Total War: Shogun 2

 PC
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Mar 15, 2011
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1448 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,144 out of 1448
  2. Mixed: 216 out of 1448
  3. Negative: 88 out of 1448
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  1. alex_74
    Mar 16, 2011
    10
    I haven't spent a massive amount of time on the game yet, but from my first six hours of campaign play this is a much much better game than the other two recent iterations of the Total war series. It manages to achieve what everyone loved so much in Rome and Medieval, while still bringing in the new features that Empire and Napoleon brought without making them into a complete pile of crap.I haven't spent a massive amount of time on the game yet, but from my first six hours of campaign play this is a much much better game than the other two recent iterations of the Total war series. It manages to achieve what everyone loved so much in Rome and Medieval, while still bringing in the new features that Empire and Napoleon brought without making them into a complete pile of crap. Having been one of the many disappointed and disillusioned CA fans after those last two games it came as a massively pleasant surprise. What I will say is from first day experience, is that finding a game using the current multi player interface can be quite hard and slow, this will no doubt change though. One last thing if your really obsessed with playing in DX 10 and 11, and it must be said with the anti aliasing that these features allow, then i would wait till the first patch to get this, as their currently unavailable in game.… Expand
  2. velimrius
    Mar 18, 2011
    10
    Probably the best strategy game in last several years, its just amazing, combat is great, art is amazing, music is fantastic, multiplayer is good, i dunno what else to add,except its worth money :)
  3. Yzer
    Mar 18, 2011
    9
    The Total War series returns. Welcome back! I'm happy to announce that with Shogun 2, the Total War series is back on track. It fully captures the feudal Japan we all wanted to re-visit from the first Shogun. It sports great graphics, with DX11 on the way in a future patch, high-quality sfx and japanese inspired music. Thousands of units can be fielded at once for epic battles. The unitThe Total War series returns. Welcome back! I'm happy to announce that with Shogun 2, the Total War series is back on track. It fully captures the feudal Japan we all wanted to re-visit from the first Shogun. It sports great graphics, with DX11 on the way in a future patch, high-quality sfx and japanese inspired music. Thousands of units can be fielded at once for epic battles. The unit complexity and diversity is lowered from Empire/Napoleon. Now there are set units which can be upgraded and which can gain veterancy. This provides a much more understandable and enjoyable gameplay. Unit stats, pros/cons are explained by a simple mouse-over. Fantastic! Now you have the data you need in order to make those crucial in-battle decisions.

    The 3d map is back and better than ever with its functionality increased.

    Summary: You need to play Shogun 2. It is a way more accessible game than the previous entries to the Total War series. The best part about that is that it doesn't sacrifice the addictive gameplay in order to achieve that effect. Support the developers. We want to see the series continue and our minds blown again and again. There is nothing like Total War.    … Expand
  4. Googoo24
    Mar 17, 2011
    10
    Excellent addition to an excellent series (well, Empire had some major hiccups upon release). Everything is improved, from the a.i. to the campaign map. The game is simply more fine tuned. The lack of AA may be a little irksome to some, but the game itself more than makes up for it.
  5. Gallant000
    Mar 16, 2011
    10
    Everybody's already said it all: I am blown away. I started my first campaign on VH and quickly found myself outmaneuvered and over-run. Never in a total war game have I ever felt "in danger" of losing my starting provence. CA has redeemed itself without question.
  6. Squishy
    Mar 21, 2011
    9
    After playing all of the TW games, I could easily crown this the reigning champ. Its easy to admire the wonderful graphics and solid UI, but when you get into the subtle aspects of the game it just shines. There is a completeness to the game play that is extremely hard to capture and present to an audience. While overall I feel that Shogun is the best at what it does, I can't help butAfter playing all of the TW games, I could easily crown this the reigning champ. Its easy to admire the wonderful graphics and solid UI, but when you get into the subtle aspects of the game it just shines. There is a completeness to the game play that is extremely hard to capture and present to an audience. While overall I feel that Shogun is the best at what it does, I can't help but wonder if there were possibilities to go down a new route with the franchise. I shouldn't complain about greatness, so do yourself a favor and go get this bad boy.… Expand
  7. KEMPERO4EG
    Mar 20, 2011
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!! Amazing!!! Great game!!!… Expand
  8. Raggz
    Mar 20, 2011
    9
    The latest game in the Total War series. Back to the roots were Creative Assembly started. Back to the bloodiest era in Japans history. Do you have what it takes to be the new Shogun and rule Japan.
    Beautiful graphics soon to support DX10.1 and DX11 and with upgraded AI that will give you a real challenge and numerous headaches.
    Watch Samurai's and ninja's fight in epic battles!
  9. Afotai
    Mar 20, 2011
    10
    Shogun 2 gives you an intense strategy game. With AI that's actually clever compared to the older series where it still had major problems navigating over water, you'll find yourself caught by surprises on the campaign map and in real-time battles. There still are plenty of units to make a diversive army, but not as much as in Empire Total War. New RPG elements have been introduced thatShogun 2 gives you an intense strategy game. With AI that's actually clever compared to the older series where it still had major problems navigating over water, you'll find yourself caught by surprises on the campaign map and in real-time battles. There still are plenty of units to make a diversive army, but not as much as in Empire Total War. New RPG elements have been introduced that makes costumisation of your agents and commanders possible to play them the way you want.

    Multiplayer has been totally revisioned, and actually encourages long-term progression by a sort of "Avatar" system that awards you unlocks with each battle you can win on a "multiplayer campaign map".

    There's also a two player coop campaign mode that I personally find oustanding to play, but its tortured with desync problems at the time I write this (21 march 2011). Hopefully these bugs get polished out soon enough, as this is the only game-breaking thing I found.

    Pro's/Con's

    + Amazing visuals with unique art
    + More intelligent AI
    + Various new RPG elements that add depth

    - Suffers from desync problems on the online 2 player coop campaign    … Expand
  10. jta
    Mar 21, 2011
    9
    There's a multitude of things wrong with Total War: Shogun 2 but they are most definitely outweighed by the good. What I still, after 11 years love most about the Shogun games are the small mini movies you get when deploying your Ninja. They do repeat pretty quick but I still find myself rooting for the little dudes on their mission. "nono! look to your left!".

    What feels a bit odd is the    There's a multitude of things wrong with Total War: Shogun 2 but they are most definitely outweighed by the good. What I still, after 11 years love most about the Shogun games are the small mini movies you get when deploying your Ninja. They do repeat pretty quick but I still find myself rooting for the little dudes on their mission. "nono! look to your left!".

    What feels a bit odd is the huge bonuses the AI is given in terms of finance and troop strengths, even on low difficulty levels. This makes the game feel a bit unrewarding at times when you've used your best cunning and advanced to a key point in the game, only to find the enemy has 3 times the troops you do although you would have been hard pressed to raise an army any stronger than you have.

    There's a rich amount of detail to the world and the units and the whole atmosphere still feels as authentic as the original Shogun did. I have to admit I do miss the "boardgame" look of the original Shogun. The tactical map doesn't have to be as elaborate as it is but it works. That's really all that matters.    … Expand
  11. sdg
    Mar 21, 2011
    9
    Marvelous game. Love the new RPG elements and land battles. Especially love the animation of the archers, their shooting (needles) and the sound/music.

    Unhappy with the naval war bugs and turn limit of the game (too short). I mean, why not 6 or 8 turn a year, so that the startegy can be planned better. One always has an eye on the year while going about it.
  12. 2484Stryker
    Mar 22, 2011
    9
    Pros: classic Total War game play merged with RPG elements to yield a very memorable & enjoyable gaming experience. You actually feel like you're building your own empire and you will care about the generals & family members under your command. Agents (ninjas, monks, etc.) are also more useful than before, and you similarly will care about their actions and fate. And who can forget thePros: classic Total War game play merged with RPG elements to yield a very memorable & enjoyable gaming experience. You actually feel like you're building your own empire and you will care about the generals & family members under your command. Agents (ninjas, monks, etc.) are also more useful than before, and you similarly will care about their actions and fate. And who can forget the epic battles, which are more beautiful than ever. Cons: minor stuttering when scrolling across the campaign map; not as bad as Empire Total War, but still present. No DX11 support yet.… Expand
  13. Monte28
    Aug 27, 2011
    5
    It seriously is the same everytime you play the game, everyone has the same units and its just bland. The graphics are nice but barely anyone can have a large battle with 30+ fps. And dont think im just saying that. My rig is a i5-2500k @4.2ghz, gtx570, 8gb ddr3 @ 1333ram, and plenty of cooling. The game mechanics are really all about seige, it is so rare to have a field battle that youIt seriously is the same everytime you play the game, everyone has the same units and its just bland. The graphics are nice but barely anyone can have a large battle with 30+ fps. And dont think im just saying that. My rig is a i5-2500k @4.2ghz, gtx570, 8gb ddr3 @ 1333ram, and plenty of cooling. The game mechanics are really all about seige, it is so rare to have a field battle that you cry. And sieges last barely 5 minutes due to the fact every unit can climb the wall. Theres no extreme strategies in this game. Load up on archers and cavalry and you already won. Read any review that is a 10, they either just bought the game or just talk about graphics. The gameplay is similar to medieval 2 but strip out the strategy, like i said every unit can climb the wall. There is nothing unique about the game for every unit is the same just different colors. The game would have been amazing if it was focused more on optimizing rather than just adding all kinds of graphcis no one even notices and clan differences. Rome or empire is still the most unique of the series. Buy this game when its 20 bucks.… Expand
  14. farleysaurus
    Mar 15, 2011
    10
    A really polished experience! The best Total War I have played! The graphics are amazing and the attention to detail is astounding. There are so many features in this game it's mind boggling.
  15. BapManBapsGREAT
    Mar 15, 2011
    10
    So good. Trimmed off all the fat, streamlined it, brilliant multiplayer that I'll play for hours and hours and it all looks incredible. The Creative Assembly are BACK.
  16. Drakan
    Mar 21, 2011
    9
    Excellent game. The apex of the Total War franchise. Despite some minor blemishes, such as ocassional CTD and mouse problems with the campaign map, it's a superb strategy game through and through. S2TW beats Civilization V hands down as strategy game.

    Beautiful artist's design (kudos), beautiful landscapes, well-designed battle maps. All in all simply great. A must-play game for strategy    Excellent game. The apex of the Total War franchise. Despite some minor blemishes, such as ocassional CTD and mouse problems with the campaign map, it's a superb strategy game through and through. S2TW beats Civilization V hands down as strategy game.

    Beautiful artist's design (kudos), beautiful landscapes, well-designed battle maps. All in all simply great. A must-play game for strategy fans.

    Truly after a decade CA have become digital warfare masters, well done! ï½    … Expand
  17. hcookie
    Mar 22, 2011
    10
    This is the best Total Game in the series. BEst AI, Very polished. Amazing Multiplayer. This is how all other games should benchmark themselves. There are however some problems though. Some bugs which should be smoothed out with the inevitable patches. Sieges has the AI go to Sleep if you use certain tactics. (However, I must stress that CA has never really gotten the handle on sieges.This is the best Total Game in the series. BEst AI, Very polished. Amazing Multiplayer. This is how all other games should benchmark themselves. There are however some problems though. Some bugs which should be smoothed out with the inevitable patches. Sieges has the AI go to Sleep if you use certain tactics. (However, I must stress that CA has never really gotten the handle on sieges. Shogun 2 is heading the reight direction. There are some graphical problems, which seems to be mostly centered around the latest video cards. Slightly older top line cards provide a rock steady platform.

    Played the Takeda at Normal, it provided a very very satisfying experience and most of all very fun. This is one game that I will be playing for a long time.    … Expand
  18. Hitteresp
    Mar 16, 2011
    10
    I have played every single total war game since the original Shogun: Total War. That being said, this game is easily one of the best ever. It brings back the best parts of Empire while removing the worst all the while bringing a welcomed stylized edge to the game. All in all Total War does it again and makes me realize why I have always played their games over the Civ games.
  19. EverettLamb
    Mar 15, 2011
    10
    My first impressions upon playing several hours is that the game is polished and it shows. There is dedication and soul put into this game from the well known and appreciated developer The Creative Assembly. While I don't play too many tbs and rts games, this has proven to be an enjoyable experience. If you're looking for a rts/tbs game or even a PC game in general, I'd definitely wouldMy first impressions upon playing several hours is that the game is polished and it shows. There is dedication and soul put into this game from the well known and appreciated developer The Creative Assembly. While I don't play too many tbs and rts games, this has proven to be an enjoyable experience. If you're looking for a rts/tbs game or even a PC game in general, I'd definitely would recommend this game to pick up as it is worth the price. Words can't really define nor express the amount of fun which is why this review comes off a bit short and if you'd excuse me, I'm off to play the game now.… Expand
  20. rmorgan779
    Mar 16, 2011
    10
    i had a hour yesterday after 7 hour download from steam woke up today waved good bye to partner and kids jumped on couldnt get off its amazingly good and bye a british developer no less rule britania thank god after my hugh dissapointment that was dragon age 2 thanks bioware. any way started as warrior monk clan after half hour was uterly destroyed restarted as sword based clan deciededi had a hour yesterday after 7 hour download from steam woke up today waved good bye to partner and kids jumped on couldnt get off its amazingly good and bye a british developer no less rule britania thank god after my hugh dissapointment that was dragon age 2 thanks bioware. any way started as warrior monk clan after half hour was uterly destroyed restarted as sword based clan decieded to try and capture a section of the map 8 provenices it worked and rpg exp system for characters and dynamio are amazing ps cant recomend enough… Expand
  21. NullReason
    Mar 22, 2011
    9
    After playing Shogun: 2, I understand why there has been some commotion about the Total War series, and it has deeply appealed to the turn-based strategy gamer in me who is often turned off by an RTS genre that sometimes feels like it hasn't evolved much from Dune II (until Company of Heroes hit the decks). Hearkening back to the Turn-Based-RTS formula that reminded me of the modernAfter playing Shogun: 2, I understand why there has been some commotion about the Total War series, and it has deeply appealed to the turn-based strategy gamer in me who is often turned off by an RTS genre that sometimes feels like it hasn't evolved much from Dune II (until Company of Heroes hit the decks). Hearkening back to the Turn-Based-RTS formula that reminded me of the modern progression of Centurion: Defender of Rome, Shogun: 2 has fantastic visuals, voice acting, and most importantly, gameplay. Battles are harsh and dynamic, diplomacy is engaging and useful, and true of any real contest of military might it is ultimately supply lines (Read: Economy) that spells victory. But while overwhelming masses of spear-wielding ashigaru may compensate for poorly executed flanking attacks, and a robust economy can compensate for an incompetent general, it is in these compelling tactical exchanges in various terrain and weather conditions that Shogun: 2 shines. In fact, compelling is an excellent descriptor for the sum total of Shogun: 2. Highly recommended, check it out.… Expand
  22. dcfx1984
    Apr 26, 2011
    8
    I don't know what people are talking about when they call this the greatest Total War game of all time. It's very good, but I think Napoleon Total War and it's expansion "The Peninsular Campaign" were the peak of the series. Now, before going further, I'd like to acknowledge that I am not a huge fan of online-multiplayer for a few reasons. First, with my career I do not have the time toI don't know what people are talking about when they call this the greatest Total War game of all time. It's very good, but I think Napoleon Total War and it's expansion "The Peninsular Campaign" were the peak of the series. Now, before going further, I'd like to acknowledge that I am not a huge fan of online-multiplayer for a few reasons. First, with my career I do not have the time to spend hours on my computer at night playing games online and second, even if I did have the time, I still probably would not be anywhere near as good as some of the nerds that love this game and I would only wind up frustrated. So my point is that online gaming is overrated for games like this as it hearkens those without a life. While I understand the multiplayer options in Shogun 2 (such as Clan Warfare) are better than Napoleon in some senses, there are aspects of Napoleon that are unique and great in their own right. For instance, I liked that while Napoleon was limited in the number of factions one had to choose from, there was excellent variation in units between these factions with exquisite attention to detail with regards to faction-specific units. Furthermore, Napoleon's variety of campaign maps/scenarios gave players the option of quicker games vs longer ones and the ability to choose the kind of terrain their battles would take place on. With the Peninsular Campaign you had the option to fight in a war of stealth, attrition and propaganda. In the Egypt Campaign, you fought against the elements of the desert and the British Navy in an effort to blockade trade. No such options/variances exist in Shogun 2.

    As for Shogun 2's faults - I'll start with the whole "food shortage" problem. You can't upgrade your castles or markets as an expanding power because your people will starve and revolt. While this problem is easy to solve, it's annoying, time-consuming problem you have to work around not seen in the series' previous installments and it's a factor even when the game is set to easy. Furthermore, the "one at a time" technological development is slow and you likely will only be able to develop half of the skills you'd like over the course of a campaign [In Napoleon and Empire Total War - you could acquire more schools/universities/academic centers and develop technologies at the same time.] Then there's the aspect of trade and diplomacy - for whatever reason, the computer doesn't like to trade with you, even if you have resources they need/want and this makes your financial situation dire at times (this too happens even when the game is set to easy.) While you can spend a billion turns acquiring the "tea ceremony" technology to "upgrade" your diplomatic relations, this usually does NOTHING to help your cause when it comes to trading resources with other clans.

    Adding insult to injury in a game that is already more time-consuming than it should be, if you reach legendary status before taking over Kyoto, the current Shogunate has every clan in the game declare war on you. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if it was not for clans like the Date, who are located far, far away from Kyoto and hit a brick wall once they conquer a few provinces in central Honshu - even if you have 3 large armies with excellent generals, good luck surviving an all-out attack from the Takeda, Hojo, Imagawa, Tokugawa and Hattori clans with no money to be had via trade as your provinces in the east are picked off one by one. It's just sort of sad that you can be the best clan in the game, know it and sit there powerless for a few hours while the computer delays your inevitable victory. This kind of thing never happened in Napoleon. Which brings me to another point - I think it's ridiculous that you need to buy the special edition to play as the Hattori clan - they are one of the most enjoyable clans to play with. Last, the battles in Napoleon were the best of the series because of the way they involved cannons, cavalry and rifles. Altogether, Napoleon revolutionized the battle matrix of this series and made defending/attacking when out-numbered a lot of fun. Empire was a great idea that failed on several levels ("a toilet with roman blinds") and, in the same sense, I just feel like this game could have been a whole lot better and more enjoyable. In my opinion, this game and Medieval 2 are over-appreciated while Napoleon, Rome and their expansions are over-looked.    … Expand
  23. Aelric
    Jun 6, 2011
    6
    Shogun 2: Total War, beautiful, polished, but O! so boring. Of all Total War games, the graphics are done right with Shogun 2. Great visuals, special effects, and animations. Japan is beautifully rendered, and the new world-map can 360 degrees, like the battle-map. However, there are few differences between clans. Unit types don't vary. Culture doesn't vary. And once all research isShogun 2: Total War, beautiful, polished, but O! so boring. Of all Total War games, the graphics are done right with Shogun 2. Great visuals, special effects, and animations. Japan is beautifully rendered, and the new world-map can 360 degrees, like the battle-map. However, there are few differences between clans. Unit types don't vary. Culture doesn't vary. And once all research is complete, it's not worth finishing a campaign. Shogun 2 is as distant from the glory of Rome Total War as Empire Total War was. But even more so.… Expand
  24. DavTov2000
    Apr 8, 2011
    10
    I have been playing Total War games since the original Shogun back in 2000. Despite some hitches along the way I am a totally hooked fan of the TW genre. I am about half way through my first campaign in Shogun 2 and I can only say - EXCELLENT. The game demonstrates lessons learned from the previous two TW's and captures the heart and essence (I feel) of warfare in 16th Century Japan. ItI have been playing Total War games since the original Shogun back in 2000. Despite some hitches along the way I am a totally hooked fan of the TW genre. I am about half way through my first campaign in Shogun 2 and I can only say - EXCELLENT. The game demonstrates lessons learned from the previous two TW's and captures the heart and essence (I feel) of warfare in 16th Century Japan. It was so much more than just war all the time and the game gives me, at least, a real 'feel' of the period. My only criticism - the strategic screen is quite 'sticky' ... Which is a shame, but it may be my PC. However, both Empire and Napoleon play fine. Top marks for this game - I am thoroughly hooked.… Expand
  25. Sceptic
    Apr 8, 2011
    9
    An utterly brilliant sleep stealer!
    Minor bugs and limited Campaign modes aside,Shogun 2 is a gorgeous,well thought out strategy title.If you have any interest in strategy,logistics,history,ninja,diplomacy or samauri,you must play this game.
  26. Enshia
    May 17, 2011
    8
    Breath taking graphics with the new DX11 patch, enjoyable game play if you're into tactical RTS style games. There are some issues such as the archery heavy computer opponents, including a few outstanding bugs that have existed since the Rome franchise. Some may find the lack of things such as merchants, and the need for diplomats disappointing. I do miss my merchants, I don't miss theBreath taking graphics with the new DX11 patch, enjoyable game play if you're into tactical RTS style games. There are some issues such as the archery heavy computer opponents, including a few outstanding bugs that have existed since the Rome franchise. Some may find the lack of things such as merchants, and the need for diplomats disappointing. I do miss my merchants, I don't miss the old diplomat system. The mod system has also changed, if you were befuddled before about where and how to install them, the ability for modders to use the .pack system alleviates this.… Expand
  27. Grygus
    Jun 1, 2011
    9
    I have been a Total War fan since the beginning. This is easily the best Total War game in many ways, but serious bugs in the co-op multiplayer and a few AI problems keep this game from a perfect 10. Production values are of the highest caliber. The only real criticism I have (other than bugs, which I assume will be patched) is that the setting doesn't allow much variety; once you haveI have been a Total War fan since the beginning. This is easily the best Total War game in many ways, but serious bugs in the co-op multiplayer and a few AI problems keep this game from a perfect 10. Production values are of the highest caliber. The only real criticism I have (other than bugs, which I assume will be patched) is that the setting doesn't allow much variety; once you have played a few campaigns, you've seen everything. Still, even if you only play a few campaigns and ignore multiplayer entirely the game is worth the time and money invested.… Expand
  28. jonandjim
    Apr 9, 2011
    9
    the best total war so far. i have owned every total war game since shogun 1, and this just blows them out of the water.(well almost sinks Rome) graphics: insane. gameplay: refined. style: perfect. ninjas: ninjas. buy this game.
    (really this game would be worth it just for the ninjas)
  29. Sovereignx1
    May 25, 2011
    10
    This work of love is the culmination of everything Total War stands for. Simply amazing. P.S.: CA we all want Rome 2! Just make sure it has the same finesse and work you poured into Shogun 2 ;)
  30. BrutalKozak
    Jun 4, 2011
    10
    Back to the Roots. The best game in series 9.0
  31. shoebelt
    Apr 21, 2011
    8
    Another well designed game that feels.... familiar? If you have played any games in the TW series, you've definitely played a version of this game. The updated graphics, tech/skill trees are a welcome improvement, but thats all that feels new. The unit types differing from other generations that each takes place in is the only other difference that comes to mind. Of course there haveAnother well designed game that feels.... familiar? If you have played any games in the TW series, you've definitely played a version of this game. The updated graphics, tech/skill trees are a welcome improvement, but thats all that feels new. The unit types differing from other generations that each takes place in is the only other difference that comes to mind. Of course there have been updates that improve minor subtleties, but this game feels extremely repetitive as a sequel. Conclusion: If you are looking for a ground breaking game in the TW series, look elsewhere, or wait for a price reduction. If you love the TW games and all that they are, then you should definitely pick this up because it is more of the same that you are accustomed to. That being said more of the same can easily be a good or bad things depending on what you think of the 'same'. ( I do enjoy the series, and this was definitely fun as I enjoy having the graphics cranked way up, setting out strategies, and watching the battle unfold )… Expand
  32. pandateddybear
    May 20, 2011
    8
    total war is back better then ever! great game for those that love stragetry and RTS games in general but its not for those that are playing warhammer or starcrtaft for past few years only.. toturial is crazy long and takes tons of hours before you learn everything few days will pass ..so its not for everyone but after you pass that its all jelly great game 8/10
  33. ppablo12345
    Apr 28, 2011
    10
    I am concerned, that note above is too low, becouse the game is great, but... This is the same game, that Empire, Napoleon and all Total Wars are! What's more: number of units is greatly decreased compare with eg. Medieval 2!
    If this was my first Total War, I would rate on 10, but sadly, it is not.
  34. aungen
    May 5, 2011
    9
    The recent Total War games (Empire, Napoleon), have left me longing for the good old days. Shogun 2 has answered that prayer. I am one of those people who played Medieval 2 with mods to pass the time, because the newer games were too large, and unwieldy. I love the addition of naval combat, but felt like too many things had gone wrong.

    Shogun 2 gets almost everything right. There is a    The recent Total War games (Empire, Napoleon), have left me longing for the good old days. Shogun 2 has answered that prayer. I am one of those people who played Medieval 2 with mods to pass the time, because the newer games were too large, and unwieldy. I love the addition of naval combat, but felt like too many things had gone wrong.

    Shogun 2 gets almost everything right. There is a learning curve, but there is a lot of pleasure in figuring out how things work. I was thrilled at the diversity in paths to victory, especially if you explore diplomatic or special unit abilities. The game is a lot of fun, and replayability appears to be almost limitless. After a dozen campaigns, I am still finding amazing results when I mix different units together on the battlefield.

    The most unexpected fun has come from the multi-player mode. It is fun to let another player drop in and fight as your enemy in the campaign battles, and it is nice that you have the option of just saying no to this feature. But what really surprised me was how much fun I've had fighting on the alternate map of Japan in multiplayer. I highly recommend giving this a try!

    So ... what's the down side? I do not like how the single player game handles diplomacy in the end game. Many mods are coming out to tweak this, but I do agree that the end game events are a nice twist. I just think it went a bit too far. Another down side is the speed of movement in the game. Everything goes a little bit too fast. I am getting used to it, but if you dislike that - there are also mods to slow things down a bit, already.

    Modding appears to be very easy, and I look forward to a healthy community of mods for this game, much like Medieval 2.    … Expand
  35. aGOODdude
    May 15, 2011
    8
    There is no doubt that this game is great and you would have to look long to find strategy game as rich in content. However the bugs/glitches are numerous and they can (and will) ruin your experience, especially if you should try to play online.

    The game is, despite its rich and intricate content, amazingly easy to pick up and play, even for newcomers such as myself. I would definitely    There is no doubt that this game is great and you would have to look long to find strategy game as rich in content. However the bugs/glitches are numerous and they can (and will) ruin your experience, especially if you should try to play online.

    The game is, despite its rich and intricate content, amazingly easy to pick up and play, even for newcomers such as myself. I would definitely recommend this game to just about anybody as the game contains a stellar blend of profound strategy and hectic action. 8/10    … Expand
  36. Thane
    May 22, 2011
    8
    Surprisingly good. I didn't expect a such good comeback from flops as Medieval and Empire. Better UI, good graphics and sound. Gameplay improved by adding RPG elements to generals, and other agents. Improved and made more accessible the building of cities, all in all, a good game.
  37. tobas1
    May 27, 2011
    8
    They made nice comeback to roots from rather lousy TW Empire. Minus is that they used the same engine that was in Empire, that made game look pretty but in my opinion made it also little less fun. I can't actually explain why - maybe because it was created for gun-powder battles? It just felt little different in medieval or Rome or first Shogun and those games were perfect when launchedThey made nice comeback to roots from rather lousy TW Empire. Minus is that they used the same engine that was in Empire, that made game look pretty but in my opinion made it also little less fun. I can't actually explain why - maybe because it was created for gun-powder battles? It just felt little different in medieval or Rome or first Shogun and those games were perfect when launched and I spent hundreds of hours for every one of them.… Expand
  38. SJ_pl
    Jan 22, 2012
    8
    As a complicated strategy it may be good. Maybe the best in 2011. But I'm a regular player that digests all genres and this game didn't appealed to me. It was too difficult, too complicated and did not offer as much fun as I expected it to give me. Maybe with it's developer on my back I would have understood it better. I regret that such a good game doesn't offer much for interested butAs a complicated strategy it may be good. Maybe the best in 2011. But I'm a regular player that digests all genres and this game didn't appealed to me. It was too difficult, too complicated and did not offer as much fun as I expected it to give me. Maybe with it's developer on my back I would have understood it better. I regret that such a good game doesn't offer much for interested but not so strategy-oriented players...… Expand
  39. karmasleeper
    Aug 12, 2011
    9
    Shogun 2 is a fantastic addition the Total War series. The game improves upon the original Shogun in nearly every way. Visually, it is the best looking Total War game to date and frankly one of the most impressive looking games I've ever seen. New to Shogun 2 is character progression. Your daimyo, generals, and even agents like metsuke and ninja gain rank as they successfully performShogun 2 is a fantastic addition the Total War series. The game improves upon the original Shogun in nearly every way. Visually, it is the best looking Total War game to date and frankly one of the most impressive looking games I've ever seen. New to Shogun 2 is character progression. Your daimyo, generals, and even agents like metsuke and ninja gain rank as they successfully perform tasks and win battles. Ranking up gives you points to improve abilities, like map movement speed, defense, moral, bonus to assassination attempts, etc. It's nothing revolutionary and doesn't change they way Total War games are played, but provides another level of customization in how you're sculpting your army and the tactics you choose to employ. My only complaint is that the factions don't feel very differentiated. All factions have access to the same units for the most part and the only tangible differences lie in stats for certain units. For example, the Chosokabe have better samurai archers, the Hojo have better siege units and their castles are less expensive, etc. All this boils down to is that certain faction traits or unit stats favor one strategy over another. It has little bearing on how you build your nation but more impact on how your armies fight. Multiplayer options for Shogun 2 are excellent and well executed. The main attraction here is the avatar mode in which you customize every feature of your general and are brought to a simplified campaign map. Rather than vie for territory against other players you select which territory you want to "occupy" and then fight an online battle against a human opponent. If you win, you gain the territory and whatever unit or army bonus it corresponds to. There's a more tangible sense of progression than in the singleplayer campaign as you fight to grow your avatar's army into what you truly want it to be. Another minor complaint is the campaign map interface. It's the same mess that's plagued other Total War games and takes some getting used to. Army movement in battle maps is sometimes questionable as well. Attempting to move an army without first putting it or chunks of it into groups will end in disaster without fail as the game sends groups of units seemingly wherever it wants forcing you to either move en masse as a group or micro manage unit movement to a T. Opponent AI will sometimes make strange decisions when defending forts but is generally very competent and a challenge for most players. All in all, Shogun 2 is excellent game with loads of new features and superb multiplayer content.… Expand
  40. minahina
    Jul 24, 2011
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Completely amazing. Seeing how this game either has 10-9 or 1-5 reviews shows how some people are in denial. And everyone complaining about the lack of different units, different cultures and different combat types is missing logic in their brains, and is probably rating every good review down.

    Like many people, I was waiting for this game with a lot of expectation. The best thing as always, is the graphics. The best I have seen in a game so far. The combat couldn't be better. The AI is also heavily improved and almost unbeatable in the campaign map. Anyone complaining of it being too easy probably doesn't realize there's other levels besides "easy". The unit variety isn't as huge as it used to be, but besides being realistical, it also adds to the strategic value. The new level system is also very good along with creating your own general. Basically every battle has the potential to become completely epic. It does has it's flaws. Personally the main one is the lack of turns. 50 turns isn't enough to develop everything at your own pace and once you expand enough, ever other clan declares war on you. Putting you in a 10 vs 1 usually. The avatar system is also only available in multiplayer. Making the feature useless for those who dislike competition. However, the game is very enjoyable overall. And a must have for any PC player that enjoys REAL strategy.    … Expand
  41. Necrotaur
    Aug 28, 2011
    8
    Shogun 2: Total War is a great game in a great series. It is, naturally, focused on 16th century Japan and returns to the more traditional 'swords and archers' roots of the Total War series. The aesthetics and music are very pleasing and serve to draw you into the setting, and the battles are, for the most part, as fun as ever, though cavalry is decidedly less-than-useful in this outing.Shogun 2: Total War is a great game in a great series. It is, naturally, focused on 16th century Japan and returns to the more traditional 'swords and archers' roots of the Total War series. The aesthetics and music are very pleasing and serve to draw you into the setting, and the battles are, for the most part, as fun as ever, though cavalry is decidedly less-than-useful in this outing. Specialist units such as ninja and monks function very well, and you will quickly learn to both fear and love them. The only serious complaint I have is that Shogun 2 is perhaps TOO focused. In Empire/Napoleon and even Medieval 2, you had the ability to expand and invade other continents or areas of interest and fight varied units of other cultures. Shogun 2 dials that back and you are pretty much stuck in Japan fighting reskins of your own army, just with a different specialty (swords, spear, bow etc.) Multiplayer is a blast, however. I don't feel Shogun 2 deserves a 9, but I can't give an 8.5 so I'll go with a reluctant 8.… Expand
  42. Camisirish615
    Jul 27, 2011
    9
    Outstanding game, have been a fan of the total war series for years, and to date shogun 2 is by far the most polished. Graphics are outstanding, very detailed lively units, great sound effects, makes it seem like a real battle. Game play is more advanced than in TW games from the past, the AI is much more intelligent and seemingly adapts to your every move. This has been the most difficultOutstanding game, have been a fan of the total war series for years, and to date shogun 2 is by far the most polished. Graphics are outstanding, very detailed lively units, great sound effects, makes it seem like a real battle. Game play is more advanced than in TW games from the past, the AI is much more intelligent and seemingly adapts to your every move. This has been the most difficult TW game I have played by far, but the most rewarding, strategy plays a huge part in this game whereas other TW games was about sheer force. Everything requires you to think, from types of troops in your armies, type of amour, the physical outline of the battlefield, position and strength of the enemy, areas surrounding your cities, diplomacy, food etc, everything has to be managed accordingly making this the most difficult but most rewarding game in the TW series.

    Pros
    Graphics, sound, game play, advanced AI Cons
    Requires powerful system to play on high scale, difficult computer opponent, multilayer is lacking in appeal    … Expand
  43. Brakeman94
    Jul 29, 2011
    10
    I give the multi-player a strong 10, and I have started playing the single player but the customization and loyalty to your units in the multi-player seems so much stronger to me that I cannot get through more than 10 turns in single player. Here is my breakdown:

    Graphics: 10/10
    Sound: 9/10
    Battle Interface: 10/10
    Battle Gameplay: 10/10
    Fun Factor: 10/10
  44. ObjectivePlayer
    Jul 29, 2011
    6
    To start, of course this game has improved graphics. It is newer; in this day and age of gaming, graphics of top of the line game titles are expected to be as such. That is where the compliments stop. I have played all the total war games, and when compared the them Shogun 2 has nothing to offer a gamer such as myself. There are many things I can go about in detail, but for the sake of theTo start, of course this game has improved graphics. It is newer; in this day and age of gaming, graphics of top of the line game titles are expected to be as such. That is where the compliments stop. I have played all the total war games, and when compared the them Shogun 2 has nothing to offer a gamer such as myself. There are many things I can go about in detail, but for the sake of the reader, I will be to the point. Repetitive maps i didn't notice even on Rome: total war. Units are all exactly the same (other than some sparse stat differences). Multi-player is apparently bugged (personally I couldn't even figure out how to get the matches i wanted). These are some of the main issues i have with this game. As a result, Shogun 2, after a week of play, I had the feeling of drudging through the campaign and soon quit playing.
    As a total war fan, and someone who wants to get his money's worth, i cannot consciously give this game a good review (especially when the older games such as Medieval and Rome has much more to offer in game play and re-playability). If you buy this game, then please buy it because you are a fan of ninja's, not good game play or you will be disappointed. Shogun 2 is, in my opinion, a 25$ game at best.    … Expand
  45. Parvarteshwar
    Jan 28, 2012
    6
    The Total War series has a history of producing ground-breaking, innovative games that cater specifically to the RTS/strategy fans. Games like Rome and Empire are huge, enjoyable, full of strategic depth, and well polished. Shogun 2 unfortunately fits more into the category of Medieval 2. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game and it's better than any other RTS game on the market rightThe Total War series has a history of producing ground-breaking, innovative games that cater specifically to the RTS/strategy fans. Games like Rome and Empire are huge, enjoyable, full of strategic depth, and well polished. Shogun 2 unfortunately fits more into the category of Medieval 2. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game and it's better than any other RTS game on the market right now, but its just not a great game that deserves the 90 critic score that it has received. This has forced me to sometimes wonder if I'm playing the same game as the critics...
    The biggest problem I have with the game is that the same problems and bugs that were with Empire are still with this game. Diplomacy is a laughable exercise at best and completely worthless at worst. The best strategy for avoiding war is to not have a border with a country, even valued allies will forget your excellent standing with them and declare war on you if you so much as have a common border and getting a country to accept a diplomatic proposal is almost as bad as pulling teeth.
    The AI is as painfully stupid as it was in the previous games and I think they realized this and have now made drop-in battles by human players standard, but good luck trying to find someone to play with and finding someone near your difficulty level. But even if you have the coveted luck with the battles the AI is still as stupid as ever on the campaign map and since they don't have monetary restrictions to worry about all strategy goes out the window. It feels like you are playing alone instead of with a worth-while opponent, and if you turn up the difficulty the AI doesn't get better, they are just given more units to throw at you which results in attrition based wars rather than strategic depth.
    But the AI problems don't just stop with the computer players, be sure to keep an eye on your own soldiers in battle or else they will be more dangerous to your army than the opposition. Archers seem to be particularly guilty of this and if you don't micro-manage them they will tear up your own front lines even more so than the enemies. There was a bug in previous games where your archers wouldn't follow your attack orders, they would simply fire on the closest enemy, that bug is back and as annoying now as it was then. It is almost funny to watch then firing on a shattered infantry unit, killing more of your own infantry than the enemy's, while a cavalry unit about to run them down...
    The units are the same for almost every faction and this means there is very little depth in fielding a varied army, just load up on samurai and send them off to battle, and replenishment is back which means waiting 5 turns in between each battle. Naval battles are back and they are improved, but they are also more boring. Fighting with non-gunpowder vessels when compared to the huge and varied ships-of-the-line from Empire has very little strategy, especially when an entire battle consists of ordering your ships to board the other ships.
    The graphics are excellent, but that's no surprise as Total War games have always had stellar graphics for their time. The in-game interface is also excellent, it takes some time to get to know it but the wealth of information is a welcome breathe of fresh air from the previous titles. But at the same time the game feels stiff, this may just be because my PC isn't the top of the line but that just means if you don't have the best PC out there you will be greeted with a sticky interface.
    The game map has plenty of provinces, but it feels small compared to the huge map of Europe from Rome and half the world from Empire. The provinces are also very similar, and though there are special resources they don't really play a huge strategic role other than money. Japan is a thin country and therefore the strategy is the same with almost every faction, conquer a strip of land, set up two fronts and expand. This also results in the game being painfully short, while there can be 20-some factions at the beginning (only 9 playable), in 5 years there will be half that and in another 5 years half that again. So in less than 10 years the game will be down to 4 or 5 factions. Which is a shame because the second half of the game is definitely the best, the units get more varied and the battles get bigger but there is less to enjoy.
    So what should you make of Shogun? Well since I have taken the entire 5000 world limit to rate it you can place it higher on your list of games to play, even though it's annoying at times it can also be very fun and I caught glimpses of better previous games at times. This is perhaps the game's greatest flaw, it will always be compared to excellent previous titles, but it's still a Total War game and if you get into it you will easily get 50 hours of game play.    … Expand
  46. lmg
    Oct 18, 2011
    8
    i m not a big fan of total war series. still i played the solo player for many days. i think although the different factions play a bit different, when it comes to strategy all has the same after some time. its always bigger army vs small army. i think the earlier versions of total war were more fun than this one.
  47. GamerLegend
    Feb 11, 2012
    10
    My first total war game was Empire Total War a while back. Ever since I got it I became hooked on the series. Iv'e seen a lot of **** reviews for this same so far, and I have to strongly disagree with what they are saying. This is by far the best total war game that has come out yet. The graphics are amazing and pretty much look real with light bloom from a distance. The newMy first total war game was Empire Total War a while back. Ever since I got it I became hooked on the series. Iv'e seen a lot of **** reviews for this same so far, and I have to strongly disagree with what they are saying. This is by far the best total war game that has come out yet. The graphics are amazing and pretty much look real with light bloom from a distance. The new multi-player concept of making your own clan is genius and it is a game you will always go back to. I would recommend this to any strategy gamer because of its challenging concepts and high replay value. I do not recommend it for someone just starting to play total war or general strategy due to its challenging gameplay.… Expand
  48. jacobwt226
    Mar 6, 2012
    9
    I use it as a benchmark when I put new hardware in my PC, I play it anyways because it is fun. No reason why not to buy, plus they are coming out with a new game (DLC if you own this one) that allows Rifles to battle with samurai.
  49. Xsonic
    Jan 4, 2013
    10
    Truly one of the most addicting games I've ever played, yesterday I spent 13 hours straight in a Co-Op match with a random guy, and he bought the game 2 days ago, and we had a blast! I have been playing Shogun 2 for over a year and they still keep updating the game from time to time, multiplayer connection issues are ironed away. The only drawback for this game might be the public chatTruly one of the most addicting games I've ever played, yesterday I spent 13 hours straight in a Co-Op match with a random guy, and he bought the game 2 days ago, and we had a blast! I have been playing Shogun 2 for over a year and they still keep updating the game from time to time, multiplayer connection issues are ironed away. The only drawback for this game might be the public chat rooms are quiet most of the time : / There are still many people playing it, I logged at 3 AM and decided to play a custom match 4v4, and found one right away.… Expand
  50. Deific
    Mar 31, 2011
    9
    Looks superb and very well optimised. Shogun 2 has really built on the series, especially when it comes to the campaign map where there's several fantastic additions. The whole Agent system has been so well thought-out, that it's one of the most exciting parts of the game. The battles are visually stunning and the small but balanced selection of units is nice. However the game isn'tLooks superb and very well optimised. Shogun 2 has really built on the series, especially when it comes to the campaign map where there's several fantastic additions. The whole Agent system has been so well thought-out, that it's one of the most exciting parts of the game. The battles are visually stunning and the small but balanced selection of units is nice. However the game isn't without its flaws. The multiplayer is nothing less than completely broken, not only in its matchmaking and room system, but also with a lot of unit behavior. Were it to work however, the avatar campaign system is an annoyance and prevents you from just jumping in with friends and playing how you want. Friends vs AI has also seemingly been removed for unknown reasons. When it comes to single-player bugs, there are less but still some real game-breakers. In one of the naval tutorial battles the player camera can barely move, this also happens in one of the historical battles, except this time it can also move through the floor and you are suddenly produced with an insane amount of screen fuzz half-way through - needless to say this historical battle remains incomplete for me. In my first campaign, part way through my income glitched and I went from 9k one turn to 172k the next. Having started again, I got through the campaign finishing the victory conditions, but chose to continue playing until I owned every province on the map. I owned all but two, when my game crashed and trying to reload either my quick saves or game saves would result in a crash - needless to say I've given up on this save file. As for the 'improved' AI, well, actually it's fairly thick. Besides simple things like sending cavalry round the sides to flank you, it really doesn't try and counter you at all. Infact, in trying to make it smart, they've made it incredibly annoying, as often it will run to the nearest large hill and turtle there waiting for you to advance. Seeing as it often starts nearer to said hill, more than you do, you have no way of stopping it - then it's just a matter of letting your archers kill theirs until they run out of archer units and rush down the hill at you. In sieges it's no better. Diplomacy also feels pointless and I barely bothered with it on my second campaign game, as I knew that as soon as I had gathered any momentum, realm divide would happen and every clan would turn against me. From this point onwards you get -5 to diplomatic relations every turn and there's no coming back from it. All this aside, it's still a fantastic game that I've already put in 100 hours in a short period of time, and definitely still worth getting. However with more thought put into how to mix up the later SP campaign (as opposed to realm divide), greater depth to diplomatic relations, a better (and working) MP system, and 'real' intelligent AI, it could have been a 10. Hopfully the modding community can do a lot to help some of these points, and because there's already several mods addressing some of these issues - and others generally enhancing the campaign experience, a game that would get a score of 8 out of the box, gets brought up to a score of 9 thanks to the community.… Expand
  51. romires51
    Mar 15, 2011
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love this series. Obvious progress since Napoleon is visible. The beautiful drawing, smart fights, I think revolution of the season of completely has justified. Have pleased new counters in the company and network game.Certainly, a series have tried to "simplify" a little, but these improvements only have done good.

    Shogun has completely justified expectations. 10/10    … Expand
  52. Iconoklast
    Jul 12, 2011
    4
    What a disappointment, after years of being a fan of the series, this game is nail in the coffin for this long standing fan. I had my suspicions that Shogun 2 would follow in the badly flawed footsteps of Imperial TW, and I was right. But I gave CA a chance because they had done such a good job in the past. Technically this game is pretty, but the graphics are flawed and glitchy, so IWhat a disappointment, after years of being a fan of the series, this game is nail in the coffin for this long standing fan. I had my suspicions that Shogun 2 would follow in the badly flawed footsteps of Imperial TW, and I was right. But I gave CA a chance because they had done such a good job in the past. Technically this game is pretty, but the graphics are flawed and glitchy, so I wonder what the point was of wasting all that CPU.
    The biggest failure of this game is its AI and Diplomacy, a gigantic cesspool of failure. I have replayed the campaign several times and each time I get gangbanged by 3-4 clans that declare war on my without any provocation or reason. The diplomacy interface is a disaster of clicking buttons over and over to get no results, it is inexplicably obscure how it works and a chore to go through the menu. In the end no matter what you do you end up having war declared on you by all your neighbors and you get gangbanged by a non stop hoard of gradually superior forces. If you attack your army gradually gets wasted away in attrition far away from home, and if you defend you get blasted by wave after wave of armies until you die. What a retarded strategic system.

    The battles are a chore, the archers dominate the game with their guided missile artillery, and if you are not rushing around and pausing the game all the time you lose generals and elite troops because they stood under a shower of arrows for a few seconds. The interface is a step back from the excellent ones of the past, controlling large armies is a frustrating and infuriating exercise in micro management with bad response times and glitchy behaviors. The tech trees are unsatisfying, they give so many miniscule rewards that there seems to be no strategy to them. And by the time you are ready to build major buildings you cant because the tech tree chokes you so that you can never get a major advantage over any of the other clans. This is game should be the last in the series, a major rehaul of the tactical and strategic system is necessary to make this a worthy strategy title. Its just a glitchy pretty screen saver.    … Expand
  53. Ecko69x
    Mar 19, 2011
    10
    The Total War series is a fine example of games that are progressively becoming better after each release. Shogun 2's refinement and improvement gives it a fresh look, but importantly satisfying game-play. The things I noticed were: great visuals and animations, improved streamline interface, and better AI. The Creative Assembly should be proud with heads held high as they can constantlyThe Total War series is a fine example of games that are progressively becoming better after each release. Shogun 2's refinement and improvement gives it a fresh look, but importantly satisfying game-play. The things I noticed were: great visuals and animations, improved streamline interface, and better AI. The Creative Assembly should be proud with heads held high as they can constantly produce great games towards the ever-so respectful Total War series.… Expand
  54. Kcep
    Mar 16, 2011
    10
    Rupert_Smythe
    Mar 15, 2011
    10 Gosh, I say this game is rather fantastic! I'd been anticipating its arrival for months now and practically ripped it from my butler's hands this morning, feverishly unwrapped it and inserted the disc into one of my personal computers, and was it worth the wait? The answer is a resounding "RATHER!" . Being an avid historian, and a gentleman rather acquainted    Rupert_Smythe
    Mar 15, 2011
    10
    Gosh, I say this game is rather fantastic! I'd been anticipating its arrival for months now and practically ripped it from my butler's hands this morning, feverishly unwrapped it and inserted the disc into one of my personal computers, and was it worth the wait? The answer is a resounding "RATHER!" . Being an avid historian, and a gentleman rather acquainted with Asian history, I found the game to be absolutely delightful and a feast to all the senses! One should rush out immediately and purchase this game with no delay. Hurrah for all the chaps at The Creative Assembly. Well done, boys!â    … Expand
  55. symple19
    Mar 24, 2011
    10
    A sick, sick game. Highly recommended. I might even use some of the multiplayer features. Certainly the best effort out of the three i've played (ETW & NTW being the others). Haven't hit any bugs either, which was my main concern with the last two Empire games. Do yourself a favor and buy it
  56. WalkofFame
    Mar 20, 2011
    9
    DITO!

    "Been playing since release, what can i say...i havnt slept...its pretty awesome, best total was since medieval 2! Looks amazing even tho theres no dx11 untill they patch it, then it'll be a 11/10! "
  57. workgoddammit12
    Mar 29, 2011
    9
    This games would have been my favorite RTS of all time, but unfortunately I cannot play it because of steam. I wish that PC games were distributed equally in both ways.
  58. Superduperjew
    Apr 5, 2011
    10
    This game contains so much content, it's simply immense. From the fully fleshed out tutorials to the campaign. Multiplayer is just the icing on the cake. Insane ranking and customizable armies. Oh, and the graphics? Unbeatable! The detail on the battlefield is incredible. Zooming in on troops exposes the vast textures. The infantry simply look like characters from Crysis. No detail lossThis game contains so much content, it's simply immense. From the fully fleshed out tutorials to the campaign. Multiplayer is just the icing on the cake. Insane ranking and customizable armies. Oh, and the graphics? Unbeatable! The detail on the battlefield is incredible. Zooming in on troops exposes the vast textures. The infantry simply look like characters from Crysis. No detail loss when zooming in. The physics are great, the size of the game is what baffles me. I love it

    10/10.    … Expand
  59. BlyddDrwg
    Apr 21, 2011
    9
    Another great addition to the total war series. AI is challenging, diplomacy actually has a point, battles are balanced and immersive. Game is more focused and intense than Empire, offering a different challenge.
  60. wordy_actions
    May 24, 2011
    9
    The best Total War game ever made. It takes features that Empire introduced and perfects them (such as naval combat and a tech tree). The graphics are gorgeous, but you will need a computer built for gaming to run them at the highest level. The gameplay takes all the good from every previous Total War game and leaves all the bad. It's a huge, epic game of strategy and tactics that I thinkThe best Total War game ever made. It takes features that Empire introduced and perfects them (such as naval combat and a tech tree). The graphics are gorgeous, but you will need a computer built for gaming to run them at the highest level. The gameplay takes all the good from every previous Total War game and leaves all the bad. It's a huge, epic game of strategy and tactics that I think will impress any true strategy gaming fan, and probably even a few people who aren't fans of strategy games. If you've enjoyed any of the previous Total War games, this is a must buy.… Expand
  61. wooopeee
    May 22, 2011
    6
    Good:
    - graphics is really enhanced; the detail on each unit is amazing.
    - simplified economics; i am not a fan of the empire total war where building options and economics is too much. ~~Bad: - short movies should be more rather than being replayed every single clan; i was hoping that different clans have different movies but alas it's still the same - i never thought japan can be    Good:
    - graphics is really enhanced; the detail on each unit is amazing.
    - simplified economics; i am not a fan of the empire total war where building options and economics is too much.

    ~~Bad:
    - short movies should be more rather than being replayed every single clan; i was hoping that different clans have different movies but alas it's still the same
    - i never thought japan can be conquered in a single sitting; with the right strategy one can easily finish the game
    - AI is still stupid; when I click a unit to move away from the fighting it just attacks the next to it.

    ~~Conclusion:
    - a game worth playing and paying for a discounted price. i just hope for shogun 3 blood and gore is added and a different movie player is used.    … Expand
  62. baggytheo
    Mar 1, 2012
    1
    The Total War series has always been going downhill since the release of Empire: Total War--not in terms of design and fun factor, but in terms of quality. The Creative Assembly has continued to put out blatantly BROKEN games that show no evidence of appropriate play-testing, since they have moved to their new engine after Medieval 2: Total War. Not only that, but the company completelyThe Total War series has always been going downhill since the release of Empire: Total War--not in terms of design and fun factor, but in terms of quality. The Creative Assembly has continued to put out blatantly BROKEN games that show no evidence of appropriate play-testing, since they have moved to their new engine after Medieval 2: Total War. Not only that, but the company completely ignores the cries of thousands of their paying customers, flooding their official forums for help, and simply lie that they are "looking into it" while 6 months pass, then a year passes, and nothing gets released except more paid DLC. With Empire, it was game-breaking tech tree bugs that remain unfixed to this day, THREE YEARS after its release. With Shogun 2, it is game-crippling multiplayer campaign desynchronizations that begin to occur about 1/5th of the way through a campaign without fail, forcing players through an arduous process of finding their last uncorrupted save file through a process of trail and error, and then completely re-do everything they accomplished in the last 5-10 turns from whenever that save file took place--or sharing and overwriting copies of save files in order to delay the desynch from inevitably reoccurring 2-3 turns later. The worst thing is that two friends playing coop are left to find all this out after they have already invested about 15-20 hours into a cooperative campaign only to find that it is literally impossible to finish their campaign, and that it basically ends when this bug rears its ugly head. Creative Assembly has intermittently acknowledged the issue after thousands upon thousands of complaints and bug reports from the community, but done NOTHING to put out a simple bugfix for this completely game-breaking and insanely frustrating bug, instead opting to allocate all their manpower towards continuing to crap out low-quality, meaningless DLC packs and even a NEW EXPANSION before they have even patched BASIC FUNCTIONALITY into this game since its release A YEAR AGO!

    Shogun 2 has a great single-player experience. But its multiplayer campaign is completely broken and should not have even made it into the release version of the game. It is clear that they didn't even bother to have two employees play a whole campaign with each other before release to be able to spot this massive, glaring bug that happens for 90% of people who play the multiplayer campaign. I spent $100 on two copies of the game at release for me and my spouse to play the coop campaign together, and not only was it a complete waste then but a whole year later it remains a complete waste. The Creative Assembly has made it absolutely care that they do not care about their customers at all. And when a company does not care about their customers, they do not deserve customers.

    I am giving this game a rating of 1 to offset all the perfect-10 ratings from single-player users and media who clearly did not attempt to finish a multiplayer campaign before publishing their reviews.    … Expand
  63. VideoDead
    Mar 22, 2011
    6
    Total War isn't about multiplayer for me so i haven't even touched the apparently buggy mp mode on Shogun 2 yet and have no intention of doing so. Haven't experienced any bugs on campaign yet.
    My favourite TW so far is Medieval 2 purely because of the variety of factions available to play and the variety of landscapes available to conquer. Shogun 2 has none of this!! As far as i can tell    Total War isn't about multiplayer for me so i haven't even touched the apparently buggy mp mode on Shogun 2 yet and have no intention of doing so. Haven't experienced any bugs on campaign yet.
    My favourite TW so far is Medieval 2 purely because of the variety of factions available to play and the variety of landscapes available to conquer. Shogun 2 has none of this!! As far as i can tell there is no difference to the factions apart from slightly better archers or spearmen or cavalry, the castles are exactly the same and set in identical surroundings - even the campaign map looks hastily splodged out with no distinctive topographical features(where's Mount Fuji?), it's just all mountains (the same height) and valleys (the same depth).

    On the management side, i am finding it hard to feed the masses as food can only be obtained through farming and not trade and virtually everything i build uses food supply. Also diplomacy can be a bit tricky as almost everything i do decreases popularity with everyone (yes, territory expansion counts against you in a big way).
    I think Creative Assembly should stick with a good idea (like Rome or Medieval) and refine aspects of gameplay. Overall this game looks and sounds great and there certainly is depth to the management side of things, but severely lacks the variety and innovation that will make me come back to it. Disappointing!!    … Expand
  64. FanthCcP
    Mar 18, 2012
    10
    Total War series game is the best of the best strategy game in human history,not one of ! I love Total War more than anything!Been playing since release, what can i say...i havnt slept...its pretty awesome, best total was since medieval 2! Looks amazing even tho theres no dx11 untill they patch it, then it'll be a 11/10!
  65. kabbi
    Dec 12, 2011
    7
    I'd have to say when push comes to shove and the **** hits the fan all in an honest days work...this game sincerely and objectively yet truthfully flat out just needed more ninjas. Period. I said. Ninjas.
  66. DarKMaTTeR
    Dec 30, 2011
    6
    This game has been the greatest disappointment I've had from gaming in years. I've been a big fan of the series for more than a decade now. The amount of time I've spent on these games is ridiculous. In TW Shogun 2 I didn't even finish a single campaign, even though I really wanted this game to be good and I tried to find a way to appreciate it.

    I'd like to make it clear that the game is    This game has been the greatest disappointment I've had from gaming in years. I've been a big fan of the series for more than a decade now. The amount of time I've spent on these games is ridiculous. In TW Shogun 2 I didn't even finish a single campaign, even though I really wanted this game to be good and I tried to find a way to appreciate it.

    I'd like to make it clear that the game is NOT bad. It is massive, professional and unique. But it lacks a lot of what I cared about in Total War games. For example, I always thought it was brilliant how, no matter how many battles you played, it would be extremely rare for 2 battles to start and unfold the same way. Well, no more. Shogun 2 does not shuffle the deck like it's predecessors. This time, you'll be fighting the same battles over and over again, on a handful of predesigned maps that aren't that great in the first place. Especially with sieges. I wasn't even half-way through a campaign, before I started auto-resolving every battle.

    Another thing that made the game very tiring to me, is all the Japanese in use. It's great for an authentic feel, but ffs add an explanation in the tooltip. From the first moments in the game, you're expected to memorize all these jibberish, or you won't have a clue what's going on. No offence to the Japanese, but the only words I get are Samurai and Katana, everything else sounds the same to me.

    And there's also the technical part. The game takes FOREVER to load anything, and it doesn't even look better than TW: Empire. There's only some much time I can tolerate wasting on loading screens.

    If you're not an old fan of the series, then you will probably enjoy the game more than I did, because you have no idea what the game is missing. But as a fan, I was so disappointed that I no longer had interest in playing the game. Which is a shame because it is a good game all in all.

    PS. I wrote my review so late, because I honestly expected I would play a lot more before deciding I'm done with the game.    … Expand
  67. Orctownorc
    Apr 28, 2013
    8
    After 50+ solo campaigns and 2k hours multiplayer, all DLC plus maxed out avatars, I can confirm that this is a good game. The multiplayer is the true core of the game and close to perfect if you can be patient with the standard rough edges of the online community. However the single player game is finally pretty BAD. Diplomacy, trade and political economy are all undeveloped. Shogun 2 isAfter 50+ solo campaigns and 2k hours multiplayer, all DLC plus maxed out avatars, I can confirm that this is a good game. The multiplayer is the true core of the game and close to perfect if you can be patient with the standard rough edges of the online community. However the single player game is finally pretty BAD. Diplomacy, trade and political economy are all undeveloped. Shogun 2 is just another case of the same old campaign: conquer 50 territories and win. Nothing has changed or improved from the first Shogun in this regard. CA needs to put much more time and effort into designing a campaign that has more to it than a boring, repetitive, unrealistic mechanical expansion of a realm. They could learn a thing or two from Paradox Interactive and at least attempt to add some dimensions of diplomacy and pschological nuance to the machine. Diplomacy and trade need total (pun) re-building. And the economic management of territiories also needs much more depth. In all honesty Rome 2 will not be a better game if CA only continues to upgrade the visuals and animations. Much more care thought and effort is needed in building a campaign structure that actually requires thought and diplomatic effort to win.… Expand
  68. Pier
    Dec 26, 2011
    9
    This is simply the best total war game ever. I've played most of the games from the series and Shogun 2 is a dream come true, that goes back to the original root, but with all the refinements of the last decade. If you are into deep strategy and historic accuracy you can't miss it.
  69. T5ZK
    Sep 17, 2011
    10
    I have never played Total War series, but it wasn
  70. DrCola
    Nov 10, 2011
    9
    I would give this an 8.7 and for one reason only, they are starting to release DLC's that unlock content that was previously free if you just modified one notepad document, im afraid that the people who make total war games are starting to milk it for what its got rather than focusing on one masterpiece, on the bright side the multiplayer is lightyears ahead of napoleon total war, TheI would give this an 8.7 and for one reason only, they are starting to release DLC's that unlock content that was previously free if you just modified one notepad document, im afraid that the people who make total war games are starting to milk it for what its got rather than focusing on one masterpiece, on the bright side the multiplayer is lightyears ahead of napoleon total war, The strategys that you take on ARE actually specific to the faction you decide to play as, so when sombody on metacritic says "dont ever chose this faction because they have better boats" thats simply not true, you use the boat advantage to its fullest extent by blockading enemy ports and therefore giving you more income, or if you chose to get better archers you play more defensively, or vica versa with other factions. Im happy that they made a few modifications to just about everything and refined everything to a good point, for example : ship battles used to be about clicking at the right time in a starcraft like manner, but now its much more about positioning of your ships, there is now a food factor so you cant just build a billion castles. The difficulty is finally what it should be. All the other total war games I played were so easy its not even funny (even on hardest difficulty) with one exception, western roman empire in rome total war barbarian invasion on the hardest difficulty, but thats about rome total war, all in all shogun 2 total war has stunning visuals (only if your computer is really really awsome, I was sad when I found out I could not play in DX11, because seriously, the DX11 graphics are WAY better than the DX9 graphics) More strategy, more thinking, not as time consuming as empire total war and not as complicated (which i can understand why they did that) There are also important choices you can make that will affect your empire. If the game has a problem, its the DLC and how once you have claimed the shogunate and won the game its very boring because the battles all feel the exact same.… Expand
  71. VaVa_Reviews
    May 25, 2011
    9
    One hell of a game, i've played it for a while and ive realized this is a great game. im addicted you have to buy this if your an rts fan, the only reason i give it a nine because it just has small things that add up
  72. Jimbobbrown
    May 13, 2012
    2
    Well that was disappointing. How has the series moved on since Rome and Medieval total war? Not a lot really, same game different lick of paint. Adds nothing new what so ever. I have to say something about the engine too, there has been no improvement as far as I can see, It runs like a dog. If they released the same game but optimized it so that you could actually have the epic battlesWell that was disappointing. How has the series moved on since Rome and Medieval total war? Not a lot really, same game different lick of paint. Adds nothing new what so ever. I have to say something about the engine too, there has been no improvement as far as I can see, It runs like a dog. If they released the same game but optimized it so that you could actually have the epic battles that would be forgivable. Multi-player just turns into a slide show. Got this on a steam sale and really wish I hadn't. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Rome or Medieval 2 cheap, they beat the heck out of this re-skin.… Expand
  73. Gladio77
    Nov 8, 2011
    9
    Hoorah! , Indeed the gameplay in general has not changed much in the last ten years. But the graphics and this game racked me up for 200 hours. Value for money. Game Graphics are very good and its something a developer can be proud of. Buy it .
  74. Porkenstein
    Oct 5, 2011
    10
    Although its replay value is less than that of previous TW games, what IS in the game is absolutely perfect. Shogun 2 has incredible gameplay, beautiful graphics, and the promise for amazing Total War games to come. I, personally, am excited for Rome II based on this engine.
  75. dc42
    Sep 10, 2011
    9
    Great game from Sega. It's fun to play and the AI isn't as poor as previous Total War games. For example, the AI will attack you when you start using your archers (previous games let you soften them up before you main assault...like shooting fish in a barrel). Attacking fortresses is redundant though since many of the strongholds are the same with the same layout of attack. One issue IGreat game from Sega. It's fun to play and the AI isn't as poor as previous Total War games. For example, the AI will attack you when you start using your archers (previous games let you soften them up before you main assault...like shooting fish in a barrel). Attacking fortresses is redundant though since many of the strongholds are the same with the same layout of attack. One issue I have is once you get to a certain point in the main campaign every other clan attacks you making it a one vs all scenario (what ever happened to allies?). Overall, I had a fun time. I hope they make a Total War: China or something since they keep remaking old Total War games (Medieval and Shogun) and some originality is needed by Sega.… Expand
  76. TIZ
    May 18, 2012
    10
    Amazing game overall. Graphics best to date DX10 or 11, Gameplay slow but that's the fun of it, Story elements are like most strategy games good and satisfying when completing. Lots of new and extra features, amazing 3D rotatable map, actual night time fighting and amazing fight animations. This game deserves nothing less than a 10/10
  77. poohbear
    Aug 25, 2011
    10
    A work of art. Absolutely the most polished TW game out & its stunning. Everything from the music, the visuals, the pacing, the setting & options available to you and of course the stunning battles will just blow u away! Excellent job to the developers on one of the best Strategy games out. Now the problem is how to get over my addiction to this game..... just... one... more turn!!!!!
  78. chenzo717
    Sep 4, 2011
    10
    Just imagine its the late nineties and a flurry of edgy "modern" RTS games were taking up much of our sleeping time, if anyone could predict where the strategy industry would have been in 2011 im sure nobody would have conceived the scale of professionalism that the total war series have come to achieve! The series are quite simply the most perfect example of Total War! (Yes i am a fanboy......)
  79. mrweed
    Sep 4, 2011
    10
    Sehr gutes spiel jedoch muss ich sagen das es sich um ein verdammt schweres spiel handelt.
    die grafik ist sehr gut gelungen und kann mit einer ATI 5870 und einem vernünftigem 4 x core mit allen details gespielt werden.
  80. BillGR17
    Dec 18, 2011
    10
    The firs total war i played was shogun when i saw shogun 2 i though plz tell me they didnt make it suck like napoleon and empire ! and now that i have it i must say its a hell of a game ! best RTS so far ! i didnt believe its better than rome total war too coz i was huge fan or rome as i was with the first shogun
    now u have rpg elements and finally the multiplayer is worth playing it ! its    The firs total war i played was shogun when i saw shogun 2 i though plz tell me they didnt make it suck like napoleon and empire ! and now that i have it i must say its a hell of a game ! best RTS so far ! i didnt believe its better than rome total war too coz i was huge fan or rome as i was with the first shogun
    now u have rpg elements and finally the multiplayer is worth playing it ! its not a custom battle ! u can play campaign mode online and if u are playing singleplayer u give the battle from the system to one radom player online :D it has so much stuff and now the melee army is fighting better but still some times they stay there do nothing(not all the army just one or two ) the only bad think is that ... will they make another one as good as this?    … Expand
  81. JuJu
    Oct 9, 2011
    10
    This is one of the greatest games ever ! Joining RTS with turn strategy is best idea, and it is working perfectly. I really like this world of samurais, ninjas etc etc. Programmers did not make this game so complicated but nicely and user friendly. I recommend to play S2 with all my hart ! Rgrds
  82. Nexusepona
    Oct 17, 2011
    10
    It brings the fun you are looking for when you buy any of the Total War series, and it does it with style. Not the pinnacle of the series, I would say that Rome and even Medieval 2 were better, but still worth your money. It takes time to finish the single player campaign, re-playable, and the multi-player part is fun too. If you are a TW fun, this is a must for you!
  83. JimCorbett
    Apr 8, 2014
    5
    Definitely my least favorite Total War game. I'll start off my saying i'm not a fan of the theme. Since Japan is such a small place, all of the factions ended up being pretty much homogeneous. You'll have the same units for almost every faction. The only exception are the "Warrior Monks" that are in 2-3 factions. Also, the most interesting and different faction, the Ikko-Ikki are lockedDefinitely my least favorite Total War game. I'll start off my saying i'm not a fan of the theme. Since Japan is such a small place, all of the factions ended up being pretty much homogeneous. You'll have the same units for almost every faction. The only exception are the "Warrior Monks" that are in 2-3 factions. Also, the most interesting and different faction, the Ikko-Ikki are locked out. You have to buy a DLC to play a faction that is already in the game and fully functional. Seriously?! Also, due to the size of Japan, you'll have the same looking battlefields and a total of like 4 different siege maps. This obviously makes battles incredibly repetitive. The graphics are good and the polish is there, but the optimization is not. Load screens take an absurd amount of time and the turn timer takes way too long. This is partially due to the fact that there are like 50 different factions each with like 1 region on the map (Only 9 are playable with the base game). Want to play as 3 addition factions? You have to pay $5 each! A complete and utter scam. The game is still somewhat fun, it is a total war game after all. I enjoyed the campaign most of the time as long as I was autoresolving the terrible battles. Then I got to realm divide. It's a good idea that was implemented terribly. Basically once you conquer enough regions, every other faction in the game will declare war on you even if you've been allies the entire time. Obviously, for someone who is unprepared for such an occurrence, they are totally screwed. In conclusion, repetitive clans and battles, as well as greedy DLC practices have lead Shogun 2 astray to the point where it really isn't worth picking up unless you're a big fan of the series.… Expand
  84. ZengxDoWx
    Nov 16, 2011
    7
    I've been playing the limited edition of this game ever since this came out, and also purchased every single add-ons for this game. My only concern with this game is that there's a lot of spammers, and recently, the replay files are all corrupted so I can't actually look at the replays. So I won't really be playing this game until CA fixes these problems.
  85. jimplunder
    Feb 5, 2012
    6
    Total War: Shogun 2 is a good game. Of course, I always have a bone to pick with games. The feeling of it is exactly like that of Empire/Napoleon: Total War. You have a city, you have a port (if the province is on the coast), you have farms, and you have support buildings. You have to manage your economy through trade and production within your own territory. You also have to decideTotal War: Shogun 2 is a good game. Of course, I always have a bone to pick with games. The feeling of it is exactly like that of Empire/Napoleon: Total War. You have a city, you have a port (if the province is on the coast), you have farms, and you have support buildings. You have to manage your economy through trade and production within your own territory. You also have to decide whether or not you want to stick with with traditional religion of Shinto-Buddhism, or convert to Christianity when you trade with the nanban (Europeans). The combat is very similar to all of the other games (except they give you pre-made formations you can use) and the game keeps the tradition of solid combat alive.
    While the graphics are a HUGE improvement (they are absolutely gorgeous), the gameplay is something that is still likable and enjoyable, the creators made the game a little too difficult for my liking. I'm a person who likes to develop provinces up, get a ton of gold in reserve, build huge armies, and send them out to conquer the territory peacemeal while leaving token garrisons behind. It's a sound strategy and it works, but the game doesn't give you enough time to really flesh the game out. It feels like to me that the game's over right when it's beginning. You either have to settle with groups of small armies going after each other and picking off small provinces one by one, leaving little development in the process, or fail. I'd like the game more if they lengthened the time span of the campaign (possibly doubling it). I'm sure there's a mod for that, but I'm not going to poke around to look for one. Why can't they make sliders for game length? That way if you want to give yourself more of a challenge, you can do the short or long campaigns in more or less time. Make the game more customizable.
    Also the diplomacy screens are ridiculous. Even on easy, the AI doesn't like to negotiate... at all. I'm crushing these two clans in a war and when I offer a peace treaty because I want to go pound on my ever-growing neighbor, they won't bother to make peace. I even try to throw away money and marriage offers and still nothing. Then 5 turns later, another person declares war on me. For casual gamers like me, this is frustrating. I've tried a couple of different campaigns and even when I wasn't shogun, it felt like everyone was ganging up on me for the sake of it. It feels like the game doesn't want me to win. I know that's part of the challenge and a lot of people like it, but when a game becomes oppressive, it takes the fun out of it.    … Expand
  86. Insomnium0212
    Mar 13, 2012
    10
    The best total war game as of yet. The Japanese settings sucks you right in. Unlike empire total war the game offers a more rounded set of units. There are less units but the game is better for it. Shogun also brings something new to the table in the form of an online avatar which you can customize and level up. Once you level up you can select different retainers and skills which haveThe best total war game as of yet. The Japanese settings sucks you right in. Unlike empire total war the game offers a more rounded set of units. There are less units but the game is better for it. Shogun also brings something new to the table in the form of an online avatar which you can customize and level up. Once you level up you can select different retainers and skills which have effects in the online battles you play. All in all:

    Sound: 10
    Gameplay: 10
    Graphics: 10 (You do need a beast of a PC to appreciate the full scope though)    … Expand
  87. RDonnell
    May 26, 2012
    4
    One of the best games ruined by lobby dropping and debug camera cheating.Most people are not aware the developers known about 1% of users using a secret camera to get an advantage online and people dropping from game lobbies by pulling out the network cable to strand users in an emtpy lobby requiring a retstart and a huge load screen wait time.This can happen and can make getting games aOne of the best games ruined by lobby dropping and debug camera cheating.Most people are not aware the developers known about 1% of users using a secret camera to get an advantage online and people dropping from game lobbies by pulling out the network cable to strand users in an emtpy lobby requiring a retstart and a huge load screen wait time.This can happen and can make getting games a 15 minute process.There is also a huge change recently to the graphics engine due to the Fall of the samurai game changing graphics and breaking features such as gloss,HDR,DOF and draw distance alonside leaving many missing textures graphical bugs.So far 2 months on the only thing they fixed was the blood pack dlc which the patch also broke.There is no sign of the game being restored to how it used to look and how it looked when reviews were based on that content which sadly users no longer have access too.Simply awful work and a great RTS or probably the best RTS there ever was is now ruined by amatuer patch system and bad beta testers.… Expand
  88. dumle
    Jul 26, 2012
    6
    If you are new to the Total war franchise you will surely have a good time with Shogun 2 total war. If not you will probably find the game quite sub-par. They havent bothered to fix the problems that were in the previous games and they even added some more. The AI is awful and diplomacy seldom makes any sense. In battle the enemy behaves moronically on hard difficulty not to mention theIf you are new to the Total war franchise you will surely have a good time with Shogun 2 total war. If not you will probably find the game quite sub-par. They havent bothered to fix the problems that were in the previous games and they even added some more. The AI is awful and diplomacy seldom makes any sense. In battle the enemy behaves moronically on hard difficulty not to mention the siege battles that is plain broken. The building cap in your cities makes building a chore not to mention taking away the interactivity from you the player. The unit variation is also quite slim making most battles feel the same no matter who you are fighting against. Furthermore you will find yourself fighting over and over again at the same battlemap. Shogun 2 Total war is still a decent game but the gameplay is just too much alike the previous games to ignore that shogun 2 seems like a downgrade. The research three, the ability to exchange hostages and arrange marriages, the honousystem and the visuals is a welcome change but sadly the core of the game is lacking.… Expand
  89. Lonas
    Sep 5, 2013
    10
    This game is great and has good music.

    Multiplayer quick battle matchmaking: Its very punishing on new players because of veteran units gaining more stats however if you keep at it you'll eventually have those veteran units. I've played this part of the game the most as its very fun. Only thing I wouldn't recommend is having a normal Shogun 2 army fighting a Fall of the Samurai army.    This game is great and has good music.

    Multiplayer quick battle matchmaking: Its very punishing on new players because of veteran units gaining more stats however if you keep at it you'll eventually have those veteran units. I've played this part of the game the most as its very fun. Only thing I wouldn't recommend is having a normal Shogun 2 army fighting a Fall of the Samurai army.

    Single player campaign: Takes quite a few hours to complete a single campaign. Realm divide is just plain annoying and wasn't expected the first time I ran into it and sadly the higher difficulties aren't as enjoyable because you're stuck defending the whole game. If you don't mind preparing for realm divide it can be fun.

    Co-op Campaign: I've only completed maybe three of these. You can share units with your friend in battles so they have something to do other than watch the fight which is nice.

    Only real complaint about this game is the loading times. (An example of this is the start up load screen takes about 2 minutes every time.) Other than that its an amazing game and I recommend it.    … Expand
  90. orctown-troll
    Sep 28, 2013
    8
    This is a very good game, and I love it.

    However it does game design a disservice to pretend that this is a 10/10 game. It isn't. Much as it pains me to say, this game has a number of serious design flaws that leave it a long way from perfection. First and worst is the design of the single player campaign. It seems the crew in CA are unable to grasp the key point that a factional civil    This is a very good game, and I love it.

    However it does game design a disservice to pretend that this is a 10/10 game. It isn't. Much as it pains me to say, this game has a number of serious design flaws that leave it a long way from perfection. First and worst is the design of the single player campaign. It seems the crew in CA are unable to grasp the key point that a factional civil war requires a POLITICAL game. Personalities, loyalties, betrayals, economic considerations, deals and diplomacy SHOULD be at the heart of the experience. But NONE of that is there. CA has a very simple political model based on linear expansion of an empire. There is nothing that approaches wheeling or dealing or THINKING requires in the campaign EVER. Nor can we take any deal or alliance seriously, since the AI always breaks its deals and alliances on a whim. Over-all this is the tragedy of the creative Assembly. They have failed to grasp what was good about Rome (1). And they have failed to develop any kind of political-diplomatic engine or gameplay. A big fail.

    Beyond that all the actual war mechanics: The UI, the graphic art. unit balancing, music, voice work, in-game movies are all BRILLIANT! magnificent! Multiplayer is fantastic with the avatar system. All the nuts and bolts of a brilliant franchise are polished and chromed and gleaming. There is definitely too much time lost in loading screens. Other than that, its a fantastically built game.

    But at its heart, a true heart is missing.

    We can appreciate that in Rome 2, there is the beginning of CA trying to expand the victory conditions: they have the idea of an 'economic' or 'cultural' victory. But nowhere near enough. They probably need to hire a team to rebuild the core of gameplay, but a lot of energy and resources into getting the HEART of the game right. When they append their own great visual assets to an enhanced, politically-focused engine they will finally pull their franchise out of the swamp of perennial 'could have been great' titles and achieve an honestly great game. Nothing else would be a just reward for all the great things CA has given gaming over the years than to see them reach Nirvana, turn the corner, and hit a home run.

    Shogun 2 was a great effort, but caught in the outfield.

    orctowngrot    … Expand
  91. Fireside
    Mar 21, 2011
    6
    Having played every single TW game, I have grown tired with the formula and there's nothing here that is really that different from the previous games, just small incremental improvements like always. It's fun in small spurts, but no longer engrossing, like sex after years of marriage. They need to release the dx11 patch soon cause the lack of anti-aliasing is driving me crazy.
  92. GameDrifter
    Mar 22, 2011
    5
    I tried Shogun Total War the first week it came out some 11 years ago. It had a feel and atmosphere about it that no other Total War game has yet to capture. Sadly including the current incarnation. To date Shogun, Rome, and Medieval where the only 3 in the series that I found interesting all the rest where just rehashing the same thing. I've honestly waited these 11 years for anotherI tried Shogun Total War the first week it came out some 11 years ago. It had a feel and atmosphere about it that no other Total War game has yet to capture. Sadly including the current incarnation. To date Shogun, Rome, and Medieval where the only 3 in the series that I found interesting all the rest where just rehashing the same thing. I've honestly waited these 11 years for another Shogun to come out. And find myself some what underwhelmed with what they came up with here. Pretty graphics aside part 2 hasn't captured any of the feel that drew me into playing part 1. It's just another "Me Too" copy of the other unimpressive resent additions to the TW series.. Nothing new in this game just another copy of a once innovative game.… Expand
  93. TheangryOne
    Apr 8, 2011
    6
    I'll be honest--these games have started to go stale. Rome was innovative, Medieval was pretty good. Empire was pretty fair, but at this point I don't care how good the interface, graphics, and whatever is, it's really nothing we've seen before.
  94. Turd_Furgeson
    Dec 30, 2011
    3
    This game is playable, however the in game tutorials left me asking friends how to do many of the world view options such as factions and what various icons and numbers meant. As well, the actual fighting is severely flawed. I would tell my archers to attack a unit but they would remain firing at a single enemy who was behind cover and impossible to kill, no matter how many times IThis game is playable, however the in game tutorials left me asking friends how to do many of the world view options such as factions and what various icons and numbers meant. As well, the actual fighting is severely flawed. I would tell my archers to attack a unit but they would remain firing at a single enemy who was behind cover and impossible to kill, no matter how many times I clicked on attack the enemies right next to the single unit that were in the open. The combat aspects of the game would be considered good 6 years ago.… Expand
  95. kane148
    Aug 1, 2012
    7
    Having played and thoroughly enjoyed the last few Total War games (Rome, Medieval, Empire), I expected to similarly love this game. Sadly, this was not the case. The game looks good: the graphics are improved and the Asian theme is well integrated into the general artwork. But it seems that this desire to create a distinctive ambiance went a little too far and subtracted from the gameplay.Having played and thoroughly enjoyed the last few Total War games (Rome, Medieval, Empire), I expected to similarly love this game. Sadly, this was not the case. The game looks good: the graphics are improved and the Asian theme is well integrated into the general artwork. But it seems that this desire to create a distinctive ambiance went a little too far and subtracted from the gameplay. For example, unit formations are now identified by an animal (crane, snake, etc.)--gone are the days of choosing between line, wedge, etc.--forcing you by trial and error to learn which does what. Would it be too hard to make it clear what the formation is? I'm trying to wage a war, not reenact Kung Fu Panda! The campaign in general was rather bland: I started on an island where I quickly overwhelmed my neighbors, then spent turn after turn building up my forces to invade a neighboring island, only to face a half dozen enemy armies full of highly experienced soldiers, ready to squash the feeble armies that I could support with my limited resources. To be fair, there were several interesting innovations in this title, such as talent trees for agents, but many others were just annoying (limited food supplies which can only be expanded through conquest) or simplistic (research is now strictly turn-dependent, with no way to really gain an advantage). I'm sure many people enjoyed this game, and maybe one day I'll try it again and like it more, but until then I'm just going to wait for Rome II.… Expand
  96. waterwaterwater
    Feb 27, 2013
    0
    Great game when it came out however since its release CA has actually made the game worse through patches and expansions. Fall of the samurai actually made the graphics worse even if you never purchased it. The fogging issue has never been resolved. They have really done their best to destroy the modding for the game as well. One of the patches made it so adding new units to the game makesGreat game when it came out however since its release CA has actually made the game worse through patches and expansions. Fall of the samurai actually made the graphics worse even if you never purchased it. The fogging issue has never been resolved. They have really done their best to destroy the modding for the game as well. One of the patches made it so adding new units to the game makes bows sound like firearms. Did you purchase the game on dvd because you have poor or limited internet? Maybe like me you wanted to play an earlier version of the game that is not broken? Too bad! Because they have patched the game so much the hard copies of the game (which are still in stores btw) are no longer playable and there is no way to install from the disks anymore. Think they are ever going to fix any of the problems? Why would they? They made their money all while ignoring VERY blatant problems and instead released a bunch of paid DLC's which in all honesty should have been in the game from the start. Also, why fix a game when they could be working on a new one (Rome 2) to do the exact same thing with.… Expand
  97. Crimson
    Mar 21, 2011
    3
    Has gorgeous graphics if you have the hardware (fortunetly I do : ), slick interface and a lot of polish. Unfortunetly the AI is retarded (and gets HUGE bonuses to compensate), the units are completely unbalanced (I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I melee the opposing cavalry to death with my bow samurai), and the units are still as unresponsive as ever (they are still incapableHas gorgeous graphics if you have the hardware (fortunetly I do : ), slick interface and a lot of polish. Unfortunetly the AI is retarded (and gets HUGE bonuses to compensate), the units are completely unbalanced (I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I melee the opposing cavalry to death with my bow samurai), and the units are still as unresponsive as ever (they are still incapable of getting through doorways).

    I still pop in Shogun 1 every now and then to re-play it years after the fact. Yet after a few days the annoyance factor is already creeping in on this game.

    You know what they say about polishing a turd...    … Expand
  98. nibelung
    Mar 28, 2011
    3
    Shogun 2 is a beautiful game, but there is one very tiny little problem that it still inherited from older Total War game, game breaking savegame corruption. I am a very patient person, but even my patient has its limit too. After restarting campaign for the 9th time with 9 different clans, wasting a total of 70 hours of my life, well what do you know, my savegame corrupt when I am tryingShogun 2 is a beautiful game, but there is one very tiny little problem that it still inherited from older Total War game, game breaking savegame corruption. I am a very patient person, but even my patient has its limit too. After restarting campaign for the 9th time with 9 different clans, wasting a total of 70 hours of my life, well what do you know, my savegame corrupt when I am trying to load it back and it happen every single time. Not even a constant saving with different save file help me to avoid this problem. A friendly advice from me, unless you are a very patient masochistic person, please avoid buying this game until they fix the savegame issue. And by that, you have been warned.… Expand
  99. jwinlesta
    Jun 4, 2011
    4
    its not that shogun 2 is a bad game, but its just very boring, everything is polished well but the lack of lots of different units (something the series was very good at before) means that online in particular can be very stale in the way you fight
  100. DKF
    May 28, 2011
    0
    I"ve purshased every TW game. Shogun was ok. I liked ROME a lot, but wished they made a Rome2. I kinda liked Alaxander... but it was too scripted. I liked MTW 1 and 2 a good amount. I really liked EMpire, aside from the super slow turns. I hated Neo, because it was 25% of what EMpire was, and it was heavely scripted. I only liked the battle events. I played the Shogun2 beta... same ol ****I"ve purshased every TW game. Shogun was ok. I liked ROME a lot, but wished they made a Rome2. I kinda liked Alaxander... but it was too scripted. I liked MTW 1 and 2 a good amount. I really liked EMpire, aside from the super slow turns. I hated Neo, because it was 25% of what EMpire was, and it was heavely scripted. I only liked the battle events. I played the Shogun2 beta... same ol **** even more boring though. Bad AI, small map, severl few nations, sparse unit variety, no uniqueness. TW series is really falling behind now. I didn't even care to pick up the full version. I might buy t for $10 in a few years. My best friend also hates Shogun2, he played it once, a full campeign, and said he has absolutly no desire to play another.â… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best PC Game of 2011
21
#21 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 62 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 62
  3. Negative: 0 out of 62
  1. Game Over Online
    Jul 14, 2011
    89
    There is a je ne sais quoi elegance on how the game is presented and how well put together the game as an entire corpus is. Although it's still mired by some version 1.0 bugs, Shogun is highly playable and deserves a place on any Total War fan's hard drive.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    May 22, 2011
    90
    Beautiful, complex and varied historical strategy which offers hours of fun in single player and multiplayer modes. [Issue#203]
  3. Computer Games Online RO
    May 1, 2011
    93
    The mix of turn based strategy (with economical, political and diplomatic ramifications) and real time battles is still wonderful, but the need to balance timing and aggression is more important than ever. Aggressive players will feel a little cheated, while diplomats will hate Realm Divide stage. Still, Total War was always about realism and the AI's scripted actions make logical and historical sense.
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