Game Review: Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai

The Name is Long, but the game is worth it.

I was at a party recently, and at this party, my friend from Blister Gaming and I were talking about Expansion Pack versus DLC in the modern marketplace. We came to the conclusion that modern DLC (downloadable content) is what expansion packs used to be in the 90’s and early 2000’s, and Expansion Packs, in order to justify their much larger price tags, have become something akin, or just short of, a sequel built on the exact same engine.

And indeed, that is exactly what the ‘stand alone’  (meaning you don’t even have to own Shogun 2 to play it) expansion pack Fall of the Samurai is to Shogun 2.

Hey… hey look… the British are back…

This expansion pack takes you to 19th Century Japan at the beginning of the Boshin War. The Boshin War is a variety of things. It’s a Civil War, sure, between the rapidly modernising Imperial Clans and the traditionalist Shogun Clans of Japan, but it’s also a proxy war for Britain, France, and the United States, all of whom want to fit Japan under their ‘sphere of influence’ during this period of rapid colonisation.

You know what makes naval warfare awesome? Steam-powered Ironclads. That’s what makes naval warfare awesome.

And for those of you out there who have been waiting for the Total War Franchise to progress beyond the Napoleonic Era, you’re in for a treat. Victorian Era technological advancements make their way to Fall of the Samurai. Railroads, steam power, new rifles, improved artillery, and the dreaded Gatling gun all make a show, as well as telegraph messaging.

Which do you prefer? Bad-arse uniforms or bad-arse armour? Your choice may determine which side you fight for…

Historians like me love the Victorian Era because it is a time period about old versus new and technological upheaval. Fall of the Samurai captures that perfectly, with your population showing resistance to new ideas and inventions, you have to be in possession of a propaganda network to convince your people that all the new tech you’re bringing, and all the new war atrocities the tech brings with it, is worth it.

You can arrange, rearrange, and re-rearrange your treaties with the western powers. Initially, and historically, the treaties favoured heavily the western powers at the expense of the Japanese. However, I found that once I made a fair-trade agreement with Britain, France and the US towed the line as well. My close alliance with Britain led France to take their interests elsewhere, but not without several aggressive pitches about the benefits of a Frac0-Satsuma alliance. (The Anglo-Satsuma alliance worked just fine, thank you very much).

‘I say, France, take that rubbish elsewhere, you frog bastards’.

I, personally, love the Victorian Era. It is my favourite historic era. So it is exciting to see a video game finally cover this often ignored, but ripe for the picking era. And quite frankly, after Napoleon: Total War, I figured it was only a matter of time before the Total War franchise made it’s way into the extremely violent and transformative time period. I hope the Creative Assembly (who now have a specialised Total War Team) will bring us a world-wide Victorian Era game that’ll take us back to a map as big (or bigger) than the Empire: Total War map (the ETW map covered Europe, India, the Middle East, North Africa, North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America, I want to see a map that gives me access to the whole world as the British Empire), and let us progress the Eastern or Western power of our choice from the Coronation of Queen Victoria to the First World War.

‘Hullo, Me again, why do you never call’?

That said, Fall of the Samurai fulfils all of my history-based wet dreams, immersing me in the Victorian Era of Japan, and even letting me get a glimpse of my favourite historic empire while doing it, and even making me start to like, and appreciate Japanese history in the process. Visiting the Victorian Era alone, and getting a feel for the feelings and tech of time is a welcome enough experience.

Of course though, when capturing the Victorian Experience, there are some things worth skipping over…

Play If:

• You’re a fan of the Total War franchise.
• You’re a fan of history.
• You’re a fan of Japanese culture/history
• You’re a fan of the Victorian Era.
• Steamboats make you drool.

Skip If:

• You dislike the Victorian Era.
• You dislike Real Time Strategy.
• You are lame.