Harsh words, harsh truth, if you don't have this masterpiece in your collection, you are not worthy of playing strategy games. Shogun 2, in my humble opinion, is the last completed, balanced and well-made TW game that was released. While Rome 2 and Atilla are good on their own ends, they are miles away from this gem of the genre (not to add they where a bit of a mess upon release).

Shogun 2 takes place in the same time period as Shogun 1, the Sengoku Jidai, the age of the country at war as they said. By 1545, the current Shogunate's power has dwindled, leaving the clans of Japan at each other's throats in a struggle for supremacy. Your task is to increase the power of your clan, expand your influence and conquer Kyoto to become the new Shogun. The Japanese martial culture is a fascinating subject for many people (me included) and it's a wonder to see it in action.

Shogun's armies and maps look astonishing. Each unit has incredible levels of detail, like a demon mask here, a moustache there, a crescent-shaped helm and many more. The soldiers look diverse in a way we never before saw in massive scale battles. CA raised the bar too much, with amazing season-specific effects and splendid work with the textures, especially the rain. The music feels traditional, epic, and downright dashing. It will accompany you in every battle, victory or defeat, fitting the pace of the battle and you might find yourself searching it on youtube afterwards (I strongly reccomend Yoisa, Now and Zen, Ona Hei and more). It's an ♥♥♥♥♥♥, especially for fans of folk japanese music. The accents and intonations of your advisors and on the map are also incredible, especially in the heat of battle. You can almost see them spittle as they scream "OUR TROOPS ARE RUNNING FROM THE BATTLEFIELD! A SHAMEFUL DISPLAY!"

As always in the TW games, you got two phases: the turn-based phase, and the battle phase. In the first phase, you manage your clan and make your decisions as each season plays out, and in the second one you lead your armies to glorious victory or humiliating defeat.

In the early stages of the campaign, diplomacy is a key factor. Even more so on higher difficulties, where the AI is merciless in its demands both on you and the other clans. It gives them a sense of personality: they can break relationships as easily as they come to you bearing gifts and asking for arrangements. Alliances feel fragile as every Daimyo wishes to become Shogun, and everyone is enemy to everyone. But your "trustworthy" allies are the least of your concerns: the AI will not hesitate tou backstab you and capture your capital, if it finds no resistance. These kind of surprise attacks and army landings on your shores make the game special: you never know where and when an attack will come from. When it comes to battles, just play it on Hard. In early levels, the AI is too easy to beat, forming small armies and making many mistakes in its deployment. But in Hard, it's a whole new story. The AI tries to flank you with cavalry, it's more aggresive, it bides its time and looks for weak spots in your formation. The game is merciless to you on higher settings, and you must be careful as you wage war against it.

On the downside, as much as I'm trying to find flaws, only one comes to mind: unit diversity. Buying the DLCs gives you some extra, unique for each factions units, but in the end (and the basic version), every clan has the same ashigaru, the same samurai, the same monks. They differ in attack and defence, depending on the clan's traits. It gets a bit repetitive and somewhat tiring after a while, but I'm willing to look past it.

Shogun 2 is the Total War series at its best moments, and boasts the most outrageous helmets in martial history. Daimyō no tame!


9/10

10/10

9.5/10

9.5/10

-You are not allowed to set one unit group in one control group (it has to be 2 or more) which can sometimes be annoying.
-The maximum camera zoom out is not enough. You are required to do some script changing.
-AI gets bugged sometimes resulting in the AI being idle in a non-sea battle.
-Would be good to be able to sort your agents by class (ninjas first then metsukes then missionaries or in any order, but by class)


Other than that, it is a pretty good game.

This trilogy of games offers the same feel from other Total War games, but in Japan with Ninjas and Samuri with awsome real time battles and death animations.

A good friend of mine introduced me to the Total War Series about 5 years ago, the first one i played being Rome.
After that i was hooked and well on my own playing and buying the other games.
When i first downloaded Shogun 2 i was in all honesty very skeptical due to the time period and not being nearly as familiar with it such as Rome or Empire. But this is by far one of the best if not THEE best game in the series.
The thing that made me drawn in and attached to this game more then the others were the traits you can choose for your generals and the tech trees. The family tree is also in this game which is a huge plus for me. The combat is smooth and ambient. The sieges are the best in this game in my opinion (Although i heard Attilas is best but have not played it)
The units are all unique and there are many to choose from, this game has at least 2,000+ hours in replay value.

great game love the time period recomend this to every fan of total wr and japanese history

This is the best total war game. it has all the good things they have ever done, including the family tree, and very few of the bad. being able to make units without generals is nice... the new total wars just seem like money grabs. this thing is polished. would recommend.

The Shogun called. He wants his land back.

This is CA's best total war game imo. It has much of the features of previous games, but with the graphics of the new gen. There are a few flaws, realm divide vanilla is like a samurai who has just stumbled into a ninja's sake den after a tea ceremony. However, despite the minimal map and carbon copy clans I still enyoyed hundreds of hours conquering Japan. This game is definitely not a shameful display.

fun times with co-op. favourite rts

Pros:
Bad ♥♥♥ units with awesome animations
Characters have loads of personality to them as you level them up, especially generals
great looking UI and art style
time settting is very atmospheric, and there is a lot of historical accuracy
a lot of fun battle mechanics to play with
good music
use of tactics is pretty legit, not just a cluster ♥♥♥♥ all the time
good graphics

Cons:
annoying agent actions RNG
Poor dipolmatic AI - will sometimes backstab you for no reason (even vassals)