Shogun: Total War

by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005V97G
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: March 1, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,428 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Inspired by the war epics of director Akira Kurosawa, Shogun: Total War perfectly captures the chaos, conflict, and beauty of ancient warfare. Shogun thrusts you into the unstable politics of 16th-century feudal Japan. You command thousands of loyal samurai and other troops against six other factions in massive battles that will determine the fate of Japan itself. You can learn the basics of the art of war by playing the included tutorial missions, hone and test your skills by loading historical battles, or enter the campaign mode and go for the ultimate goal: becoming shogun.

Campaign play is divided into two portions--the strategic overview map where you manage your armies and provinces, and the tactical combat mode where battles are fought. The strategy portion isn't too deep. There aren't many buildings or unit types to build, and the diplomatic options are limited. It merely serves to provide a frame for the battle sequences, and that's where Shogun really shines.

Battles are fought on beautiful 3-D landscapes, with forests to hide in, fortifications to storm, and rolling hills to climb. Weather effects like rain and snow aren't just there for looks--they have a dramatic impact on gameplay. Wet conditions will render the match-lit guns useless and also decrease the range of archers because their bowstrings get wet. Troops get bogged down by wet gear, and high winds push arrows aside. Even the seasons affect battles, as longer or shorter days in the summer and winter determine how long you have to defeat your foe (or how long you must fend off an assault).

But weather and time are the least of your worries. Effectively managing your troops is the key to victory and also the toughest aspect of the game. There are dozens of formations to choose from and hundreds of tactical tricks to exploit. Keeping your archers, cavalry units, and various types of foot samurai all pointing the right way and effectively supporting one another is half the battle. The game interface and keyboard shortcuts make things easier, but Shogun's manual is just terrible. A simulation this fast paced and complex deserves thorough and accurate documentation, but you'll have to buy the separate strategy guide to get any worthwhile information. Fortunately, those with a little patience and an interest in the game should be able to figure things out, and they'll be rewarded with one of the most realistic and fun real-time war games available. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Realistic terrain and weather have an actual impact on gameplay
• Control thousands of troops at once using historical formations
• Strategy elements in the campaign mode complement the tactical battles and add to gameplay
• Includes footage from Kurosawa's classic Ran

Cons:

• Worthless manual
• Weak tutorial missions

Product Description

Thousands of loyal warriors stand before you, a nation lies ready to be conquered, in the shadows, ninja assassins await your orders. In Shogun: Total War you must display strength and cunning to conquer ancient Japan. In Mongol Invasion you lead the Mongol hordes on a bloody campaign to invade Japan and steal its riches.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Massive warfare on realistic terrain = loads of fun, February 22, 2002

By 

Fritz Zwicky - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shogun: Total War (CD-ROM)

This game is an ideal mix of turn-based and real-time strategy. All of the boring stuff, farming, economics, and the like, are handled macroscopically on a realistically rendered, RISK-like game board. Combat takes place in real-time with hundreds (hundreds!) of troops, including archers, yari samurai, cavalry, and ninja. It's like playing the medieval Japanese version of the combat sequences in Braveheart.

Combat is, thankfully, not painfully microscopic. Troops are organized into units of up to 60 warriors, and formations are easy to set up and move. Fatigue and morale are also nicely handled. If your troops are overwhelmed, you lose control over them, and they (realistically) flee the battlefield!

The dialogue is minimal, but satisfying. My favorite: "the enemy daisho is running from the battlefield like a whipped dog!"

I see that there is a medieval Europe version of the game in the works, complete with catapults, castles, and siege machines. Somebody please help Total War's developers obtain a license to make Total War: Middle Earth. I'm ready to play the battle of the five armies...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great War game that set the standard, February 6, 2004

By 

John W. Compher - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shogun: Total War (CD-ROM)

I wasn't going to review Shogun: Total War, except that everyone seems to be reviewing Medieval. So, I figured Medievals predecessor deserves some lip service.

The Total War series is without a doubt a standard to which any war game must be compared, and it all started with Shogun. Quite honestly, there are no games on the market that can give you anywhere near the experience of Shogun or Medieval. I used to be interested in RTS (real time strategy) games before this came along. I thought that the notion of hundreds or even thousands of warriors on a battlefield simply meant there were units that represented numbers of soldiers. The box said soldiers were individual units, but I simply didn't believe it because the idea was unheard of at the time. But when you see your army for the first time on the battlefield, rows upon rows, you know it's for real. And it's awesome. To me it is much more realistic and exciting to watch armies engage one another as they would have in real life. It's like watching and taking part in braveheart battles on your computer.

The game basically runs on a dual interface. The first is a
turn-based interface in which you move armies and agents, build and train, and issue all your orders for one season. There is no time constraints whatsoever, so you can spend as long as you like deliberating and making your decisions. When you are done, you end the season and face the results of those decisions.

This is the point at which you (may) enter the second phase, which is the battlefield. Also if you sent an emmisary or ninja on a mission, you will be notified if they have failed/succeeded. If you attack an enemy or someone attacks you, you will be given a choice(fight, don't fight etc.) The Battlefield interface is really the creme of this game. Without it any Total War fan would throw this software in the garbage. The battle field is truly 3-d, sometimes with rolling hills or high mountains, forests and bridges. You get a number of different units to choose from, that you have to train beforehand of course, to send into battle. While Shogun does not have as many unit types as Medieval, it has a respectable number, and almost every group serves an important purpose. There are many checks and balances between group types that keep the battlefield tactics interesting, and a good understanding of your troops ability really can turn the tide of a battle. It's not Just who has better troops or More of them! Winning a battle because of smart battlefield strategy is very satisfying, and gives you the feeling that what you do on the battlefield is just as important as what you do off of it. Mastery of the battlefield takes some time to obtain since the player must also consider elements like morale, your troops honour(how skilled a particular unit is), weather conditions, and various types of terrain as these all significantly affect what happens in battle. For example, hilly regions are much easier to defend so you may decide to make that a key defensive province by beefing it up with soldiers. When fighting large groups of archers, it's often wise to attack when it's raining as their bows don't fire as well. There are many more examples like these, but I won't get into them all right here.

The map interface is rather a bit abstract, and if you've played Medieval you will notice that the political scene is more fleshed out than Shogun's. This however is not a low point. By simplifying the map interface as much as possible, The game's makers allow the player to concentrate much more on the battlefield action without being bogged down by endless chores in the map interface.

Besides Medieval:Total War, this is the best war game out there. These games are really a genre of their own, and as of yet no one has even attempted to challenge Activision in their domain. If you have Medieval/Viking Invasion already, I would say there is enough difference and new stuff here to keep you satisfied for a while, although Medieval is more or less an improved version of this game and runs on the same engine(Rome:Total War will have a new engine). I certainly don't mind having both games, and besides this game isn't terribly expensive. If you've never played a Total War game, there is no reason not to buy either this or Medieval, they are both fabulous war games.

ps.- someone mentioned the manual for this game stinks, so I should mention that if you need help understanding strategies or tactics for battle check out www.totalwar.com. Among other things there's a section in there that gives a detailed description of all the different units and how they should be used in battle. It's very good.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of the best of the best!!!, December 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shogun: Total War (CD-ROM)

Just 5 minutes ago my brother'sfriend was over, and he played Shogun for 4 hours straight! He never gets bored of it. When he comes over he says "Let's play Shogun"!Even my friend is adicted to it. If you despise violence you would still love this game. You can even control the battles yourself. A cool thing you can do is play over the internet with your friends. So buy Shogun:Total War!!