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Age of Empires, move over!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: June 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Somewhere in the course of the video game industry, strategy games lost the strategy involved. The games became races to retrieve materials and build massive armies. Lost was the skill in commanding troops, stratigically placing men on the battlefield, overthrowing your openent not by your physical superiotity but by tactics.

This tactical aspect of strategy games returns in full force in Shogun Total War, which pits you as the Shogun of Japan, the ultimate military rular, bent on ravaging the other shoguns and uniting Japan as a single force.

In your quest of doing so, Total War combines the battles of Age of Empires with the tactical and stratigic fun of Risk. When defending in a battle you have time to stratigically place your troops, place them within trees and your opponents can't find you, place them atop a hill and you have better bow and arrow range, place a brigade behind and a brigade in front and trap them between two giant forces. Sign treaties, assasinate with your ninjas, but you must continually watch your rescorces.

The game is not simply stratigally superior to its counterparts, however, it is also graphically superior. You don't train one horceman at a time, or a single bowman, now its sixty at a time. Zoom in to watch individual conflicts as your foces colide with your opponent's or watch the battle as a whole as over 1000 troops go head to head in battle.

If you happened across this game I imagine you are searching for a strategy game, if that is the case, I can guarentee you, Shogun Total War shall not disappoint!

Might and deception

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 19
Date: September 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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.

Annoyed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 18
Date: June 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Obviously I haven't played the expansion yet. I just want to let EA know that I'm more than a bit upset that they're bundling the original game with the expansion and charging us Shogun fans full price. I love the original, but I'm offended by them trying to make me buy it twice.

Shogun - The Total War ,,, Lives Up To Its Name!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have been looking for a game that can be played from all levels: (a) Strategy pure ... Plans & Operations (b) Third Person View ...Company/ Platoon and (c) First Person.

Most games combine options a & b ... I have yet to see one that includes all three. However, Shogun - Total War ...comes close to making me forget that it does not have that feature.

Although it takes a while to get used to all the various commands, the tutorial gets you into the game quickly ... and once you get into the game ...time absolutely flies!! I started playing the game at 2 O'clock in the afternoon ...and what seemed liked a half an hour ...turned into 01:30 AM.

The game takes you into Feudal Japan, just before the arrival of the "foreign devils". It includes the arrival of the Mongols & The Christians. The game also includes the various intrigues and behind-the-scenes politics that were so common back then ...to include bribes by the emmisaries and assasination by the Ninjas!!

By carefully using your allies - through bribes and assasinating key personnel at the right moment ...you slowly try to bring your clan to power ...by getting you declared ...Shogun - by the politically weakened Emperor. But you must have heirs to the throne ...for if you die before being named Shogun ...your clan loses all its hereditary lands and is scattered to the winds.

You can play the real historical battles ...allowing you to match your wits with true life historical situations.

Tiny Troop Graphics Make Tactical Battle Less Satisfying

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: June 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

(First, a patch was released months ago (in 2001) that fixed the problems that N. Ferguson referred to, especially the one involving reinforcements. Find the patch at Totalwar.com)

This is a game that in complexity is more difficult than most RTS games but less complex than most wargames. The gameplay combines a turn-based strategy phase in which the player using a RISK-style map of Japan makes long-term decisions as to which province to invade, what buildings to construct, and where to deploy his armies. The real-time phase occurs when a battle is fought and the player attempts to defeat his rival. The battles are tactical and success depends on many different factors: troop numbers, experience, weapons, formations, weather, battlefield maneuvering, and terrain.

Although the graphics are usually highly-praised by most people (and in truth, there is much to praise), I was VERY disappointed with the troop graphics. Despite having a high-end machine, and the latest graphic card, the 2D troop sprites are too tiny, and difficult to distinguish (even before combat). When cavalry aren't easily differentiated from archers, and archers can be mistaken for spearmen, and a gamer with 20/20 vision like myself has to move to within 2-3 inches of the computer screen to fight a battle, something is wrong. I don't care how beautiful the terrain is, or how interesting the cut scenes,other non-game graphics may be equally stunning but it doesn't matter.

The troop graphics are extremely tiny. Many reviewers defend this with sarcasm: Well, so what if you can't see the trooper's faces? If you want Age of Empires, go play that! Hey, how else can you get 5000 men on the screen?

I say, "So what! Why bother with troop graphics in that case? Why bother trying to make them look like anything then?"

I don't care about making out tiny details. I do care about spotting my archers easily from my arquebusers. I do care when my spearmen look much too much like my cavalrymen.

You may not care about the graphics and enjoy the game regardless. You should be aware however that it is an issue that have put off many other players.

What's up with the reviews?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Why are these reviews for Medieval Total War, while the picture and description is for Shogun Total War? Am I the only one that notices this?

Nice game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Not a bad game at all. I never got this when it first came out as I into C&C and many other RTS games But I have been going back and trying to catch up on a few games I missed.

This game reminds alot of Lord Of The Realms 2. You do basically the same things except for a few differences.

This is a turned based game (like Lords 2 and Civilization games)with real time battles. You could either have the Computer resolve the battle or fight it yourself. The thing I didn't like about the battles was it seemed half the time, the other general would run away (a few times mine did and these 3 amd 4 ranked generals with many victories). Some of the generals are your sons. As the game continues, you play through the 4 seasons. Eventually, a son will be born. When he reaches age 16, he is ready to lead one of your armies. Depending on how many years this goes, your leader (Daimyo as they call it) can die. If you have no heirs, your game is over. Otherwise one of your heirs takes over.

There are many buildings you can build and upgrade that affects what kind of units you can create, how good their weapons and armor is, and how much honor and moral they have. Some buildings will only show up once one of your generals is of very high rank.

the resources of the game are Koku (money) from alliances, mines, Koku's pillaged from victory in war, and farming. You have to keep your people happy to stop revolts also.

You also have special units such as emmisaries that spy and offer alliances and Ninja's who are used to spy and assasinate other generals and emmisaries (the cutscenes for this are pretty cool).

Graphically, this game is pretty good for a 4 year old game, the sounds are good, and the music is pretty good. Replay value isn't very good, but there is alot more to this game than what I just told you here.

No that this is over, it is off to start Medieval: Total War. Good luck and enjoy a pretty fun game while it lasts.

BUY IT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As the battle scene opens, the 3-D landscape, the hills and the mountains, present a majestic setting. The enemy armies marching towards you in organized military formation makes you feel like you're a general in an actual battle; in that very moment you feel like you're out to conquer the world. Undoubtedly this game is the best war game on the planet. If you want guerilla warfare, get Starcraft or Warcraft. If you want real battles, get Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition. You won't be disappointed, believe me.

Really Annoyed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: August 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you already own the original: you can buy the expansion pack for the game ( at 1/2 the price of the "Warlord Addition" including shipping not to shabby ) directly from EA. Thus far that is the only way to avoid getting more for your money by the publisher and re-buying a game you already own.

On the other... hand this is amoung the best games I have ever played. I hope EA can re-use the engine and the idea for other venues in the future. If you don't already own the orignal the Warlord Addition is a good deal.

Rating- Game: 5 stars. Electronic Art's Marketing department : 1 Star Average : 3 stars.

reviews all wrong

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 31
Date: January 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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!

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