Shogun: Total War

Electronic Arts

PC

Review: Peter Eley

A pre-release demo of one of the most anticipated games of the year turned up my desk last week. And although it was far from the finished article, what we saw confirmed speculation that Shogun: Total War is going to be one of the best-looking strategy games ever.

It is set in medieval Japan, where rival samurai warlords fought bloody battles for control of a savage, feudal country but one with an incredibly rich culture and rigid social code.

The demo was limited to an intensive tutorial, but the graphics were stunning. For my money, the best-looking war/strategy game has been Myth 2, but this demo left it for dead.

The superbly rendered 3D landscapes, detailed units, ornately delicate buildings, beautiful gardens, silk print maps and strange calligraphy give it such a strong Japanese flavour that you can almost taste the sushi.

Judging by the tutorial, it's going to have plenty of depth, too. There's a lot to get your head around, with a wide range of tactical options and the ability to form complex battle formations.

You take on 15 other warlords and vie to make your warrior clan outright rulers over a 150-year period by a mixture of political duplicity and military skill.

The price for failure in this honour-mad country can be high - lose an important battle and it's likely you'll be made to commit ritual suicide, or seppuku.

The diplomatic and economic stuff is played out in a turn-based fashion as in Civilization 2. The centre for all of this is your throne room, where you sit with your military, economic and political and religious advisers. Warfare is controlled from a map, and this looks to be the real core of the game with troops of cavalry, kamikazi swordsmen, ninjas and samurai archers doing battle in real time.

The demo tutorial shows how to set up and use these troops in formations, and it was very impressive, with the ability to set up complex battlefield structures.

Like Myth, the more battles a soldier fights, the better he becomes. But if he's on the losing side too often, morale can slump, making him less efficent.

Although it's hard to judge a game from what was a short demo, it seems that Shogun has borrowed elements from lots of the better games, added a few new ones, and packaged it all beautifully.

If the full game lives up to this promise when it goes on sale later this month, it could be a classic.

Peter Eley e-mail: peter_eley@herald.co.nz