Evolution of Total War

Shogun 2 Total War was released last March 15 marking the 7th Total War game for the PC platform. On that note, I would like to show you how Total War evolved through the years.

The Total War series is a game which incorporates Sun Tzu's Art of War. It includes a turn-based strategy game and a real-time strategy game; making it, in my opinion, the epitome of strategy games. The turn-based maps are huge, the smallest by far is the Japanese country and the biggest includes Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Real-time strategy maps includes large plains or forest, sometimes including a castle or fortress.

The game was developed by Creative Assembly and was distributed by several game publishers namely Sega, Electronic Arts, and Activision.

Shogun Total War

The very first Total War game came out on 2000 titles Shogun Total War. Set in Japan during the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States) a period between the the 15 century to the 17 century. Players would choose between sever Japanese clan and would battle the other clans to become the shogunate.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZA-gqJL9Is] Medieval Total War

The success of the Shogun Total War marked the release of another great game, Medieval Total War, which was released on 2002. Medieval Total War is set in the Medieval(duh) Europe. The game covers all of Europe with a part of Russia, Middles East, and North Africa. It also has a lot of playable factions; the Christian countries, Eastern Orthodox countries, and the Islamic Countries.

The goal of the Christian countries is to successfully recover the sacred lands (Jerusalem) by launching crusades. The Islamic countries would have to defend them with the use of Jihads. And, the Eastern Orthodox are stuck in the middle of the warring religions.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BPbY-D2WA]

Rome Total War

Rome Total War followed on 2004. The setting is still in Europe but now it depicts the early civilization Rome, where you get to play initially 3 factions. Rome Total War's turn-based map got a new look, terrains and mountains now hinder your path and dictate the location of the real-time battles. As with the previous Total War games, Rome was a complete success.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IKlVS9k2gc]

Medieval 2 Total War

A revamp of Medieval Total War featuring the graphics and features in Rome Total War was released in 2006. The story and concept remained the same as the original Medieval, the only significant difference is the graphics and new features added.

Medieval 2 also has the biggest expansion, Medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms. Kingdoms include 4 new campaign maps: Americas Campaign, covering Central America; Britannia Campaign, covering the whole of Britain; Crusades, covering Byzantine Empire; and Teutonic Campaign, covering Eastern Europe.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL3EuzaDgpQ]

Kingdoms Trailer

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ4FMr_vmaE]

Empire Total War

Total War revamped the whole game when Empire came out. Featuring water battles, longer campaign time, and massive maps covering almost the entire world. The game is set in the 18 century during which many revolutions are occurring. The game received postie reviews, though, in my opinion it was buggy and at that time a bit confusing due to the major revisions made.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqF8Y2FMVDo]

Napoleon Total War

Total War then again returned to the European Theater, this time depicting Napoleons era. The game was release last year on February and still received positive ratings. The game carries the graphical and features of Empire Total War. Napoleon Total war is now tory driven because in one of the main campaigns you assume the role of Napoleon Bonaparte or one of his enemies. The game is set in the late 18th century up until 19 century.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG_yeeCILsw]

Shogun 2 Total War

The newest release in the series. The graphics and features of the previous were refined and implemented in Shogun 2. Also, they added new features; now you can now select which trait your general or agent will have. Unfortunately my rig is not equipped to handle the graphics of Shogun 2 so I will have to wait until I upgrade my rig to play the game with out sacrificing the graphical beauty of this game.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz-x1_GYQIw]