Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Been "wasting" a LOT of time with this game! ;-), August 19, 2001
By A Customer
I picked up the original version of Shogun and had been playing it almost every day. (Or at least on the weekends!) Still not bored with it! With the "Mongol Invasion" the developers really tweaked it well! The graphics are still excellent. The game play is even more fun. (And I really enjoy the new opening sequence!)Ok, now some specifics. I've been playing mostly with the full campaign. I like the new units, the tweaking to the "overview" map so that you can see where your (and your opponent's) seaports are. You can send your ambassadors, spies, or ninja to your opponent's seaports, basically clear the way, and stage an amphibious assault by your army. The AI has gotten much better in the battlefield action. The new Kensai (Single man "sword saint") when fresh, can take out a unit of Monks and send the survivors fleeing! The Hojo clan "problem" (If you play as anyone other than Hojo clan, Hojo starts with some the best land and therefore the most money to buy troops. Soon overwhelms all other clans.) appears to have been solved. The new Naginata troops and cavalry are very effective units. The Naginta cavalry are almost as well protected as heavy cavalry, but faster and cheaper to buy. However, there are a few bugs that appear to have gotten through. So far I haven't really seen the point of the "battlefield ninja." I may send them toward the opposing Daimyo during a battle, but they never seem to be able to get to him. The "Legendary Geisha" master assassin is the most powerful unit... if and when you can build the Geisha house. I've built all the required buildings (Citadel, the "best" available Ninja and Tea houses), but the option to build the Geisha house never appears when I start on "my" lands. The only time that option became available is when I took over the opponent's land that already had everything in place except the Geisha house itself. If you are losing a battle AND you will be getting reinforcements.... "Esc" out of the battle and take the "so-called" higher losses. Your reinforcement troops will appear anywhere at all on the battlefield map, in loose groups, and from any compass point. Often you will not find them until they have already been wiped out and watching the few survivors disappearing over the horizon! However, that seems to happen to the opponent too, if you are the one winning! But those are minor quibbles, all in all I really love the game.... And now if you'll excuse me, it's time to teach all those upstart pretenders who the real Shogun will be!
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great addition to the original game, August 9, 2001
I'm a huge fan of the original Shogun with its Risk-like turn-based strategy combined with real-time battles, so I rushed right out and bought a copy of the Warlord Edition (the expansion is also supposed to be available for download at a reduced price to those who own the original). The Warlord Edition is well worth the $..., however. There are several new troop types, including the Mongol hords -- the firebombers are nasty little dudes -- and the new Japanese troops include the mystical battlefield Ninjas and devistating sword saint, a one-person wreaking crew.A couple of things I really like about the expansion: no more "landscape drift," your camera stays where you point it, and several new campaign scenarios. Under the old game, you basically had one starting point for a full campaign, with Japan basically divided equally between seven clans. Now, you have the option of four different starting points on a full campaign, including one with the Mongols invading Japan, and you also have four shorter "historical campaigns," in which you take over a clan during a period in Japan's history. A couple of minor annoyances: The manual is still not very good. Get old Prima strategy guide if you're unfamiliar with Shogun. Also, in an apparent attempt to make the game historically accurate, not all troop types are available for all campaigns. For example, warrior monks and the rifle troops are not available when you're playing the Warlord Campaign vs. the Mongols. But overall, this is a very worthy addition to my favorite game ever.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great game!, September 27, 2001
This is a great game! I've had two nights so far where I could not pull myself away and ended staying up all night playing the game - and I know I've got more in the future.I love the game strategically. The turn-based system adds a new twist to things. In Age of Empires II, there's a feeling of near-immediate gratification when you're building things; throw enough peasants at it and it'll get built quickly. Total War is not this way - units and buildings take a set time to build and there's no getting around it. At first, this was a little awkward, but I really like the challenge it presents - you've got to be thinking ahead or you'll find you don't have enough forces to stave off a massive attack. Or maybe they're too far behind the front lines! The real-time battles are fun too. There is a definite thrill to watching hordes of your forces stampede over the terrain, cutting down any enemies in their way. I'm still figuring out all the intricacies of this part of the game. So far, what works best for me is just sticking everyone in the woods and waiting to engage the enemy, but there's got to be some more strategy to it. Difficulty levels are serious as well. I tried the game out on Easy and found it moderately challenging. I moved on up to Normal, and I've had to reevaluate my entire strategy of playing the game, from the ground up. Another factor which does affect things is choosing your clan - I was surprised by the subtle but profound ways this affects my gameplay. In some clans I've got to be building forces right away; in others, there's more of a challenge of building up my internal setup. I'm loving it! My only complaint is that the multiplayer doesn't involve the turn-based aspect of the game. I'm more interested in this than the real-time battles and I'd like to be able to take on other people in the battle for Japan. I confess, I haven't yet played online, but the inability to do a full strategic campaign was why I haven't yet tried it. Bottom line - this is a ... game. I'll probably have to go to an addiction-treatment center in order to cope. I heartily recommend it.
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