Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Revolutionary"

When this game first came out I had instant flashbacks of Nobunaga's Ambition. A game that was nearly impossible for anyone who tried. "Shogun" was an instant classic by my standards. The combination of the strategic map that involved a small amount of micromanagement and the actual combat at the tactical level. Made this game a fluid, random, and ultimately a blood lust quenching game.

I still play from time to time training my tiny Army of Yari against impeccable odds. But only so I can acquire the shock troop of the game the Nodachi Samurai Swordsman. Now these guys could cut down anything, just keep em away from arrows (where they would typically be defenseless.) If you had these guys in the early game you could scoop up quite a few territories in the early game.

Things started to get tougher when the smaller factions started to get swallowed of picked off. You could never be sure who would dominate because their positions all gave them specific advantages. I hated playing any of the factions that were divided into two different parts in the country. It made it hard to determine where to strike first.

But enough of my strategies here. The personal satisfaction I received from this game all had to do with the small bridge battles. It came down to who had the most troops and who was stupid enough to cross first. If you had the same number of troops it was usually the defender that would win, unless you could get the enemy halfway across. Oh the slaughter! By the time that bridge was cleared the bodies, caked up the whole bridge. It was a tasty sight, you had to just enjoy the ahhhhs, ughhs and ohhhs from the men getting mass slaughtered.

The AI was not stupid in this game, you could rarely trick it other than a few specific map glitches. That I respected very much, I could rarely pull a pincer without going up a desperately well defended hill. Encirclements were even rarer. Usually you'd have to take them head on and hope, just hope the AI would give up.

Oh the slaughter!

THE SLAUGHTER!

That was the fun of the game. Units varied in strength and weakness. It was accurate in that way. The Yari Spearmen were great for defense, and early offense. The Archer's were your back up, but close range almost useless. The Cavarly would be the nail in coffin, wait till the enemy breaks apart or if your lucky get behind them and crash their little retreat. The Nodachi Swordsman were your big guns. They were because the actual musketeers in the game that had guns did very little in terms of attack. Though they were hard to get and by mid game it did little to add to your army. Not to mention they were slow to reload.

The other part of the game that is sometimes overlooked was the Shinobi, Geisha, (I actually won a game purely by Geisha once), and the diplomats. The spy network you would create would often make it easier for you to plot your next move. Without knowing what was behind door number one, two or three. You'd have no idea what you were facing next. This made it important to have a working spy network.

For a turn based strategy game it would sometimes go very quickly. The game was the most balanced TBS I had ever played. With its success "Shogun" set the standard for anyone attempting to impress us in the wargame world.

If you ever watched Kill Bill and decided ya know what it would be really awesome to pick up a blade and start chopping some heads off. Then this is the game for you.