Hands on With Total War: Shogun 2 – A Refined Experience
Thanks to SEGA and the fine folks at the Creative Assembly, I was lucky enough to delve into the newest addition of the Total War series, Shogun 2. I had access to one Historical battle, and several tutorial modes. One of which takes you through a sizable chunk of the campaign, giving me some insight as to how the final product will play. I’m here to say that Total War: Shogun 2 will please both veterans of the series and newcomers alike with smart UI tweaks, beautiful visuals and the brilliant tactical gameplay fans have come to expect.
Shogun 2 is not a dramatic shift for the series, instead it feels like the Creative Assembly refined and built upon the format you’ve come to expect from other Total War games. The main objective of Shogun 2, is to raise your Daimyo’s (leader of your chosen faction) status to Shogun, by conquering territory, using subterfuge and establishing your factions dominance in Feudal Japan. To do this, you will have to master the Art of War on the battlefield and keep your populace happy and managed on the campaign map.
The Campaign Map has been streamlined for ease of use.
I’ve never been one for the Campaign maps in the Total War games, having to manage cities, spies and Armies has always felt a little clumsy and especially boring compared to the grand scale battles that the Total War series presents. In Shogun 2 however, the campaign map feels streamlined for brutes like me who just want to fight. However, the depth is still there for the economists and dictators of the World. It feels like the Creative Assembly have learned from the clean feel Civilization 5 presented, with big buttons that clearly explain what you’re upgrading or building, but if you do enough digging you’ll find the back alley menus that present all kinds of sliders and statistics for managing tax, public order and happiness. The Agent units such as the Ninja feel useful and their advantages are more clearly spelled out to you as a player, click a castle with your Ninja? Expect a neatly presented menu with options such as “Kill Leader” or “Sabotage Gates”, while none of these options are new, the menu also displays success percentages and failure doesn’t automatically mean death for you agent, He or She can escape and their is a cutscene for each and every scenario that will keep you guessing until the very end.
The Campaign Map feels alive, rather then static
The Campaign map however boils down to what it always has been – the place in which you manage what your cities are building, food and tax management, using Agents for Subterfuge and Diplomacy, recruiting more Warriors and Generals for your Army, managing your family tree, so on and so fourth. The Creative Assembly however have created a vivid representation of Japan, and while the landmass itself can feel a lot smaller then some of the other Total War titles (especially Empire, which spanned the Globe) the smaller landscape leaves the game feeling focused and alive, as they have packed more detail into every corner of the country. Of course, the campaign map will inevitably boil down into a staging ground for the battles, which is what every player comes to Total War for anyway, right?
Battles are truly a test of Strategy and Wit
The first time you enter a battle in Shogun 2, prepare to be blown away. Not at the 1000′s of units on screen, not at the slick combat animations or the smooth easy to use UI. No, the game looks simply Amazing. Even on the lowest settings, Shogun 2 looks great and on-par with current console games, however if you have the horsepower to crank the settings high, prepare for a visceral experience like no other. Everything on screen looks finely textured, the dust and smoke look smooth, the water ripples and reflections look convincing and beautiful, and the variety of the troop models help the game feel immersive and realistic, rather then presenting you with an army of clones.
The battles play out like they always have, where positioning your units correctly will often be the key to victory – You want your archers positioned on hills behind a line of spearmen, firing death down upon your opponents, rather than charging in with their swords, duh. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a very smooth and easy to use UI in the battle mode. For example, your Generals now emit a circular Aura, any friendly units within said aura will receive a buff in morale, and while the buff aspect is nothing new, the Aura itself helps with positioning and strategy. Each unit now has a unique special ability, Spear units can quickly get in formation to overcome horses, Archers can use their Skirmish ability to run away from battle when foes get too close and Generals can Inspire their troops, or Rally fleeing units. While it may sound like a lot to manage, the game does a great job of making everything obvious, and easy to navigate.
Those Archers might want to fall back..
Like with the aforementioned General Aura, the game also displays the range and line of sight for your ranged units. It’s really helpful to see how far your Archers can actually shoot, as well as where they’re looking. It’s additions like this that really make the battles in Shogun feel more about the combat itself, and less about managing abilities and different units (even though you still can if you so desire). Veterans of the series will still kick the breathing crap out of new players with these changes, but the newer players won’t be feeling left floating in the wind – It’s quite a smart interface.
I had the opportunity to try both Land, Siege and Naval battles and each had a fairly different dynamic to it. The Land battles are all about using the Art of War to your advantage. The Art of War (pioneered by Sun Tzu) feature allows the game to smartly position your units according to different Animal based styles. When locked in battle with an opposing enemy using a different formation, the differences in position really come to fruition. It cant be stressed enough that smart planning is key to victories in this game, if you make one minor tactical error, it could mean the pure decimation of your forces. I enjoyed this a lot, as with some of the older Total War games, you could crush opposing forces with pure numbers and sheer force. While that certainly remains possible, a smart tactician will put a giant hole in your unit count.
The Siege battles feel very hard, and take some amount of time – for good reason, you’re taking someones bloody stronghold. The goals remain the same from the last Total War games, get inside the walls, dominate the center. Though in Shogun, most of the Fortresses are based upon mountains with small stairways leading in. Doing a pure numbers march through the gate will not win you battles, you simply cannot get enough units through the door to do any substantial damage (at least in the sieges I was presented with). In the older Total War games, different siege equipment meant life or death, once again the same can apply here, but you no longer need to bash the gates in to start killing inside. My most used strategy here was making my men climb (YES, CLIMB!) the walls from all different directions, drawing the occupying army into smaller, more manageable groups. This scenario could be tackled in so many different ways, though one wrong move and prepare to be fucking toast, the siege battles seem like they require the most attention and precision out of the three battle styles.
Just try get through that Bamboo wall!
Naval battles are quite enjoyable in Shogun 2, as the game encourages you to mix up your play-style on the open sea. The section I played had different types of boats, one that was extremely quick and effective at skirmishing, zipping around the ocean launching fire arrows setting my enemies ship alight. The larger ships are made to get up close and board, however they’re made out of wood, which burns up real quick, so it becomes a game of Cat & Mouse at some point. Visually this is my favorite battle mode, with the reflective ocean splashing from the battle going on above, men tipping and rocking out of boats from sudden shunts, or watching my enemies boats burn up into a pile of ash. The aspect of control remains largely the same as the land battles, positioning and managing your special unit abilities will be key in being victorious here.
From the sizable chunk that I’ve played of Shogun 2, The Creative Assembly have really churned out a refined and promising return to the original world that started the entire series off, Veterans of the series will feel right at home in the feudal lands of Japan, and new players will find peace among the Cherry Blossoms as the game does a fine job of teaching and conveying the games ideas and principles to you.
Shogun 2 will be released on March 15th for PC.
If you have any questions about the game, feel free to leave me a comment below or contact me directly via Twitter -@iamaaronalex, I’d be happy to help in anyway i can.
