Amazing game that every RTS fan should play. Why aint there more reviews for this game?
User Rating: 8.5 | Shogun: Total War PC
Gameplay: There are usually two types of RTS games, Turn based and Real time (where you have to build a base and send your army out). Shogun: Total War really is the best of both worlds. It combines a real-time tactical combat system with a turn-based strategic game. The heart of this game is in the tactical battles. With up to 10,000 units on the screen at once, Shogun is everything that Braveheart RTS game should've been -- lots and lots of guys running at each other with pointy things. The sheer sense of mass and chaos is fantastic and rendered better here than in any other game I've ever seen. Your armies will literally crash into each other and you'll begin to see the bodies start piling up. Also the you can accually use the terrian to your advantage and it works in this game. The diversity of the terrain alone is more than enough to start your brain envisioning flanking moves and ambushes. The hills and trees here function like real hills and trees. There are a number of diffrent fractions on the island of Japan which you can choose from. Some more powerful then others when you start off. But over time though carefull planning and diplomacy you can really can become powerful. With that being said this game suffers from a lack of depth in diplomacy. You can't really negotiate specific deals with your rivals. About all you can do is suggest alliances and declare war. Your emissaries do serve some other useful purposes though. They can spy out enemy armies and buildings. The spying is better left to the shinobi. These guys can foment revolt, obtain information of the enemy or act as counter-spies to balance out similar efforts by your enemies. But, like the emissaries, the shinobi have no real control options. You just send them into a province and they start doing the spy thing. Whether you get the result you want or not (i.e. a peasant revolt or information on enemy defenses) is entirely up to chance. Also there is no mulitplayer in this game so if you want to play against somebody there is no chance of that which is not good.
Graphics: Well I have to say that the graphics when a first saw them back when this game first came out impressed me. WIth so many troops on the field I was amazed that my computer could run this game. Also the graphics are quite well done at the time. Maps are huge and deiiled and colorful and so are every single individual soldier in the game.
Sound: The sound is amazing in this game. The soundtrack suits the time period/culture and the sound effects sound really good too. Voice acting.,... not bad. Nothing much to complain about with the sound.
Value: All in all this is a very enjoyable game to play. This game has a very high replayability to it, allowing you to play diffrent factions and having skirmishes on the battlefild. I would still highly recommend this game to anyone who likes playing RTS games. I give this game 8.5 out of 10.
