Rating: 
Summary: I returned mine
Review: I'm quite surprised to see the high regard with which people hold this game... especially, I'm surprised to read through these reviews and find how many people detail the game's significant shortcomings and then proceed to give it 4 or 5 stars. Unlike many of the proponents of this game, 1) I haven't been fascinated by feudal Japan since I was 4 years old 2) I never read Shogun (the book) 3) I'm indifferent about the mini-series 4) I do not own a reproduction of an authentic Samuri sword 5) I study no marial arts 6) I belong to no Japanese animation interest group. In other words, I only purchased the game because it looked like it might actually be fun to play. Evenso, I wanted this game to be a great game. The idea is terrific... strategy as in Risk and combat tactics like Myth combined into one game! But wanting this game to be great doesn't make it so. It was a nice attempt, but it just doesn't deliver. My primary complaints about the game are in four important areas; 1)steep learning curve, 2)lack of control of the units during combat, 3)poor user interface, and 4)very poor manual. Steep learning curve - there is a very significant ramp-up needed to get to a skill level high enough to actually succeed in anything. Plan on spending many, many hours of total frustration before you start to get the hang of what works and what doesn't. It would be impossible to overstate this. When you start a new campaign, your goal is to take over all of Japan. The game doesn't care that you are a novice, it will treat you with all the disdain of a conquering army. It will take advantage of the slightest mistake in strategy, it will decimate your armies on the field almost without exception. I'm not saying that you can't stick with it and figure out the nuances, but I drew tired of the game long before I reached that point. Lack of control during combat - You give the orders to your troops, you start them out in the formations you want, but once the battle begins in earnest, the responsiveness of your troops drops off sharply, to the point where there is little to do but watch. Many of the people that want this game to be good, no matter what, will argue that this represents realism and is a PLUS of the game... but the reality is that this is a very frustrating element to the combat tactics of the game. In fact, the 'combat' segment of the game could rightfully be called the 'pre-combat troop alignment' segment, because once the fighting starts, your involvement is much more that of a spectator. Poor user interface - other than the lack of control mentioned above, the UI for the combat segment is cumbersome, but OK. However, the UI for the strategy portion is excrutiatingly awkward. Nothing is 'discoverable' which is one of the basic tenants of user interfaces... which leads to the final problem... Very poor manual - Shogun attempts to be a deep and rich game covering both strategy and tactics... it is in fact, two games in one. Why, oh somebody please tell me why... the game would come with a BOOKLET the size of the one that came with my keyboard? The effect of the poor manual coupled with the poor and undiscoverable user interface is that you will many times sit stupified in front of your monitor wondering out loud, phrases like, "OK... Uh... I have an ambassador now... So... Now what do I do?" The bottom line here is that if you really want this game to be good and are willing to accept bamboo shoots under your fingernails for a long while, I'm sure this game will eventually pay off for you and you will come back here and give it high marks for its nice look and its richness... Otherwise wait for Shogun II which I hope will be oh so much better.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Game, but...
Review: Shogun: Total War brings you back to the Warring States Period. You may play as one of the seven warlords. The history and everything appear to be accurate. Ninja, Geisha, emissary, and all kinds of soldiers, from regular spearmen to archers to warrior monks to calvary, are all available. The game play is indeed simple. Most of the time you are like playing card board game, you move your soldiers like playing RISK. But when a battle breaks out, it turns to an action mode, in which you can command and actually see the soldiers crossing blades (the sound effect is cool!) You win the game until you defeat all the other lords, i.e. conquer Japan. There are several things that make this game fascinating: (1) the sound tracks are great: very traditional Japanese music; (2) accurate historical background. Good research; (3) the videos are fantastic. For example, when the ninja carries out his assination, a video will show that whether he has succeed or failed (i.e. whether the ninja or the target is killed); (4) like the AGE OF EMPIRE, you need to build things in your dominiants in order to improve either your country's economy or the quality of your soldiers; (5) you can choose between two languages, either English or Japanese. If you'd like to enjoy a more traditional Japanese environment, this will be a very good option. Many people have praised this game, but there are several drawbacks that made me give it only 4 stars: (1) the function of forming alliances is almost useless. An "Alliance" in this game only means "non-interference". You cannot plan and cooperate with your computer allies to attack your common enemies. Also, they sometimes offer you alliance without reasons: they can immediately invade you right after forming an alliance with you; (2) Although the introduction claims that all the warlords have equal chances to win, this is simply not true. After playing it for a few times, you will discover that the Hojo Clan has almost 80% chance to win, the remaining 20% goes to the Oda Clan. The remaining five lords have no chance at all; (3) after all, it is force but not strategy that really matters. As long as you have a large and elite army, you can win for sure. In fact, I don't see how one can apply Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR to this game because of the illogical alliance relationship; (4) ninja assassinations are not helpful. Even if your ninja has succeed in killing the enemy general (this is rare), the death of the general has no real impact on the enemy; (5) ninja assassinations are extremely tough missions: you can hardly make it. Sometimes I wonder why do I spend money on training ninjas...; (6) the graphics during the battle mode may not be as good as you think. You can't really see the tiny soldiers clearly. You won't see any blood. You won't see where the arrows are shooting at until you see some of your soldiers falling down. The map is also not impressive. The weather makes no real difference. Sometimes when the enemies are hidding, you will never find them, and when time's up, you will lose the battle even though you should be the victor; (7) I don't like the difficulty levels. The EASY mode is too easy, it is like your competitors are standing still and waiting for you to knock them down one by one. But the NORMAL mode is too difficult, and unless you play as the Hojo Clan, your chance of winning drops to zero, because the Hojo Clan controlled by the computer is "destined" to win. Overall, this is a nice game with several shortcomings. But to be fair, many strategy games have these shortcomings, too. I would recommend you to play the EASY mode, enjoy the sound tracks, learn some Japanese history, and to be absorded into the traditional Japanese atmosphere that will be automatically created by this game through your computer screen. But don't expect too much for the AI of this game.
Rating: 
Summary: TAKEDA!!!!
Review: It gives the strategic a chance to wield an army of samari that yeilds to his or her every whim. It features adreneline pumping combat and samari warriors that fight to the death. If you want to command in battle, lead your men into battle, and take the victory, I recommend it for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great game about 16th Century Japanese Clan Warfare.
Review: I am a big fan of Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Ran). I have also read Shogun by Clavell as well as Musashi and Taiko by Yoshikawa. I even play the board game by Avalon Hill - Samurai Sword, previously known as Shogun (check it out on this site). Of course, this is the period that the PC game Shogun: Total War is dealing with - 16th Century Japan. I have been playing it for several nights now and I can honestly say that my wife is getting just a bit ticked off with me because this is all I want to do when I get home - play this game! It's highly addictice if you get around all the game controls, but not in a Diabo II (mindless RPG) sort of way. It is addictive because it really sets up the atmosphere of 16th century Japan beautifully - from the basic military units, the special units (emissary, ninja, geisha, priest), to the music - kodo drums and all! One beef I had with the package was that the user manual was totally useless, something that somebody else mentioned in the reviews and which I could'nt agree with more. But you can easily get around this by picking up the Official Strategy Guide by Prima -trust me, you'll need it. Put it this way, you will be playing this game for hours/months - and with its level of complexity and depth perhaps even years, so if you invest that kind of time in the game, why not invest a few more koku (Japanese currency) on a strategy guide that is well written and highly helpful! All I can say is I love this game!!!
Rating:
Summary: Only played the demo, but...
Review: This game is great. It runs along lines similar to the games Myth: The Fallen Lords and Sid Meier's Civil War games; real-time strategy over a 3-D topographic battlefield. I found its interface clean and simple, a necessity when commanding forces numbering in the hundreds and thousands. The only problem I found was the unit's tendency to end up several screen inches away from where they were first directed to go. The tactical strengths and weaknesses of the units are somewhat unbalanced in the demo; trying a cavalry assault against a formation of spearmen in this game will never succeed, and light infantry will lose to a group of heavy infantry half their size. I hope that the units will be better balanced in the real game. The battlefields are more detailed than those of Myth, but not as finely sculpted as those of Gettysburg or Antietam; there are forests that can hide your soldiers, unclimbable cliffs, and steep hills that slow the movement of soldiers, but no rocks, no fields, no other types of cover. In general, if you like real-time military strategy but can't stand the massive emphasis on resource management of most RTS games, this is a good game for you.
Rating:
Summary: UK Edition + [web site] have the full manual
Review: Wow - this is one of the most fun games I've played in a while. The campaign side of the game is minimal (and a bit tedious), and some of the AI seems to be cheating. But you forget that once you are launched into battle. The graphics are amazing - fully animated armies of thousands of soldiers that you can control over beautiful terrain. You'll need a high-spec PC though - I have a fairly hi-spec dual P3-733 / nVidia GeForce 2 system, and can get good performance at 1024x768 (I cant wait to take it to 1600). Some people have complained about the game shipping with a poor manual. According to the Shogun website, the US edition shipped with an abridged version of the manual. My copy (bought in the UK) came with a thick user manual, and two reference cards - which is just as good as any other game I've seen. If you want the full documentation, you can also download it from the [total war] website. The manual doesnt discuss tactics in detail, and leaves it to you to discover the benefits of the various unit upgrades available. As with any other strategy game, you're best off looking in internet forums for this sort of info - if you want to shell out on the strategy guide you can too. The best part of this game is easily the battle sequences. The music, graphics, and enemy AI produce not only the best wargame that I've ever played, but one of my favourite of all games. Once you see your Samurai swarming over the battlefield to chase some rival scum off the face of the earth, any criticisms of the game just seem irrelevant. Saying that, I do have a wishlist. There's no editor available yet, and the campaign game is pretty limited (theres not much you can do in the way of diplomacy). The unit types are all very alike too - you get samurai with bows.. samurai with spears... samurai on horses... and thats about it. Its certainly nowhere near Age Of Empires 2 in that respect. Pro: Fantastic graphics. Great ambience when you're in battle mode. Lots of variety of tactics, terrain, and very realistic. Con: Needs a high spec machine. No editor available (yet). Not much variety in units.
Rating:
Summary: shogun
Review: I've been enjoying shogun. I played The Romance of Three Kingdoms 1 through 6 (BTW, version 7 is coming out in July, 2000 in Japan. I am looking forward an English version soon.) and The Age of Emperors 2. Obviously the Shogun is distinguishable among them. The epic-scale war appeals most to me. For an instance, the others do not have such an epic-scale warfare. You guys better get it if crazy about a strategy-type game. The sound also is awesome in the battlefield. The 3-D graphic and those movie scenes are very good to introduce you a realistic experience in a battle. But you know, sooneer or later, you will be bored with those movies since they are limited numbers in variety. Only one thing I don't like so much is the lack of individual characters in there. I am interested in those Asian histories and read a several books about them (Chinese and Japanese). So I wanted to see some man-to-man combat between generals in the battlefield as well as an epic-scale warfare. In that sense, I am waiting for Kessen (Sony Playstation2 game coming out this November in USA). Overall, This game (Shogun) deserves five stars in comparison to the other existing games right now.
Rating:
Summary: Shogun breaks out of the AOE, C&C doldrums
Review: Comparing Shogun with the other dominant brand of strategy war games recently (i.e. Warcraft and all of its numerous copycats, e.g. Age of Empires, StarCraft, Command & Conquer, etc.) brings to mind the old Sesame Street ditty "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn't the same..." If you're tired of games whose battle and strategy mechanics are exactly the same and merely differ on the setting and names of units then Shogun is the game for you. This is the best combination of battlefield tactics and campaign level strategy I've seen in a long time. Shogun is a truly unique game in a genre that has been sadly complacent for the past few years. And the best part about Shogun is that while these other games focus on improved graphics at the expense of originality, Shogun retains both. Just a brief list of the highlights of Shogun: 1) The 3D graphics are incredible. The battlefields look real, complete with mist, fog, snow, rain, and changing light levels. Also, each unit has graphics for each individual soldier and, while you direct them as units, you get to watch each individual fight. 2) The battles rely more on tactics, including use of terrain and weather, than on numerical strength. You actually have to be a good general, you can't just rely on a superior force to pound the enemy into submission. I've won (and lost)battles where the numberical advantage was at least 5/1. 3) The strategy component is just as important as the battles. You can negotiate treaties, develop your provinces' economies, choose your realm's religion, and send assassin ninjas to take out your rivals' heirs and top generals. And its all turn based so you can take your time planning. My only complaint was that the strategy part could have been made even more complex. Rice is the only possible harvest for a province and all income is based only on trade, mining, and rice production. Also the diplomacy is rather simplistic. You can be "at war", "neutral", or "allied" but thats it. If you want a strategy game that stands apart from the rest go with Shogun.
Rating:
Summary: Every Clan has a chance
Review: This is just to disagree with Chow Dog's review. *Every* Clan can win, even at the hardest (Expert) level, you just need to have a knowledge of your clan's strengths and weaknesses. The Hojo and the Shimazu are , in my opinion, the easiest clans to play and win with, but there's molto fun in the others. Brag: I've won with every clan except the Imagawa (yet!) at the hardest level and that means I've defeated the Hojo at least five times. The weather is also vitally important. I used to only play in fine weather so I could see...but you can sneak up in fog...or if you are close-combat oriented, attack one of the computers Archer- heavy armies in the rain. I could go on. I discover new subtleties with every game. I agree that the "diplomacy" is rudimentary, and that is my one real gripe. You cannot get your "ally" to attack in concert on a mutual enemy, even if you are both at war. A strategy suggestion: in the beginning you have two choices: immediate blitzkrieg on your nearest enemy to take them out before they can get strong, or a more measured approach, building up infrastructure and armies till you are ready to fight. Both approaches have their place, but you will find that your long-term development is slowed if you choose the former. Cry Banzai! and let loose the dogs of war!
Rating:
Summary: The most fantastic strategy game!
Review: This is the best strategy game I have ever had!
The landscapes, the huge armies, the economy!
It's all fantastic!
Oh! And what is more, the super japanese music!
Oh yes and the A.I.! It beated me at the beginning several times,
ha-ha! But now: I AM THE SHOGUN!!!
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