Total War: Shogun 2 – Fall of The Samurai Review
Review by EuroGamer (8/10)
For Japanese soldiers fighting in the mid-1860s, modern life really is rubbish. This is because their traditional approach to warfare, faced with the rapid advancement of military technology, now means they spend their time marching in neat and orderly rows toward Gatling guns. They often do this across wide open spaces and in broad daylight. From an aerial perspective – perhaps while directing cavalry towards a flank or ordering cannons to bombard a castle – you might very well imagine them as a line of men patiently queuing up to die. The industrial revolution hasn’t just created the production line, it’s also made butchery much more efficient.
It’s no wonder that your general populace resents technological progress, with each new level of advancement only making them unhappier. This forces you to strike a balance between embracing the gains afforded by new inventions, and the growing resentment of a conservative populace. Nevertheless, the temptation may be all too much for the would-be warlord – because Fall of the Samurai opens up a toybox of terror for Total War gamers. There are so many new gadgets to get to grips with in this new standalone expansion, from pocket derringers to pocket battleships, you’ll just have to convince your subjects to get with the times.
Review by Metro (9/10)
We love The Last Samurai and we don’t mind who knows it. It’s a boy’s own adventure with all the historical accuracy of Braveheart (well, maybe not that bad), but we never get tired of Ken Watanabe, the ninja vs. samurai scene, and watching Billy Connolly getting skewered to the ground. But even if the details are wrong the film looks authentic, and excites an interest in the period and setting, which is exactly the same appeal the Total War games have always had.
2011′s Shogun 2 was a reboot of sorts for the Total War franchise. An update of the very first game in the series, its smaller scope offered the perfect chance to prune some of the excess baggage picked up in the intervening decade. The result was an in-depth strategy game that was both surprising accessible and graphically stunning.
Like most of Total War’s expansions this standalone release deals with the collapse of the empire featured in the main game, which is where Tom Cruise comes into it. Fall Of The Samurai is set in the 19th century and deals with the events leading up to the Meiji Restoration, when the samurai were abolished as a social class.
Review by IGN (9.0/10 – Amazing)
In the mid-19th Century, when the American Admiral Perry appeared with his black warships and forced Japan to re-open its trading ports to Western powers, Japan was still essentially a medieval society: closed off from the outside world, with a feudal government, an economy based primarily on subsistence rice farming, and warfare still conducted with swords and bows. In less than fifty years from the day Perry arrived, Japan became the first non-Western country in history to defeat a European country, Russia, in an open war – leveraging on modern weaponry, techniques, naval warships, and a completely revamped and revitalized economy. That transformation, and the success Japan built upon it, represents an achievement that must surely astound posterity forever.
Overallsite Review (9.1/10)
Based on above three reviews
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