Total war games reviews

That said, there are no naval battles. The Creative Assembly has given up on them completely it seems, and while armies board ships when they head onto the water, encounters at sea are resolved automatically. Given how important rivers like the Yangtze are to China strategically it's a missed opportunity.

Imagine if John Woo's movie Red Cliff, after hours of build-up, ended with someone clicking autoresolve. Anticlimax is a problem with Three Kingdoms more generally. At a certain point in the campaign the three leading warlords are declared kings and have to fight it out to determine who will be sole emperor.

When I marched a decent army into my first opponent's territory they abdicated and surrendered to me, so I switched my attention to the final remaining enemy, the Kingdom of Wu. After many turns spent building armies as strong as my economy allowed, I sent one full stack the long way around via the water to attack his capital from behind while the rest of my armies marched on our shared border capturing villages and small cities.

After a few seasons of this I finally drew his full force out. Wu's best armies stayed close together, but one set itself up in ambush nearby.

I discovered it thanks to one of my generals having keen eyes, attacked with superior numbers, and defeated it handily. The rest of his forces were still formidable though, and mine slightly weakened by wiping out the failed ambush.

We faced off for the climactic finale. And then on his turn a diplomacy pop-up informed me he wanted to surrender and abdicate. A relatively bloodless victory is nice and all, and it's a credit to the AI that it knows when it's about to be beaten, but it was a hell of a downer way to end a campaign.

I could have said no to the offer and carried on the war but it would have felt like bullying at that point. As I said, the campaign lends context to the battles, and sometimes that context can take away from them as well. Plenty of these criticisms—an underwhelming endgame, or clunky battle animations, or AI oddness—have been true of other Total War games.

Three Kingdoms is no worse than many of them and better than quite a few. I look forward to seeing how things like the diplomacy system and maybe duels carry on into Warhammer 3 and whatever else comes next, it's just hard to look past Three Kingdoms' role as another iteration on a familiar formula. That's the problem with there being so many Total War games at the moment.

A new one comes out while the last two are still fresh in our memories. Three Kingdoms is a very good strategy game in which to experience 2nd century China, and I've spent dozens of enjoyable hours with it. When you zoom in close on the right details, whether it's two generals duelling or an enemy turning the vassal system against you, it's grand. Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance.

A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. Our Verdict. PC Gamer Verdict. This list contains some great games. Truly magnificent games that demonstrate the potential scope, ambition, and sheer joy of historically reverent, yet whimsically fanciful, grand strategy games. But none match the potent enrichment of Total War: Shogun 2. Shogun 2 learns from the mistakes of its predecessors, and builds on their richest assets.

Factions, with their shared cultural and technological capabilities, are comparable and balanced, but distinct in their operation and play; the AI has learnt new combat techniques; and rather than waiting to reach a point of military superiority through which you can steamroll multiple nations at speed, the game has you pay closer attention to clan management and tense diplomatic negotiations to support your war effort.

And it does it all through ditching the continent-spanning maps of other entries in the series. The breadth of Europe and the frontiers of the New World are replaced by the Japanese archipelago, as you struggle to unify the nation. Family drama, scheming warlords, vibrant vistas of natural landscape, and, of course, vast territory to lay claim to and conquer: the era is ripe for the Total War treatment. Feudal fighting: These are the best medieval games. Characters take on as much importance as armies, with relationships of your family and court essential to your burgeoning empire, and often directing the objectives of your war efforts.

The Guanxi and Wu Xing systems further entrench the importance of interpersonal relationships, while going some way to reflect the social philosophy of traditional Chinese culture, and the diplomacy system is the most robust of any Total War title, acting as an essential mechanic rather than a tacked-on addition. Withstanding lack of unit variety, both within and between factions, Three Kingdoms also boasts huge replayability. Leverage them to expand your empire with more nuance than ever before.

The fantasy title surpasses the original in almost every way: the stakes are bigger, the factions are more divergent, and the narrative focus takes a bigger role.

Swapping out the endearing, but tired, Greenskins, Dwarfs, Empire and other factions of the first game, for the more eccentric Lizardmen, Skaven, Dark Elves, and Tomb Kings, Warhammer 2 is confident and comfortable with its lore to the point of broaching silliness, but never at the expense of mechanical depth or strategic insight. As Achilles, you have the invigorating task of defending your title as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Aegean, with a roster of aggressive, mobile melee units to back you up.

The tough, tanky spearmen in his roster play great with defensive terrain and holding cities against assault. Each leader I played felt distinct and interesting, in terms of goals, campaign abilities, and fighting style. These heroes also have their own dramatic, story-based win conditions called Homeric Victories that walk them through some of the highlights of their role in the Iliad, such as Menelaus having to reclaim Helen and Hector having to make sure the city of Troy does not fall.

The flexibility of the barter system, which replaces money with other resources like wood, stone, and bronze, is great in theory; especially with the stronger infantry requiring relatively scarce bronze to train and upkeep, I can see what the designers were going for.

But as the game goes on, scarcity decreases to the point that everyone can have everything they want, more or less. And having practically infinite resources takes a lot of the tension and decision-making out of the strategy layer.

Bows and cavalry, staples of most other Total War games, are more of a novelty in this distant era, which has forced the designers to get creative in creating a new battlefield ecosystem.

Being able to get to them first can make a huge difference in how the battle will play out. Siege battles are a bit less enjoyable.

Total War is a big name in the PC gaming world. Total War has been running for two full decades now. In that time, there have been no fewer than 14 core releases, as well as several spinoff games.

Naturally, there's a lot of talk in the community and on Metacritic about which game best represents the series, and which is the best overall. Updated January 13th, by Jack Pursey: The Total War series, which has changed hands between three of the gaming industry's juggernauts in EA, Activision, and Sega, has been fundamental in popularizing the strategy game genre. Although the series has never quite been able to recapture the magic of its first few entries, the franchise still provides solid strategy experiences with each new entry.

To give the series the recognition that it deserves, we have opened up this list to include every main series entry into the Total War franchise. It's never nice to come last, but Total War Saga: Troy is certainly not a bad game, exemplified by its respectable Metascore of As the name suggests, it takes players back to the Trojan War that took place during the Bronze Age. Being the most recent game in the franchise, Total War Saga: Troy has many excellent features that have improved upon the early iterations of the game such as the complex battle mechanics and impressive visuals.

However, the game struggles with issues that feel as though they should be refined at this point, such as the user interface. The Total War Saga sub-series intends to offer players a more in-depth look at a certain historical period, rather than spanning an entire era. Total War: Rome II narrowly lands above the joint-bottom position, though it is by far the most disappointing entry into the franchise. Following on from one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved strategy games of all time in Rome: Total War was never going to be easy, though not many expected to be as underwhelmed as they were.

Despite releasing nearly ten years after Rome: Total War, the second game suffered from numerous rudimentary issues, such as frequent technical problems and a poor camera. The game was an extremely important entry into the franchise, as it was the first release after the aforementioned Total War: Rome II.