Shogun: Total War

Rating:
Summary: reviews all wrong
Review: Notice that all of these reviews are referring to the wrong game??? I'm looking for reviews on Shogun Total War and these reviews are about Medieval Total War. Hey, Amazon, get it together!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing detail
Review: I've been playing computer strategy games for more than 20 years, played my first one on a green-screened Compaq with 64k of RAM, played them by the dozens, and for my money, this is the best one so far. The amount of detail is incredible, the battle scenes feel amazingly real -- you feel transported to another place and time. The strategy, role-playing and tactical aspects of the game all work together pretty flawlessly, creating a credible feel of following your regime through hundreds of years of struggle. There are some downsides -- some of the strategy aspects and diplomacy don't seem to affect gameplay much, for instance -- but the incredible attention to detail is amazing. I played Shogun Total War and thought it was cool, but this really takes the game to another level. Requires quite a bit of computer horsepower to run, by the way, when you've got 2,000 or more men battling it out. Some amazing battles, with the tide shifting back and forth, the issue undecided for hours, sometimes, the weather changing, etc., rallying troops, sending for replacements, making desperate last-ditch bids in the final minutes with your king. If you like wargaming, strategy games or if you're a history buff, this game will keep you interested a long, long time. Lots of replay value -- I've played probably 100 hours and feel like I've only scratched the surface. Haven't tried multiplayer yet. Anyway, this is guaranteed fun. The learning curve is somewhat steep, but I find the interface really intuitive. Great stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Among the best...
Review: The best medieval strategy game of all time! If you like this game just wait till Rome: Total War comes out...

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Summary: Samurai Meets Knight
Review: The guys of the epic Shogun: Total War games have really gone for ultimate perfection with their European version. Medevil Totalwar is a truly worthy heir to Shogun (a game I recomend you try before MTW). Shogun made the gamer truly think like a Japanese Warlord. Something games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires, ect. just don't do. It is the same for MTW in which the gammer must balance subterfuge,with all its sabatoge and murder,and the empire building grunt work of VAST armies battling over EPIC 3D battle fields(think Bravehart)! MTW takes what developers did with STW and adds SEVERAL improvements. Inquisitors from all the cultures search and destroy any heritics and any antisentement to your rule, much like the Shinobi of STW. Assassains kill rival generals and diplomats, like the Ninja of STW. But this is were things pick up were STW left off. Siegies are fought for real. Artillery pound castle walls to dust as up to 10,000 warriors, under your every order, battle it out on a real time 3D battle field were snow, rain, heat, wind, and down right nasty nature, effect the morale of your army. To control your land completely, your shores must be patroled for enemy invasion. To do this you have to build great fleets of warships, something STW completely ingnored in Japanese history. The Pope himself in Italy may call for money from you, or to crusade against other "hethen" cultures. Following his demands will ultimately throw you into the Great Crusades, but not following his holy order may also land you in some serious [trouble] when he calls for one of those crusades against you! Your blood line must be kept going if you want your empire to last forever! Marrying off your children will produce those needed heirs to your throne, but even more intrigueing is marrying them to rival factions. Doing this will open up those, "Huge...tracks off land!", when they die. It will also keep your generals from starting a civil war for your throne. Keeping track of heirs isn't automatic like in STW. If you dont keep youngins in the family a 70 year old king isn't going to have the energy to suddenly "make some heirs". Medevil Totalwar WILL be 200 times better then Shogun so if you liked Shogun you will like Medevil Totalwar. If you haven't experienced Shogun Totalwar you deffinatley should check it out. Medevil Totalwar IS going to be the best TBSG (turn based stratedgy game) and the best overall SG (stradegy game) for years to come. There is a true replay value on this one. Not even Richard the Lionheart could play this one once and master its epic size intregue and Medevil warfare simulation(that almost perfectly recreates the way war was fought all those centuries ago). Oh, and for the gammer with the "lagging software" MTW's 3D engine is absolutly incredible. The revolutionary engine makes it very easy for computers with only 64 Megs of RAM to keep up with the games HUGE battles. Battles that can sometimes take up to 45 minuets when all 10,000 max knights are running around out there! As you can see I give MTW 11 out of 10! Way to go Creative Assembly! You're the developers realy behind all of this awesomeness!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent yet Infuriating
Review: Usually games of this nature are very small scale and require countless tedious tasks to gather the resources you need to grow your kingdom. With Medieval Total War I was pleasantly surprised. The premise of the game is excellent as are the battle sequences. The pros and cons of the game are as following:

Pros:
- Excellent story and historical accuracy. The inticracies of medieval europe is portrayed well. Nations present in the game come from the following locations: Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Holy Land, and Northern Africa. All the major players of the period are present.
- Lots of different troop types, many of which are exclusive to different nations. This gives the game some replay value since different nations have different strengths and weaknesses.
- Large scale battles can be fought using your own custom armies. These armies can be set up to fit your own particular generalship style. Your generals and troops develop into better soldiers each battle that you win.
- The game focuses on the battles NOT on all the other tedious stuff.
- Everything isn't always peachy. Rebellions, civil war, assassinations can all happen. So you have to think and play certain countries a certain way.

Cons:
- Bugs abound in the game. The most infurating one is when the game boots you out when you try to save after fighting a large battle for 45 minutes. This happens occasionally.
- The computer cheats at times making your good battlefield decisions irrelevant. Like any game the computer needs a little help to keep up with you at times. For the most part this is not a big deal.
- Graphics are sub-par for type-A games now. Not horrible, just not as glossy as you would expect.
- Some battlefield troop mechanics are stupid. For instance a cohort of 100 peasants will attack one foot knight in an open field and not break their rectangular formation and surround the knight. So basically the 2-3 guys on the front of the rectangle will fight the knight.
- Sieges are very simplistic. You can't place your archers on the walls etc.

In summary, I feel that this game definitely has more pros than cons to offer the strategic gamer. Sure it has some problems but when you take on a project like this it would have taken forever to get everything perfect. If you like empire games or medieval warfare this is a must have. Kudos to Creative Assembly. Medieval was such a step up from excellent Shogun that I can't wait for Rome: Total War.

Rating:
Summary: Not an expansion!
Review: This game rocks! IT's not an expansion as some have labelled it, but a new game engine that can literally render hundreds of units on the field of battle. An epic strategy title that you must have if you are a hardcore fan of the genre or just a noob looking to recreate the Battle of Stirling from Braveheart. They are doing another sequel Rome Total War that is going to make this look like Lincoln Logs in comparison from all accounts

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding combination of Risk and Braveheart
Review: On one level, Medieval: Total War is a lot like Risk. You conquor territories, build armies, build buildings so you can raise more tax revenue and create stronger units, assassinate and/or negotiate with your rivals, etc. etc. This aspect of the game is highly entertaining, sort of like a much simpler version of CivIII. Where this game REALLY shines, however, is when you start fighting your own battles. The level of detail is astounding: you can see your individual soldiers and even watch arrows (or boulders if you're using siege weaponry) scythe down your foes like wheat. You can hear a block of hapless spearmen scream like little girls as you flank them with your heavy infantry and grind them into pieces. You can laugh like a maniac--hey, I did!--as a bunch of moronic peasants try to take on your cavalry units and end up in a big bloody pile in the middle of the battlefield. You can even knock the snot out of your opponents' fancy-schmancy castles using a variety of neato weapons ranging from simple catapults to huge cannons and then, after you've beaten down a few walls, you can send in your troops to massacre the cowering survivors! Life really doesn't get much better than this folks, I tell ya. This is quite simply one of the best strategy games I've ever played and the fact that you can SEE your enemies scattering before you, whining about how badly you're beating them, is just icing on the cake. The game does slow down a little bit once you have large numbers of men on the screen (bump the resolution lower if it becomes a problem) and occasionally locks up but is otherwise very stable. One thing I would suggest--especially if you're going to be playing this game on anything but 'Easy'--is fighting a few practice battles before starting. It helps get you used to the different movement and formation commands as well as how to summon reinforcements, etc. etc. Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure your king has lots and lots of heirs. Don't throw away an heir in a hopeless battle and always proposition a neutral or allied princess you see in your territory--the earlier the better too (more chances of creating little bambino's to run your empire after you're gone that way). Believe me, nothing sucks more than playing this game straight for days and then losing 3/4 of your empire to rebels because all your wife gave you were daughters. Other than that, all I can tell you is that (paraphrasing Conan who was paraphrasing one of the Khans, I believe) 'there is nothing better in life than to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.' ;) Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: They don't get any better than this!!!
Review: This one is the KING of strategy games, the perfect marriage of RTS to TBS, it will steal many hours of your life away, and you best start buying flowers for your spouse or girlfriend right away after purchasing it.

The real time battles are simply awesome, you can have in a custom battle up to 25,600 men on the battlefield at one time if your system can handle it and you have never seen such an awesome sight in any computer game before.

No other game company can match this engine for the amount of units you have on the battlefield. The sound, the gnawing and gnashing of teeth as the little units individually fight for their lives, sometimes running, sometimes doing heroic deeds to save the day. Individual generals/leaders for each army with vices and virtues just like people in real life can influence others with vices and virtues, so can your generals and leaders.

Just about every historical unit you can think of is included in this time period, with the ability to mod other time periods into the game, that many modders have already done. The Patrician v1.2 is a roman time period mod for MTW and it is simply fantastic.

The strategy portion of the game is simular to oh a little bit like civilization where you build buildings that give you upgraded units, or special units like assassins and or spies, religious pieces to convert the heathen on the map, Inquisitors that will eliminate any buildup opposing your factions religious beliefs and heretics. And princesses that you can marry off for alliances with other factions or have your princes marry other factions princesses for the same effect, as well as providing offspring for when each king dies.

There's just too much in this game to say it all in 1k words..GET THIS GAME and you won't need any others. ;)

Rating:
Summary: Patience is a virtue
Review: Boy ,talk about mixed emotions. I have had a love/hate relationship with this game. I have bought it twice and trashed it twice. What is severely lacking is just plain old character. There is nothing to give you a sense of identity. Shogun at least gave you an advisor with whom you could consult(if you had a hankering for confucian riddles) or receive dignitaries whose insults were barbed with eloquence. It would greatly enhance the game to have a video play during key moments. When a faction leader is killed in battle a video would be much more affecting than reading a scroll of said event. That's what made Shogun such a gas.

Even though princes and princesses are capable of marrying into other clans there seems to be little thought given into how these events help to forge alliances.In the latter stages of this game marriage into other factions is next to impossible. That is tactical suicide for the minnows trying to swim with the sharks. In short the game could use a more complex diplomacy schematic - this was a truly dynamic feature of the age. Intermarriage guaranteed neutrality and sometimes military assistance.

The leader/general ratings are imbued with command,dread, piety and accumen. All of these can be enhanced with experience but are too often affected negatively on a random basis.Oftentimes turning a good commander rotten. Showing mercy by letting captives or rebels off the noose can lead to you being exclaimed a saint or a wuss but if you persist in executing your foes not only will your reputation suffer but your own troops will come to despise you. It sounds very intriguing on paper but in practice it is mundane. At the end of each round you receive a scroll listing this or that character change and that is it. Not very stimulating. And according to this version of history medieval nobles were very inclined to homosexual tendencies. When your umpteenth leader gets revealed as a molester of boys it starts getting under your skin. This is what passes for character and I just dont think it enhances the game in the least.

The multiplicity of unit types and units specific to any given faction should make the game more interesting - but doesn't. instead the sheer variety leads to confusion on how to engage a specific foe. Units may appear similarly armed but are in effect vastly different in quality. Without knowing the capabilities of special units in detail it is hard to say whether this unit or that is suitable to engage its counterpart. The AI knows these variables and will out- maneuver you too easily. Despite the cool graphics this is just about crunching numbers and the computer is much better at that than a human. But if you have lots of spare time and patience the game can be edited. After getting sick of seeing whole armies turn tail and run at the slightest provocation I did just that. I can't go into details here but in the game folders there are lists which will allow you to edit every aspect of the game. ANY unit can be resized, have more armour, valour, ammo, march faster etc...simply by editing the appropriate table. Likewise buildings can be constructed cheaper, faster, generate more income and give greater or lesser bonuses than has been originally denoted.Once you figure out how this is done it will lead you to question why certain units were shortchanged. Cavalry seem especially weak given their historical dominance in this era. Just an extra point here or there makes a big difference to the fighting capability of any given unit. In short, with a bit of patience you can rewrite this game to conform to your version of how is should be played.But be warned there are over a hundred unit types to tinker with. If you make a mistake no harm no foul, you just uninstall the game and reload it.

But even so the AI is still an issue. The battlefield AI works very well indeed but the grand strategy just seems to be clueless. This is one of the few games where manipulating thousands of troops at a time can be done effortlessly and with remarkable coordination. I haven't seen anything which comes close to approximating this. And there are many out there who promote themselves on this model but deliver far short of the mark. Caveat Emptor. Rebellions are a constant threat/nuisance. History has proven just how tough it was for one kingdom to absorb another once a national identity was fostered. But foregoing the accuracy of this model would assist in making the game more playable. Given the vast number of provinces to be conquered and pacified there is little time for idleness if the game is to be concluded fully. Having gotten to the end a few times only to have mass revolts erupt - not only among foreign vassals but in my own armies- I realised that this is not a genuine aspect of gameplay but a mere spoiler devised by some sadistic programmer. This is very similar to Europa Universalis - even the strategy map seems borrowed - right down to the scroll updates at the beginning of each turn. Medieval would do better to borrow the diplomatic cues from Europa. It would greatly enhance the game. Of course a multiplayer option of the full campaign would be better. Single battle multiplayer is just too lame to even bother with. Its a great game but lacking a certain spark to take it the extra level.

Rating:
Summary: Might and deception
Review: This game does a fantastic job of re-creating the look and feel of the fight for control of Japan in the 'middle-ages'. You control one of the great clans of Japan (or, the invading mongol hordes in the Mongol campaign) and must plan, structure, deceive and fight your way to gain overall control. It is also quite historically accurate - even your generals and heirs have the names of their real-life counterparts.

The game operates at two levels: turn-based strategy level across the whole of Japan, and real-time strategy on an individual battlefield. There is great diversity in the units you can employ and the way you can build them up to gain an advantage over your adversaries.

At the strategic level you can also send out spies, ninjas to assassinate enemy generals or envoys and make and break alliances with the other clans.

There is also a multiplayer game, which is fun for a while but lacks depth. The single player game is much better.

Shogun:Total War looks impressive and is fun to play. Be warned though - it's very absorbing so may take up a lot of your life if you get hooked.

Enjoy.