It remains very little to wait for the second addition to the excellent global strategy Total War: Shogun 2. Release Fall of the Samurai scheduled for March, but now we have already managed to get access to the press version. And let the whole small piece of the game be open in it – a campaign for one house and two historical battle – this is enough to make an idea of what will be “Samurai sunset”.
New times
Unlike Rise of the Samurai, the new “segun” is a full -fledged addition that does not require installation of the original, and not just another campaign in addition. The Middle Ages are forgotten, in the courtyard the end of the 19th century, the “Bosin war” is brewing in Japan –
the confrontation between the segunate and the provinces faithful to the emperor, which was the result of the cultural and economic expansion of the West. Of course, this is not the era of Singoku, when the civil war lasted more than a hundred years, but there will be plenty of battles on land and at sea. And what else is needed for happiness?
The traditional Japanese clans will be added by new participants in the Ostrovnaya Empire – the French, Americans and the British, who were pushing the new Asian market and by hook and by crook try to get the ruling regime that was favorable to their policy (it is familiar if it was not true?). Well, the Japanese themselves do not forget to kill each other in every way – a civil war in all its glory.
Looking at the composition of the armies, you can understand that the sunset of the era of the samurai is just around the corner – now a bullet decides, not a sword.
Intelligence with a fight
I start the game. The appearance of the main screen is exactly the same as in the original, and Fall of the Samurai – Just another line in the campaign selection menu. But so far we are still held with her – I was very interested in the words in the announcement of the game about “shooting with a first -person view”. To find out what kind of beast this is, I turn on “Historical Battle”. So far only two are available – a regular battle on land and a sea battle. I choose the first – the sea will wait until.
Immediately some cardinal differences from Shogun 2 cannot be noticed. Unless the troops are completely different – almost all the fighters with small arms. Even the Gatling machine gun is available, and it is from it that you can shoot yourself. Now let’s try. I take the teams with this latest weapon on the hillock at that time, from where it will be convenient to beat the advancing enemy. I click the button – the guns unfold in a combat position, the second – the camera freezes above the calculation, the crossroads of the sight appears. Fire!
At first, it seems that the machine gun will mow the entire enemy detachment in one turn – it was painfully beautifully that the bullets bite into the enemy system. Blood in all directions, falling fighters. But very soon, for some reason, for some reason, not a drop of the unbearable enemy got to the seemingly such profitable position-carried away by shooting, I completely forgot about covering. As it turned out, machine gunners also do not like when they are killed – my detachment panicked and began to drape.
Then I played this battle a couple of times and I can say that the chip with first -person shooting is not so strong and suitable only for disposing of boredom in particularly tedious battles. And there are not so many of the machine guns themselves – they are unlikely to break the combat course.
The second historical battle. This time a sea battle, more precisely, the battle for the port. The innovations are also immediately visible here – all ships are equipped with cannon armament, and the vessels themselves are not at all the ridiculous “tes ”who walked around the seas of Japan in the Middle Ages. Steam ships, with rowing wheels, with sails … There is even one armadillo. Not “Potemkin”, but also inspires.
The battles are still insanely beautiful. Sometimes I just want to watch the battle, not being distracted by the administration of the troops.
On the shore there are cannon batteries that may be under the control of any of the parties – it is enough for at least one boat to hold out for some time in a small zone near the guns.
Again you can shoot yourself – both from land and from ships (and besides guns, torpedo devices are also installed on some). As in the case of machine guns, the benefits of such shooting are “it will be small”. Remedy for boredom, no more. True, it was not yet necessary to get bored, because the battle itself has become noticeably more dynamic and colorful – the ships now shoot far and powerfully, knocking the enemy much faster than boarding attacks (which, by the way, have not gone anywhere).
Katana against the rifle
Leaving single battles for a while, I move to the campaign. So far only one is available – for the house of Satsuma, who performs on the side of the emperor.
The consequences of the “westernization” of Japan are immediately visible. One of my agents is clearly a foreigner, the army is armed with small arms and dressed in uniforms of European cut. Not all – there are purely Japanese detachments – but it is felt that future victories will be for more modern troops. In cities, there are also an abundance of “foreign” buildings – barracks for hiring new troops, factories, trade and military ports.
After a couple of hours of the game, it is already clear that the campaign in Fall of the Samurai will not stun the players with some global innovations. All changes in the little things, but these little things create another game, and there are exactly as much as it should be in addition. The technology tree has expected expected, new skills have added to agents and generals, I already spoke about the buildings and troops – but no one was going to change the usual concept that appeared in the very first Segun ten years ago.
The most noticeable novelty is an increase in the number of game moves per year. Now there are as many as 24 – 6 for each time of the year. Depending on the fact that now in the yard: summer, autumn, spring or winter – various modifiers acting on your empire are changing. For example, in the spring the “happiness” of the inhabitants of all provinces increases by a unit.
The role of the fleet intensified. Now you can fire an enemy city or army (if the distance allows) directly from the global map. And if a union fleet is nearby during the battle, then he will be able to provide artillery support. True, it is very slowly called and is available only a couple of times for the battle, but if the enemy does not notice a shooting chimney and does not remove the soldier from under the fire, it will not seem a little.
Another important novelty – the railway – I failed to see. Either a bug or developers made sure and did not add steam locomotives to a press version-but after the opening of the right technology, I never had the opportunity to build a railway station.
Perhaps that is all the noticeable novelties of additions. Otherwise, this is still the same old kind Total War.
All the time, while I got acquainted with the game, I did not leave the vague feeling that something was wrong here. As in that joke about New Year’s toys that “do not delight”. So here – it seems that everything is in place: samurai are fighting, cities are being built, agents travel, but … Probably, the point is the choice of the era, during which the events of the project are unfolding, this period is not as popular as Singoko Jida. Nevertheless, Japan of the late 19th century is completely different than that medieval empire with the ongoing wars of the provinces. There is no charm that was in Shogun 2 literally everywhere – from the starting video, ending with the last drawing in the leadership. There is no feeling of involvement in great events – the campaign lasts less than ten years. This is no longer a fairy tale, but rather a chapter from a history textbook. The West comes, and the Samurai star really declines to the sunset in order to break out again during the Second World War and be fading away forever.
Although, maybe the creators of the game achieved such a feeling?
Despite my grumbling, I have no doubt that Creative Assembly It will turn out another masterpiece-for this it was not necessary to try a press version at all. Nevertheless, for ten years of grinding of the same concept, the developers have come to do exactly what the players needed. AND Fall of the Samurai – No exception.