Shogun 2 Total War

Shogun Total War 2 ! Certainly one of the best strategy game of the year. But what is a total war game ?

Here below, a presentation of this new opus and about everyhthing which made a total war game a special and amazing game.

So what is a total war game ? A strategy game which mix Management turn by turn like a Sid Meier Civilization game, with the management of your armies, your cities, your resources, your taxes and also the management of your own clan, that mean choose your adviser, nominate your leader and have a glorious and numerous family.

The battle land in 3D real time is one of another point which made the specificity of a total war game. Big map with many soldiers that you have to lead to victory. Tactics and strategy are indispensable to win on a battle land even with naval battle.

Also the time has an important place. Nothing is eternal, as your leaders and generals. They will become old men, so you will need to have a lot of children and many wedding on your family to see your clan growing enough to be the most important clan of Japan.

Real Time strategy and Optimized management compose a total war game.

The difference is that in the new opus, Shogun 2, you will be the Daymio of a Clan. it means that you have a total control of all decision taken ! No dependance from anyone. You will be the undisputed leader of your own Clan.

You will have to reach your realm and become the new Shogun !

In the multiplayer part of Shogun Total War 2 you will need to customize your Avatar/General before going through the battlefields.
You will have to select many esthetic options and the skills to develop between the four available:

• Leadership
• Bow Mastery
• Melee
• Physical

Moreover, each won battle in multiplayer campaign (solo or clan) will give you experience points allowing you to upgrade your troups equipment or just their skills.
One unique elite troup is available per general, but beware that in order to avoid exploits, they will have to rest for one battle to heal themselves.
So if you let them in front of the ennemy, you won't have them for the next battle as they will be healing.

Oh yeah ! The demo of Shogun Total War 2 available on Steam since the 22th of February. But you can download it and test it only on Steam.

As an usual Total War, the soundtracks are wonderful, graphics are amazing, battles are awesome and management has been optimized ! Anything else ?

Manage his own clan is one of the most important part of a total war game. In Shogun 2, you are the Daymio, the leader of your clan. You take every decisions and decide to nominate all your advisers in your family.

The differents roles are :

• Military Adviser
• Financial Adviser
• Provisioning Adviser
• Development Adviser

Choose the best members of your family to lead your famous clan.

The management of your clan is divided in 3 part: the resume, your family and your history.

Every members have 3 differents skills that could be upgraded: Loyalty, Rank and Age

But your first decision before all of that will be to choose the best clan to lead !

This dark and troubled period of Japan allows players to see what the golden years was. In an era where not knowing how to use a katana is bad, you will have to impose yourself, lead your generals to the victory and take the throne. But beware, generals are not immortals ! They too confront themselves to defeats, corruptions and slayers. Take the best, raise correct armies and master the art of war in order to reach your goal. This is the key to Shogun 2 Total War !

In 2000, The Creative Assembly knew how to give a new breath to strategy games with Shogun: Total War. When Command & Conquer, Cossacks and Age of Empire were _the_ RTS without city management.. Shogun -combining both, evolves the RTS genre, allowing the players to have a global vision of their military campaign.

This deep mix of turn by turn campaign mode and epic 3D battlefields in real time was the first in those days (though we can't forget the excellent Lord of the Realms which had same functionnalities at a lower level).

The first opus of Total War: Shogun was sold at more than 7 milions. Eleven years after this huge success, the team (who created Rome Total War in the meantime) decided to go for it again, with Shogun 2. And with ten years of stacked experience in the RTS/Strategy genre we can only imagine that Shogun 2 will be the near-perfect Total War game we were waiting for.

A new AI, 3D real time battles and the turn by turn campaign mode... what more ?

Shogun 2 roots in the middle of the 15th century in Japan ravaged by wars between clans.

Japan -before governed by an emperor, is now ripped between ten clans, each of them lusting for power and the throne. The player will be Daimyo (clan chief). He will aim at reunifying Japan under the same banner, therefore becoming the new Shogun, emperor of Japan.

Epic battlefields, commercial trades, city management, diplomacy, slayers and troups education to combat, those are the key words to establish peace in a country devastated by wars.