Overwhelmed forces break for the hills.

There has been a big effort to develop not only the new campaigns, but also to "tweak and tune" the original campaign. To this extent, an improved AI has been put in place. Forming alliances with clans used to mean that they would not attack unless provoked, trying those tactics now will see a daimyo's life expectancy severely reduced. It's not uncommon now to have allied attacks decimate player-controlled territories, even on the easiest difficulty settings. In fact the entire diplomacy area now seem to be functioning properly. No longer will allying with several clans at once be easy, as when clans go to war against each other your Daimyo will be forced to choose his side.

The battle AI has also been improved, enemy generals no longer fall for the "tank rush" style of tactics (although this can still be effective with a superior number of sacrifices, err troops). Also several new features have been added to the map screen that have been requested by players. Of these, the shaded areas where your selected units cannot travel to is most welcome as it helps the player keep track of which units have been moved, very handy when armies are swarming across Japan.

A desperate bridge crossing

The Mongol Invasion brings in new unit types - in addition to the all new Mongol Hordes, the Daimyo also have new units at their disposal. The Battlefield Ninja and the Kensai are the most predominant new units, due largely to their power. The Battlefield Ninja are a covert squad best used to skirt the edge of the battle and find key enemy units. The ninja then have the option of attacking at distance with arrows, or moving in close and striking down their foe with sword in hand. The main benefit of the ninja is the fact that they are almost undetectable until they strike. The Kensai is the most noticeable new unit due to the fact that he stands at roughly twice the height of the other foot soldiers. Kensai means "sword saint" and it's soon obvious why. Put a squad of spearmen up against the lone Kensai and the good money will most likely be with the Kensai. It's not uncommon to see the Kensai standing in the middle of a sea of dead foes at the battle's end.

A Kensai does his
best to push forward

For the most part the new Mongol units are similar to their Japanese counterparts, with the exception of the Korean Skirmishers and the fearsome Thunder-Bombers. The Skirmishers are like legionaries - they use javelins as their weapon and carry large tower shields capable of deflecting most enemy missile fire. While at distance the skirmishers will unleash a hail of javelins, while moving in closer to use either sword or javelin at short range. The only drawback is the limited number of javelins available to them. The Thunder-Bombers are perhaps the most fearsome unit if used properly. Used incorrectly the Thunder-Bombers are just as likely to tear their own allies to shreds as they are their enemies. The Thunder-Bombers use powerful grenades to rip holes in enemy lines, but the drawback is that the range is very limited and the likelihood of friendly fire damage is high. Thunder-Bombers are best in the frontline of an attack, drawing back and ceasing fire once the enemy gets too close.

The Mongol Horde
as the invasion begins

One of the most under-rated aspects of many games is the sound experience. Many games have had the flashy looks but come complete with absolute rubbish for game sounds and music. Shogun thankfully delivers the goods in this department. The battle music is some of the best (as far as being both easy on the ear and fitting the mood) game music around. Sweep the camera over a squad of Heavy Cavalry and hear armour and spears rattle as eager horses and riders move about. Listen to the boom of rifles and the explosions from the Thunder Bombers. Hear the battle cries of the victors and the screams of the defeated. It truly makes the battle seem immense. A nice touch is the ability to have spoken dialogue in Japanese (with English subtitles), this adds to the experience greatly.

Allied forces attack together

The graphics in Shogun, while not exactly to the level of the likes of Ground Control or The Moon Project, are key to the overall enjoyment of the game. While the maps are all made from polygons, the units are sprite based. This is important as it allows the player to have armies numbering in the thousands facing off against each other. If all the units were rendering as polygons there would be very few systems capable of rendering most of the battles fought at a fast enough framerate. Many people say they are put off by the graphics in Shogun and that's a true tragedy as they miss out on some genuinely inspired and classic gameplay.

Forces stretching as far as can be seen
prepare to fight
(can you spot all
of the opposing troops?)

Unfortunately there are some things which have been overlooked, or not considered necessary to fix in the latest version. Many people will find it frustrating to wait while a routed army flees from the battlefield before being able to continue. Admittedly this can be avoided a little by speeding up the time but it would have been far nicer to have had the victory screen appear once the last squad was routed, instead of having to wait till they had completely fled. Also, while the Daimyo AI might be improved, the individual unit AI still seems to have a few issues remaining. It's not an uncommon sight to see, for example, a lone No-Dachi Samurai facing off whole squads of cavalry while the remainder of his unit have already followed orders to move elsewhere.

Also a little disappointing was the multiplayer side of Shogun. While it's a great experience playing versus a human opponent, it was disappointing seeing some of the planned multiplayer modes get pulled from the boxed version - although promises of some of these pulled features getting included in upcoming patches will please fans. The currently available patch allows for Mongol vs. Mongol matches, this was previously limited to Mongol vs. Japanese or Japanese vs. Japanese only. Another slight annoyance out of the box was the inability to play vs. players who were still using the original Shogun or pre-Mongol Invasion versions. Hopefully EA will look into this as well, but it's most likely going to come in second to fixing any bugs that show up.

A Warlord prepares for his final battle