Sega have just announced that Total War: Shogun 2 will be getting a demo through Steam on February 22. The demo will let players test out the campaign map and the game's gorgeous battles. We'e played and reviewed Shogun 2, and given it a score of 92 and an Editor's Choice award. You can read the full review in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK, which hits stores tomorrow, or in the May issue of PC Gamer US, which is out on March 29. Shogun 2 is set for release on March 15.

We've played and reviewed Shogun 2 and awarded the game a score of 92 and an Editor's Choice award. The review appears in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK, on-sale February 16, and the May issue of PC Gamer US, on-sale March 29.

Why did it get that score and the Editor's Choice award? Try improved AI that attacks from the sea and uses terrain to its advantage, an online clan system with excellent matchmaking that encourages teamworks between allies, and the artful realisation of the Sengoku period. We say that "Shogun 2 is the Total War series back on form," and that it "boasts the most outrageous hats in martial history.

If you can't wait to read the review until then, check out the latest Total War: Shogun 2 trailer, and our preview of the game's revamped multiplayer mode. The game's available to pre-order now. Check out the system requirements to see how well it'll run on your PC. Subscribe to PC Gamer UK here and PC Gamer US here.

SEGA have announced that pre-orders of the latest entry to the Total War series - Shogun 2 - will come with some shiny bonuses if players pre-order at either BestBuy or GameStop. Read on for the details.



Pre-ordering at GameStop (online or in-store) will bag you the ability to take your troops to The Historic Battle of Kawagoe. Set in 1545, the battle saw Hõjõ clan launch a night time attack on the besieging Uesugi, favouring speed and stealth tactics over a full-frontal assault.

Players who pre-order at BestBuy will start the game with 1,000 Koku, the currency used in Shogun 2. With this starting cash, players will be able to get a head start with the ability to purchase new buildings, train new units and upgrade their towns.

As for other pre-orders, it appears that at most UK online retailers (Play.com, Game and HMV among them) pre-ordering will grab you the Limited Edition version of the game for the same price as the standard edition, and will provide The Battle of Nagashino scenario, The Hattori clan as a playable faction, special armour for the player's avatar and instant access to one upgrade from the start. Play.com state that 'The Shogun 2: Total War - Limited Edition is available as a pre-order incentive only, it will not be available after launch'.

If any of these pre-order bonuses take your fancy, you'd best go drop in an order before the game's launch on March 15th.

The Creative Assembly have just released the system specs for Total War: Shogun 2. Read on to find out if Shogun II: Total War will run on your PC.
Minimum Specs (Required for playing Total War: Shogun 2):

2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor / 2.6 GHz Intel Single Core processor , or AMD equivalent (with SSE2)
1GB RAM (XP), 2GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
256 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card (shader model 3)
1024x768 minimum screen resolution
20GB free hard disk space

 
Recommended Specs (Recommended for optimum game play of Total War: Shogun 2):

2nd Generation Intel® Core™i5 processor (or greater), or AMD equivalent
2GB RAM (XP), 4GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
AMD Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series graphics cards or equivalent DirectX 11 compatible graphics card
1280x1024 minimum screen resolution
20GB free hard disk space

 
Not too punishing considering that games like Battlefield 3, which will also come out this year, won't run at all on XP systems. Having said that, a 20 Gigabyte install? That's a pretty big chunk of hard drive real estate. Hopefully the game will be worth it, we'll know when it's released in March.

For more Shogun 2 shenanigans check out our preview of Shogun 2's extensive new multiplayer mode and our hands on with Shogun 2's siege battles.

At 9.40 this morning, one of my geisha entered the quarters of rebel general Homma Katsunaga. By 9.43 Katsunaga was hanging from a rafter by a lute string, and I was one mouse-click away from ruling all sixty provinces of Sengoku-era Japan. A fun festive season of Samurai slaughter was drawing to a close, leaving me one satisfied, surprised and slightly fearful gamer.

Fearful? After a couple of happy weeks with the TBS/RTS hybrid that catapulted Creative Assembly into the big time, the idea of a sequel seems both splendid and scary. There's no question that Total War: Shogun 2 will be prettier than its progenitor, and offer far more extensive multiplay options. What remains to be seen is whether ten years of Total War feature-creep will end-up enhancing Shogun's single-player side or suffocating it.





It's easy to forget just how sylph-like Shogun was in comparison to the games that it sired. There's no naval dimension, no research, no retinues, no missions, no artillery, and no history-twisting super-units (though Korean grenadiers arrived promptly via the add-on). What's remarkable is that you're unlikely to find yourself yearning for any of these omissions while playing. Their absence may actually make for a more focussed, fluid and enjoyable campaign experience.



Shogun's strategic AI certainly has characteristics I'm hoping to see in the sequel. Though reluctant to strike the first blow and slow to band together against mutual threats, computer-controlled factions are pleasingly plausible once riled. Often a rival daimyo will vacate a province rather than attempt to hold it with an understrength army. When they do finally come, invasion forces tend to be large and multifarious. There's none of that fending off mosquito-sized raiding parties for turn after tiresome turn.

My positive memories of Shogun's battlefield AI were, I now realise, a tad rose-tinted, but even in this area, I think the old soldier has something worth passing on to its handsome replacement. As in later instalments there are times when opposing armies seem utterly clueless. You'll witness foes dithering under missile fire, squandering their leaders, and spectacularly failing to exploit topography. What they are however are unpredictable in their ineptitude. At times they come like lambs to the slaughter and at others stubbornly refuse to leave the heights or woodland they've chosen (?) to occupy. Morale feels more fragile, complacency more dangerous on a Shogun killing field.



The rather clumsy reinforcement mechanism keeps you on your toes too. Several times during the last fortnight I've been waiting for a hard-won victory screen to display, when suddenly another batch of enemies has appeared from nowhere and the desperate struggle has begun anew. By the time the real final curtain falls battlefields are often amazingly corpsey. There's an epic feel to some of the engagements that you just don't find in the more recent TWs.

Of course the less said about the awful castle assaults the better. If you choose to storm a citadel rather than starve the defenders out over the course of several turns (one turn = one season) then usually you'll find yourself facing a garrison whose idea of defence is to stand patiently in an open gateway awaiting death-by-arrow-shower. Battles for fortifications may have been weak in Empire but they were infinitely superior to the pointless pantomimes in Shogun.

Retreat code is another shortcoming that nostalgia may have scrubbed from your memory. In their eagerness to leave the field routing troops will happily elbow their way through packs of katana-wielding opponents. It's beyond silly.



Aspects of Shogun's AI might not have stood the test of time, but its theme shines as brightly now as it ever did. Picking up the game ten years on, the world of samurai and shinobi, ashigaru and arquesbusiers, daimyo and dojos still feels fantastically fresh and alluring. Hardly surprising when, with the odd exception, so few games have explored it since. While in later TWs there's sometimes the feeling that the setting is chafing with the mechanics, in Shogun the marriage is almost Zen-like in its perfection. From the self-contained sea-hemmed map, to the obliging history with its warring clans and dash of gunpowder and Christianity, everything seems tailor-made to suit a game that blends turn-based empire building with real-time battles. It's hard to imagine CA ever finding a more natural fit for their approach.

Another advantage of the feudal Japanese setting is most of us know sod-all about it. I pray Creative Assembly never get round to that WW2 or WW1 game they've hinted at. If they do they're going to be crucified for every underarmoured Panzer and overstrength Balkan state. In the perverse world of historical strategy the more your fans know about your chosen theme the more grief you get over historical gaffs and design compromises.



Part-and-parcel of the pleasure of a recent Total War title is dropping the camera into the midst of a skirmish to  savour every stunning uniform and savage sabre slash. Such close-quarters ogling is impossible in the crude spritey world of Shogun, but the game does a fine job of communicating theme and flavour through other devices. I'd forgotten just how ace the agent vids were for example. Watching ninjas skewer and slice there way through sleeping encampments and paper-walled palaces, is a delight. The menu screen with its silhouetted soldiery, flapping battle standards, and distant strongholds is similarly splendid. And then there's Jeff van Dyck's wonderful music. After a few days' play it's impossible to look at a Shogun screenshot without hearing thunderous drums, trilling flutes and clashing cymbals sounding in the distance. He might not have had a full Taiko ensemble at his disposal back in 1999, but it hardly seemed to matter.

So, Shogun: a tough act to follow, but not so flawless the idea of a remake is appalling. If the lads and lasses from Sussex can just hone that AI and resist the sort of showy embellishments that confuse combat and bog-down decision-making, they are surely onto a winner. Let's hope they've been reading their Basho:
Do not forget the plum,
blooming
in the thicket.

Total War: Shogun 2 will come in three flavours when it's released in March. The standard edition, a limited edition that adds a new playable faction and scenarios, and a collectors edition, which comes in its own bamboo war chest. Read on for the full details.

If you buy the limited or collector's editions of the games you'll have access to an extra unique faction, the Hattori Clan. The game will also include an extra historical scenario, the battle for the castle of Nagashino. It also grants your online avatar a shiny set of armour and a lump sum of XP to spend right away.

The collector's edition contains everything that the limited edition does, but also comes in a bamboo box which holds a Shogun 2 artbook and a figurine of Takeda Shingen, one of the most famous military leaders of the Sengoku period.

For an idea of how your online character will work in Shogun 2, check out our Shogun 2 multiplayer preview. For more information head over to the Total War: Shogun 2 site.

It took me a while to bend my head around Shogun 2’s multiplayer element.

While this might be explained away by some emotional clouding (read knicker-wetting terror) brought on by the loss of just too many brave Samurai warriors in my first, bashful attempt at Shogun 2’s siege battles, I honestly believe it’s more down to the depth and intricacy of what the multiplayer offers. It isn’t just a departure from anything Creative Assembly has implemented previously; it’s quite unlike anything anyone’s attempted before.

So let’s get the simple stuff out of the way: you can match up for man-on-man battles, pitching your army against a fellow-player’s, which is no less than you’d expect. A nice addition to this is that you can unit-share with a pal who may not be in a battle of his own, and invite him to command selected units from your army. Neat.

But Napeoleon brought 1v1 multiplayer campaigns to life, and Creative Assembly’s ambition brooks no acceptance of repetition for the sake of ease. In Shogun 2, large numbers of players can be involved in a single campaign, and in a considerably more subtle and complex way than you might imagine.



Your general and his attendant army begin the multiplayer campaign planted in one of 65 territory zones, over which you have ownership. As you expand and invade new provinces, the matchmaker hunts for other player-armies of your level, ready for a fight. The battle is fought, and ownership of the province decided. Certain provinces bring key battlefield technologies to your army, so they’re worth striving toward.

The big-brain genius of this is that your general and army don’t represent a one-man crusade, rampaging across the map like a plague of armoured locusts with bonkers hats. You play as part of a clan, and the territory you conquer on your version of the campaign map tallies points towards the clan total. Moreover, clan leaders can direct their members to specific provinces on the map by placing a marker on that province. This becomes visible on each clan-member’s campaign map. You don’t see your fellow clansmen’s armies on the map, but through the use of various overlays, you can track territorial losses and gains, stronghold areas, point-tallies and general ownership.



So, you have choices. Do you go for tactical land-grabs which may improve your army, or kow-tow to the head Daimyo’s wishes, and work towards the common goal? It might be worth impressing the boss, as he’s able to dole out army-improvement points to his favourite generals. There are enough variables here to generate some really interesting in-clan politics, and potential skulduggery.

The next stroke of genius is achievements. And don’t groan; these aren’t just the ‘I’ve won 20 battles, meh’ variety. As you might imagine, they’re earned by achieving specific victory conditions, or adhering to a peculiar set of rules while fighting. The joy of them is that key combinations unlock new battlefield skills and technologies, which improve your fighting abilities and, ultimately your ranking. And don’t get me started on just how many crazy hats you can unlock to perch on your general’s head. Visual modification of your army is a fundamental part of the experience.



Achievement whoring… with meaningful consequences? Yes please. And here’s the really beautiful thing: achievements can be earned in single player, too.

Factor that whole state of affairs into your clan politics. You’re fighting in a key territory for your clan, hoping to impress the big cheese, and realise that you’re close to hitting a desirable achievement which will enhance your arsenal. But there’s a risk involved: you’ll need to play a certain way to get that achievement, and what if the guy you’re fighting sees what you’re not doing, and exploits that? Failure beckons.

Exciting stuff, and plenty to chew over before the game’s March release.

What is a castle?

Our western sensibilities suggest an establishment for the nobility; a structure that represented the feudal power-base, and a way to keep enemies out.

The medieval Japanese agreed on two out of three of the above principles. Why on earth would you want to keep enemy soldiers out of your castle, when you can lead them in, to fight – and die – on your terms?

This level of combat artistry is something that Total War: Shogun 2 aims to recreate. And no, that’s not a typographical error; in a move to establish brand consistency, Sega recently announced that Creative Assembly’s grand-strategy epics would begin, not end, with Total War. I really hope they apply that retroactively too – it’ll tidy up Steam libraries worldwide.



But back to the field. I recently got stuck into our first siege battle in Shogun 2, and what became apparent as the troops clashed was that things have changed from previous games in the series, and you need to think of castles in a very different way. You’re not simply aiming to keep enemies out – although that’s a valuable tactic, and there are times when denial of-entry is absolutely key. But the space and configuration of these castles means they work in interesting ways.

Our castle is low, broad, and three-tiered. The base-tier is, well, huge. Quite un-castle-like all round, compared to European designs. It’s like a series of big stages; there are wide-open areas where multiple units can clamour, with elbow-room to spare. Exploiting these spaces properly is a case of tempting a limited number of units in through the ground-level gatehouses, or an unprotected section of wall. By which time, hopefully, you’ll have the perfect configuration of troops ready to rout and ruin.



That’s not how it went down at all.

My initial deployment tried to cover every facing of the castle. I had Samurai archers and melee troops stretched thin across the base tier, with an aim to retreating to the second tier if things got dicey. My mounted General was right at the top tier, out of harm’s way.



The computer bluffed me. He sent in waves of archers, with a blade unit to scale the walls. I was weak of will; I redeployed to meet the threat.

Then what must’ve been the bulk of his army marched out of the eastern mists – a veritable brigade of melee and cavalry units. Panic stations! I pulled everything off guard-duty to meet the threat in the east. And just as I was micro-managing the rampant disorder I’d created for myself on the lower-east tier – spearmen bouncing off swordsmen, archers struggling through the throng to line the walls – the Combat Advisor’s words froze my heart:

“Our General is in grave danger!”

Panning over, I saw the AI’s double-bluff in horrifying execution. Three melee units had scaled the first two tiers on my unwatched western ramparts, and spearmen were engaging my General.

And that was that. The General fell, the soldiers wept, I shat the bed, and the wheels fell off.



I almost feel sorry for the AI. It can’t revel in this moment of victory, or dole out the kind of conceptual tea-bagging that my martial lollygagging so richly deserves. It can’t even call me a noob.

Round two went a lot more smoothly. Now keenly aware of the AI’s potential to posture and lure, I presented a couple of obviously weak flanks, and didn’t budge my troops. I ignored his ruses. I let his melee troops scale the walls, and closed the net each time, with fire-arrows and whistlers terrifying the attackers, and my fresh, tight-packed blade turning them on their heels. By the end, all he had was a few groups of scattered archers, and a bunch of cavalry cantering around uselessly outside, as I hadn’t let him take a single gatehouse. Fetlocks and hooves? Not so climbey.



I shudder to think how terrifying this is all going to be in multiplayer. Shogun 2’s battle AI has impressed me so far, and I’ll be interested to see what improvements have been made to its campaign-brain. But this level of jiggery-pokery could make for some very, very tense encounters when it comes to skilled players. It’s also worth noting that multiplayer in Shogun 2 brings a massive shakeup for the series. Check back shortly for the altogether exciting details.

For now here's the dev diary behind some of Shogun 2's music, mainly involving muscular ozzies banging on taikos -