All right.
Shogun: Total War - Warlord Edition is a combination of the original
Shogun: Total War plus the recently-released expansion pack,
The Mongol Invasion. I've never played the original game before this, though, so the review will cover both the first title and the expansion to it.
And let me say this: I really enjoyed my time with Shogun. While the turn-based campaign could definitely use some work--it plays like a poor man's Europa Universalis, or an even more abstract (but realistic) Heroes of Might and Magic--the actual battles are absolutely awe-inspiring, and watching hundreds or thousands of troops clash is truly a sight to behold.
The basic concept of the game is pretty straightforward. In the core campaigns, the object is to put all of Japan under your rule. You can do this in a number of ways, but in the end you need to lay claim to every territory of the land (or, if you prefer, a vast majority of them.) The plotting of this takeover is done on an 'overworld map,' reminding me more of the between-level maps in Dune II or Emperor than anything else.
You can do a number of things on this map. You can build various structures in each province, which is necessary to build the various types of troops. Fortunately, they can be queued up, but it's still somewhat tedious to go through all of your lands and set everything up the way that you want. You can also attempt diplomacy, but chances are good that you won't get the results you like. It's no Masters of Orion, that's for sure. Of course, infrastructure is pretty much thrown out of the window when you play the Kublai Khan campaign, as you sweep your way across Japan; it relies much more on automatic enforcements than anything useful that you can build.
If you challenge an enemy territory, or they encroach on you, you have a number of options. You can retreat from the land, let the computer control the battle, or (definitely my favourite) actually participate in the battle.
And this, folks, is where Shogun really shines. The battles are absolutely enormous. You can command dozens of separate units, each containing sixty or so troops. The various troop types are very similar to what there really was back in feudal Japan, with cavalry and archers and spearmen. It makes something of a rock-paper-scissors challenge, as archers can wipe the floor with spearmen who can slaughter cavalry who can wipe out archers. Once again, though, this is seriously altered by the Mongols, who bring with them a number of unique troop types on top of this. One of the most devestating changes is their cavalry, who can also attack long-ranged. Meep.
The strategic model of the battles has to be seen to be believed. You can command your troops around as you like, putting them in massive formations and having them walk to their deaths or destroy the charging enemy. It's not super-complex, but it works very well, and there's a real sense of scale in the game that makes you feel like you're watching hundreds of people go to their (hopefully honourable) deaths.
The expansion pack adds a number of things besides new units on both sides. There are historical campaigns, which are basically battles strung together; a number of new historic battles have been added as well, fleshing out the single-battle side of the game. And the units are nothing to scoff at; while they may stretch credibility sometimes, groups like the Thunder-Bombers can do some serious damage to the opponents.
Shogun supports multiplayer capabilities as well, although it's not campaign-based. This is understandable, as a full campaign across Japan would take many, many hours. It's quite a bit of fun skirmishing with your buddies, but don't think that means the AI isn't sharp; it is.
