Total War: Shogun 2 (PC)

“After following the Total war series from Shogun to Napoleon, I started thinking: 'will there ever be a bad Total war game?' And so comence the online warfare of summer 2011 with another epic entry to Creative assemby's Total war franchise. A...”

“After following the Total war series from Shogun to Napoleon, I started thinking: 'will there ever be a bad Total war game?' And so comence the online warfare of summer 2011 with another epic entry to Creative assemby's Total war franchise. A return to the roots of the game colection that I have played all my life: Shogun total war...2!!!

Story- The story/campaign of all Total war games, and in deed Shogun 2, have always been split into two halves; An overwhelming turn based diplomatic, secretive, and economic campaign; And real-time, large scale military bloodbaths... Without blood. However the dramatic climax of your campaign follows you throughout the game, the one objective consistantly lingers on the path to honor and glory: Become Shogun. The title of Shogun is up for grabs, and after selecting one of the nine playable clans to play as, you wage an epic and bloody war to claim the most recognised position in all of Japan. Getting there is no mean feat however, as the other power-greedy clans are also gunning for this objective. You'll need bucket loads of patience though, as a single Campaign can take weeks to finish, and die hard fans of the series wouldn't have it any other way.

Gameplay- Glitches and poor AI have always been a nuisance in other games donning the Total war title. Despite squashing a large number of these pests, Shogun 2 Total war unfortunatly still suffers this problem. Glitches can occur at any time meaning that it's hard to predict the next glitch or when it will occur. These atmosphere-breaking annoyances can reveal themselves in any form, ranging from dodgy animations to complete game crashings. The good thing is that, whilst there are glitches, the game play more than compensates and is both original (For the old school fans) and easy to pick up (For the newbies). Even if you don't know the new features or it's your fist time playing, Shogun 2 offers the best 'hold-your-hand' tutorial that will ease you into the best tactical experience to date. But the wash down is: Left mouse to select, right mouse to move and W-A-S-D to control the camera. It's easy, It's cinematic and it's the best strategy game around. If you're still not sold allow me to offfer my personal advice: Charge and click on tabs. If you don't know what they do simply hold your mouse over them and a text box appears. SIMPLES!

Graphics- WARNING! If you have a lower end system this game will chew it up! The graphics in Shogun 2 are awesome to behold! Amazing attention to detail and a grand scale served with an extra helping of grotesque and realistic melee combat complete the overall imersion of Shogun 2. It even looks great to lose a battle as your men fall like flies in a depressing and emotional last stand that renews the desire to win the campaign as the highly detailed bodies of your favourite army litter the equaly beatiful battlefield in the midst dramatic and well-drawn thunderstorm. It's hard to make graphics this slick, but to make such graphics with so many individual units on the screen, must be nearly impossible. Yet Creative assembly has managed it and poured their hearts into the shiny finished product.

Creative assembly stole my summer and I know for a fact that I will be playing this game for a very, very long time.

9/10 ”

“Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai is hands down one of the best Total War games ever created!”

“Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai is hands down one of the best Total War games ever created!”