Rome 2 looks amazing

Total War has always been a brilliant franchise. It combines the strategy elements of conquering provinces and continents with commanding your armies RTS style on the battlefield. Deceptively easy to get started, the Total War games are intricate and unbelievably challenging on higher difficulties. Less than 2% of players have beaten Shogun 2 on legendary.

Now I'm always one to get overly excited about new games that look promising. But Rome II looks phenomenal. The graphics are even better than Shogun, which is still one of the most intensive games out today. It looks like they are going fix all the crippling bugs that made Shogun 2 frustrating. I especially hope they sort out the multiplayer. Matchmaking online was buggy and it was horrendously difficult to even get into a game.

The Co-op campaign had better make a comeback, because conquering the world with a friend brings endless entertainment. I have a simple process to value the quality of a game and tell if I got my moneys worth. I consider one hour of fun worth $1-2. I have racked up an astonishing 311 hours online on Shogun 2, so I definitely got more than I paid out of it. If I get half as much time out of Rome 2, I am happy to pay the ridiculous price it's going to cost.

Sadly, it looks like Creative Assembly are going to pump out DLC packs to earn more money like they did with Shogun 2. It's a little shameful, but they don't cost too much.

Guide to winning Shogun 2 on harder difficulties

Select your faction carefully!

Introduction

Shogun 2 is a brilliant game. The expansions and DLC content are also very acceptable if not slightly overpriced. Playing the campaign with a friend or even alone is unbelievably addictive. Whilst Normal difficulty is a stroll through the park, when you bump it up to Hard mode or higher; the challenge can be frustratingly overwhelming- even if you have two people.

Legendary is just obscene and I doubt many people even have the patience to persevere through the sheer amount of new games it would take to stand a fighting chance. Armies just spawn over and over making it a very slow uphill battle to snatch a couple of provinces. Therefore for the best challenge I recommend most people stick to hard, unless you are a mathematical genius who wants to abuse mechanics. The normal campaign is designed to ease you into the game, and can be completed using auto-resolve for every battle. I personally find normal easy, but hard and higher are exponentially more difficult.

The start of every campaign is usually the most challenging, if you lose your first large army or the majority of your provinces it's safe to say you are probably going to lose. Most of the information here is designed to help you early game, so you stand a better chance of grabbing provinces early on and then keeping them. With a bit of luck this guide will give you a good shot of becoming the Shogunate.