by Alex Farris

Created on: July 26, 2011   Last Updated: July 27, 2011

Shogun 2: Total War begins by featuring scenes of an extraordinary movies, with so cared for animation and details that the intro would look almost good at the movie theater, as an animated short film. The game introduction puts you in the shoes of a warlord, immersed in the historical period of feudal Japan (1545), a good ten years apart from the first title of the game. 

The country that was once unified is now a scene of continual struggle between different warlords. The player, in the shoes of Daimyo Warlord, will have to bring together all clans under one, and consequently become the new Shogun.

The main campaign gives you the option to choose the level of difficulty of the game, based on the number of territories to achieve. We therefore have the choices between "easy", with only 25 territories to conquer, "average" with 40 territories to conquer, and "difficult" with 60 territories, which is also called the "world domination".  

Another very important factor in the choice of difficulty level is the time you have at your disposal to reach the objective. In other words, the conquest of the various territories must be made within a specified date which is set to 1575 for the short campaign, and to 1600 for the two longest ones. This intriguing choice of game-play will greatly influence the course of the game. In fact, if on one hand the conquest of territories is the most important part of the game, on the other hand, in order to achieve your goal, you will have also various tricks you can use. But one thing is sure, it won’t be an easy task, because the all three clans want to become Lord of Japan.

After selecting the level of difficulty, the player has to choose between nine clans, which will have different features and characteristics. The choice of a clan rather than another, will lead to a major variation on the progress of the game, and it  will be just as important as the decision of its disposition within the strategy map.

In this game, we will have to weigh the military and diplomatic options before declaring war on another territory. By taking turns, we can determine which forces and how many will be deployed in the area, or we can select the path of peace and dialogue. Not always diplomatic matters go as they are intended to and the war at times, will be inevitable, but beware: the management of the clan, along with that of the generals, will result in choices that

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