Total War: Shogun 2 Review

15 Apr 2011 at 10:00:00 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

Shogun 2, I suspect, is going to divide Total War players. Compared to recent entries in the series this particular Total War title has a narrow focus, and this is going to be the factor that will please as many players as it'll incense.

The entirety of the game takes place in Japan and the only playable factions are Japanese. Everyone has access to roughly the same units and the same tech tree (which is for once a genuine tech tree) while the major faction differences are really just focuses on different aspects – some have superior cavalry, while others get more income from farms or pay less upkeep on katana samurai.

Japan also offers a smaller, narrower play area than the sprawling continents of Empire: Total War, with mountains dividing the country into fairly linear paths. It's not small by any means, and it's not that there are no open areas or that you'll only ever have one region you can advance into – none of that's true - but it's a lot harder to deviate from a straightforward advance through enemy territories.

This is somewhat down to every faction having the same goal: to capture a certain number of territories and to hold Kyoto for a full year. Because of this, a Shogun 2 campaign feels a lot more driven than its predecessors. In the long run, every faction is marching to Kyoto. In the long run, you're going to be fighting every single other faction (as the reigning Shogun will get pissed off with your rapid expansion and, eventually, demand everyone declare war on you). This omnipresent ultimate goal is a little reminiscent of Rome, and I'm happy to see it return.

Once again, arguments on whether this is good or bad are going to divide players. If Medieval 2 and Empire seemed daunting in their size and scope, Shogun 2 offers similar strategic nuance but without the sprawling mass of possibilities. You know right from the start where you need to end up and that you're going to be facing off with everyone once you become the clear leader, and you can plan accordingly. The entire game is about your push to Kyoto and the battling you'll have to do to get there. So, uh, total war, then.

That's not to say that once you've played one campaign you've played them all, as the starting positions of each faction result in very, very different paths to power. The Shimazu clan are the natural choice for beginners as they start on an island with no exposed flanks. The Date are in a similar position but on the far side of the map, without the benefits of an island they can quickly turn into an isolated fortress, but with quicker access to the fascinating territory tug-of-war that goes on in the central area of the map.

On the opposite end of the scale are the Oda, who start in the less constrained middle of the map with two enemies right next to them and a rebellion in their only province. I lost my first hard difficulty Oda campaign in the first turn, and judging by the “A Great Clan has been destroyed!” message that tends to pop up on the second turn when playing as every other faction it appears that the computer fares just as poorly.

Obviously you need to manoeuvre past all of this with a mix of strategic and tactical brilliance, and there's plenty to take into account. Winter attrition makes the timing of your military sojourns important, and building multiple standing armies and multiple high-ranked generals while constructing the infrastructure to pay for them all is a tricky juggling act. Factor in the need to send out agents for both reconnaissance and dastardly deeds, as well as trying to operate trade routes, stay on decent diplomatic terms, and avoid incensing the reigning Shogun before you're powerful enough to survive, and that juggling act switches from catching balls to catching knives.

Happily, the AI for both the strategic map and the tactical battles seems to have been considerably improved from past outings, although in my more cynical moments I wonder if that's because of the tighter focus. Still, the decisions the AI makes tend to make sense if you know the context – if it sues for peace when you're at war, then there's a good chance that's simply so it has a reprieve to reposition its forces rather than it foolishly trusting you to honour the agreement.

Impressively, even when playing as the same faction twice in a row, the campaign often unfolds rather differently. In past Total War games the computer factions were often little more than obstacles to surmount but here they feel like tacit enemies, all of whom have the exact same goal as you: seize territory, and seize Kyoto. These priorities appear to drive their actions, and you can't necessarily predict the moves they're going to make past the first few.

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