Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition

The hills are moving as thousands of warriors obey the call of their daimyo, ready to dance with death. Control of the country is at stake, and only those, skilled in the art of warfare, will survive and unite Japan under one banner.

Something old, and something new packaged together creates the entrancing strategy game Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition. The PC release from Dreamtime Interactive and Electronic Arts is almost like two programs in one. First, you get the full version of the incredibly rich Shogun: Total War; then you get the expansion to the game – which includes the invasion of the Mongol horde, the campaigns of the Three Unifiers, new units and maps, as well as expanded multiplayer games.

First, a bit of background on the original title is necessary. Shogun: Total War is an epic RTS. More than 5,000 tiny animated warriors can be seen over a lush 3D game board that emulates feudal Japan. The original title pitted six daimyo battling it out to accede to the role of shogun, the commander of all Japan. The game’s AI is based on Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” which makes this a particularly tough game to conquer.

Knowing your enemy, understanding your units’ capabilities, and using the terrain as a weapon are all part of this program. If you are incapable of any adjusting quickly, you open yourself up to certain defeat. Even the tutorial, which is supposed to easy you into the game, allows little room for error. A player’s introduction to battle is to command a unit of bowman, on a hill, to victory over a heavily armored, armed and attacking enemy.

As you can probably imagine, this game is rated for Teens for blood and gore, and violence.

Now on to the new add-ons, which give this game its unique feel.

Feudal Japan is the setting for the original Shogun game. The Warlord Edition has increased the scope, drawing on historical battles, and what-if scenarios, such at Kublai Khan’s invasion. The premise is that Khan’s marauders reached Japan, and were able to establish a landing zone from which to conduct their attacks. Rather than build structures, which is part of the beauty of the game, the Mongols just pillage and plunder. You can play from either side in the war, the Mongols, or the Hojo clan.

Campaign of the Three Unifiers are three full campaigns keying on Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, the three daimyo who ultimately united Japan.

There are 10 new units, six of which belong to the Mongol horde. There are the kensai, or sword saints, and a ‘special forces’ style group, small in number, but deadly known as the battlefield ninja. In order to keep the battlefield ninja in top shape, and resupply their numbers, players are presented with a new building called (appropriately) the Battlefield Ninja Dojo. There is also a drill dojo, which allows players to train troops and increase their discipline – which means they supposedly won’t turn and run as quickly if under heavy attack. The verdict of its usefulness is up in the air. It sounds like a good idea, but training troops there didn’t seem to deter them from running when the action got intense.

The game has upgraded unit management, allowing a drag and drop method of reinforcing troops. And there are new start-up options and a greater variety of end-game conditions – which help stave off tedious micromanagement.

The multiplayer upgrades include six new battles – last man standing, capture the Honjin, king of the hill, halve the enemy, assassinate the general and survive the siege.

This game had and still has amazing graphics. The game has added more battlefield weather effects to really give the game an edge in the realm of RTS games. The sound is terrific, but when balanced against the incredible graphics, it seems a little tame.

Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition is a nice example of taking an amazing game, and tweaking it just enough to give it an almost new game feel. The added campaigns are enjoyable, the new units and game-play improvements are well done, and the overall product should be regarded as a must-have for any fan of real-time strategy simulations.

Install: Hard.
Minimum installation is 600 megs, normal is 800 and a full install is 1.65 gigs of hard-drive space. It is a multi-disk installation process that even requires decompressing and installing the music.

Gameplay: 9.
From the moment you launch a battle, to the victory or defeat, the game plays out at a seemingly incredible pace. It’s probably just anxiety or an adrenaline rush from watching the action unfold.
 
Graphics: 9.5.
Featuring 360-degree panoramic viewing, and amazing battlefield sequences, even a year later, this game is still amazing to look at.

Sound: 8.
Little has changed from a sound track that was very solid.

Difficulty: 9.
You really need to be flexible, quick and not give in to nerves in order to succeed in this game, because you won’t get many breaks from the game’s AI.

Concept: 8.
The new campaigns are well designed, perhaps a little underdone from the Mongol perspective, but still enjoyable.

Multiplayer: 8
The new multiplayer games are nice, but all are variations of the capture the flag mentality. However, this game does have solid online support.

Overall: 9.5.
This was the score of the game the last time it was reviewed, and there seems little reason to change it. The game still succeeds on multiple, from the diplomatic intrigue, to the battlefield clashes and the religious influences. Dreamtime has fine-tuned some of the game play, and boosted this expansion pack into a full-fledged title. If you don’t have Shogun Total War, there is little reason to purchase it when you can get so much more with the Warlord Edition.