Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: March 15, 2011
Shogun 2 was probably the biggest game announcement for me at E3 in 2010. It came out of nowhere, and I had zero expectation that we would ever get another Total War that put its focus back on Japan. The first Shogun came out on the PC more than a decade ago, and they shifted to Europe for the rest of the series. It lost me somewhere along the way, after Rome and before Empires, but bringing it back to Japan (I have a special affinity for Japanese history) was enough to get me interested. Shogun 2 also simplified the series back down to its core elements, which some people will say makes it worse, but is one of the things I still love about the original versus the other games.
Most people on the board probably don't know much about Shogun 2, or probably the Total War series in general, but it's a mix of turn-based strategy and real-time strategy. It's almost like there are two different games within one. Diplomacy, economy, infrastructure, unit building, research and war planning all take place on the turn-based side of things, on a big map of Japan, while the actual battles themselves are done in real-time (or they can be simulated and skipped, which is sometimes what I do, just because I'm into turn-based part more than I am the fighting part). While Shogun 2 is a historical game, how your games turn out is entirely up to you, so while there are specific historical battles (ones that actually occurred) you can play, the real meat of the game is choosing one of the nine major clans and reuniting Japan.
It's one of those games that you can get lost in for hours without even realizing it, not much differently from Civilization. Completing an entire game isn't even something I necessarily plan on doing every time -- one, because Shogun 2 can be brutal; two, because half the fun is starting fresh. Taking over new territory, building up infrastructure, creating alliances, manipulating wars between clans, having an untouchable economy -- there is something greatly satisfying about that in Shogun 2. When you're on point, it's pretty much the best. When you're not, it kinda sucks and you can get stomped like nothing, but hey!
If there's any problem with the game, it's how demanding it is. My computer isn't the best in the world, but it isn't crappy either, and I still have to put everything on low settings to get it to run decently. I love the fact that the map can look this good --
-- but man, mine absolutely does not. Here's what I see -- http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578918346676363476/1BDEA361846D74F53E7F7C8D25C66BEEB6D1D6EE/PC games.
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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."