the game gets both more interesting and more frustrating. The really great battles are the really BIG ones, and S:TW lets you get it on in huge scale, with literally thousands of troops going at it. Unfortunately, these almost always disintegrate into unmanageable free-for-alls, where you become a sort of awed spectator, mouse limp in your hand as you watch your samurai ignore you commands and either charge or flee in a big ugly clump of all-too-similar-looking 2-D sprites. Even in the small battles, I had a hard time getting archers to join the fray in melee, even when their help would have overwhelmingly turned the tide of battle in my favor. Close Combat 2 had troop morale worked in, where panicking soldiers would disobey you, and it was only mildly annoying on occasion. The rampant disobedience of my samurai - I'm talking samurai here, not simple peasants with spears - led me to finally give up the tactical game in favor of the straight strategic approach, which has the aforementioned limitations.

If I sound negative, I don't mean to. The game is, as I said, addictive in spite of its limitations and its art design and animation are unparalleled. If you are a fan of feudal Japan, you absolutely have to buy S:TW. If you are a fan of computer wargames, you really should add this fairly innovative title to your collection. Otherwise, you may want to try to get your hands on a demo first and see if it's your cup of (green) tea.