Shogun 2 offers excellent unit diversity, however, and also provides more tactical abilities and special units than any other Total War game. You have large units, usually of between 60 and 120 men, and you must maneuver them in real-time. No other series matches Total War’s ability to depict large-scale battles, and I’m happy to report that Shogun 2’s depiction of wide-spread mayhem is the best yet.Īt the core, you’re doing the same thing that you have done in previous Total War games. The battles have, of course, always been the focus of te Total War franchise. The campaign map exists to give context and meaning to the battles, and Shogun 2 realizes that fact. Shogun 2 has a better campaign than any previous title in the franchise, but Civilization 5 this is not.

The fact is that although Total War has become a decent grand strategy game, it’s never been an excellent one. It’s large enough to provide some flexibility in how you move about it, but is small enough to be manageable.You’ll never find yourself having to build more than one or two buildings per turn, and while population happiness and tax levels must be managed, they’re greatly abstracted and generally not a concern. Indeed, the campaign map looks and feels somewhat like a board game. Total War: Shogun 2’s return to Japan tosses out the huge campaign maps of the former games for a much smaller landmass. Goals became more obscure and controlling territory became a more laborious affair. This expansion resulted in loss of focus, however. Total War: Medieval focused on Europe, Total War: Rome expanded the campaign map to include some of north Africa and the middle-east, and Empire added the North American continent to the mix. Single-Player Campaign (4 out of 5)Īs the Total War series has expanded, so too as its scale. Is Shogun 2 able to revisit the setting of the original Total War game without introducing overwhelming complexity? Let’s find out.

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