Total War Retrospective

Total War begins with the release of the original Shogun Total War in June 2000 This Total War had the players fighting to dominate feudal Japan and become the Shogun of the islands. It was well received critically, with a score of 84 on metacritic.. At the time Shogun Total War was one of the Creative Assembly’s first large scale projects. Most of Total War’s aspects were included from the start including the campaign/battle setup, with the campaign being a turn based strategy, and the battles being in real time. This first installment also featured the agents that would be in every future total war game.

Battles in Shogun Total War

Shogun was not a large commercial success, but did earn a loyal fan base. The next release Medieval Total War took the Total War series to a different locale, now Western Europe during its medieval era. The player fought now to expand his kingdom to be the dominant force in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. This was also the first game in the series to allow the player to siege enemy settlements. Religion was far more important in this game than in Shogun, with the world being split between Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox factions. The game was a critical, and commercial success, with a score of 88 on metacritic, and the game topping the sales charts in Britain.

Various forces vie for control of Europe in the campaign mode of Medieval Total War

The next entry in the series, Rome Total War, was hailed as one of the greatest RTS games ever made. For the first time in the series the player was allowed to move around the map freely, and the scale and graphics of the battles were greatly enhanced. This entry brought players back to the Roman Republic, and had them expand throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East as one of the three playable Roman “family” factions, or instead conquer the world with a “Barbarian” faction. This game has probably eaten more hours of my life than sleeping has.

Roman Legions face off against the Barbarian horde in Rome Total War

The next game was Medieval Total War 2, which took the series forward by vastly improving the battle experience with individual soldiers now looking different to one another, and the battles now containing thousands of units. This was notably the first installment in the series in which the Americas are included, with the player being able to colonize the new world towards the end of the game.

The natives will not give up their land easily in Medieval Total War II

The latest game in the Total War series was Empire, which kept the old turn based strategy campaign, and real time battles, but included several new features. These included the technology advancement tree, the ability to build trade fleets, buildings outside the main settlement, and a world map. This total war was also the first game in the series to have a structured story-mode, concentrating on the American colonization and revolution. This was also the first Total War game where players could engage in naval battles similar with the player directly controlling the fleet. The buildings outside the major settlements were a major leap forward for the series, as previously all activity on the campaign map was concentrated into a few large cities or castles, whereas now it was profitable for an enemy to raid throughout the countryside of a rival faction.

Take to the seas in Empire Total War

The Total War series has risen from obscurity in 2000 to become an industry giant, and to say that I’m slightly excited for the release of Shogun Total War on March 15 would be quite the understatement as I probably will not sleep, eat, interact with other humans, or even leave my chair for about three weeks.